Creative Spaces of Rochester, Inc

I had a horrible experience with this contractor. He promised that I would love it and that the work would be done in 6 weeks. Nothing came to be. After 6 months, he basically walked off the job with 98% of our money. Per the term of our contract we paid in advance for materials so that they could be ordered. Kitchen cabinets, wood flooring, and quartz counter tops were not delivered on time and only after we paid money advances, that were not per the terms of the contract. Most of the work done was substandard. 1. Tile in the mudroom and powder room floor was not installed properly (see pictures). 2. Appliances were not installed correctly or not at all. 3. Wood floors were not installed correctly 4. Jack and Jill bathroom floor tile was not installed correctly. 5. Master bathroom was never completed and shower tile was a disaster. 6. Thresholds where wood and tile floors meet were uneven and never completed. We paid for materials, which were never delivered: master bath vanity, countertop for vanity 2 toilets, shower fixtures, sinks, faucets, glass for shower, backsplash and much more. His workers complained to us that they were not being paid on time due to the fact that we were not giving Andrew monies per the terms of our contract. In fact we made every payment as scheduled, paid for all changes we wanted as the remodel progressed and advanced monies with the fear if we did not, work would stop. He promised me he would finish the job and fix what was wrong. He never responded to calls and emails. We finally made contact with Andrew and he told us he under estimated the cost of our remodel and he was out of money and would likely file for bankruptcy. Not one room was completed. I have dozens of pictures. I had to hire another contractor to rip out and fix the poor installation. Please be careful. Read all reviews and check BBB and the Monroe County Court website.

unknown

I would not recommend engaging Andrew Ribble or his company for any type of work.  Andrew promised 30% more kitchen space when in actuality, his design resulted in downsizing our refrigerator, microwave and cupboard space.  
We originally hired Andrew for design and remodel of our kitchen for 43,900 contract price.  Andrew ordered and installed poorly, the wrong sized cabinets and the trim job was horrific.  The crown molding he used was about 4 inches in diameter and looked ridiculous. He trimmed OVER our window casing and told us that was how it's always done thinking we were ignorant.   His designs caused a chain reaction of mistakes and errors.  He measurements were wrong which pigeon holed us into very limited choices for appliances. He was RARELY on site. I saw him do a little painting only one time in 3 months.  He does show up every morning for 5 minutes to drink coffee, look around and then leave his inept sub to guess what to do.
He hung our cabinets with drywall screws and rigged some metal shims above to hold them together.  Our new GC said that the few screws that were there, never would have supported weight.  Live wires were left unattended to at child level.  Our pantry cabinet door has fallen off all together.  Light leaks all over from a terrible trim effort.  I sit here today after 3 months with a kitchen that is only done 70%.
Andrew did not pay the electrician, plumber or Solid surfaces for the countertops.  He did not follow contract, he swapped out cabinets for cheaper ones and he failed to deliver all of the material that we have already paid for.  Andrew has no business being in the construction industry and has the worst work ethic I have ever seen.  Don't let him fool you like he did us, he is the worst type of criminal.  We are out $53,000, have a mediocre at best, half done kitchen and now pursuing legal action against him along with a few other parties.

We hired Andrew Ribble, owner of Creative Spaces of Rochester, Inc., in April 2012 to install our paver patio with an additional covered area. The project started well, but quickly descended into disappointment, and ultimately dissatisfaction.  Our main issues of concern/dissatisfaction relating to schedule and to some extent, quality, are as follows:


1.  We were assured that the job would be complete in 2 weeks time (start mid May and done by 6/2). After 4 missed completion dates, we had to hire an attorney to get his 'attention' and 'encourage' him to finish the job within 3 days.


2.  The finish work for the covered area, was in our opinion, simply poorly done . We were given to understand that certain specific materials would be used (bead board for the ceiling, which was actually specified in the contract, and cedar finished posts) and we came home to find that completely different, and in our opinion substantially cheaper materials had been used (vinyl soffit for the ceiling and ALUMINUM wrapped posts).  Interestingly enough, when we looked at the packaging for the aluminum, it clearly stated "DO NOT USE DIRECTLY OVER PRESSURE TREATED LUMBER", which is the type of lumber used for the posts. We had to ask him to change what was not right and give us what we agreed to.  This was done but the workmanship was disappointing.. 


3. He also provided very cheap Malibu lighting that has almost all since broken due to wind action. Had we known that we would be paying for such a flimsy product, we would have made sure that this item not been included in the project.


4. On the 3rd missed completion date, one of his workers was injured.  Fortunately the injuries were not severe, but in looking at the work that still needed to be accomplished, there was in our opinion, no way the job could have been completed to meet the 3rd extended completion date.  In a subsequent conversation with Mr. Ribble, about completion dates, he expressed his unhappiness with us because "we expressed concern of yet the 3rd missed completion date, and were apparently not concerned with the well being of his worker".  Nothing could be further from the truth, and when we tried to point out that as the project manager, it is his responsibility to have back up plans for getting the work completed, he continued to get agitated, and said that he was "really trying" to keep calm with us.  We, in our opinion, did not deserve to be treated this way by Mr. Ribble when all we wanted were some answers from him about the status of already "delayed" project.  Don't get us wrong, of course we don't want anyone having to sustain an injury, but last time we checked, when someone gets injured on a construction job, after the injured party is promptly and properly attended to, the job continues.


5. Excuses, excuses, excuses:   "It was too rainy/wet"; "It was too hot"; "It was too windy".  Obviously the elements don't always cooperate with outdoor work, but no apparent attempt was made to make up the lost time in order to meet the original, second, third or fourth promised completion dates.  Not until Mr. Ribble was threatened by our attorney to be thrown off both the job and our property did we notice workers at the house BEFORE we left for work (~7:30am).  Additionally, however, there were numerous days that we would come home to find no one working.


6. We agreed to and were charged for a certain size patio, and it is actually smaller than what we believed had been agreed to and subsequently paid for. We also felt that we had to rip down the cedar trim for the posts and finish them ourselves because the cedar was cracked! I'm sure we could have called him back to fix it but after the trouble and stress this project caused us and the quality of work we had come to expect, we opted to do the work ourselves so that we would be sure it was done the way we wanted it.  In an email from Mr. Ribble, he stated that he should have charged us "according to the invoice of ordered and delivered materials from Miller Brick".  So beware, he may attempt to charge a customer for materials ORDERED, not necessarily materials INSTALLED.    


7. In the end, he demanded and accepted our final payment and never bothered to advise us that the final inspection had not been completed. 3 days later we called the Town to get copies of all permits and we discovered that not only was no final inspection completed but there wasn't even one scheduled. WE had to schedule it ourselves! We were able to stop payment on the check and were then threatened with a mechanics lien on our house by Mr Ribble - because we stopped payment pending final inspection! In our opinion no contractor should ever ask for final payment before all inspections are completed and the work accepted by the governing authorities.  Feeling like we were being bullied, we ultimately discussed our concerns with 2 attorneys, who both said that unfortunately, the contract form that Creative Spaces uses is pretty wide open to interpretation, and not very specific in certain areas.  We were told that despite all of the valid points that we were making, we would stand no better than a 50/50 chance of prevailing in court.  As a result, and at the advice of both attorneys, we simply decided to pay the balance due (an amount we now considered to be inflated) and put an end to the entire ordeal.
 
After reading the above points, it should come as no surprise that we could in no way, ever recommend using the services of Creative Spaces of Rochester, Inc.