TREEFORM WOODWORK

At first we were really impressed with the owner/designer. He seemed personable and competent. He promised great features and functionality and a really fast turn around, and his initial quote seemed fair. The first hiccup came when we got the more detailed quote. He had added cost for items that seemingly should have been included. We knew there would be an extra couple thousand in specialized interior hardware (pullouts, lazy susan, etc.), but the price was 40% more than his original estimate without any significant changes to scope. We were able to talk about that and strike a compromise and it seemed like all was well. The next problem was delivery. They had one week to do the installation and were to be done by the Thursday before Labor Day. On the next morning, we got a call from the contractor saying that they were only half done and had left for a four day weekend "because they don't work Fridays." This was the first we had heard that their standard work week was Monday through Thursday. We were schedule to come home at the end of that Friday. The floor refinisher had been scheduled to come in that day and do a final coat on the floors. Because they didn't finish their work, the floor refinisher couldn't get in and all the other subs got pushed back. The house was an absolute disaster and full of construction dust (this latter part was probably not the fault of Treeform, but they certainly contributed to the delay in site cleanup). We felt that if they didn't finish their work on Thursday, they should have continued working on Friday, or at least called us personally (they were working directly for us, not for the contractor). The worst part of working with Treeform was the lack of flexibility around design requests. I don't know how to describe it other than a sort of prima donna attitude. When we would ask if a particular cabinet could be made with certain details, for instance, he would look uncomfortable, hem and haw for a minute, and then say, "the way I do it is..." It didn't seem to be a matter of what was possible or whether he was capable or even how much work it was. He just likes to do things the way he likes to do them and that's that. There was no indication of this up front. It was an unpleasant surprise. After a while, we just felt uncomfortable asking and we felt like we were walking on eggshells not to offend him. We weren't happy with the situation but we were trying to get through this first phase of construction and then anticipating a second phase where they would build a pantry for us. We didn't want to use a different cabinetmaker for phase two (although we were wishing by then that we had gone with a different cabinetmaker from the beginning). When they finally got all the cabinets in, some of the functionality was not what we had discussed. In some cases, I had the details documented in writing and he fixed those. In other cases, we didn't have documentation and he held out on fixing. In one case (a pull out that was supposed to have a drawer on the top but didn't), we agreed to pay him extra to re-do it and then I found documentation of how we had agreed to do it originally. He still charged us the extra and we didn't fight it because we were still trying not to rock the boat, in hopes of getting through Phase One and Phase Two. We had to ask them to address lots of really obvious things--a cabinet door hanging crooked, a cabinet door missing its rubber bumper, etc. In the end, the quality of the cabinets is good but there are lots and lots of issues--things that bug about the design, the construction and the install. We wish we'd gone with another contractor. To top it all off, at the end of the job, he started hounding us...almost stalking us!...for final payment before the last details were even done. It was weird. He started showing up at our office and making our employees uncomfortable (even though our business had nothing to do with this--it was a job for our home). It was actually kind of funny that they kept us waiting so long past when they were supposed to have the work done and we were patient and respectful. Then he got freaky about money before he was even done. He literally expected us to leave work to go home to approve the job so that he could get paid. When we gave him the final check, including the extra money to rebuild the unit that he built wrong and should have covered himself, he said he didn't want to do Phase Two. When we asked him why, he said that we had not been appreciative enough. LOL! We have worked with a lot of contractors and we admittedly have high standards, but this takes the cake!

The design was perfect for the space, and Tree Form did an excellent job of including details that were consistent with other built-ins throughout our house. The quality and craftsmanship of the finished piece were excellent. Some of the doors needed to be adjusted after the entertainment unit was installed, and Tree Form was very accommodating, completing the modification two days after the need for adjustment was brought to their attention.