VAN SELOW DESIGN BUILD

After researching online reviews, we hired Van Selow Design Build to redesign and remodel our master bedroom / bath and to rework some parts of our garage and perform minor repairs to another bedroom in August 2017. Unfortunately, our project did not go at all like what we saw in the online reviews. We were extremely disappointed with the design portion of the service, and in many cases the quality of materials used, the lack of supervision, the quality of workmanship, and in the responses to our concerns received from Van Selow Design Build. Prior to starting work, we had already laid out the rough sketches for the new floor plan so the initial drawing and permitting the job for construction was straightforward. However the “design phase” of the job was unorganized, and consisted of being directed to various suppliers around town to seek their advice on material selections. We found it extremely difficult to make choices for materials ranging from doors, cabinets, tile, flooring, trim, and paint colors without some coherent direction from an experienced design professional. We relied on online photos for many of our decisions and felt like we were not making sensible selections, even though we had an idea for the styles we preferred from looking at photos. The “select as you go” design approach, and the feeling of making incorrect material selections, created many delays in our project. We found it uncomfortable and exhausting. Due to issues with his job performance, our project supervisor was fired within a few weeks of the start of our project, and the owner placed the office manager to “supervise” our job while finding a replacement. This required us to be on the job to direct the trades as they arrived for their jobs each day. This caused additional delays and many hours of missed work for us. This, along with the lack of design assistance, and other on the job problems, delayed our project completion. Once a new supervisor was hired, we found him to be hurried and stretched thin with our job due to the demands of other jobs. This led to further tensions, delays and performance issues. See photos. Throughout the job, there were several problems. At the onset of the job, baseboard was installed incorrectly by painting crews and had to be removed and re-installed by a trim carpenter, inferior grade framing lumber was delivered and installed, even though it was admitted that the material was wrong. There was damage to an appliance that was not reported, a damaged gutter that was not reported, incorrect removal of vent stacks which left our home vulnerable to roof leaks that we had to get onto our roof to repair prior to an approaching hurricane, plumbing drains that were left unfinished which posed a hazard of methane gas leaking into our home, damaged wiring in a new electrical panel that had to be repaired, a missing ground connection on the new washing machine circuit that had to be repaired, our shop vacuums were used and not cleaned which ruined the filters, the knockout in shower drain was left in the p-trap, recess can lights were not properly secured, a rusty dump trailer left rust stains on our paver driveway which we had to cover with plastic to prevent further staining, and poor finish work on the stairs for which we had to hire another company to tear out and redo . To prevent delays and further issues on the job, holes from old plumbing that were left unfinished in our concrete garage floor were filled in by us in order to make the area ready for the trades to arrive the following work day. The portable toilet was removed from our property prior to job completion, and we were told that the job had run over the estimated time of completion and the toilet was an unnecessary expense, even though more time remained before the sub-contractors would be finished. On at least two occasions during the project, the permits were physically removed from our property and we were unsure if they would finish our project. The job was finally completed in April 2018. We have worked on similar large remodeling projects with other design / build firms in the past and have never run into so many issues. We understand that with any remodeling project of this size, there will be delays and unforeseen problems, but we also feel that the majority of the above problems occurred primarily due to the management style of Van Selow Design Build on our project, and therefore cannot recommend them.

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