Mickel Construction Inc

This review is to warn other homeowners that Steve Mickel of Mickel Construction is an unprofessional and ridiculously overpriced contractor. In June 2015 a cabinet designer referred me to contractor Steve Mickel, stating he was more professional than other contractors she has worked with. Unfortunately my wife and I have found Mr. Mickel to be anything but professional. Mr. Mickel and I agreed to meet at 3:30 on a Monday. I had to rearrange my work schedule, race to pick up my children from school and get home in time. However, it was all for naught as Mr. Mickel completely forgot about the appointment. After mounting frustration and forty minutes, I called him. Upon answering the phone he didn?t know who I was and that we had an appointment, despite him telling me the meeting time two days before. Due to the designers strong recommendation I was willing to set up another appointment. Having been burned once, I called him an hour prior to the meeting to insure he would make it. My instinct was correct. He wasn?t going to make it and it was clear he had no intention to inform me. He asked for another reschedule and, despite growing frustration, I accepted owing to the cabinet designer?s initial recommendation. But his lackadaisical attention to my business cost us two weeks trying to find new times to meet. On the third effort we met and I showed him the designer?s plans. He agreed to investigate the engineering requirements of removing a wall and to provide an estimate in a couple of days. (Note: After one month he still hadn?t delivered on the written and itemized estimate). At our first meeting I informed Mr. Mickel that my family was leaving on a three week vacation but that I wanted to get the estimate and permitting process started before we left. Being the start of summer, my wife and I wanted to have the kitchen completed before our children returned to school. We hoped that he could immediately start demolition and construction upon our return. He agreed to have plans drawn up and submitted to the city, assuring me that the permit would be in hand and he would be ready to get working when we returned home. He failed to draw up the plans and submit them to the city. He also said that he would bring his plumber and electrician to our house to complete his itemized estimate. He failed to show up for that appointment as well. By this stage Mr. Mickel?s disorganization and failure to deliver on agreed upon meetings and projects had cost us five weeks. I decided that I was done with Mickel Construction. Although I had no more interest in hiring Mr. Mickel he decided to send me a bill, while we were on vacation, for engineering designs that were useless to us. He failed to show at three meetings, did not follow through on the permitting process yet he had no problem sending me a bill for work that he had not done. Incensed, I called him while traveling home and set up an appointment for the next day. He showed up and I explained my frustration with his failures to honor appointments and deliver on items he had agreed to. Mr. Mickel had one lame sorry in response to my frustrations. He has zero personality, which I believe is necessary given how much money I would be paying and that he would be working in my house. Foolishly I gave him one last chance and we discussed moving the project forward. But during the conversation he dropped new surprises on me that had not been discussed before, such as the need for an asbestos and lead paint inspection. He stated it would cost $800 for the mere testing procedure. While this may be a necessary part of the permitting process Mr. Mickel?s disorganized explanation of the renovation process leaves you thinking what new expense will he spring on me once we are committed. (Note: We have since met with another contractor who quoted us a price of $150 for the test.) We parted and he agreed to send me an itemized estimate. The next day he emailed an estimate that was $25,000 higher than one other we had received, was only one line in an email, and it did not cover permitting expenses. He stated that if we wanted to continue the project he would provide a full estimate. We still had no clear picture of what we would even be paying for. I had requested the full estimate over a month prior. Completely fed up, I told him we would not need his services. How is it that a man who has worked in his profession for thirty years cannot even articulate to a prospective client all the cost break downs of a major job such as a kitchen renovation? A contractor should be able to generate a list on either a piece of paper or excel spreadsheet to plug in numbers. This way a contractor can quickly articulate all the necessary steps and allow customers to plan financially. I was suspicious that Mr. Mickel did not want this level of transparency and I feared he had nefarious intent. Keeping clients unaware of expenses would allow him to gouge for extra money in the middle of the job. Who is going to say no to new expenses when your kitchen is non-existent? Essentially he could hold my family hostage by slowing the process if we didn?t agree to new costs. Given his behavior to this point, I was not going to subject my family to Mr. Mickel?s potentially disastrous work. I cannot surmise how Mr. Mickel has stayed in business this long. Does he exhibit a Dr. Jekyll to rich clients and Mr. Hyde to middle class peons? Do his wealthier clients simply hand him money and say ?get it done?? If you are middle class and want to renovate your kitchen or bathrooms this man will make you a tertiary concern and take you for as many of your hard earned dollars as he can get away with. My advice, don?t waste your valuable time with this company and Steve Mickel, he is anything but professional.