The Bath & Kitchen Gallery

They never seemed to want to do the job. Talked to George twice and he promised to get back to me so we could start work. Never did. We called the owner Joe, left two messages for him to call us and he never did either. Geezzz guys if you didn't want to do the job just say so. A little communication would have been nice.

No one will believe this. The entire staff did the best work imaginable. There were two or three 'issues'. Everyone one of them was resolved with a smile and perfect completion. I can only speak accolades to the entire staff. I had only to mention a concern and the staff were there to help us make a knowledgeable decision. The lead construction person hurt himself and even after that each staff member pitched in and the construction went on as scheduled. I cannot single out one as better than the other, or the best. They are all professional and treated my house as their own. The staff at the beginning helped us resolve all different kinds of issues: cabinets, exhaust fan, lighting, flooring, granite, type of windows, kitchen layout, and backsplash. The staff made changes on the go as needed to comply with the needs of my spouse. The cost was always minimal. The equipment they needed was always kept in neat and out of the way place. They always kept the construction site extremely clean. Cabinets, flooring, appliances, and construction supplies were always available when needed and were never a nuisance.

It is great, we are very happy - we are at the final few days of the job, just waiting for cabinet draw and door pulls and a few finishing touches. I would happily recommend them to anyone considering these types of renovations.

This company came out, and Curt was going to give a quote on a bathroom remodel. I also ordered a vanity for another bathroom, and I was going to install the vanity. The bathroom vanity came in, and it was the wrong model. I wanted a model with drawers on the one side, but he ordered two doors model. It took about five weeks to come in, and I did not want to wait even longer for the other model, so I told Curt I would keep this model. He told me there was a 92 dollar difference. There was also a bit of damage to the door. I was told he would get a replacement for the door and I would get a check for the difference. About three months later I finally had to go into the office after multiple promises by Curt to delivery both door and check and every time he did not show up. When I went into the office, I received a 50 dollar check, and no one could explain the discrepancy. I asked if I could speak to a manager and that was last, and I have not received a call from Curt or a manger. I would not recommend ordering anything from this company based on the troubles I have had. While all this was going on with the cabinet, I received the bathroom quote, 10K over all other quotes. I am not even sure why he came out. I was looking for something with dual rain heads and modern. The quote was for a single shower with shower bar. Nothing I discussed with Curt was in the quote, it was a total waste of time.

unknown

unknown

Called several times and set appointment for designer / estimator to provide estimate.  Never showed for scheduled appointment, then several weeks later, after we had chosen contractor, K&B called to set new appointment - no reason provided for delay.

unknown

Moved garden tub , enlarged shower, new tile, new glass enclosure, new fixtures and rain head, new toilet, new ceiling exhaust fan.

I hired them based on the suggestion of another person in my building and because they had done other remodels there. The building is old and I was looking with someone with experience in the building. Their team are very nice folks and the quality of their trade people is good, however, in comparison to others I have worked with: they do not manage their projects well, aggressively, or in a timely manner; their change orders are overpriced; they do not schedule or plan well (or they do not share the details of the plan); and they do not provide enough forewarning of when you (the customer) need to complete activities; and they are not proactive with communicating.

The project began with drawings. The architect they worked with, G2 Design, provided a nice initial design based on my direction. However, as the drawings progressed they were consistent delays in turning reviews. I would provide immediate, clearly documented feedback and it would take them 2+ weeks to make changes. The B&K team would tell me ?it is out of my control? when pressed. Subsequent rounds of drawings included inaccuracies or omissions including missing electrical, plumbing, etc. that neither the architect nor the B&K team caught before I did. Repeated reviews because of lack of quality increased the delays. The drawings that were submitted for permitting was initially rejected because they lacked what I felt was basic detail that should have been known by an experienced architect. In the end, the drawing process took 4 months+. While this was not directly due to B&K issues, I fault them as the general contractor for not managing the process better, providing quality oversight, and being more aggressive with their vendors.

Framing proceeded in starts and stops. Over the course of the project as change orders came up, I often felt like they were overpriced, with hourly rates that I calculated based on a reasonable time to complete the job/ cost running north of $150 an hour and hirer. For example, I received a plumbing change order for $350 for what turned out to be 15 minutes of work.

As we progressed, they identified the need for 200 Amp electrical service and presented a $6000 change order. There were many challenges with working with the old building?s electrical service, and while they executed the correct steps (spoke with the utility company, spoke with the manufacturer of the electrical panel), in the end the change turned out to be impossible due to permitting and equipment issues with the building?s electrical system. The details of this particular issue are complicated, and again, not all B&K?s fault, but my frustration with them lies in the fact that they did not more aggressively manage the timing (the issue delayed construction for more than 3 months), they moved forward on the change without confirming it was possible (there were steps where I felt they should have known better or checked information for accuracy). In the end I had to get involved, and with 1 day of research realized that they change had been impossible all along. I would have expected to come to the same conclusion without such significant delay.

Currently, things are moving forward. However, despite having asked repeatedly for 3 weeks for a schedule, they have not provided one. Indicating to me that they do not have a schedule, and they do not consider my request for one a priority.

Through it all, they have been very nice and the team I work with most directly has been responsive to my calls. I have had no complaints with ?customer service?. However, they are not proactive with communication. I feel like I would not get any information from them unless I call and follow up.

The quality of their tradesman has been good. They do have several of their own people (project manager, site manager, electrician, plumber) although despite any assurances otherwise many of their workers are not employees and are sub-contractors. Both my project manager and the site manager have been helpful, responsive, and good to work with. All of the work has been of good quality.

In summary, I would not recommend them for a job this large. I believe my remodel has highlighted some challenges they have in complex projects. In the end, the good people doing good work cannot offset the reality that the remodel with take twice as long under their management.

The project was a total remodel of the kitchen. Designer was told project would start as soon as all designs and bids were reviewed.  Never received design or proposal for work.  Received phone call four weeks later asking if we were still interested.

Would not recommend.

unknown

B&K Gallery did a very good job.  While all was not perfect as the job progressed, B&K did everything they could to make things right and satisfy our wishes.  All the workers were quite pleasant and considerate.  There have been a few 'warranty' issues that B&K has taken care of quickly and without hassle.   We will use B&K again.

Within months, several rooms had failures.  Within two years, the failures expanded to over five rooms in the house.  Within three years, failures and defects in workmanship have been found in every room of the house.  We discovered that they failed to obtain building permits (at least three permits were required for the scope of the work) so their work was never reviewed by the Temple Terrace Building Inspector.  We believe that, had the work been inspected, most of the major construction defects would have been caught.  We have spent more than $42,000 more in repairs and remodeling because of Bath and Kitchen Gallery's poor workmanship, and that's only the beginning of the money we will have to pay out to fix all the problems.
It appears that Bath and Kitchen Gallery cut many corners and didn't properly supervise the job. It makes me wonder that if they were willing to cut so many corners on a project that cost over $260,000, and violate building code, what will they do to your house?  It took months and months of nagging to even get the owner of Bath and Kitchen Gallery to come to the house to see the failures.  We are most likely headed to court and have spent thousands of dollars to date in attorney's fees, construction expert witnesses, and consulting fees.  I would strongly recommend you do not use Bath and Kitchen Gallery!  I also recommend you check online as they operate another company under the same contractor license number.

MAR 18, 2014 UPDATE TO RESPONSE FROM THE BATH & KITCHEN GALLERY ON FEB 17, 2014...
You should actually read the questions you are claiming are answered incorrectly.
a) "Were services performed by the provider?" - TRUE, you did perform the services, have admitted that in front of others as well in writing by you and your attorney.
b) "Approximate date of service (or last contact)" - October 2013 is TRUE.  That was when we last contacted you in a failed effort to resolve the multitude of issues.
Regarding your other misstatements...
e) You didn't do the work on the house 3 years prior.  The prior owners owned it less than two years, 23 months to be exact, not the 36+ months you claim.  I'm assuming you're stating a wrong amount of time to avoid the warranty period.
f) The termite damage you saw was the tip of the iceberg.  You also saw, and admitted to, installing the shower pan incorrectly, installing the wall tile incorrectly, installing the floor tile incorrectly, not using the correct backer board in the water areas, and much more.  You admitted to all of these things in front of witnesses, as well as not taking out the multiple permits required by building code.
g) The termite damage was directly related to your construction defects and lack of permitting.  When you moved the drains, you failed to have a licensed termite company spray the exposed soil, as required by code.  You then failed to fill in three of the holes you made in the foundation.  Since they were subterranean termites,  your holes and untreated soil gave them direct access to the wood framing.  That type of termite needs water which was in abundance since the shower pan you installed didn't drain properly and gave them plenty of water to thrive.

Anyone reading this should already have a clear picture of the problems we've encountered based on the above account of just one room.  If needed, I'm happy to continue listing in detail all the other problems we've experienced.

I was totally impressed! I had a vague idea of what I wanted. Joe took measurements and my ideas and created a drawing that rivals anything on TV.    I have never taken on such a large project so I was a little nervous. We took a medium size living room and galley kitchen and created a huge great room and separate kitchen.  He even kept the fireplace so friends can sit around the new island and enjoy the fire.   Their showroom has many samples so I was able to visualize my  whole room.  Joe  helped me thru the whole process. The PM called me everyday and let me know what wold be done today and what to expect next.  That was very reassuring.  Once we started; we found damage to my front window; that was taken care of without any slow down to the remodeling.   The office staff also was in constant contact with me so I could schedule the deliveries of appliances and the lighting.  (I called the office 3 months after the completion to get the exact color of paint so I could touch up my new picture holes; she called me back same day with the info - wonderful!!).  The crew cleaned up as they went; every day taking the drywall, electrical and all the trash away.  I cannot say enough on how easy the whole process went.   The tile crew was great by splitting my large room into sections so i could still get around but not walking on the new install. I cannot think of any negatives except my cooking skills during the remodel. Even Joe and his crew cannot improve that. 

I would use Joe and The Bath & Kitchen Gallery for any and all installs.  I have bragged to everyone about his crew and it is a blast showing off my new and amazing house.  It really does look like a TV kitchen!

Extremely nice crew of workers.  The owner of this business is unbelievably nice!

My opinion based upon history of using this contractor twice. Be aware. This contractor needs to really look at his work force or subs they hire. The owner is professional and works out issues with you and prices are competitive however if you hire them, you really have to keep an eye on the workers on site each day. I ran into many areas where they cut corners and quality control was not there.  Honesty I don?t think many home owners look this closely as it seemed they get away with this sort of thing by how they conducted themselves on the site but if you don't it will show later if you don't pay attention to the details. You could tell the on site lead did not like it that I payed close attention.  I was the quality control!  There were too many errors I had to point out to them however they were fixed in a reasonable amount of time, but it left my wife and I wondering if they woud have been caught by there own inspection and fixed.  Just be aware.

Design was good, and all went well for awhile. Then at least one of the subs did inferior work, especially in installing the cabinetry trim and sliding shelves. Additionally, business owner urged me to let his subs install appliances; dishwasher fell from granite within a several weeks/Tate said it was not installed properly and charged me for re-installation; Mirage hardwood flooring buckled in several places; I had the entire kitchen, foyer, reading room, and hallway replaced;My installer said it appeared that not enough fixative had been used on original job. When sink fell from granite, I had to pay to have it re-installed by granite company because that company said that they had not been paid. (I gave kitchen business owner full price of granite, $6000, the day before the installation. Granite company asked me if I would join a lawsuit, but I chose not to. Owner of Bath and Kitchen Gallery was unresponsive about my cabinet concerns and walked away without his last draw. I have more than spent that amount fixing/replacing.  (The trouble with sink, dishwasher, and flooring happened after his walking away.)

This work was done in 2005, and I have taken no recourse. When I saw company name on Angie's List, I decided to give company one last chance; I emailed owner Joe G about the fact that hinges on one cabinet had actually split. Someone else who handles Diamond Cabinets advised me that Diamond would replace them at no charge and that I should get in touch with the person from whom I bought the cabinets.;I did that and got no response.That's why now I am finishing this review. Sometimes there is a "last straw."

Once we decided to renovate our house, I went to several home shows and got names of contractors.  I also went on line and looked for contractors on the web.  I came up with a list of contractors and ran them through the BBB of central Florida and also ran their license certificate numbers through the Hillsborough County License division to see if their license was current and if they had any complaints against them.  I reduced the twenty some contractors down to 6:
 
1. Re-Bath
2. Lindross
3. The Kitchen and Bath Factory
4. The Bath and Kitchen Gallery
5. Schoeman Enterprises
6. Kitchen Bath and Beyond. 
 
I then went online and did a search for reviews on each contractor.  I really didn?t get many reviews with good or negative complaints.  I called each contractor and requested a free estimate to completely gut the master bathroom, half-bath, and remodel the kitchen, but keeping the current cabinets in the kitchen.  From getting the estimates we learned several things as follows:
 
1. Low estimates should not be accepted.  You get what you pay for. 
a. One company said they could do the half-bath in one day for $4,900
b. One company came, took measurements, but never showed up to give us the estimate
c. If a company says they can?t do the job the way you want it, take them off you list that is a red flag.
d. When several companies say it would cost around $10,000 for the half bath, $24000 to 28,000 for the master bath, it is an indication of what the cost will be. The key here was only the bath and Kitchen Gallery gave us a cost of $15,000 for the kitchen
 
2. Review all the estimates presented and review them against each other
a. A complete remodel of a half bath can?t be done in one day or even three.
b. Don?t waste time with a contractor who keeps rescheduling. They can?t do the job o really don?t want the job.
c. When several companies say it would take 7 to 10 days to remodel the half-bath, 14 to 20 working days for the master bath, it is an indication of what the cost will be. Only The bath and Kitchen Gallery gave us 14 to 20 days to do the kitchen. 
3. You know what contractors can do the job because the estimates cost and time frame to do the job are close to each other.
 
4. Pay the money and join Angie?s list to get a true indication of each contractor?s ability to do the job for the right cost and time frame to complete the job.
 
5. A company that has a great showroom doesn?t equate to a good remodel.
 
6. You should always select a contractor that has at least a contractor?s license, plumbing license, and electrical license.  The cost will be more if you select a contractor that has to sub out work to a plumbing and electrical company.
 
Finally I decided to join Angie?s list to check out these contractors and was able to eliminate all but the 3 listed in 1d and 2d above. Joining Angie?s list really helped me make my decision to go with The Bath and Kitchen Gallery for the following reasons:
 
1. Joe Ferrantegennaro, President of The Bath and Kitchen Gallery, sent me a complete list of items two weeks before the requested estimate date that included a letter to confirm the appointment date, a three page list of customers for reference, Angie?s List rating and review form Angie?s list, Letter about who Joe is and what his business does, Certificate of Competency Hillsborough County with license numbers, Certificate of Liability Insurance and their mission statement.  None of the other contractors did this.
 
2. When Joe came to the house he was very nice and cordial as were the other two contractors, but he was the only one that actually had drawing items with him and drew out both the bathrooms and the kitchen in engineering drawings so he know what we had and then made changes to the drawings as we told him what we were looking for. 
 
3. We asked all the contractors to give us some ideas on what we could do to remodel our current kitchen and Joe was the only one that came up with creative ideas that we agreed to do.
 
4. Since we wanted to keep the kitchen cabinets, Joe was the only one that would give us an estimate to remodel the kitchen.  The other contractor said they couldn?t make any money on the kitchen remodel unless they could replace the cabinets.
 
5. Most important, Joe was the only one who gave us the county codes that affected what we wanted to do and how that would affect the cost of the project i.e. I wanted to remove both the other walls of the master bath and put in 2x4? wall and foam insulation which would bring out the both walls 4 inches.  If I did this, the county code would make us move the toilet four inches from both walls in order to meet 36? for the code between the wall and the bathroom vanity.  This was just one example of many we discussed. None of the other contractors let us know this.
 
6. We had visited both The Kitchen and Bath Factory and the Kitchen and Bath Beyond show rooms and got some ideas for our remodel and were disappointed at how small The Bath and Kitchen Gallery show room was.  But it goes to show that looks can deceiving and having a great show room doesn?t equate to great contractors.
 
7. Joe carries a great selection of quartz by many companies as well as tile and cabinet doors and cabinets.  We were surprised that the other two contractors only carried one company?s kind of quartz counter top where Joe carried many companies? different types.  We were set on Cambria Buckingham and Joe carried it.
 
8. Joe was the only one who sent a letter thanking us for allowing him the opportunity to provide us a proposal on our remodel project. 
 
Once we selected Joe to do our remodel we went to his showroom and picked out all our tile and cabinets etc.  Some of the things we wanted to do, like use full length slabs of granite on the bath room wall, Joe stated that large slabs tend to crack when being delivered or being brought into the house because they have to lean the slab to get it in the door ways. Also the weight of the slabs can be hard to maneuver causing cracks.   With this knowledge we decided to go with tile for the master bath.  There were numerous other things we discussed and listened to Joe?s knowledge from his experience with this type of remodel that helped us make better decisions on what we wanted.
 
My wife wanted a full length cabinet added to the kitchen cabinets that would be 36? W x 96? H x 24? deep. Joe explained that it would look out of place and too big and wouldn?t like it.  Joe stated that the depth should be 15? for it to look good with the rest of the cabinets. When the cabinet came to be installed it was 36? W x 96? H x 24? deep and immediately we saw what Joe was talking about.  The cabinet looked way out of place and ruined the look of the kitchen. We called Joe and he immediately got the right cabinet installed with no hassles.  
 
Payment options were good.  We could use a charge card or if we paid by personal check we would get 3% off the total cost.  Also the design cost for the remodel was credited to the total cost.  The payment plan was a deposit (approximately 50%) up front to order everything for the remodel, 1st draw (approximately 14%) at start of demo, 2nd draw (approximately 15%) at cabinet install, 3rd draw (approximately 15%) at plumbing rough-in, and final payment at completion.
 
Joe and we agreed that the project wouldn?t start until all cabinets, tile, and plumbing fixtures etc. were delivered and available for the remodel.  We also agreed that it would take

Excellent!  We are very pleased with the process and the final result.

Estimate was timely.

We are very satisified with this company and will use them again in the future.

Very responsive at first and prompt.  Owner was a little overbearing and not very friendly in the beginning wanted more money for agreed upon items.  Came around after awhile and was better.  Took a while to finish the last items that needed correcting.  Had to make several calls.  Was told 4 weeks and it took 8 to completely finish.  Workers were great, friendly and very conscientious.

After a small hiccup in paper-work, they TOTALLY honored their warranty.The installers were prompt, professional, good-natured, and performed great work.  My patio looks terrific!

Appt was on date/time scheduled.  Took cabinet mearsurements and we spoke about bath remodel.  Had set budget.  Their kitchen budget was 23K for cabinets on a straight replace.  Got top of line cabinets with many other options from HD for less than 12K
Bath remodel needs to be handled by contractors, not salespeople with showroom. 

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