THE MACE GROUP

Shawn runs a family business &  he says that all of the  people working for him are his family.  He takes great pride in his work & he attends our church, so I went with him.   He is creative, kind, and attentive to detail...maybe just a bit scattered, perhaps overbooked...but creative people are this way, aren't they?    He was referred to us thru  another local handyman who was too booked out to do our job before our painter  arrived.  
We?re still waiting for our woodwork to be painted and finished off (I didn?t realize there are  lots of nails in new wainscot woodwork that needs lots of  caulking. Shawn told me from the beginning  that our bid included the caulking, but later balked a bit  at how long it took  him.  I am not a contractor, so I rely on  the professional to know and bid it right, as I told him. 
We?ll report later on how the woodwork turns out.  The lines are very straight & precise, but the tons of nail
holes are still quite visible even  Shawn assures me that, once painted, these caulk holes will disappear.  We?ll update later on how it all turns out.)  
I communicated with Shawn by texting and phone. I was able to email him, too as I'm a big emailer and very detailed; but, he is unable to respond via email. Not sure why?  There were NO communication problems with Shawn and his crew at
all, until the end when the contract price went up close to $1000 and one confusion about the type of crown molding we wanted in part of our home.  But, we came to agreement.   When the price went up, Shawn tried to answer my questions thoroughly but I wasn't satisfied.  I have  to say that Shawn did tell me to pay what I thought was  fair if I thought that his new charges were off. 
They did have a 3-day delay midway due to a  death in their family, but other than that they were here every day until the work was done.
His explanation for the additional final charges  on our woodwork somewhat made sense, but I was still quite surprised ...and they somehow didn't  seem fair to us esp. since I felt overcharged by around $600 or so on the tile backsplash  job.  And, there are outstanding problems with the tile job that Shawn assures me that he will fix.  (We?ll update you when that?s done.)  When they did our grout, it was unusually  late in the day, for The Mace Group,  after a full day of work at our site. (Typically they were gone  by 5pm everyday.)  But, the day of the grouting they were still here at 6.30 when I left to take my kids for dinner working on the grout.   I'll keep you updated on how it all turns out.
Shawn  laid the  backsplash and bid $1250 saying this is what a ?standard? sized Carmel kitchen usually costs, but then he didn?t use ½ the tile that he had me purchase at the  Tile Store. (It was always agreed that I was purchasing the tile.)  I appreciated that he made sure that I got quality tile.  When I questioned that I  should be charged less for less square footage of tile laid, I never got a response on that. 
His contract is not terribly detailed and I did ask for it  all in writing, so my suggestion is ask for detailed contract, receipts, and do
very detailed change orders if you make any changes discussing new charges  upfront so you don?t have any surprises.  He seemed to purchase all trim work supplies thru Lowes.
Remodeling is very stressful!  Shawn asks for 50% upfront  which I think is hefty as contractors go. (My exterior painter, for example, asked for a more standard 10%.)
If you like to see the workers at your house early, this is not the company for you!   They consistently started later in the morning, 10am each day and Shawn (who did the tile laying work) would  work ½ days or I wouldn?t see him for days.  But, they were here each day and their schedule worked for  us.  Having remodeling  work done in your  house is all in the dirty details, including detailed contracts with detailed  change orders!  Lesson learned.  
I would say that, depending on how all the woodwork turns out after painting, and how he fixes up my tile job (hopefully this will be a very minor issue!)  we'd likely  use Shawn again.  He's a nice guy and does take pride in a job well-done.  You do need to keep constant communications going with any remodeler at your home.  And,   I would just be sure to get all the details in writing, upfront.    Andy changes to the contract, in detail, with dollar amounts, too!

The communication was terrible.The job went four weeks past the original completion date. It only finished then because we told him we wanted them out.We never knew when he was coming.Would only work a few hours a day at best because he overbooks himself.Painting was sloppy and I have since had it redone.Paint splattered all over new marble tile.Grout between backsplash and Granite counter top cracked within 2 weeks of finishing and had to be redone by someone else which was my choice.Outlets on backsplash were cut way too big. I asked for all outlets in the kitchen to be changed to white. I guess they thought I would never look behind the refrigerator because it is unchanged.Dry wall workers dont use drop clothes as there was drywall mud all over my new wood floors.Workers scratched my new appliances as well as new tile floor.Excuses for paint on tile floor was my dad painted it and he cant see very well.Used wall paint on trim board. Watch out for the bottles of tobacco spit left in your house. Electrical work appears to be done right although, I did not have it inspected..Cabnets were removed and stained which as of now are very nice. Please be aware,some of the subcontractors have sticky fingers.

They had their plumber come in and put the plumbing together. They were pleasant, came every day when they said they would, but double charged us. They gave us a verbal price and never gave a written quote. They said the price would be $8,000 to do the bathrooms (just the labor) and right after the work was completed, it was $16,000. He was not professional since he never gave an written estimate when I asked over and over again. We did not know what to do about the charges and learned the hard way. They were just terrible about the price and presenting it early on in the project.

A few pieces of siding blew off our home in a storm. I called Mace Group and scheduled an estimate for repairs later in the week. On the day of the appointment they did not call or show. We never heard back from them and went with another company for the repairs.

He was 45 minutes late when said he would show up the first time. He stated he had come by, but he didn't call, we did not know he was here. He never gave us a detailed, written estimate, he seems to be chronically tardy. He has not completed the work I hired him to do. He does not keep us informed regarding the work or when he will be here. He stated he would give us photographs of the crawl space, he has not. I called him today because he did not show up and he stated he should have called, he was in the hospital with his sick baby. He should have told us about his scheduled birth. He has left the crawl space exposed and now we are worried about moisture rotting the wood and getting into the crawl space. He is not a conscientious person. He is not a good communicator and is not dependable. He stated he would dry out the crawl space with fans, but he has not. He is supposed to dig some window wells and when he was digging these out he found some cables and never told us about them, he just left them in the yard.

Shawn was the first person we called and the first to arrive and to leave us an estimate. He was asked to come out a second time since our plans had changed slightly and we wanted to see if he would like to update his estimate. He came out, but did not update his estimate. He had several good ideas. We went with a handyman and did some of the work ourselves.

He was a pleasure to work with. He appreciated and understood my concerns and I had a great deal of trust for him. He is an incredibly decent individual.