Fiato & Associates

I paid per this order only for Measurement of the Bath, its design and quotation.
Quotation was higher than I estimated from my experience.

We have a defective bath tub that they never returned our call back, we can't get a hold of them. So am not happy about that. They were good, they answered everything on time, they certainly had that big problem they wouldn't answer our calls anymore.

They came out right away for the appointment. We were not too thrilled with the outcome. We felt it was too high of a price for the work that was done.

unknown

It turned out beautiful.  He was great.  He was very accommodating.  He was very timely and very clean.  It looks great but quality wise, you have to use it a little bit to know it but it is just what I wanted.  I would recommend them.

unknown

good

They did a good job and produced a good product. He was quick and prompt with a quote. I would use them again.

Mike was very professional but basically all I got for buying a $50 bathroom "design" was an estimate.  I can get a free estimate from most contractors.  I was looking for design help as that is how the Angie's list offer was sold.  Mike stated he has told Angie's list he does not do "designs", no drawings, etc.  So this is no slam on Mike, but Angie's List misleading offer.

I had to call him to get an appointment.  Just a cookie cutter approach. He seems to be in a hurry. Gave me an impression that he was doing me a favor. He was a bit condescending in the discussions. His proposal had no drawing or sketches to see how my remodel will look. His estimate had a big caveat at the beginning that he reserves the right to change the estimate if he had missed something.
 I got an estimate from  a other service providers for free and better quality.

It was an Angie's List Big Deal that I purchased. It was fine. They delivered as expected.

When Mike first came to do a proposal I said, 'one of everything, please'.  Mike's proposal was thorough and completely laid out as to cost and timing.  He quoted 5 days.  The project was complete in 5 days.  The 5 days was broken into a couple of weeks, but that worked for me.  The work looks good.  I would not hesitate to contact Mike if I had another bathroom.

They came to my house to do an estimate but I did not go with them. The pricing is excellent, it only cost me $49.

Fiato & Associates came out and gave an estimate and did some drawings for us. He also gave us a list of like suppliers that he uses. He was a very nice man. We haven't moved forward yet in choosing him as our contractor. We have met some other folks too, but we haven't been ready to get the work done, either. He probably spent about 45 minutes or an hour at our house. He drew up some plans. They weren't like CAD design. They were kind of hand drawn. He took some measurements and drew them  out on some grid paper. That part of it was fine. His price was coming in around the same as some of the other bids we received.

Showed up in time.
Measured and discussed the design.
Provided line drawings by email.

The bathroom is pretty small, so there just isn't enough space to change the layout. Mike recommended a smaller vanity and toilet to gain a bit more space. He showed me product samples and pictures and gave me suggestions about which products might be better than others, considering the use of this bathroom. He was pleasant and personable.



Two days later, he e-mailed the estimate to me. I think the prices he quoted are reasonable in today's market. I regret that I don't have the resources to get the bathroom done right now. I would hire Fiato & Associates.   

Fiato & Associates was friendly and upfront which I appreciated very much. He wasn't trying to push me one way or another. They gave me pros and cons of the ideas that I have which is great because I don't have a lot of experience.

This review is a few months late, but here it is:
The 'Big Deal'  on Angie's was offered as a "custom" bathroom floor design - with a written floor plan- for $49.00. 
Great, I thought!   I want to remodel and upgrade my bathroom to a 'custom' level.  This offers a professional designer who knows about custom bathroom design and remodeling, materials and fixtures, flooring, etc. who will view my bathroom, chat with me and eventually send me a professional floor plan and list of ideas for creating and decorating a renewed bathroom. Good bargain, as usual.   WRONG!! 
The catch is in the phrase - custom - here meaning a handmade drawing - and it is literally only of the floor layout. It is not a design done by a professional interior designer.   A standard estimate for construction of the potential remodel is the major part of this paperwork.  
Mr. Fiato arrived and we began our conversation, but there were no 'custom' design ideas to be found in any of the discussion that ensued.    When I'd bring up ideas or ask about specifics of design, style and decor it went unanswered from a creative point of view - he is strictly a contractor hoping to get work.    To be fair, he did mention the 2 most popular woods and tiles of his past customers and had a couple of samples of each and some standard pamphlets on counter tops.
 
After I received the estimate and design via email, it finally hit me:  this really was nothing more than the usual visit you get when you call contractors for estimates - and those are free!  I had paid $49.00 for an estimate under the guise of a "custom" bathroom floor plan.
Do I sound disgruntled?  I am!!  This feels like a scam.  It appears to be a way to make money by misleading customers into paying for what is normally offered for free by professional contractors.  And it puts Angie's reputation in an awkward light.  I rang Angie's to alert them and, while I don't know the outcome, I did notice that he has offered the same "Deal" again - charging for what, at any other time, is a free estimate. I will not recommend or use Fiato & Associates - they are not professional custom bathroom designers as intimated - they are simply  contractors.

Exceeded my expectations!  My first clue that this was going to be a great experience was when he came promptly for his appointment and emailed the estimate within 24 hours.  From then on it was smooth sailing.  
He didn't add a contractor's mark up, so we were able to get some high end products within our budget.  The cost listed above was higher than his estimate because we added some upgrades along the way.
He has 30+ years of experience and it shows in his work and the associates he's chosen.  As a matter of fact, we liked them so much that we used  his tiler, painter and electrician for more work on the house.  
One unexpected surprise was that he wanted me to follow up in a few months to make sure that everything was functioning properly.  Has anyone ever heard of that?  No, that's the integrity you will only find in Mike Fiato!!

The service was fine. Everything went well. He was very personable, knowledgeable, and we talked through design ideas. He asked me enough questions to come up with a design and then provided me with that design plan. Unfortunately, it was more money than I wanted to spend at the time.

The service was a complete waste of money.  The “custom” bathroom design consisted of him drawing a couple of rectangles on an 8 ½ x 11 sheet of paper with the dimensions of my bathtub, toilet and vanity.  It was a complete joke and useless. There was no “design” involved.   He did not ask me for any of my input or ideas about what I wanted and was impatient and cranky.  Don’t know if he was having a bad day or if he is always that way.  The “service”  was basically just me paying him to get a quote for the job.  I didn’t even get a copy of the drawing; when I told him I thought his “desgn” service was a misrepresentation and not worth the $200 he listed as the value, he got angry, grabbed his “drawing” and left.   I asked him what I was paying for and his response was “for me to drive all the way down here.”  (I noticed that in his most recent ad, he is now valuing the service at $99.  In my opinion, it is worth nothing. )  He didn’t do anything differently than other contractors I received estimates from, only their input was free and they listened to what I wanted. He said they did a lot of custom bathrooms, but had no interest in listening to what I wanted.  Just showed me some low end vanities that he could get a discount for and a cheap toilet and bathtub.  Recommended a vinyl-type flooring.  None of that was what I wanted.   When I said that wasn’t what I wanted, he said something along the lines that “I could spend more for something crummy from Home Depot” in a tone that indicated I would be an idiot if I did that.  I have just finished my bathroom remodel with another contractor.  It is completely custom, has beautiful Italian tile and many custom touches.  The contractor and I designed it together, it is gorgeous and it cost only a little more than the low-end bathroom he quoted me on.

the process was fine, but we didn't expect the end result, but it worked out best for all parties involved.

It was a very brief visit. Mike, the owner, seemed to be more interested in getting these proposals done rather than actually doing the job.  I had already done some design work on my own, so I expected more for what I paid.

Mike showed up on time, talked to us about what we wanted to do and gave us an outline of several options. His feedback and everything he did was great!

It took several days for Mr. Fiato to contact me, due to an issue with Angie's List system not providing my contact information with my purchase of the package.  Once he did find my information he contacted me immediately and was very flexible in appointment times. 
He and his assistant arrived on time for our appointment.  Mr Fiato was honest that some of my ideas for the bathroom required construction work which was outside of his firm's capabilities.  He offered to refund my $49, which I thought very decent of him.  However, I was curious to get his ideas on what they could do for me so asked him to work up a plan.   He provided the quote within a couple of days and as promised it included detailed labor cost and suggested product listings/pricing, along with a floor plan drawing.
Overall I was satisfied with my dealings with Fiato & Associates, although I was a little disappointed in the floor plan drawing having expected it would include more detailed dimensions.