DT GROUP LLC
About us
We are General Contractors in the Chicago-land and Suburb area. Our company builds custom homes, creates additions, basement renovations, new home movie theaters, and even new decks for the summer-time. Last but not least, we remodel kitchens and bathrooms. We are licensed and bonded. We offer free estimates. First time clients get 10% off on any project. We use licensed sub-contractors for all trades when necessary.
Business highlights
Services we offer
Residential and commercial building and remodeling Residential and commercial landscaping and snow removal Property management 27/7 Emergency service
Amenities
Emergency Services
Yes
Free Estimates
Yes
Accepted Payment Methods
- CreditCard
Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
---|---|---|
63% | ||
19% | ||
6% | ||
2% | ||
10% |
We bought a coupon for 4 hours of labor. The individual was asked to change out a light fixture and put together an IKEA kitchen island. The light fixture was changed out, but the light was hung by the cord and not the chain, ie the chain was longer than the electrical going into the ceiling. I fixed it...8 month pregnant with twins. The IKEA kitchen island was not finished and there was a significant amount of hardware missing from the parts completed. Approximately three hours was spent on this and it should have been completed in that amount of time. He literally left me with a box of hardware and a 2/3 completed kitchen island. I completed this as well, but needed to have help moving it into the kitchen as the piece weights about 100lb and, as I said, was 8 months pregnant.
I believe one of the problems was that the man who came barley spoke English and my Spanish, which is certainly sufficient in many situations and in no way basic, contained insufficient household/construction words to get my point across well. Also, he was slow. So very, very slow.
the house down to the foundation. Frenkel puts himself down as the contractor, that way he doesn't have to hire licensed people to do the jobs properly. Frenkel hires guys off the street who have no idea what they are doing and it shows. The workers we talked to confirmed this for us. Here's an example of what we dealt with: We were told that we could have a washer and dryer delivered and they would install them. A couple weeks before closing Frenkel said he never agreed we could do that. That was a flat out lie, one of many that would eventually come to light. Turns out that the reason Frenkel didn't let us deliver the washer/dryer was because they never installed a gas shut off and the second floor laundry room was built so undersized that you couldn't fit both appliances inside without them sticking out past the doors. We had to hire a carpenter to expand the laundry area in order to get the room's doors to close. Another example was the ductwork. When we had a real professional come out to look, we found that the ductwork was only half the size it should be. That was what was causing the loud banging noises from the AC. We had to cut into the first floor and install a floor mounted return. Frenkel also installed the second floor return intakes near the floor instead of near the ceiling. We had to seal them up and move them towards the ceiling. Another example was the water heater exhaust pvc piping. Frenkel didn't even bother to glue it together, it was just pushed together with no sealant. Another example would be the doors and locks in the house. During the walk through, the lock handle to the back door came off in my hand. The lock on the front door and the garage just slid out. All had to be replaced because they were not installed correctly. We had to re-hang doors because they would just slide shut. We had to install a plumbing valve in order to get the hot water separated from the cold water. We had to caulk around the bathtub and showers and seal all the tiles because they neglected to do any of that. Speaking of tiles, we purchased expensive glass accent tile for the master shower. Some of the tiles were clear, so in order to properly install them you had to use white thinset. Frenkel used grey. You also could not use a trowel, the thinset needed to be pressed instead. Frenkel trowels it, and left us with clear tiles showing grey trowel marks behind them. Totally ruined the whole thing, the tiles had to be replaced by a licensed contractor. On painting, we were promised Benjamin Moore eggshell, but Frenkel bought an off brand and tried to color match it to the BM colors we had picked out. The paint they put up was also all flat instead of eggshell. The whole place felt like a chalkboard. The lighting was no different. We purchased the majority of the lights for the house because Frenkel would otherwise just buy the cheapest lights from Menards (Sidenote: we once asked for a certain colored grout to match tiles, Frenkel said it wasn't available at Menards, we said it's at Lowes, he said he doesn't go to Lowes and doesn't have time to go "all over" and that once again "he doesn't work for us"). Anyway, we had three pendant lights over the kitchen island. At the walk through, we took one look and wondered if Frenkel and his crew were ruining things on purpose because between the 1st and 2nd light the distance was 27", but between the 2nd and 3rd lights the distance was 33". It was glaring and obvious. Frenkel and his crew apparently do not own a chalk line either because everytime you had more than two lights in a row, such as can lights, they weren't even close to being in a straight lline. We had to move many lights and then repair the drywall to get a straight line going. Total amateur hour. The DT Group apparently doesn't employ a licensed carpenter, and if they do, then they should be fired immediately. We have a shallow riser in our stairs leading down to the basement. Not an easy fix. They must not know how to measure because that is stair building 101. Actually, none of the stairs they installed are really any good in terms of uniformity on rise and run. Continuing on carpentry, the trim is a total mess. Frenkel and his guys don't know how to miter a corner, so they use these peg pieces on every inside and outside corner. They also put toe kick trim on the bottom, but it just abruptly stops and starts at the ends and at the corners with no mitering or taper, it looks ridiculous. The window trim is just as bad. They purchased trim with a rounded edge, but when they made cuts they didn't bother to sand the cut edge to make it round. Total lack of detail. They also purchased cabinets that were just cheap outdated junk from China. It's a shame really, because there are at least a dozen local places selling USA made cabinets that are priced similarly. Still, they cabinets were installed crooked and the trim was unfinished and raw. On the deck the story was the same. Apparently they don't make peg pieces for decks so they had to try mitering. There were 1/2 gaps on the corners, pathetic. They also cut into the rail supports, after the Village Inspector came out, for some unknown reason, turning a 4x4 into a 1x1 at the bottom. Suffice to say we had to reinforce the railings big time. Also, Frenkel and his guys cut into the roof trusses after an inspection in order to install an attic door. That one we caught in time, so they had to fix it, but it shows a pattern of behavior. You are only allowed so much space in these reviews so I will wrap it up. All in all, we would never recommend anyone do any business with DT Group, LLC., let alone buy an entrie house from them. We definitely learned a few things on this one. Even our mild mannered realtor told Frenkel's realtor that she would never show a house from him ever again. So, it's not just us, and feel free to Google Tom Frenkel to see the impact of his previous work, under a different company name of course. DT Group and Tom Frenkel should be avoided at all costs.
Great results.
Inside arch was a beige so perhaps it was missed.
Either way, we would use them again.
Licensing
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