Kaya General Contractors

Kaya was great at the start of the project but as time went on the project quality degraded significantly in many aspects.  Massive delays were caused by their occasional poor quality work, the resulting re-work, and their inability to accurately schedule the work.  They did not provide timely communications, efficiently plan for logistics, or finish work to their estimated schedule.  We ended our relationship with Kaya 3 to 4 months past the anticipated completion, with a functional, but unfinished kitchen.  

We hired Kaya because they told us they could get the job done in our very short timeframe (2-3 months).  Unfortunately, they didn’t promise that in writing and our payments weren’t tied to any timeline.  They started out moving quickly (before their schedule filled up with other clients), and we have no complaints with the demolition.  They saved the cabinets and other materials we asked for, and cleaned up after themselves.  Hank was in charge of the project at this time and he was great.

During the construction phase, there were significant delays.  We were told that delays in the schedule are almost always caused by the client not making decisions quickly, so we made sure to be on top of the project 100% of the time.  Soon, we were ahead of Kaya making plans for the project and they weren’t keeping up.  We knew when one part would be done and they didn’t schedule the next sub to come in until after that piece was done, instead of as soon as the schedule was known, and of course the sub was at least a week out, so a full week was lost from a simple scheduling mistake.  Things like this made the schedule fall way behind, so that they were still doing finish work 6 months later.  There was also a time when I told them a plumber needed to be there the day after the counters were installed so we could have a kitchen sink ASAP, and it wasn’t until I said I would get my own plumber that they found someone to come.  There was an uncontrollable delay with the countertop availability, and another when part of the counter fabrication was done wrong by a sub, but the rest of the delays I believe were due to Kaya de-prioritizing our project.

The quality of work was quite poor in some cases.  For instance, the owner apparently doesn’t know how to put in a marmoleum tile floor.  The pattern of alternating the direction of the tile stripes didn’t (and doesn’t still) match the rest of the existing floor, there was (and still is) glue on the floor that won’t come off, and the seams aren’t smooth.  This is after he redid it, the first time there were significant lumps because he didn’t use a heavy roller per the instructions on the box of tiles, and there was a soft spot in the subfloor where it wasn’t properly supported (which is still there, they fixed it mostly but not all the way).  The cabinet maker came out numerous times to fix mistakes, and we ended up with marks in our ceiling, uneven trim, and nails sticking out.  We still have these issues because we eventually said “enough is enough” and told them not to come back, we’ll fix it ourselves.

They didn’t communicate well toward the end of the project, so I never knew if they were going to show up or not.  I constantly needed to make sure our things (food, cooking supplies, kids’ toys) were out of the way so they didn’t get dust/spackle/etc. on them, just in case Kaya decided to show up.

There were other small issues like one time they left the lock box open.  And the large yard sign that appeared one day without us expecting it (would have been nice if they asked first).  And the shingles they used to patch the chimney hole don’t match the rest of our roof.

If Kaya had kept on top of our project instead of turning their focus to new work, this project would have gone much better.  The fact that I had a baby a month into the project and we moved into the house they were working on 2 months after they started added a couple stressful factors (but heightened the importance of getting the work done).  The guys are friendly and they agreed to cancel our final bill and allow us to finish the rest of the work ourselves.  A drop in the bucket in terms of total project cost and lost family time for us, but better than nothing.

I couldn't be more pleased with how the job went. Hank from Kaya showed up on time and was the epitome of professionalism and knowledge for the entire job. He asked great questions when I was explaining what needed to be done. Hank even pointed out something that the project planner for the basement system company had overlooked. Thanks to his keen eye, we were able to make sure that our basement was ready to receive this waterpoofing system without a hitch in the schedule.
Hank worked industriously throughout the job and completed it ahead of schedule. He checked in with me several times as questions arose. At the end of the work he cleaned up (ncluding sweeping) in a very meticulous fashion. At the end of the job my basement was ready for the next phase and all debris had been hauled away.
One more thing to note: though the scope of the job changed some (because of Hank's insight), the final bill from Kaya was only slightly more than the original estimate. I felt like they could have charged me a lot more for the work they did, but the company was very fair about this change in scope.

They were really good. Their price and their idea of how to fix what was wrong just made sense.

Kaya Construction did an excellent job for me. Not only was all the work perfomed very well but for me an important factor was the honesty and integrity of the owner, Greg. I was a little nervous about working with a general contractor based on stories I've heard. I am a single mom and also worry about who comes in and out of my home. The damage was all covered by insurance and Greg gave me all the documentation I needed to give to the insurance company to get the process going. Greg is honest and a man of his word. He quoted me a price and at the end of the project there were no surprises. I owed exactly what the quote was. My kitchen, nook, south wall of kitchen, south wall of lower level family room, lower level bathroom were all affected by the leak. Two days after the discovery of this leak, the supply line to my powder room toilet broke and my powder room and laundry room were affected. Prior to hiring Greg, ServPro came in to dry out the damaged walls and floors. Walls had to be taken apart in the kitchen, lower level family room and lower level bathroom. Half of the kitchen ceiling and lower level family room ceiling were taken out. Flooring was removed in the kitchen, entry way and bathrooms. I even had siding removed on the south side of the house. It was extensive damage. Once the drying process was complete, Kaya Construction came in for the repair work. Les, one of Greg's employees, did most of the work on my home. He is top notch. He is very precise and detailed. The job he did on my siding is outstanding. Kaya finished the demolition and then put back together my walls, including insulation, put my ceilings back together, sub floors, baseboard work, kitchen cabinets, painting and the siding. The bathrooms were torn apart as well and all put back together. Everything was done perfectly. Les always went the extra mile for me to make sure it was done right. Since sinks, toilets and appliances had to be removed to repair the damage, I decided it was the time to upgrade and buy new ones. I thought as long as they were reinstalling them, why not have them install brand new ones. Greg had no problem with that. The only problem in all this extensive work that was done was the subcontractor for spraying the ceiling. I am very picky and for me, the match wasn't the way I wanted it. I talked to Greg about it and he said he was going to do right by me and get it done the way I wanted it and they did. You can't even tell the ceiling was halfway torn out. The match is perfect. Other than the subcontractor for spraying the ceiling, Les and occasionally a few other of Greg's team did all the work on my home. Les also installed all my appliances and did all the electrical work. Les also is very trustworthy and I never worried about having him in my home. My kitchen counters and wood flooring were replaced. While out shopping and trying to decide what to install, I came upon Macadam Carpet. In the process, I made the mistake of purchasing from and hiring them to install my counters and flooring. HUGE mistake. If I had it to do over again, I would have had Kaya do it. Greg recommended some places for the granite counters and I really wish I would have stuck with Greg and had him purchase the material and install my counters and flooring. My horrible experience with Macadam is too long to write about. I highly recommend Kaya Construction. On a side note, last night was very stormy and I had water leaking in from a window (my fault...I should have caulked this summer). In a panic, I emailed Greg last night and this morning he not only emailed me first thing before I even had a chance to look at my emails but he called me to see what he could do. Knowing this was just a small caulking job I needed help with and not a big project, he called me at 9am this morning. Not many people would do that. I interviewed a lot of contractors before settling on Kaya. I am so glad I went with them. Everything was done perfectly, on time and within budget. This review is way overdue. I've been meaning to write it for months. If you are in need of a general contractor, I recommend Kaya Construction without reservation.

They were friendly, the man who provided the labor was extremely polite, the job was done per agreement. On the whole, am pleased with their work and would use them again.

unknown

Our overall experence with Kaya was outstanding.
Greg came to do a bid the day after we called. The bid was fair and well prepared with several different finishing options for us to choose from. We made our decision and decided on a start date. The crew showed up on time and started work right away. The entire job took only four days. We were impressed with their professionalism and the quality of the work. They cleaned up well on the last day and left us satisfied with a structurally sound garage.
We couldnt be more pleased.

They were great. I felt like they were very professional and a good first contracting experience for us. But they weren't the cheapest. For the same experience I would rather find a better deal but the quality was extremely high and we are happy about it. They were easy to work with and they did the things we wanted.

Kaya's Work:Architecture and estimates for conversion of a second floor opened area to three bedrooms.Basement demo1 large footing 6' x 6'2 small footings 4' x 4'All to compensate for the new weight on the second floor.Brought basement bathroom and finished basement up to code for the cityTurned a and quot;master suiteand quot; into three bedroomsRoof demoFraming of new roof with a large gabled dormer and shed added.Electrical and heat pump installed (their subcontractors)9 New windows installedInsulation on second floor addedDrywalled entire upstairsInstalled closets in each of three new bedrooms (made two very kid friendly at our request)Painted upstairs roomsinstalled bamboo floorsfinished each room with hardware/light fixtures, window sills.Re-sided 2/3 of exterior of homePainted the entire exterior of house (their subcontractors)

They were good and outstanding in their line of work. They came here on time and completed everything in a timely manner. I am very happy with their efficient work.

It was the first time we had used them. It went great. I'd highly recommend them. We got 3 bids for the work. Their bid was the best. They were really attentive to what we wanted done.

Returning phone calls and obtaining an estimate in a timely fashion required repeated requests.
The architect made excellant suggestions. Because of existing code violations, modifications were necessary.
The lead carpenter did an excellent job. He included me in decision changes.
The plumbing subcontractor was fast and thorough.
The electric subcontractor had to be replaced in mid job due to substandard work. The replacement electrician was excellent.
The roofing contractor did good work. However, the contractor did not pay the roofer completely until I took action.
The painting contractor did adequate work initially. As the job progressed the quality deteriorated and I'm not sure why.
The flooring subcontactors were in and out doing excellent work.

I chose to do business with Greg Martin because he was a small, local company. Initially, even though he was often slow to respond, I still thought he would be a good fit. He stayed within the budget. However, their method of billing was unsatisfactory and often inaccurate, billing for work that had not yet been completed.

Demolition of the second floor began in September, 2010. My original completion date for the whole job was to be March 1, 2011. The changes that I requested added 6 to 8 weeks. The work was not completed until September, 2011.

The subcontractors that Greg hired for the most part did excellent work. However, my dealings with Greg and his staff became increasingly frustrating. They were evasive, not forthcoming, and I often felt mislead. My overall experience with Greg and his staff was very unpleasant to the point that I avoided interacting with them as much as possible.

Happy with results.

Greg and his team were great to work with. See above for additional detail.

They provided high quality and excellent craftsmanship. They were very prompt and professional. The owner is super friendly and easy to work with. There were no surprises.

We LOVE our new stairs and extended entryway. The whole house looks so much better! Brandon Prinzing (the designer) and Andrew Roberts (the builder, who did great carpentry in the midst of some truly crappy weather) did an amazing job. We also really appreciated that Bob Nichols (the manager) came by frequently to oversee the work and make sure everything was going well.

Our experience overall was very positive. Kaya was willing to work within our budget and timeframe. The job ran smoothly. They were also very considerate of our small dog.

Overall experience was good. They were very friendly and willing to help. The guys doing the work did a good job. The project is completed and we are happy.

We met with Greg and he was great - over the course of two properties (we didn't buy the first) he gave us quick estimates and talked through the job with us. It was a bit expensive but we were willing to pay for quality and environmental awareness. After the job was signed, it was turned over to Gabe. Both Greg and Gabe are nice guys, but they could have done the handoff better. Greg said "sure, we can do that counter with in-stock materials for cheap." Gabe said "oh, we don't have anything in stock, it will be $250 extra." Greg said "no problem to match that door." Gabe said "It's hard to find door handles to match, can't do it." and then I found one at Hippo Hardware and paid $35 out of pocket for something they were supposed to provide. The dry lock in the basement peeled after two weeks. It never did get fixed. The cork floors were sloppily installed and for the next 20 years I'll be seeing the gaps, fixing the loose corner round and sanding the rough edges where the tiles aren't level. They built a new wall and then made us buy the paint for it - shouldn't that have been included? I got the feeling that if we hadn't pushed, they wouldn't even have painted it. The refrigerator didn't fit the space, the stove hood didn't fit and required $850 of extra remodeling - don't they have tape measures before they buy this stuff? And they had three months to do the work and only finished on the day we moved in - they knew well in advance, but it felt like other jobs were more important so we got pushed to the back of the queue. To be honest, a lot of the work they did was good, they were very environmentally aware (but I still wonder if they really mitigated for the lead paint - I didn't see any evidence of that) and they're very nice people. That said, I won't be calling them for the next job.

It was a great project. Initially we started it and we weren't sure about it, but Kaya Construction had excellent communication with us. Greg Martin, the owner, came out and talked with my wife and I several times. There were situations where the price went up from the original estimate that they had provided, but it was things they couldn't control and they let us know every step of the way. We just had excellent service from them. They finished the project on time, which is rare for a project that size. We added 1,000 square feet, so when we were going through that process I told my wife it was going to be a pain in the behind because they're going to be in our house, who knows how these guys are. We had one point of contact and we dealt with that contact consistently, and all the contractors who came through our house were very respectful of our belongings. It was a better experience than I thought it would be. It worked out really good. They were outstanding about cleaning up. If we called for anything, they came out and fixed it at no charge. They have a year long warranty on all of their work so we had them come out four or five times for different things, to touch up things we thought needed to be reassessed and repaired. I would definitely use them again.

He does excellent work, he is above average in the cost range but you definitely get what you pay for and he is always be my first choice for any type of remodeling.

The quality of the work is top notch, and we're thrilled with our balcony. We've even had some other contractors by since then who have commented on the quality of craftsmanship. Greg and Co are nice folks and very pleasant to deal with. The only hiccup was that the original estimate was for $20K, and then the day before going to pull permits I got an estimate for $25K. When I balked, we did some reconsidering and they agreed to do it for the original estimate. I genuinely believe that this was just an honest error, and true to form they kept to cost (the extra $1K was for some stuff I added later, like outlets and insulation). They are a relatively new young company who are really doing great work, though perhaps still getting the business end of the business down.

a 4 month project that involved our whole house. Kaya did an awesome job and we are very happy with their work. Overall, the communications were good, their workers were considerate, cleaned up and kept things as livable as possible for us throughout the project. They were very careful with our landscaping, a point especially important to me. Any issues we did have were addressed immediately and with real concern on their part that we were happy with the outcome. The project did go over about 5 weeks what they had projected due to some issues with the chimney and the chimney subcontractor, who was not someone they had worked with before. They had longstanding relationships with the other subs and the cooperation, respect and communication made it obvious that these guys like to work with Kaya. One of the main reasons we hired them was due to their "green" ethic and they really worked hard to recycle debris and reuse existing cabinets, light fixtures, etc. We'd surely hire them again.

The first meeting with Greg went very well. In subsequent meetings, I was introduced to the various managers within the company. The bid and resulting contract were well presented and clear. I wish the contract had spelled out the scope a little more specifically because this resulted in some confusion down the road which may have been avoided if the contract were more clear. Communication was pretty good and fairly consistent through the whole project, although I felt like the various people working on the project didn't really know the scope of the work and I had to keep reminding them. The bulk of the framing was subbed out to another framer who did good work. Overall I'm satisfied and would consider them again for a more complete remodel. I would try to spell out very specifically the scope of work, which I'm learning is smart on any work performed by contractors.

Kaya charges reasonable prices, and the quality of work was very good. The owner worked with us to develop a plan that fit our budget, and all work was done within the cost we were given on our estimate. Our project was well managed, and I never felt disconnected from the process. I found everyone at Kaya to be extremely honest and dependable, they delivered on everything they told us without fail. I wouldn't hesitate to hire them again.