Inception Home Remodeling

Having done numerous home projects over the past 20 years with and without contractors, I knew a complete bathroom remodel would take a lot of coordination between subs, so my wife and I decided to hire a contractor for this project.  We hired an architect several years prior to draw up plans for our remodel and we had done plenty of research on which items we would purchase. We weren’t doing anything extraordinary, just replace tub, vanity, tiles, repaint and remove shower to make room for a stacked washer & ventless dryer.  I had been on my building’s board of directors for the past 6 years, so I knew exactly what needed to be done to ensure condo and code compliance. Unfortunately, it didn’t go as smoothly as it could have.
In case you don’t want to read all the details:In summary, Rani, the owner, is a nice guy who communicates well.  Unfortunately, the people he subcontracts work to aren’t necessarily highly skilled. For our remodel, the electrician did very good work, the plumber did average work, the tile person did good work on the floor, but horrible work on the wall, and the supervisor was below average. The main overall problem was the workers’ lack of detail. While I would not use Inception again, I think they’d do an acceptable job for most people on simple projects or for “fix & flip” people who plan on selling their home right away.
The details:From the very beginning, instructions were missed. We requested several times to create a plastic barrier to block off the living room to limit the amount of dust that would go on my desk/computer area, TV, couch, etc. They said no problem, but it never happened. Also, our HOA requires that no supplies be left in the hallway after 6pm during the week or over the weekend, but 2x4s, metal pieces and runners were left out there multiple times.
The main problems started after demolition. The tile guy did a very good job on the floor with the Italian tiles, but did a horrible job with the white subway wall tiles. One evening, I came home to find that he used the wrong color grout – I had specified the exact color to be used and wrote it down in several places, but he ended up using a much darker color because it was in stock at Home Depot. So, I was happy when he redid it with the correct color, but then horrified when I realized that he grouted all the corners – expansion joints should be caulked, otherwise the grout will crack right away. And that’s exactly what happened after 1 day!  The tile guy came back to fix, but instead of cutting out the grout and applying caulk, he just caulked over the grout…with the wrong color!  At this point, I was done with the guy and just did it myself, spending 2 nights after work using a grout saw to cut out the grout and applying the correct color caulk.
After all the wall tile work was done, the supervisor hung the shower curtain rod and in the process stripped several screws and cracked a tile where the rod was mounted. Then the worst part appeared after a couple days – he obviously put too much pressure on the tile with his hand to cause it to crack, but that pressure was also on the metal corner bead, which caused movement that cracked 12 bullnose tiles.  This ended up being another multi-night project for me, since I no longer trusted the tile guy nor the supervisor to fix things correctly. 
Mounting a 40x30 medicine cabinet should be pretty easy, right? Well, first they chipped the mirror in several places. So, we had to order a replacement unit from Kohler. Then, the guys mounted the medicine cabinet upside down. After being notified, they said they’d fix it the next day. Well, after coming home from work, I found that instead of correctly installing it, they just rotated an interior product sticker to make it look like it was right side up. This dishonestly was truly disappointing. Yet again, this was something that I needed to spend time fixing. And upon removing the cabinet, I realized that none of the 5 screws they used to attach the top of the cabinet to the wall went into a stud. Really? It took me a few minutes to find the studs, but at least I know it’s secure.
From the very beginning, one of my requirements because of HOA rules was to have a drip pan installed under the washer. This was never done, so I had to order one and then hook up the washer and dryer myself. But during the installation, I realized that the water drain pipe was mounted too high – while the washer & dryer had been sitting around the entire duration of the remodel project and the installation manuals were provided to the supervisor, the workers just mounted the water lines like they’d do for a full size washer. Our Bosch units are compact and have certain requirements, so I had to come up with a workaround. 
The project seemed to be finished until I tried taking a shower.  First, the tub diverter handle was so loose, it felt like it was going to break off. Then, the shower spout was loose.  The Speakman tub diverter handle was an easy fix – I just removed the handle and tightened a few bolts. But I wasn’t happy when I removed the shower spout collar – the shower spout elbow wasn’t anchored to the stud. It was just next to the stud and it could easily move an inch laterally. After a few years of movement and stress, I envisioned the copper pipe cracking at some connection, so I immediately mounted the pipe correctly. 
This project was filled with many mistakes that could’ve been avoided. While subcontractors are bound to slip up occasionally, a good supervisor will notice this and have the mistake corrected before the client notices. My advice to Rani is to find a core group of supervisors that are capable and trustworthy before trying to grow Inception further.

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“They ripped me off, never returned my calls and never followed up on the dates that they said—they made it clear that they would not restore the wood rot but they would paint the trim and had me go out and buy paint and that cost me over 100 bucks and they never painted”

My initial interest was in the deal that cost $125 to paint one room in one day. When the owner came to my house to evaluate the room I asked him how much extra it would cost to paint a fence an exterior fence that was probably 4 to 5 feet long (one side only) and a gate that went from my driveway to my backyard (both sides).. He said he had another deal that I could take advantage of which would be $450 for one day with with two painters and I would have to provide the supplies. I agree to this. He indicated I would need 2 gallons of paint for the bedroom and 2 gallons of paint for the fence. I would also need to get some tape and plastic. I would also need to move all the furniture in the room to to make space for easy access for the painters. I complied with all his requests. The painters showed up on time very polite and the work they did was excellent. However I was told that I needed to get another gallon of paint for the fence which I did. They did not finish the fence that day. The Second gallon of paint that was requested for the bedroom was not even used. The owner was there at the end of the day and I gave him a check for $450. I can't remember whether I was told for I assumed that a little bit more money would be required to send the painters back to complete the job .One painter was sent back the next day. Again I needed to go back and get yet another gallon of paint. The painting was finished and in approximately a half a days time. When I asked how much more money was needed I was told $450. I was outraged. I spoke to the owner and expressed my rage but he told me that he needed to cover his costs and since this was such a great deal that this was the amount. I express my views that I didn't think this is right but tbut he told me again that this is what he needed to cover his costs. At the end of our conversation he said I could pay whatever I want.But I paid the 450 because I'm an honest person. However I will NEVER and this is an capital letters never use them again. I felt like I was taken advantage of. What I assumed was going to be a $450 job plus the paint turned out to be a $1500 job. It was not the $1500 job. Again I would like to express that his workers were very professional they did a great job and I couldn't of asked for more in that respect

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Rani was nice and pretty responsive when we were initially scheduling the work. He uphold me on extra work but I could understand the rationale and so went with it. Unfortunately, his worker was extremely late and did sloppy work (things were not adequately covered so there was dest everywhere and plaster on the counter). The cement boards were not flush and the incorrect screws were used. My contractor had to re-screw everything in before he could do his work. Rani attempted but failed to make us whole.

The person on the job was not experienced or careful.  Used the wrong type of sander and damaged the wood finish.  Was also unreliable, having missed one day of work.  The final result was sub-standard.  He said he would come back to touch up things and never did.

Initially had a lot of issues getting the contractor to do the job.  Once I spoke with contractor after several times, things went very smoothly.  Job was scheduled and completed properly.

The company called to let me know the person they were sending was a little delayed.  That was thoughtful and appreciated.  He arrived just a little bit later than scheduled.  The worker was good, polite and professional. 
It would have helped to been given a list of materials needed prior, as the worker and I had to go to the lumber yard together.  Someone else mentioned that, but I had no idea what to buy.  And probably the person doing the repairs needed to eyeball it as well.  But that time was included in the time allocated for repairs.  We went to the closest place not the least expensive place.
The worker was quiet, thorough, and replaced the rotted wood with new.  That was during the summer, and I have not had any problems (although it has been a rather dry winter.)

I had purchased a Big Deal for $1199.00 for a painter for a week. At one point they told me that it wasn't actually for a week, it was only for four days. When I spoke with the manager to clarify, he stated that the gentleman that was at my house was working 10 hour days for a total of 40 hours. I informed the manager that he was only here for 8 hours a day, and the manager then told me that I was paying for an hour drive time to and from my house. I ended up purchasing extra time to get the job done, because they told me there was no way what I needed done could be finished in one week. So I paid an additional $1500.00 for an extra 3 days to ensure that the job would be done. The gentleman that came to the house was great, did excellent work and very professional. My only concern is their financial practices. When they had me sign a contract for work, it didn't list the name of the company or any contact information anywhere and seemed very unprofessional.

The worker was great. He was responsive, punctual and professional.
 Rani was a nightmare. We bought this as a special on Angie's List before Christmas 2014. I called and was finally able to schedule a time when he would come. We has the room all prepared, furniture covered and moved aside.
On January 13, 2015 I opened the door to a nattily dressed man who was obviously not going to the work. I assumed he would come and do the work. He said nothing about coming to view the job ahead of the work being done. This was my first encounter with Rani. I showed him the room and the work to be done. In our brief conversation he started to argue with me and be unpleasant. I tried to be nice so that there would not be a difficulty.
He told me that he did not know when he would schedule us, because Angie's List had sold too many of this sale and he had to squeeze the sale clients in between clients from which he made money.  He said he was considering leaving Angie's List, because they sold too many of the sale. Then, as he left he said that he would call me on Friday.
No call on Friday. I called the next week and he was out of town, but told me his workers would call me this week. We were now in the third to fourth week in January. I'd had enough!!
At this point, I asked my husband to try to schedule with Rani. He was put off a number of times and finally pinned Rani down by saying that he wanted a date or our money back.
By this time, Angie's List had called my husband and asked him how the job went. He told them everything that had occurred up til them and that we could not rate the work as he had never come to do it.
Finally Rani made a week, then a day commitment to my husband. The day was one month after his initial visit to our home.
I would never use such an unprofessional company again!! We have bought sales from Angie's List and the companies werre prompt and did a very good job.
I use Angie's List companies, because I don't want to deal with workers/companies such as Rani. I would NOT recommend Inception Home Biullding or Rani!!!

I signed up for the $199 drywall repair deal from Angie's List that Inception Home Remodeling offered. Turned out the damage was caused by mold due to an improperly constructed shower pan.  A mold remediation specialist was recommend and we followed that recommendation. Inception also recommend that we bring over an environmental specialist to verify the work once completed. Here is where things started to unravel.
The quote for the environmental specialist was $750; this seemed far too expensive for a commodity test. A very quick call to a few companies that provide such services revealed my suspicion was correct; I scheduled the appointment myself. Once the machines had been removed from the room, and the environmentalist arrived, he walked into the affected area and immediately walked out about 5 seconds later stating he could not pass this job. I contacted Inception, and to their credit, they promptly responded and scheduled the original mold remediation specialist to return and complete the job thoroughly.
At this point I scheduled other mold remediation companies to come by and evaluate the job and provide their estimate for completing the same work. I met with an additional 4 providers over the course of the week. Every single one of them confirmed the original job was done very poorly. On top of that, their estimates for performing the same work, even more thoroughly and extensive, costs significantly less than the $3450.00 I paid. Now, that foolish mistake is on me. It was a costly lesson to learn.
It seemed the knowledge that I had someone coming back to test the work caused the original mold remediation specialist to up his game significantly. Compared to the first time around, the bathroom got the royal treatment on the second pass. Why couldn't that be the way the work was done the first time? Only knowing that someone was going to verify the work did it enhance the quality of the job? Even still, I had to bring back another mold remediation specialist. I was absolutely not going to use the same company again. When the second company arrived and looked at the work performed, they still found it lacking, but better.
Inception also provided a ballpark quote to rebuild the shower after the remediation was complete. My confidence with this company was already low, so I had additional contractors come by to provide additional estimates. First I spent a good day researching how showers should be constructed so I at least had some rudimentary knowledge of what I was getting into. Unsurprisingly, Inception's price was higher than that of the other contractors I contacted in all but 1 instance. That one instance was a larger company with an extensive portfolio performing work for HGTV with their own custom warehouse where they literally construct furniture and vanities from scratch. I would basically expect them to be more expensive.
Again, to Inceptions credit, their recommendations for how the shower should be fixed were exactly in line with what the other contractors were saying and inline with the research I did re: showers.
All told, I am chalking my experience up with Inception Home Remodeling to have been an overpriced disaster. I will stress again though that my contact at the company was very responsive and always answered his phone/text messages. I never felt abandoned on that front. Inception, however, should definitely never use that same mold remediation company again.

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Great price, sloppy work. The edges of the molding don't line up and there's a build up of extra drywall in the corners, After the work was complete, I  personally had to pull out two exposed nails and clean up a significant amount of dust, debris and drywall chips.

The owner said the work couldn't be performed in the 8 hours that I had paid for because the drywall plaster patch had to dry overnight before it could be sanded and painted the next day. He said the 8 hours I paid for could not be split between two days even tho the first day was only about 5 hours of work. I negotiated $200 additional for the second day. I also paid $40 for materials. So, the total was $440 which is a little higher than I was expecting.
However, the serviceman was nice and quiet and he did a very good job. I was happy with the quality of the work and he cleaned up after the sanding portion of the job - which does get pretty messy/dusty.  The owner did contact me promptly after I purchsed the deal. Overall, I would use them again. 
It would be helpful and more accurate if the "daily deal" gave details on the "small print" of the deal like the fact that the 8 hours purchased can't be split between two consecutive days.  

I met with the contractor. He was punctual, organized, knowledgeable, and professional. He described several options (all much more than I had intended to spend) but convinced me that it would be important to do the job correctly, as moisture in bathrooms is a bad thing. He both started the job quicker than I had expected, and finished it faster as well. He worked very well with my tenants and made the inconvenience of losing a bathroom during the construction extremely minimal.
I would not hesitate to use them again.

Ranni is very responsive and promptly returns calls.  His crew is very good. I picked out the tile myself and Ranni's staff did a professional installation. We are very happy with the new tile.

Carlos was on time and did an excellent job.

I was given an arrival time, which was prompt. Went over the work to be completed. The job was completed in a quick, professional manner.

Inception did a great job. Fast work. Very professional.

Straight-forward. Easy.

Rani from Inception Home Remodeling came to my house on Tuesday, October 21, 2014. I wanted my facial boards painted. Only facial boards that came to a peak, not all facial boards were to be painted. Any facial boards that had rain gutters I did not want painted. The rain gutters were new and they hid the facial boards, I did not want any damage to the rain gutters. He said he could match the color. I also wanted a new exit door installed at the back replacing the existing door. Rani gave me a price of $3000 repair and replace bad facial boards. He said I need only two 2x6x20 facial boards. Which was included in the $3000. He wanted $500 to install the new exit door. Total cost $3500. The price was to include replace 2 facial boards, sand and paint, repair wood rot at some facial board area and primer the new facial boards. Work was started on Wednesday, October 22, 2014. I ran some errands and picked up my grandson from school. When I had returned home the worker had ripped the facial boards down and I mean ripped I could not salvage any of the facial boards. I had to buy all new facial boards. I called Rani, he said that the worker could not save the facial boards. Rani wanted $200 dollars for each new facial boards. I needed 9 new boards at $200 dollars apiece. I told Rani I cannot afford to buy 9 new facial boards. Rani said don’t worry I will work with you. The worker went to Home Depot to purchase the materials. Rani needed some money in advance to purchase the materials, I gave him $1500. Rani initialed the contract showing I had paid him .$1500. I never saw Rani again. He asked the worker to get money each day. I gave worker $1500 the second day, Julio was in charge of the job. He said If I paid him $500 dollars, he would ask Rani to give me a break, with reluctant, I paid him. Rani gave me a form and wanted me to give him a good review before the job was completed. Rani said that Angies List was running a contest it had to be turned in before Friday, October 24, 2014.  Like a fool I obliged. On Thursday,October, 23, 2014. 2 more workers showed up to primer the new facial. I asked them if they were primering the facil boards or painting, they replied priming. It was a flat brown that matched the old facial boards fairly close. As the facial boards dried 2 workers started putting up the new facial boards. On Friday, October 24, 2014, Julio asked for $100 dollars to power wash the stucco. While 2 workers were putting up the newly primered facial boards, Julio power wash the stucco. At about 4 o’clock, I asked Julio when they were going to start painting the facial boards, he said he was done. I said you can’t leave the job like this. I was supposed have the facail board with painted with Behr Semi-Gloss. I asked who is going to haul this trash away? He said ask Rani. I called Rani got no answer. I sent a email. I received a e-mail October 27, 2014. Rani said he was sending a person to clean up the mess and too give him $150. I called Rani and he said I owed him $150. I said I am not going to give you anymore money. You did not do the job that we agreed on. You did no sanding no fixing of dry rot, no painting with Behr Semi-Gloss. You put holes in my stucco from the ladder, there are bare spots on the facial, damaged my flashing, removed flashing not put back up. removed a 2x4 that hold the plywood on my roof, damaged my roof by raising the plywood while removing facial board. I am not asking for a full refund. I will pay for the materials $90 for the primer and $45 for the 9 facial boards for a grand total $135. I should have gone with J & B Painting. They gave me a price for $5000. I know they would have done a good job. As for Inception Home Remodeling I would not refer them to anybody. Angie List I hope you do the right thing and remove this company from your list.The total cost I paid Home Inception Remodeling $4340, Julio $700, total $5040. I am asking for a refund of $4905. Rani called me and wanted me to change the review or I would be sorry.I refuse to change the review this company deserves all F’s.

Rani was great to work with and was very responsive throughout the process.  His team demo'd the tile counters and backsplash from our kitchen and replaced it with caesarstone counters and a stone backsplash.  As with any major project, there were some hiccups but Rani was quick to respond and got the issues fixed in a timely manner.  Our new kitchen is beautiful and I would use Rani again, as well as recommend him to a friend for their needs.

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