Presidential Home Design

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We planned a 5' x 10' bathroom remodel and over-paid big-time for being trusting, and (we hate to admit) feel incredibly stupid as a result. The friendly call-center staff sucks you in, and a personable sales rep delivers a convincing pitch that "you'll love it!", "it will be beautiful!", and claims all their workers are long-term employees who do quality work. The bid was $16,000 so we were led to believe we would get "beautiful" showroom quality results. Unfortunately, only the custom cabinets lived up to the promises.

The first red flag should have been when the sales rep kept emphasizing they were "ready to start yesterday". He wanted the demolition crew to come in that day so you are past the point of no return before you have time to do any research, and, as it turned out, there is VERY LITTLE to find once you do. They also would have done the work without permits if we had agreed (which we did not). We found out later that they reported only $4,500 as the bid amount when they pulled the permit with the City.

They promise you can choose (1) tile and (2) fixtures (faucet, sink and shower trim). We had to purchase towel bars, toilet paper holder, shower curtain bar, mirror and light fixtures on our own.

(1) Tile choices presented were limited, and would have been fine had the actual product used been the same quality as the samples we were shown. Roughly 30% of the travertine tiles were oddly blemished or a different color lot, and many appeared to be rejects from other jobs or cheap seconds. Tile installation by non-English speaking workers (possibly from the local Home Depot parking lot) was terrible! Uneven surfaces throughout (as much as 1/4" in some places), and complete disregard or ignorance aesthetically regarding tile layout. They came back three times to make a few alterations of the most glaring problems, but used the wrong grout on the 'repair' areas which looks tacky. Speaking of tacky, the "finished" edge between the shower tile and the bathroom wall is 3/4" of painted drywall mud smeared into the gap and on the raw edge of the tile -- no molding or even bullnose tiles to finish it -- VERY UNPROFESSIONAL and not anywhere close to "beautiful". We have DIY friends who have done truly "beautiful" tile work that makes the purported Presidential "professionals" look like hacks.

(2) We provided a specific list of reasonably priced Kohler Devonshire fixtures (to match the towel bars and toilet paper holder we had to purchase ourselves). Instead of the products we expected, the installer (who is also the tile guy mentioned in #1) substituted cheaper products & different styles. He had already cut the quartz countertop forcing us to accept a cheap sink ($19 online, but free for him). When questioned why he brought substitutions for our requested fixtures, the installer said our project would be put on hold for three weeks if he had to order the Kohler products. THIS WAS AN OUTRIGHT LIE! Both the Kohler Devonshire faucet and sink were in stock at several local Home Depots, and the shower trim could easily have been ordered and delivered prior to the originally scheduled installation date. FACT: we reserved and picked up the faucet within an hour of his saying it was three weeks backordered. If he hadn't already cut the quartz countertop, we could have had the sink we wanted too. Very unethical behavior, combined with the questionable quality of his tile and assigning unskilled workers to our job.

We presented a respectful and reasonable request to Presidential for a $2,000 deduction (half of what we thought the reduction should have been) based on the above-mentioned issues plus other problems related to damages, debris from the workers throughout the yard, stains on our driveway and entry areas, not completing the job until two weeks beyond the promised date, and general disappointment with the poor quality.

Presidential's response was a threatened lien against our home if we did not pay in full. In the end, they knocked off $1,000 which was an exorbitant profit for then and a costly lesson for us. CONSUMER BEWARE!

Please read under what did the provider do. He basically did nothing but these companies that are soliticing business are bad news.

This is a NO.  No estimate, No service.