QEI Construction

First I can not fault the contractor for his mannerism.  Although I did not find him to be professional at all times he is a very mannerly individual.  The problem with the service provided was that he made several changes to original plans w/o consulting us and the changes did not meet our requirements. On top of that he ran over cost which I would not have minded if our needs were actually met.  Everything that he actually subcontracted out was done wonderfully.  The heating/cooling system is amazing and the people who put it in were wonderful.  The plumbing was actually subcontracted out to one of our family members who is a plumber and that was done well.  The brick mason that did the work on the side of the house did a wonderful job.  The things that the contractor did himself were not done well.  The kitchen cabinets placed were not my approved and signed off design.  I asked for a particular size appliances and I only got one of them.  The kitchen space is super small so I wanted slim line appliances,  The only one I got was the 24 inch stove.  Yet I still ended up paying over estimated cost for appliances and cabinetry that did not meet my requirements.  I needed a tall toilet for the bathroom.  When we moved in and started using the bathroom we realized the toilet was a nice height.  He switched it out claiming the new toilet was the same height yet the new toilet is not only shorter than the old but it is cheaper material then the old toilet.  He left marks on the new toilet from grinding down nails and when told to him he told me to use a scrub pad on it.  The bathroom sink was suppose to be taller than the normal sink this was totally over looked and not done.
I found the contractor to be cheap in the work he did himself.  And sneakly put things in place before we were able to disapprove or comment on suitability.   While I appreciate watching cost in the end we still ended up paying more for services that were not satisfactory.  Most of all work that was suppose to be done in 14-21 days extended into a four month period.  When asked about all of these problems he does a good job of trying to calm you without taking blame for his below par performance.  I would opt for maybe a more experience contractor the next time or to just do it myself.  If I had to use him again I would make sure he hired all subcontractors to do all of the work.  I would be willing to pay the higher price than have him do the work himself.