Garage Envy

After setting up the initial appointment with the general manager he arrived promptly at the appointed time to work out the details of the job. I already had a good idea of what I wanted owing to Garage Envy's well-designed website.
My first disappointment came when I found out that by specializing in garage redos, Garage Envy is reluctant to, unlike a true general contractor, to customize beyond what's offered on their website, comprehensive though these offerings are. Thus, I had to hire another contractor to demolish the existing ugly drywall and I had to install wall insulation myself. Also, Garage Envy offered only one style of cabinet pulls, handles with projections that I feared might catch and rip clothes. Hence, after the redo, I had to replace the handles below head level with handles of my choice. I also had to install my own bench work light,  a couple of security drawer locks, and magnetic latches on the cabinet doors (useful for keeping items from falling out of the cabinets onto the cars during a mild earthquake.)
The general manager seemed keener on getting the job through the pipeline than with working with me to get the job done right. The first glitch was that the ceiling lights were in two rows of three instead of the agreed on three rows of two. When I mentioned this situation to the technical assistant, he explained that with his arrangement, the open garage door wouldn't block the two light from the front row. I thanked him for his sensible modification only to find after completion that the open garage door covered the front row of three ceiling lights! Well, it's no big deal since I never turn on the lights with the garage door open. The biggest glitch was that despite making clear that I wanted the side upper wall cabinets to have over six feet of head clearance for safety, the general manager ordered the standard cabinets which hung too low rather than the smaller cabinets. Well, it turns out that these smaller cabinets are custom and hence delays the completion of the job. I insisted on and got the smaller cabinets. By-the-way, four years later the cabinets still have the slight odor of formaldehyde. The next problem concerned the epoxy floor. I met the epoxy installer after he laid the floor at the end of his work day and he mentioned that he wanted to come back to put on the final touches. He never returned and the general manager dismissed my inquiry as to why. At the time the floor looked super so I let it go. Later, after completion, when I was mopping the floor, I noticed that the epoxy and flake finish on the four inch high concrete rim was very rough, unlike the lovely smooth floor surface. Could smoothing this rough rim be the finishing touch that the epoxy worker wanted to complete on the day after?
The workers that Garage Envy hired did excellent work and behaved professionally with the exception that the drywall crew cleaned up in my garden leaving a mess, as well as leaving bits of plaster here and there that I had to clean up pronto before the plaster set hard.
The tech assistant forgot to take into account the water softener pipes and so explained to me that either I had to settle for the work bench being two inches higher or I had to hire a plumper the next working day to lower the pipes. Fortunately I found a plumber on such short notice, since I know that even a mere two inches can make a big difference in comfort. If I recall correctly, Garage Envy may have given me a discount to make up for the plumber's expense.
A couple of years later, an insulation contractor, while making a bid on installing supplemental insulation, inspected my garage attic and told me that the insulation was installed up-side-down, with the paper side on top hence exposed to sparks from any faulty wiring. Such a spark, she told me, could ignite the paper leading to a garage fire. By this time I figured that the easiest way to fix this problem was to climb in the garage attic and flip the insulation myself, so I don't know whether or not Garage Envy would've fixed this problem had I called it to its attention.
I wish that for the question "Would you use this company/individual again in the future?:" I could answer "maybe." I answered "yes" for the simple and important reason that I love my new garage! It's a real man-cave! If I were to do it over again, I would've taken the standard advice and got two other bids in addition to the Garage Envy bid so as to see just what my options would be.