Artistic Contractors

We had Artistic do the following renovations to our home: - kitchen remodel - convert sunken living room to the main living area - eliminate dining room and foyer and convert the living area to an open concept design - renovate the staircase - add hardwood flooring - change the fireplace to stacked stone - add a built in wine feature I was nervous about going with a provider that I couldn't research on Angie's List. But from the inception of the project, Daron and Drew really put my mind at ease. I always felt they were actively listening to my needs and my wishes. I could not be more thrilled with my new space!! The quality of workmanship, the eye for design, the professionalism of the team and Daron and Drew are second to none. I can't wait to collaborate with them for the next phase of the project. I'm sure Artistic Contractors will be making a more and more of a name for themselves in Charlotte.

We chose Artistic because we were happy with the picture of the experience we would have with them. We were told we would be working together so that their expertise could help us get what we wanted. All of the prices we got from the contractors were similar but Artistic just felt like they were going to be more involved. We were wrong. The experience was plagued with issues that seemed to be a result of poor planning on their part. They included: We asked that they do the inside first and then the outside (we needed to get out of where we were by a set time). They did the opposite. While we did get into the house on time, they said they would do one thing and did another. We asked for black and white checkered linoleum in the kitchen and expected to be given choices. We were told one day that the linoleum was already at the house. We didn't get to pick. We now have a floor that is all...soft and odd. We would not have chosen it had we been given a choice. Several times we got calls saying we needed to "go to home depot and pick some lights" because the electrician would be there the next day. One of the things I was most excited about was the backsplash I designed with him for the kitchen. Later I was told it couldn't be done my way because "they couldn't find any 1" square tiles anywhere" and the guy doing the backsplash was just there that day. So they did a different thing I had to settle for. They messed up the order of the wood floors in the downstairs which ended up working in our favor as they had to use unfinished wood and sand and finish it for us. They ran the AC while they were sanding the floors which caused us to have to have it fixed (they paid for it). They painted the front door and then closed it before it was dry so the paint came off when we opened it. We complained and they repainted it and then closed it again....which brings me to the aftermath. They were finished last August. The door was messed up and the floor in the kitchen was terrible but overall we were happy and excited about the new house. Within a couple months we saw cracks appear along the corners and seams in the walls. Not everywhere, but a lot in some places. At Christmas we noticed that the tape the painters used was coming off in the dining room (in the corner). This also happened in a couple more places in the upstairs. I reached out to Artistic, uploaded a bunch of pictures for them to review, and was told someone would "come check it out". A month passed and I reached out again and was again told someone would come "take a look"/. Still nobody came - we got someone calling asking if we would recommend Artistic as a 203k builder. I explained to the guy what happened and he said that as long as they were done by X time the rest of the stuff didn't matter (so I guess that's not much of an endorsement for how they pick 203k contractors). I texted Artistic letting him know I had done the recommendation and they said they got the endorsement and that someone would be by to look at the issues. I then emailed, called, texted over and over from April to August and got no response. I then cc'd my mortgage broker who had recommended Artistic and amazingly they replied! They said that they were sorry that they hadn't replied sooner but the cracks and the taping issues were not their fault. He told me that the cracks must have been there originally. He said a lot of homeowners will patch cracks and then after the painting is done they come back so it was not their fault. I replied that his people pulled the original wallpaper down before they painted (which they did) so there would have been cracks then and i was never told. And that did not explain why the tape was coming off in the corner of the dining room and the ceiling upstairs. He replied that they don't tape at ceilings (they cut in with a brush) so that proved it wasn't them. I replied asking if he was trying to tell me that the previous homeowner (an elderly widow) had taken down the 30 year old wallpaper, patched up cracks, then put the wallpaper BACK so that his painters could then remove the wallpaper but leave the old tape and just paint over it... He has not replied. All I wanted was for him to come fix the stuff his people messed up. But to have him blow me off for that long, then only reply after I cc'd the mortgage guy (who also doesn't seem to care anymore) is disheartening. So hopefully this will save someone else from going through the same thing. I would not be writing this if they had come out and gone over things with me. It took him months to even LOOK at the pictures I sent. Terrible customer service. During the project and after. It would have taken very little effort to make this fine. Terrible. I have never done a review like this. I am thinking I will probably remember more things later but this is the gist of it.