Do Not Use Revive Designer Bathrooms, an Airoom Company, for your Bathroom Remodeling! It is a painful experience from start to finish. And the total cost is very high for the quality of work you receive. Our project was relatively simple: approximately 60 square feet of floor space; new tile; new shower with glass doors; new vanities, toilet, mirrors, fixtures, lights; heated floor; no walls moved; no tub installed or removed; no steam shower. In our first meeting with Revive we were told that the “process from contract signing to project completion is approximately 4 months, with the actual remodeling work taking 4-6 weeks.” In our case, from contract signing to project completion was 153 available working days (backing out Good Friday; Memorial Day; Independence Day; Labor Day: and our one week vacation), 30.6 weeks or approximately 7.5 months. The actual remodel from original start date to completion was 87 available working days (excludes Independence Day, Labor Day, and our one week vacation), 17.5 weeks. Actual work took place on 28 of these available working days (32%). After our last substantial payment (“on tile”) when the finish work was set to begin, the project took an additional 47 working days, 9.4 weeks. At this point Revive had received 97% of the total contract amount. On the 55th available working day, 11 weeks, the trim carpenter suggested I contact the company’s President via email. I did and the President responded, pledging “to move trades around and to make your job a priority”. From the date of the President’s email to completion, with his applying the necessary pressure, it took 33 available working days, 6.6 weeks, with work occurring on 8 of the available days (24%). And on the final inspection visit our Superintendent commented that “despite some hiccups we kept things moving along nicely.” In fairness, two days after completion the President called and asked to come look at the job in our home. He commented that they probably took on more projects than they could handle; it was difficult scheduling trades; but our job was not managed properly. He stated that he wanted to refund the portion of the contract attributed to “field management.” While we appreciated this gesture, it was small consolation for a wasted summer of aggravation and disruption. If you are still thinking about Revive Designer Bathrooms, an Airoom Company, read on for more details.
Start Date: Six weeks after final contract signoff and selections we were provided a start date. Three days before the scheduled start date we were told that our work would be delayed two weeks because another job was taking longer than expected. We were told that this would insure a smoother process for us and provide the finished product “we deserved.”
One Drop Delivery: The one drop delivery is one of their big selling features, so with a two-week delay in our original start date, which shouldn’t have been scheduled if all the material was not in their warehouse, our one drop should have been fine. It wasn’t. Material arrived damaged; one of the two tile styles required didn’t arrive at all; and the vanities were not what we ordered. The topper was on the 43rd available working day and 29th available working day after the “one drop” was inventoried. We were advised that the floor tile shipment was short of the necessary tiles (tile work was in progress) and that no more was available in the United States. We were advised that it would be six weeks for delivery, forcing us to find a different tile to complete the project. Then on the 55th available work day we were advised that the pocket door was the wrong size. It took 26 working days, 5 weeks, for the correct door to arrive.
Design/Site Drawings: Our drawings showed the toilet main pipe in the wrong place which meant that the vanities could not be installed per plan. The result of this change essentially made having two wall hung vanities useless—we would have just had a double sink unit installed.
Quality of Work: Rough electrical required a second trip because they forgot to install conduit through which to run wires for a heated floor. Rough plumbing required a second trip because they did the rough-in at the wrong location. On dry wall visit one they forgot to dry wall a portion of the wall for which it was required. In fairness, the tile work was done by a true craftsman and the results show it! Additionally, he was the first person we encountered who seemed at all concerned with the project and was the only person to apologize for all the issues with it. The sublet company hired to install the glass shower door was excellent. And the trim carpenter seemed concerned about the status of the job and was a solid tradesman, employed directly by Airoom. He was good natured and took his time to ensure a good job.
Our first visit from the trim carpenter was emblematic of the overall experience. His plan for the day was to install the new pocket door; hang vanities and mirrors; and time permitting hang the accessories. Given that the rough in for the replacement pocket door was incomplete/incorrect, he spent the morning trying to install the new track. Once that was complete, when he went to hang the door he discovered that it was the wrong size! This door had been in our home since the “one drop” delivery and was inventoried as here by the Superintendent. Unfortunately, the Superintendent failed to see if it was the correct size. The end result was the need to order a new door (a simple flat door with frosted glass insert) with an estimated lead time of 2 weeks. Actual lead time was 5 weeks.
Communication: In our experience the burden of communication was on us to “pull” information versus the Superintendent proactively telling us things like trade scheduling; status of missing/broken/incorrect materials; what the next steps would be; etc. When a scheduled activity went awry (not showing up at the scheduled time or day) it was up to us to try and find out if or when the activity would take place. Perhaps more annoying was the total lack of concern for the inconvenience these things cause or any attempt to accept responsibility to correct things in the future. And reaching out to their leadership (Senior VP Operations) proved of no value. When I sent an email after things got off to a chaotic start, he did reply with an apology for the “rocky start.” When conditions deteriorated further I sent another email to which the VP didn’t even respond. Very late in the process, when the trim carpenter on his first visit suggested I reach out to the company President, I sent an email and did get a response. He pledged to move trades around to make your job a priority. Unfortunately, this was 55 available working days (11 weeks) into a project that was supposed to take 4-6 weeks.
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