The Inde Studio

They did an excellent job.

On time, no surprises. Workers were punctual, always cleaned up, considerate. Response to any questions or issues was nearly always immediate, informative, helpful. Highly recommend them.

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Not great.  The subcontract Inde hired was not at all communicative and he cut corners everywhere.  Part of the job included moving pipes, but he removed about 50 feet of copper piping that didn't need to be removed and replaced the copper pipe with cheap rubber tubing.  The floor needed to be replaced, but rather than removing the old linoleum, they placed flooring over it.  This includes placing the new floor over moldings in the doorway so the flooring was uneven.  Measurements for sink cabinets, mirror and lighting above the mirrors were completely wrong.  In other words, once all the materials delivered, the mirror height was wrong and there was no room for the lights.  The custom cabinets were built all wrong and included doors instead of drawers.  New tin roofing over our entryway was not the right length and they damaged our gutters when doing the roofing.  These are just the highlights and there was mediocre workmanship everywhere.  When we approached Inde, they just kept telling us that everything would be addressed in the final walk-through.  How do you re-install stolen pipes and fix shoddy electrical work in the walls in a final walk through?  For what they claimed they would do, I was incredibly disappointed.  We cancelled the kitchen renovation with them because the bathroom reno went so, so poorly.

I researched a few contractors. Went with Indie because they touted that each contractor worked one job at a time so the remodel would be efficient. Absolutely not true. My job lasted 6 weeks (originally estimated at 2 - 3 weeks). The contractor came and went with little communication with me. Some days he was there all day, some days he would leave after a few hours, sometimes he didn't show at all, and sometimes he left for hours in the middle of the day. He sub-contracted all painting and finishing work to a wonderful young man, Ned, who painted and did finishing carpentry. Thank goodness for Ned! When I heard that he was being paid $10/hour I was horrified. For the quality of his work, his personality, his requests for feedback every time he finished a particular job, he should have been paid at least half of the contractor's charge. In the 5th week and after several days of contractor no show, I contacted Indie and spoke to the project manager who was supposed to oversee the project's progress. He said he had been out a few times (I never saw him) and that the contractor told him everything was fine. I asked why he never contacted ME to find out how the project was going! After all, I was the customer. I am sure my contractor was juggling at least 3 or 4 jobs. After my complaint to Indie, the contractor basically sent Ned to finish everything up. I never saw the contractor again.

The project cost me much more than I had told them I wanted to spend. It went on way too long. No one from Indie contacted me during the entire project. All communication was directed from me to them, and I felt like I was bothering them. The work was adequate but not above average. The contractor talked me out of putting in a skylight that I wanted. I think he just didn't want to do it. He never discussed with me the placement of lights and given the loss of light I had hoped for from the skylight, I might have sprung for under cabinet lighting. But by that time the electrical was done. Since he supposedly needed to replace the ceiling in order to install the skylight, that entire cost should have been deducted but only the cost of the skylight was.

I would not recommend this contractor or Indie to anyone. In hindsight, I think I didn't get enough quotes. I think I overpaid for what I got and I didn't get what I wanted. Obviously they have never followed up with me.

Ned made all the difference. He lost some of his project management staff and immediately jumped in to fill the gap. His attention to detail and schedule made the overall experience pleasant.

The work started on time. They were here everyday. I had separate contractors put in the floor and counter tops. Seth (the Inde contractor) worked around them very well. The project took about a month. There were a few cabinets that were damaged and poorly constructed from the factory. They were repaired or replaced. I am waiting to hear back from Inde on a compensation we were promised with regards to the damaged cabinets. Overall, the Inde design team (Mary) and the Inde contractor, Seth Clark with Advanced Multi Service (AMS) were exceptional. Everyone who comes to our home can not believe the transformation of our kitchen.