DesertKing Carpentry

unknown

There is absolutely no way our remodel experience could have been any better. Because my husband works full time and I have an education in interior design, I was managing the remodel. I knew this would be a long process (the entire remodel has taken 7 months with some small things still being tweaked) and I was worried about receiving condescending or rude treatment as a woman from whoever we ended up hiring to do the work (which has happened in the past with other workers/repairmen). It was immediately apparent that this would not be the case with Gary working on our project. He is respectful, a good listener, patient, and knows how to diplomatically make suggestions/recommendations when the ideas a homeowner has about remodeling are uneducated or are not safe or possible. His workers also had the same qualities, and I felt very comfortable when they were here and Gary was not. If I called Gary with any questions or issues, he responded quickly either by phone or coming to our home. I could reliably expect them to arrive at whatever time we had agreed on for the day’s work and if for some reason those plans had changed, Gary notified me immediately.
Gary also did many additional things for no extra charge that an unobservant homeowner or one that was not present every day during the work as I was might not notice…he fixed little “glitchy” things such as doorknobs that were hard to turn or doors that did not shut correctly, purchased various pieces and parts (which sometimes required driving all over Tucson to find the correct thing) and refused reimbursement. He and his workers helped me move the packed contents of our house from room to room every week to accommodate the work that was being done and to make it easier for me to unpack things, along with moving heavy furniture items. And possibly the biggest thing of all was when he came by one weekend to check on the work done by his workers that week. He found me mopping up water and placing a bucket on our new bamboo flooring to catch the roof leak that had occurred overnight during the rainstorms we had in November, which was all I could do since my husband was out of town. Without any hesitation at all, Gary was up a ladder and on the roof in the pouring rain to do a temporary fix with waterproof roof patch. Because more storms were on the way, he immediately rescheduled all of his other work for that week to come repair the leak, much to our relief!
My husband wanted to do some of the remodel work himself (tear out the old hot tub, lay new floor tile in the bathrooms, laundry room, and kitchen backsplash, paint) and Gary was not only fine with all of that, he also offered opinions and advice as necessary and loaned my husband tools/equipment that we would have had to otherwise rent or purchase. He also dealt with the sub-contractors that were necessary for our project (concrete, electric), so the only contractors I had to work with directly were him and the countertop installer, which made life much easier. Gary’s charges for the quality and quantity of work done were extremely fair as was his practice of requiring a deposit, a “half-way” point payment, and a final payment for the individual parts of the remodel. He never asked for final payment on anything until the work was done both to our and his satisfaction.
After 16 years of planning and waiting until we could afford a remodel, we now have the changes in our home that we have always dreamed of and we love it all. We will always contact Gary for any other future work we ever need and I have already recommended him to several other home and business owners.

Gary, the owner, was very friendly, punctual and the service was timely.
He did not change his original quote
He completed the work on time and worked until it was done
I would recommend him to any of my friends - I have bathroom work I'd like to call him on in the near future
His work is outstanding

Gary of Desert King Carpentry is great! He is my go to guy when I need him for anything around my house.
He is very friendly and professional and I recommend him highly for anyone looking for a Carpenter.
He is trustworthy, gives good estimates, is very quick at his work and completes the job in a timely manner.
I had him and his worker Ryan tear out tile out of my living room, which is a horrible job in itself, and they did it quickly and cleaned up everything after. They hung plastic to keep dust from getting into other rooms of the house and when I returned I couldn't even tell it was done as the house was free of dust and it was very clean work.
He has also taken our evaporative cooler off our roof since it was an eye sore and never used. They were done in a short time and patched the roof quickly. You couldn't even tell it was ever there. They even removed the very heavy cooler and took it to the scrap yard for me.
Recently, I had him remodel my master bathroom. He was so helpful in providing information and experience to guide me in the right cabinets, colors, lighting, and back splash. Everything looks great now and I love my new bathroom.
I definitely will be using Desert King Carpentry when I will be remodeling my guest bath in a few months!

DesertKing is a pleasure to work with. Gary was very responsive to our needs and patient with our changes. He had great recommendations and we both felt he was extremely trustworthy and honest. He even noticed our garbage disposal was leaking and fixed it right on the spot. Also, he found that some of our base moulding was separating from the wall so he re-attached and caulked it for us, no extra charge. He was professional and performed all of the services per our contract (plus some) for the price we had agreed on, no hidden or surprise fees. The job was completed on time even though we had added a few things, like installing a new sink and the fixtures. We are planning on having Gary paint the exterior of our house in the Fall.

Gary was always prompt, pleasant and professional. I know I was so fortunate to hear of him and he is such a profectionist. He is going to do both bathrooms for me now and I have NO woriies since he will be on the job!!!

Gary was fantastic to work with. He, along with other contractors provided, did a complete renovation of my home. Floors, bathrooms, kitchen, lighting. From tear out, to all new finishes, Gary was professional, responsive, and knowledgeable. The project was done well and in a timely manner. Gary addressed all issues and concerns throughout the process. I would highly recommend his company. He does great work!

It has gone extremely well. Desert King was always in touch, keeping us informed in all the phases of construction.
Working long term with someone is hard, I know because I have done this before. The quality of Desert King work has been exceptional. While we spent lots lots of money getting the work done, we saved many thousands of dollars because Desert King has been able to do many jobs themselves and they knew who to use for specialty trades that require exceptional skills, like granite and complex electrical work.
Good professionals tend to want to work together, so Desert King always seemed to bring the best to our house to help with the work. The work flow was excellent: People came on the job as scheduled, worked with great trade craft and they, too, treated us fairly. If something needed to be changed, it was with speed and fairness.
Desert King is an exceptional contractor, knowledgable in all facets of construction and remodeling. They are easy to work with. If mistakes were made of one type or another, as they always are, the solutions were always well thought out and fairly and speedily done. They never left us "hanging" or in a dead end.
We will use them again, without reservation, and they have our unqualified recommendation to homeowners seeking remodeling services like the ones we undertook.

Initially, we were satisfied with the work that was being done, but we have limited knowledge of the trades. Gary's contract included the installation of the limestone tile backsplashes using tile we purchased directly. He hired a tile subcontractor about whom we knew nothing, but Gary indicated that he had worked with him many times. (See review for Sunset Flooring and Tile).
The tile installer failed to seal the limestone tiles prior to grouting them, causing the grout to seep into the stone and discolor it unevenly. Several efforts to remove the staining and to restore the tile to the original color failed. Gary tried to persuade us to try any number of things, including installing the new tile that we had to purchase (at a cost of $1,600) over the top of the ruined tile, in order to avoid removing the backsplash and having it reinstalled. He delayed and delayed for about a month. He denied having any experience with any other tile installers, so we had to research alternatives and obtain several recommendations from our cabinetry and tile suppliers. Gary finally talked with then and chose one to work with, but that installer declined to do the removal of the ruined backsplash in close proximity to the new cabinetry and granite countertops, as well as the newly installed polished concrete overlay floors.
Gary sought to have us sign a waiver of any liability for any damage he might do during removal of the backsplash and preparation of a new surface to receive the tile. We declined to do so, because the tile installer who made the huge mistake and caused all of the problems was his sub-contractor, and not hired by us. We had a contract for a professionally installed backsplash and had already largely paid for that job. It was his responsibility to deliver what he contracted to do. After telling us that he would return the next day to begin the demo of the ruined backsplash, Gary failed to appear or to call. Despite several telephone messages left on his phone, he has never returned to the job or called to explain his actions.
We have had to hire a new tile installer to remove the backsplash and to reinstall the new tiles, all at a cost of about $2,000. When they removed the backsplash, it unavoidably destroyed the drywall as Gary had predicted it would, so we are now down to the studs. Once the studs were exposed, the new installer expressed concerns about the electrical wiring for the undercabinet lighting and outlet strips that Gary had installed. They have indicated that it is not safe and is improperly done, so we now cannot move forward with the tile until we can have an electrician assess the issue and make needed corrections, at some unknown additional cost. We will also be required to pay that electrician to install the undercabinet and overhead LED lights and the undercabinet outlet strips that Gary was supposed to install. We will also have to purchase the outlet strips that Gary was to be supplying. At this point, we have no idea how much more time it will take and how much more it will cost us to finish this job and have already been 3 months without a fully-functional kitchen.

UPDATE: After initially submitting this review, we tried to have our new stove installed. The installers were unable to do so, because Gary had installed a dryer plug instead of the appropriate range plug. We had to have the stove standing in the middle of the kitchen for 4 days while we had our new electrician replace it when he completed the other work required to correct Gary's work and to complete our job.