Mcdonald Marble & Stone Inc

unknown

Extremely poorly and I'm sorry this story is so long, but you have to read it to believe it. We chose McDonald Marble and Stone because their prices were competitive and we liked the no-pressure, "just the facts" sales style of the manager Kristin McDonald. However, our initial impression of her unfortunately hid a serious lack of professionalism with her company that would haunt the project and make installing the countertops the most stressful and single worst part of our entire home building project. Problems began when they delivered our large island granite slab and it had a crack running about 14 inches diagonally from the middle to the side of the stone and clear underneath it as well. This crack was visible when we went to their shop to pick out the stone and have it measured and we were alarmed, but Kristin helped us tape off our section away from the crack and told us we had no worries. So when the stone showed up in our kitchen and it's cracked we were very disappointed, but the real disappointment was when the installer tried to convince us it was just a "fissure". We are aware that granite that can have fissures which are a part of the natural character of the stone and usually run with the patterns of the stone (there are several in this stone now actually). But this was clearly not a fissure as it ran opposite the natural patterns and underneath the stone as well and every sub-contractor and visitor instantly asked "why it was cracked" upon walking into the kitchen. One of McDonald's own installers was overheard talking to another worker and called it a crack himself! Yet the install crew disputed this with us so we called the owner. She told us she would replace the stone and didn't really argue with us about it. We were happy she saw things our way. Unfortunately, it got worse from there. When the guy came out to replace the stone several days later he decided it was a good idea to argue with my wife and tell her again that it was not a crack (even though he had been ordered to replace it already so it was moot! Why argue at this point??). My wife told him she really didn't want to argue about it anymore, but he insisted on pressing the issue which really upset her...for no good reason! Not only that, but during the replacement install he damaged our island cabinet and trim work breaking two trim boards. He also tracked red clay mud from our front yard right over our new carpets in our bedroom, staining them on the very day they were being installed! No apology and he left without mentioning either. When my wife emailed Kristin she said she was so sorry and had never had a job go this poorly and would make it right. We understand things can go wrong and were at least happy she was admitting how poorly this was going and seemed to want to make it right. But when I got home that day I also noticed the sealant they had finished the stone with was done extremely poorly (their were spots that were thick, glossy, and glaring and other spots that looked like they had no sealant). This was supposed to be a honed and leathered finish with little to no gloss or shine and here were sporadic puddles of thick glossy sealant. It looked terrible. At this point our builder stepped in and called Kristin and told her about politely told her about the sealant issues and, in a very nice gesture, that he would take care of shampooing our stained carpets and repairing the island cabinets if she would just come out and simply look at the sealant job to see if it could be improved. The first thing Kristin did was snap at him and say that he could just get his money back and they would come and rip the stone out of our island again and be done with us. He was being kind. She was being rude and unreasonable over what was clearly a terrible experience of her company's own creation. We were ready to move into our house and didn't want to start over. Luckily, our builder called one of the stone companies he regularly works and they came out and saved the day for free! They instantly saw that the sealant was applied incorrectly and worked for a half day removing the old finish and spots were it was applied too thick. Our stone looks terrific now so thanks to them. We never heard from McDonald again, save the bill. So that's the story. Tell me how I am supposed to rate this experience and this company higher than a D? I just wish McDonald would have realized that giving up on a project is not an answer when the errors and mistakes are your own fault. Apparently, the customer is just a part of their process and not someone that comes first or even second for that matter.

unknown

This is my 2nd time using McDonald Marble and Stone for a remodel/new construction project and they are just easier to work with than Mees and Kentuckiana Countertops. Their prices are equivalent or better than Mees and KI. They do have a 10-14 day lead time after templating - if they could bring this down to and lt;5 days that would be ideal. I did not have to send back any pieces for the entire project so the templater did an excellent job. All the work turned out beautiful! They were able to acquire a wide range of quartz products from various manufacturers in a timely fashion for my project. Their remnant selection is good as well. Lastly, I appreciated that the installers actually care about not damaging cabinetry and walls.

All work was completed on schedule, workers were on time, worked very clean, and did extremely professional work - the countertops look much better than they ever did before. After the job was completed, I was informed that the total bill was $750, which was due to 1.5 hours of work over the initial estimate. I expressed my frustration, explaining that it was my understanding that the work was being billed by the job. There were no unexpected difficulties, so I did not expect the final bill to be any different than the initial estimate.
Kristin was very patient and professional, explaining that the work was billed as a service call, and that I was being charged for the total number of hours in my home. On the estimate, one hour of work was quoted, which she admitted was too few hours for the job.
I do not believe the estimate was intentionally low in order to get the job. I think this was a simple case of miscommunication - they understood this the work was to be billed by the hour, I understood it was billed by the job. Kristin was very understanding, and in the end we agreed to split the difference.
I would use McDonald again. They did a top-notch job with the countertops. I would just make sure that the estimate more closely reflects the final price of the job.

I first met with Kathy some weeks before the remodel. I told her my and quot;visionand quot; and she was able to offer us three choices of granite at different price ranges. I was taken to the back to look at the full slabs and that helped make the choice easier. After the quote, the template maker came to our house to create the templates for our countertops. We have an older home and our walls are not plumb. The templates (and the countertops) match the bows and indentations of our walls exactly!
The counters were finished ahead of schedule, the gentlemen that installed them were polite, professional and took extra care to make them fit exactly. The only negative is that they were about 30 minutes late from the quoted install time.
The countertops are gorgeous!! We have had some awful experiences with this install, but this was not one of them.

Good from start to finish.

Started off well on initial visit to showroom. Salesperson was friendly and helpful, and seemed knowledgeable. Received prompt price quote, but follow-up questions (sent by e-mail) were not answered. Best price quoted out of 3 companies, so went with them. One glitch came after calling to place the order -- salesperson said she had forgotten to include one area in her quote, and the total price would actually be about $300 more. I pushed back on this, and they ended up honoring the original quote.

Went back to showroom before the counters were cut to select slab (as offered during first visit.) They had already placed the template on a and quot;pre-selectedand quot; slab, so I was not able to see the entire area. Saw one area showing that I didn't like (deep fissure), and we moved that part of the template. However, I wish that I had asked them to remove the entire template. Once installed, there are several very long and deep fissures in the granite. I had signed off at contract time that this was part of the natural stone, and that the particular stone we had selected was prone to pits and fissures. However, I feel almost as if it was intentional to pre-select and cover those areas before I arrived (rather than allowing me to see the entire slab BEFORE placing the template.) I never would have ok'd that slab if I had seen the extent of the markings.

Installation went pretty well. Installers arrived about 30 minutes after the quoted time. Only real issue with install is the one seam that we have. It's pretty noticeable -- an and quot;okand quot; job, but not the quality workmanship I had expected from this company.

In general, it was just an ok experience. Not sure that I would select them again, but if I do, I will know several things to be on the look-out for throughout the process.

They did a wonderful job. We had been to another place and the stone they showed was unacceptable. It had too many damages. We went with McDonald's after that. Their service is good. They come out and are extremely competent. They measure and cut the counter top to perfection. They were here for six to seven hours to finish the job. They were very competent. They came and did their job and left. I am very happy with them. They were super good in punctuality. They were here when they said they will be here, and they finished the work on time. They went to into great details to explain things to me whenever I had questions. The best thing about them is that they do not have subcontractors and all the workers are employees of the company.