The Grout Medic - Raleigh Durham & Chapel Hill

Brian was very punctual.  He told me about the product and why the need for difference.  He was very pleasant, worked for two days, finishing the job and clean up to perfection.  I wouldl recommend the grout medic to anyone.  Very professional.

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There were 2 technicians.  One who said he was part of the family did the most immaculate grout jobs I've seen.  The other fellow who did the shower and tub did a pretty average job.  I had to go back and redo several places.  Just wasn't what I was looking for.

Service on 11/29/13 The customer rep in the office is very difficult to get in touch with and plays a mean game of phone tag but it seems no one is ever truly 'in' the office to accept new service. The two men who came to do the job were professional, clean, and well mannered. However, Greg who did my job did need to come back as part if it was unfinished. Additionally, I showed him scratch marks on my chrome (part of my shower) and he said 'it comes with the job'. I expressed this needed to be fixed and it is unacceptable. I have been waiting two months for completion of the fix to my chrome. As if date if this post, I AM STILL WAITING.

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Overall once the job was complete (which required two trips - one for touch up), the result was great. I am very happy with the result. That said, Grout Medic charges a premium price and provides knowledgeable premium workmanship but the overall service and operation of Grout Medic is not in line with that premium price. (note - I did compare prices with others but chose Grout Medic due to better knowledge of how to fix the problem)
Here is more detail. The original date of the service was Friday 1/3/14 and was supposed to be two installers for one day but one installer called in sick. So the first installer volunteered to come back on Saturday to finish the job. So this was good. On Saturday the first installer finished in about half a day and asked me to verify the work was finished properly but the work was still somewhat wet so we had to tip toe around trying to make sure the work was correctly done. I had the installer touch up a few areas which he did cheerfully. (I specifically chose that word as he really wanted to make sure things were done right) We did the best we could and he fixed all issues I found that day.
Things looked much better in the bathroom but after closer inspection there were two large areas that were completely missed and some areas that were not as well done as originally thought. So I called Grout Medic and they sent someone out to complete and touch up the job. He did a great job and in the end, I am very happy with the work. But there were several other problems I ran into that I will mention below.
- In the initial call to Grout Medic to get an updated estimate (I got one estimate last year but decided not to do the work), the office manager called me back and tried to fit me into Bruce's (owner's) schedule for a particular week as I was about to travel on business. She *never* called me back and I had to follow up in mid-Dec with her when she didn't even remember speaking with me.
-- When the first installer arrived, it was clear that he wasn't really sure what exactly to do in the bathroom even though he had the estimate with the details. Obviously no one had gone over what was to be done with him.
- Grout Medic uses an email scheduling system for all jobs and on the touch up job I did not get an email confirmation of the job day/time as expected. I was not 100% sure that they were coming until I did receive a reminder email 24 hours ahead of time. (and yes, I checked my Junk email folder)
- After the initial job was completed I called and left a message that I wanted to provide feedback to Bruce (owner) on the work and schedule a touch up job. The office manager called me to schedule the touch up job but I never heard from Bruce.
- Minor point - but every one of my calls to Grout Medic went to voicemail and returned. No one actually answered the calls.
In the end, I had to be very involved to make sure things were done right which in my opinion shouldn't be necessary given the premium price paid. I would expect Bruce to insure that the final work is completely finished and in-line with the quality he expects for his company. I shouldn't have to do that by myself though I appreciate his installers insuring that I did have a chance to provide my feedback.
I would give the following grades to the personnel I dealt with.
Bruce (estimator) - A (very knowledgeable about what needs to be done and how to do it right)
First installer - B
Second installer - A
Office Manager - C
Bruce (managing his business, training employees, etc) - B
If I needed this service again, I know that I could ultimately get high quality work but given the price, I would have to think hard about whether I had the time to make sure the job was done right.

Tile looked new when completed..

We chose them because we talked to them on the home show and they were on the list with high rating. I did communicate with the owner and expressed some dissatisfaction. I told them I cannot give them good rating and he was pretty upset about that. He claimed that all of the decisions that were made were my decisions based on information that we were giving and I disagree with that. There’s no way that I would have agreed to have them go ahead and do the grout ceiling and had I known that it was going to have to be destroyed. Based on what we were told by the technicians that were sent out, they could repair what had been taken apart in order for them to determine that they were standing underneath and they could replace the tiles and basically do a simple job but they sent out a technician with more experience out the next day after they have already sealed everything and he said that there was definitely too much damage that it will all have to be demolished and replaced. The owner said that we were given 2 choices. One was to replace the pan and two is to replace the whole thing and we agreed to that. There was no point in trying to replace just a part. We could not match the tiles and the shower. It was either all or nothing as far as we were concerned but the problem that we had was the decision that was made to go ahead and do the $1,900 job which had we understood or even thought that we will have to tear the whole thing out or even a major part of it to replace the pan. We would not have approved the one day’s worth that was the $1,900 grout ceiling job. I think they just lack of the experience of knowing that seeing that kind of damage probably indicated that there was a lot of damage around the whole shower. They are good grouters. They were good at that part. I think they rushed things in places because we were told initially that the retiling would be a 5 day procedure and I think because of circumstances, it got rushed and there were some mistakes made in the tile related. I thought the caulking was not done perfectly. The person who did the work, we enjoyed working with him very much. He was very pleasant to work with.

They worked with us on splitting the two bathrooms into two different projects and setting dates with us based on our convenience.  This review has to do with the first bathroom as the second is scheduled in January 2014.  We had a lot of questions about the work and what we needed to purchase.  The quote did not include tiles.  We were to provide our own.  Through the planning dates they were responsive by e-mail whenever we had a question.  We arranged to take a week off work to be present for the work.  The week before our schedule, there was a glitch in that the worker they had scheduled to work at our house had an emergency out of town.  They wanted to reschedule us for the following week, which was impossible because we had rearranged our work schedule.  After the initial upset, they called us right back and worked on how to get someone else in on the dates we scheduled, and they resolved it all.  The worker showed up on the day scheduled within the time frame set by their office.  He was pleasant and professional and took care of the work at hand without undue interruptions.  The work took place on weekdays over 5 days.  The worker was done early on some days, but did each set of tasks on the days they were to be completed.  He cleaned up everything he did every day he was there.  When he left on the last day, everything was in place and looked beautiful.  The residual tile had been removed from the house and sat out next to our driveway for a week.  Their office called to see if it had been picked up because they had not gotten a receipt yet.  When we said it was still there, the office followed up on it and it was eventually picked up.
We have the second bathroom (a different price estimate) coming up to complete in about a month.  We asked for the same worker and  the office agrees to send him.  We are confident the second bathroom will be done in the same professional manner.

Bruce came out & discussed the work we wanted done to the master bathroom shower.  We were concerned about cracked grout joints due to house settling, cleaning, etc.  Bruce recommended replacing grout joints with silicone but warned that it would look "shinier" than what we had.  Also recommended cleaning the calcium deposits from the drain & cleaning & sealing the tile & grout.  I was a little taken aback with the price of $496 he quoted (after giving us a $50 Angie's List discount) but had nothing to compare it to.  Like a previous reviewer, we went with Grout Medic because of the positive reviews.



The technician came out & did the job on the day of the appointment.  He was punctual & very personable.  Explained to me what he would be doing & how long it would probably take.  All in all, we are happy with the job.  The drain runs better & the "shiny" grout joints look fine.  And we have more peace of mind knowing that the tiles have been professionally cleaned & sealed.

Very good experience.  Service was as described and results are beautiful. Shower looks brand new.

They just did what they said they were going to do and they did a great job.  I am happy with them.  Price wise there might have been people who would have charged less but I just felt that after reading their reviews that I wanted to go with them.  I decided to go with them because tiles are their specialty.

Our shower enclosure began leaking internally and causing water damage in the adjacent drywall. Bruce came out on short notice and gave me a fair estimate to take apart the enclosure, fix the leak, clean, and reinstall it (as well as re-caulk the entire shower). His employee, Wes, was able to come out the next day and did an outstanding job with the repair for less than half the cost of a new enclosure. I was really pleased with my experience with Bruce and his team.

Bruce was exceptional and honest with all of our questions. He even gave us a coupon or discount. We had gotten 3 estimates before choosing Bruce. His employee Shae was professional and did a great job, even removing the shower doors, without damaging our home. I would highly recommend them. They also recommended Churchill glass who was exceptional as well. We were very pleased and highly recommend their work.

Great.

Bruce was great to work with. Prompt and professional at the estimate. I was not impressed by the quality of work . . . there was still staining on my tile and grout and the silicone lines were crooked and uneven. I contacted Bruce and within 24 hours, another tech was at my house inspecting the job and ensuring my satisfaction. Due to my scheduling restrictions, the job was not able to be redone/completed for a week, but they were very accommodating to my scheduling needs and completed the job to my satisfaction on a Saturday.

The tub and tile surround look new, and there are no longer any leaking problems. During the consultation, I was told that the quality of grout and other products they use are superior to what is commonly used, and why it's better. Couldn't afford to have the tile floor cleaned and sealed, but will have them do that in the future. As well as the entire master bathroom.

Outcome was awesome, i was really impressed. The service was very professional and courteous. Will definitely use them again if the need arises.

I got a few estimates on this work and I knew when I talked to Bruce that they were the most knowledgeable and proposed the best solution.  They were very responsive and accountable (I can't say the same for others that I called) and I thought the price was in the expected ballpark given the labor intensiveness of this work.  The job was completed in 1 day (it took all day) and it looked like a brand new shower even with old tile.  They did dismantle the old shower enclosure and hauled it off because I had someone coming the next day to install a new shower enclosure.  I highly recommend the grout medic for any tile work needed and wish I had used them for my floors that I had retiled a few years ago.  I could tell from talking to Bruce that they would have done a better job.

The owner (Bruce) came over in late May for an estimate.  He listened to what we wanted them to do and suggested some additional services that they could do at the same time.  He helped us consider which custom color caulking to use to achieve the desired effect. 
After Bruce's visit, he quickly provided a detailed estimate and indicated that we could select any or all of the individual services.  We elected to have most of the proposed work done, with two exceptions.
The work was scheduled approximately three weeks after the estimate which fit well our vacation schedule.  They estimated that all the work would take about 1-1/2 days.  On the agreed upon day, their technician (Greg) showed up on time and got to work. He worked from about 9:00 to 3:30 on the first day and 9:00 to 1:00 on the second.  All the work was very professional.  I was quite pleased.  Each day, Greg cleaned up the work site and gave us instructions regarding letting the grout and caulking set.
I was very pleased with Grout Medic.  They do professional work and communicate well.  I used them a few years to clean and seal the grout in our kitchen and did not hesitate to use them for the current job. 

Trey was the only one who did the work and he was extremely professional and did an excellent job. I am thrilled with the results of every room. I thought since only one technician came that it would take all day but Trey started at around 9 am and was finished by 1:30. He never took a break and worked efficiently. I will definitely be recommending The Grout Medic to all my friends.

Grout Medic was great to work with.  Bruce gave a very good initial consult, and was very responsive with additional follow up questions and scheduling details.  Greg did a wonderful job with recaulking in the kitchen and bathrooms, and regrouting of a shower, which involved removing a shower door.  Greg was punctual, friendly, and cleaned everything up nicely, too.  Lastly, the warranty offered by Grout Medic was better than other providers I evaluated, which shows that they stand behind the quality of their work.  
We are very happy with the result and would definitely consider using Grout Medic again should the need arise!

I was told I would be amazed and happy at the finished product...I was more than amazed and more than happy. I feel like a have a new tile floor in my kitchen and wash room

Wonderful company to work with! ! Very professional and the tile work Wes did was outstanding. He had great suggestions and ideas and did a phenomenal job. The lines and layout are perfect, the edges are clean, and he cleaned up everything after he was done. I could not have had a better experience.

Bruce Lane was very responsive and gave me good information in our initial consultation.  Shay and Dean arrived on day one and were both very easy to work with and talented at what they do.  They finished the project in two days and did an excellent job!