Express Granite

wonderful. it went really well.

The process was awesome. We went to the office on a Saturday and met with Geoff. He provided great advice on what we should do and provide us with a very competitive quote. When they came out to build the template, the guy was great and provided an option that we had not thought of regarding a topper for a half wall. When the installers showed up, everything went great and they actually finished early. I would highly recommend these guys.

Beautiful quartz. Fair pricing. Good communication up until post-installation. We called about the damages done while installing our quartz - the owner did remind us that there is a clause in the contract that we signed about not being responsible for damages during install. We were expecting a nick or two, maybe even some chipped paint on our cabinets. The pictures below are what happened. I overheard the installer on the phone talking about an issue with the measure while installing. While calling to share photos and discuss what happened, the owner then told us that the hole (seen in the picture) was there prior to removing our old counters. The counters they removed were original. I find that response to be somewhat inappropriate...but either way - We 100% understand standing behind the contract. But this goes beyond the scope of the contract and for the company to wash their hands of this and say, "Well you signed the contract, sorry" and not offer to at least try to make this right is why I'm writing this review. If you use this company, expect beautiful quartz along with a hefty price tag to repair the damages done to your home. You will also be expected to vacuum and clean up after installation.

Here is the summarized version of working with Express Granite: I have countertops that were installed into my new home that I have never seen before. The owner was awful when I called to talk about the situation (I worked with the owner, I would have been better off with a salesperson that knew what they were doing). I recommend NOT going here unless you want a surprise countertop.

2/27/18 – Taking measurements • The measuring process was done. We provided 2 sinks for this install - one for the kitchen and one for the hall bathroom. The sinks were taken to Express Granite by the young man who came to our home to take measurements prior to the installation. 3/6/18 – • The day prior to the scheduled install we received a phone call stating the kitchen sink we provided was not properly tagged when it was removed from our home and Express Granite did not know which sink in their possession was to be used for our installation. We gave them the sink manufacturer and specs. 3/7/18 – Installation day. • The cut out for the sink was done incorrectly. The granite was cut too large for the sink. • The installers forgot a piece of the granite and had to retrieve it from the warehouse. • When they returned to our home, they laid the granite on top of the cabinet, but did not glue it down. • They also did not glue the windowsill. 3/8/18 – • Gary - the owner of Express Granite - came to our home to inspect the sink. He was not apologetic for the error. Instead he attempted to throw the responsibility on to my husband and me by stating this type of thing happens when folks bring their own sink to the job. Not sure WHY – I didn’t make the sink – I bought it – new. 3/8/18 – • A new sink was provided by Express Granite and installed. It is a better fit than the first, but not 100% flush around the entire sink. When the installers came to replace the sink, and glue down the section of granite and the windowsill, one of them stated..."I knew that first sink was incorrect, but what could we do?" • At this time I asked the installer to redo one of the seams on the countertop which was uneven. He attempted to fix the seam and in the process chipped the granite. He stated he didn't have the tools needed to repair the chip nor enough time because he had to leave my home in 10 minutes to get to his next job. He said he would make sure another installer came to the house on Monday, 3/12/18, to repair the chipped granite. 3/12/18 – • I had to call Express Granite to schedule the repair. The chip was repaired. The seam is still uneven. 3/26/18 – • I phoned Express Granite regarding the uneven seam. I was asked for photos, which I provided. 327/18 – • I again contacted Express Granite regarding getting on the schedule for the seam repair. Finally got a response that someone would be out on 4/2/18 to take a look. 4/2/18 – • Gary came out to our home and met with my husband. He inspected the seam and agreed the seam was unacceptable. We are awaiting a date/time to be put on the schedule so someone can come out to polish the seam. Gary said he would’ve gotten us on the schedule today, but the polisher called in sick – he told my husband the guy has a drinking problem and has missed several Mondays. (yeah, I want this guy to come out to my home! Especially not on a Monday!) 4/10/18 – • One week after Gary was at our home to look at the seam – and we have still not been contacted as to a date/time for the polisher to come to our home. • We contacted Gary – got his voicemail. No call back from him. • We contacted Livia at Express Granite. She put us on the polisher’s schedule tomorrow, 4/11/18. 4/11/2018 – • Another Express Granite employee (a polisher) came to the house today to inspect/repair the bad seam. He told us the granite on our peninsula had moved! • Granite on the peninsula is being removed. It will have to be made level, reattached and properly secured. Apparently this was not done when first installed on March 7, 2018. • This installation began on March 7, 2018. After many phone calls and multiple visits to our home from the owner and employees of Express Granite, FINALLY (Hopefully, this job is complete. Miscellaneous items: • The underside of the granite on our peninsula still has the fiberglass backing on it. When I spoke with the owner at Express Granite as to why it was not removed or buffed smooth - he said they never remove this - (even though I’ve noticed some of the overhang on my counter tops is smooth and some still has the fiberglass backing???) Again - Gary was not apologetic nor did he offer any compromise regarding this issue. (What he said was “your husband is in the business, he should’ve known”. My husband was “in the business” for 4 months. He was not a fabricator or installer. He was in SALES. He did not sell to the end user. He sold to fabricators.) • When the countertop in the bathroom was installed there was a gap between the granite and the wall. It was not caulked on the first visit to my home. The installers had to be instructed to do this on one of their subsequent visits. Bottom line - I would not recommend Express Granite. There is a definite lack of professionalism on the part of the owner of Express Granite and his employees. Fabricating and installation abilities are sub-par. Very poor attention to detail and horrible follow up. Gary did not once phoned us to make sure we were satisfied with the original installation or any of the ‘fixes’ that had to be done. If we had not been persistent in letting them know of our dissatisfaction, the owner and employees of Express Granite would have been fine with doing a less than professional installation and letting it go at that.

I was referred to Gabe at Express Granite by our realtor. I was trying to decide between granite and quartz, and trying to stick within a certain budget. Gabe was helpful and answered all my questions in a timely manner. They arrived on time for the blueprint/mapping apt and showed up on time for the install. Everything went very smoothly. Happy we went with them!

You were warned! Check Express Granite’s BBB and Angie’s List rating, and read their Google reviews. I was referred to this company by a contractor I was working with. And, I’m a moron for not checking them out. When I was considering purchasing, I was going over the details of the job and job site. All I got was, “oh, that’s not problem”, “we can definitely do that”, “shouldn’t be an issue.” They were more than accommodating when selling you your granite. Basically, the owner (Gary) was just paying me lip service and wasn’t listening to a word I said. The issue that arose was with the number (31) of steps at the job site, which Gary was made aware of before he took my deposit. I also brought this up with the guy that came out to do the template, and he said “I wouldn’t worry about it.” The day of the install I get a call from the installers saying they cannot find the house. They told their boss that they had spent half the day trying to find the house and could not get in touch with the homeowner. This was a blatant lie. According to my iPhone, they called me at 9:37am on the day of the install and left a message stating they were having trouble finding the house. I returned their call at 9:43, 6 minutes later. I guess at express granite, 6 minutes is half a day. Then they refused to install the granite citing “loose gravel” in the driveway. There was lose gravel in the driveway, but not where they had to walk. They were able to back their truck down to a concrete slap at the top of the steps. Fortunately, I had another contractor there who the installers told that they were not made aware of the steps and they were not carrying the granite down the steps because it would take too long and they had another appointment. Then I get an angry voicemail message from the owner (Gary). I return his call within 4 minutes, but he is not available and did not return my call. Then, my wife who was as the house to meet the installers, calls and tells me they left and refused to install citing “loose gravel.” They even took pictures of the gravel in the driveway, but unfortunately for them, I also took pictures the same day of where they actually had to walk, and it shows that there was no loose gravel, but only a concrete slab. What this boils down to is that Gary forgot about the steps and didn’t allow enough time for delivery. He used the “loose gravel” as an excuse to not do the install on the specified day and then cited an additional trip charge would apply. Later that afternoon, 5:37pm, I tried to call Gary again to find out what had happened. I have never been so verbally abuse by anyone in my entire life. Who speaks to customers this way? Well, Gary at Express Granite apparently. Read his BBB, Angie’s List, and Google reviews. Apparently, I’m not the first to have issues with them. Don’t make the same mistake I did. There are plenty of others granite companies out there, and almost all have better ratings than Express Granite. Just in case there was any doubt that I went over the steps issue with Express granite, and as I prepared for this to get ugly, I went back to 5 delivery companies I has used on this project, flooring, appliances, furniture, kitchen cabinets, and lumber. All but one company signed an affirmation letters stating that I discussed the steps with them prior to delivery to ensure there would not be a problem. FYI, none of them charged me any additional amounts for delivery.

These guys had the best price in town, for the exact same stone. Everything went perfect. No complaints at all. Other companies wanted to put a seam over my lazy susan, granite express installed one slab. Was a totally seamless installation.

Horrible. The installers drilled holes in the granite inside our bathroom. Pieces of granite and dust were everywhere. Once the installers left I noticed an orange/yellow colored spot about 2 by 3 inches that had ridges. There is also a piece of the granite by the spot that is rough. It was obvious some sort of patch was done on a possible chip. The color of the patch does not match any of the colors on the granite and sticks out like a sore thumb. The man who sealed our granite from a different company also thought it looked like a patch. Upon searching the internet, I found exact examples of "unacceptable patching of granite" that looked like our patch. Upon calling Greg the following day, he said that patching was common practice and would not offer any solution or concern to our problem. He stated he was not sure our granite had patch work done and asked me to text him a picture of the patch. He said he would call me back. I sent several pictures via text and called him on his cell and the store (as well as sending another text) the next day. He never answered the phone. I have never heard from Greg again. I paid a lot of money for a new granite counter top. I was never told upfront that the granite would be a defective, repaired piece. This company is not legitimate and is fleecing it's customers. I urge anyone to run from this company and do not do business with them.

They measured our project in early April and told us not to change anything. Our new cabinets were bare, nothing on them to skew the measurements. When they installed a month later they told us that our cabinets were not level and would require a shim or two. Well, a shim or two is an inch and a half at one end. My expensive piece of stone is sitting atop three shims glued in place. If they would have told me I was unlevel when they templated in early April I could have had them leveled. I spoke with Gary at Granite Express and he says that it is my problem. The only accomodation he will make is to charge me $400.00 to remove the stone but only if I sign a waiver that if they break the counter top it is my problem. This would not have been a problem from the get go if his employee had told us to level our cabinets. I even had a contractor on site while they were installing and he could have fixed the problem on the spot if they had allowed it. All it would have taken at that time was loosening a screw or two and shimming the bottom of the cabinet. Now, it is incredibly ugly and not secure.

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I was hesitant to use Express becasue there was no record of them on Angie's List. However, my neighbor used them and i saw that they did quality work. She indicated that she had no issues. So we went ahead with Express since they were priced below the our estimates. We went to the granite wholesaler a few times to get an idea of what we were looking for and to get an exact price. After we picked the color and agreed on the price, we moved forward. The only reason I give them a "B" in professionalism is that there were two instances where they messed up the scheduling. The first was when we were going to select are specific slab. Greg was going to meet us there but called the night before or so to tell us he had to go to a measurement and could not make it. He offered to reschedule but our schedule was tight so we were unable to. He assured me that he would look them over once they got to his store anyway and would alert me if there were any issues (cracks, etc) that I did not notice. My wife and I went alone and picked out the slabs we wanted. Greg did call them and had them move a few out so we could see what we were getting. The slabs were laid out and ready to go when we got there, which was nice. Another scheduling issue arose when the lady who runs the schedule called and told me that they double booked the guy who was scheduled to come over and template the kitchen. She asked if I could reschedule. I was unable to and the guy showed up as scheduled. So both of these scheduling issues did not turn out to be a problem at all, but it made me a little nervous about the project. When the gentleman came over to do the template, he offered suggestions and we made some changes to the template of the island. We also added the bathroom vanity which was not a problem for them. After the template was done, Greg called me about the price changes, which we were expecting given the changes that we made. I am pretty sure Greg knew that we were going to make the changes regardless of price (within reason) but the upcharge was in my opinion quite reasonable. In other words, he probably could have run up the price on me for the additions, but he didn't. Finally, the day of install came. Just about three weeks following signing the contract. Two guys came by about 8:30 and and tore out my existing countertops and replaced them with granite. They gave me some instructions and were gone by 1pm. It looked great!. I am very pleased with the work they did and I really couldn't be happier. I would undoubtedly use them again.

Prior to installation, consulted with Greg Takavitz regarding stone to place on vanity in master bathroom. Fully expected guidance during inquiry and discussion on type, style and color of stone (based on his expertise). After Kashmir White granite was installed, there were water spots everywhere on the granite. Any liquid would leave a stain on the granite. Emailed Greg asking if the granite was sealed. He responded via email that his installation crew sealed the granite and offered to seal them again or sale the sealant they use to be self applied. He also stated in the email that Kashmir White is one of the most porous species of granite. This was very upsetting as he should have provided that information prior to purchase and installation into a bathroom. Had he been a responsible fabricator and advised that the species of granite selected was extremely porous, a different, less porous species or stone would have been selected. This was relayed to him via email along with request to have the granite resealed by Express Granite. Dissatisfaction over the lack of customer service regarding utilizing his knowledge of porous species and not relaying this information to his costumer prior to purchase and installation, was also stated in the email. After this email, he did not return any phone calls nor respond to the email. He also did not seal the granite again as requested. Store purchased sealant was self applied. Other species of granite were installed in the home, including the kitchen, by other fabricators. There are NO porosity issues with those stones. Never had porosity issues with any other stones in previous homes. Will NEVER use Express Granite again! Does not respond to customer inquiry. Has no concern for customer satisfaction.