BAUGHER DESIGN & REMODEL INC

Don't work with these people unless you have EVERY tiny detail in writing.  Unqualified people working unsupervised.  Purchased unapprovedfinishes and refused to correct without additional funding.  Also, disposed of equipment targeted for recycle.

The company repainted our bathroom walls after the were painted with the wrong paint the first time, this took more then a year to get accomplished.  When they finally got around to do it it was done very well, in less then a day.

We have never felt more compelled to warn people of a company than we do so now.  We would never, EVER, recommend using Baugher Inc. (Design & Remodel).  It was the worst consumer experience of our life. Words can?t fully describe how bad this experience has been.   We have no reason to be dishonest in this review. I am not a building contractor and have no ties to building contractors or tradesmen. This review does not benefit us in any way except the satisfaction of knowing we tried to help others.   Including the design, we paid them approximately $170,000 to remodel our Kitchen and Living Room and add a Screen Porch.   We are not wealthy.  This was a once in a lifetime investment for us.  
The owner, Rob Baugher is a very good salesman.  We were naïve. We trusted him then. We absolutely do not now.  If you choose to consider this company after reading this review, we would suggest you have an attorney present in every meeting and get every little thing in writing.   
To summarize, we had to go to arbitration to have over 30 issues resolved.  Even after the binding arbitration ruling against Baugher, they have not resolved all issues identified.  The ruling stated they needed to resume work within 15 days (on May 3rd) and complete 30 days from that date. It is July 24th and arbitration issues are not fully resolved. Also? although they claim to have a five-year warranty, they have also ignored many warranty issues to date. They have not responded to emails or returned voice messages for over a month regarding completion of issues identified in arbitration or warranty issues.  
They are Better Business Bureau accredited at the time of this writing, but during the BBB grievance process, they missed every deadline for responding to complaints.  I can only speculate what would have happened if we would have missed a single deadline for compliance. Baugher did so with no consequence from the Better Business Bureau yet.  They ignored deadlines imposed by what was supposed to be binding arbitration.  Again, there have been no consequences to date.  
They unlawfully removed the building permit before work was completed. In fact the final inspection has still not been done as of July 23, 2012.  Again there have been no consequences to date.  In our opinion, they have thumbed their nose at the process and rules.     
Prior to this, we were never involved in a Better Business Bureau complaint, involved in arbitration, or involved in small claims court.  We had occasional disagreements over the past 30 years of my adult like, but nothing in comparison to this.  
We signed the contract in mid July 2011. (That?s right, 2011, over a year ago!) Work started in mid August 2011. We were told it would take 2-3 months to complete because they planned everything on a calendar and we would have a dedicated Project Manager to make sure work was done on time.  The work is still not finished.  Baugher decided that in January work was ?substantially? complete even though we had a long list of issues left unaddressed. We refused to make final payment.  According to our contract, disagreements would be settled by binding arbitration sponsored by the BBB. We started the arbitration process through the Better Business Bureau immediately.   We took hundreds of pictures of our ordeal showing poor quality workmanship every step of the way. We began to keep a daily log to document statements and events. We should have done that every day from day one. If not for that diligence, Baugher may have persuaded the arbitrator otherwise about some of the other issues. Like I said, he?s a very good salesman. We know he misled the arbitrator on one item. While we did not get everything we asked for during arbitration, the ruling was in our favor for the most part.  Even on one major issue that didn?t go our way, the arbitrator stated, ?presentations outside the contract were deceptive.?   

I have so many more issues I could document from poor quality work that we had to fight to have had redone (and redone again) just to reach mediocrity, to damaged appliances that required the arbitrator to rule that they needed to reimburse us monetarily, to poor customer service. I could go on and on, but it only makes me angrier.   

In the contract we signed they state work will be done to NAHB Residential Construction Performance Guidelines?.  They hold that up like it?s the holy grail.  I suggest you read it and make your own determination of the quality of work those guidelines alone guarantee.  It is the lowest level of accepted quality. We also believe we have work that does not pass those guidelines that they so far have refused to address properly.  Our screen door off the screen porch has a gap so large at the bottom a dinner fork fits under it.  It defeats the purpose if a screen porch if things can get in.  The door itself is also cut poorly, uneven on top. 
   
So if you still are thinking about using this company? you now have a glimpse at our experience.   Search the Angie?s List and reviews on other local web sites for other reviews of this company.   Also look at the number of complaints filed against them with the BBB since August 2010.  The complaints fall into two categories, but the second may be misleading.  It reads: "BBB found business made good faith effort to resolve complaint but customer not satisfied with business response (3 complaints)." We believe ours was one of those three and we do not believe the business made a good faith effort. If they did, we wouldn?t have had to go to arbitration to get proper resolution.  And note, we had to pay the $600 for arbitration.  Baugher paid nothing for the arbitration service.
 
If you meet with the this owner or anyone working for him, we recommend having an attorney or at least a disinterested third party with you as a witness in the room for ALL meetings in your house and in his office. Document all statements. If you do not have a witness, it won?t matter what you were told.  We believe we were misled on several issues.  Write everything down.  

We would recommend that you have an attorney review the written contract before you sign. Make sure you have every detail in writing. Don?t assume that changes already made while fine-tuning the draft contract with Baugher will appear in the final copy you sign. We had one instance where we corrected an item in drafts provided by Baugher but the incorrect language resurfaced in the final contract. We didn?t notice it until after signature, but that was too late. Even though we believe Baugher knew of the edits and was shown the correction in the actual drafts, he refused to fix. Check every word and make sure you identify each and every little item, including brand, model, etc.    

Have the contract include a clause that protects you from a Mechanics Lien.  

The contract we signed required that we make payments in installments upon the start of activities.  We would suggest that you do not sign that type of contract with anyone. 

Require them to write the contact that says you will pay upon completion of activities based on your satisfaction.  The contract we signed required us to pay the remaining balance upon ?Substantial Completion?.  This does not mean when all work is done and issues resolved.  It is when contractor decides that the work is ?substantially complete?.  We would advise you have the contract state you will pay the remaining balance when all work is completed to your satisfaction and final inspection is approved.  In our experience, Baugher tried to declare substantial completion with over 30 issues remaining, most of which an arbitrato

Lots of problems, some of them are still not fixed even if they claim they give warranty.

The original "ball park" estimate for both bathrooms was $20,000. The design process took from August to December, as we only met once a week or so and looked at one or two items. They would never give me any idea of what anything I was choosing would cost (sometimes they would tell me "this is more than this" but never how much more). When the design was finally finished, the actual cost to do the work was $42,000 (less the $2500 I paid up front). Needless to say, I took the design which I had already paid for and had someone else do the work. I got the same finished product for $21,000.

Baugher Design & Remodel did all of the architectural designing for our home. Before they did the work, our house did not match our neighborhood so they designed the house to fit in better with the neighborhood. They did a good job on our home and I am pleased with the results.

Baugher Design and Remodel does superb work. They offer a five-year guarantee on their work and stand behind it. I think that is terrific. I have recommended them to others. They were here on time and cleaned everything up afterwards. They are a very professional and honest company.