Austin Kitchen & Bath

Rick installed a frameless glass shower door on our tub incorrectly. The sliding door should go on the inside of the stationary panel per the manufacturers instructions. Now, an enormous amount of water floods our floor with every shower. He was non-responsive to my request to fix it.

They rescheduled a few time for the bid. Then once they did their survey, I called 3 times for a quote. Got apologies but never a call back and 5 months later still no bid. I hear they do exceptional work but they are failing basics like sending quotes and returning phone calls.

I really hate situations where I have to leave a negative review for a local business, but I think it's pertinent for customers to be treated with at least a modicum of decency, especially when they can easily go to a bigger, probably cheaper company.

Our experience started off great. We were checking out different vendors for updates to a duplex we just purchased and randomly stopped by the store while driving down Burnet. Kenyon was very helpful at first and was very up front about telling us that we needed to think more about what design would be functional for us and what brands are the most cost efficient for what we needed.

After about a week or so, we went back to their office to place our order, and they directed us to go to a granite yard to pick out our countertops. That went well, and that is when we met Rick. That same day, we asked for a final quote, based on the countertop we picked and the cabinet style we wanted. Rick and Kenyon called back that day to make some adjustments based on the kitchen layout and promised to send out a quote that day or the next day. Our goal was to place our order on Monday in order to get the ball running as soon as possible.

It has been almost a week. We've called the office almost every day and have left multiple messages. We finally stopped by a few days ago, and the quote they provided somehow jumped by over 1k since the last time we spoke, with no explanation why. When we asked for a detailed layout, they requested that we sign a contract first before committing to do the drawing since "that takes up a lot of time."

Kenyon, who we originally worked with, is now nowhere to be found. When we call, he is never there. We leave messages that never get returned. Rick is always in and out of the office, which is frustrating because he seems to be the big decision maker there and is rarely there to make a decision. 

We had a decent experience in the beginning, but the follow through left a lot to be desired. 

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It went terribly. They were late on all aspects of every job. I had to have a third party come in to correct some of the issues.

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We visited the store on Burnet Rd. three times.  The first time Rick was there and he was extremely nice and helpful.  He helped us to find the quartz countertop that we decided on, and talked us through the entire process.  We let him know that we still needed to talk to our cabinet maker to get the dimensions and them provide them to Rick for an estimate.  We went back about a week later with the kitchen design specs for our estimate, and asked if we could borrow one of the samples for a day to make sure that it looked good with the cabinet color we had chosen.  Not sure if it was Rick's daughter (or in law) but she was very rude.  She basically called us liars by saying that there was no way Rick would want to loan out a sample, and when we asked her to call Rick to confirm she never apologized to us after she confirmed that he was okay with loaning it to us.  And when my husband took back the sample the next day his son was there and wasn't much nicer.  My husband asked about when we might be able to get a quote so that we could make our decision, and the son said that he'd let Rick know that we wanted it and we'd hear back soon.  Two weeks passed with no quote, and we called one more time and left a message to ask for a quote.  Never got any return call or quote so we decided that this probably wasn't the vendor we should choose.

fast, efficient. no surprises. The crew is professional and cleans up each day at the end of work. The finished on time and on budget. They arrived on time each morning, Rick checked in on the site each day to verify progress and work quality.

They have great samples and collections during their estimate process.  Their pricing was reasonable.  They are very nice and helpful.  Overall, I am very happy with their service.

Planning for a total remodelling of master bath. Called Rick, scheduled a visit and Rick showed up on time. Had one hour good conversation with him. Rick indicated to get back with a quote within a week. Per his request, my wife followed it up by sending a detailed email with pictures everything to his email address listed on the business card he left with us. Everything looks good so far.
Then no single response from Rick.
After two weeks, I sent out an follow-up email to Rick. Still, no response.
Why wasting our precious time, if you are not even planning to quote? No doubt I am going to stay away from this business.
Fortunately, found another good contractor who gave us back a stunning new master bath!

I will use them again in the future.

I had an appointment scheduled with Rick for an estimate on two bathroom remodels. He didn't show for the appointment and when I called the office they said he was out of town. They are obviously incredibly disorganized, which makes me question the other contractors that are "recommended" on this site.

They're terrible and they're awful. We called up for an estimate. The guy came out within about two days of the call. We thought he was great. He was very charming. He came up with some creative ideas. He promised us that we could have the quote within four days. He was the one who came up with that date. I called the office twice and I didn't get a response. I left the message with their receptionist. After I called the third time, she said that the guy wants to tell me that he wants to give me the quote three days after the said date. The date came and went but nothing came. A week and four days after he was out, he sent the estimate but it was really general. There were no specifics. He left out a lot of the specifically mentioned portion of the jobs. They were omitted. It was unusable.

I asked for an estimate to install a shower. And also asked him to give me an idea of cost to finish some other things that someone else had started.  He tried to convince me to totally redo the kitchen remodel. He never did provide the estimate for the shower nor for the other items.

They were pretty good. There were some issues but they were all fixed. The owner is a very responsible person and he responded to the issues quickly.

I contacted quite a few companies from Angie's List in late November have a new gas stovetop, new hood, and reverse osmosis system installed.  The other companies would not call back and the few that did told me it was beyond their scope of work.
This was not a simple job, though.
The hood required an exhaust system (with ducting) be installed through a wall with stucco on the outside of the home.  The range top was also not a simple drop in job either, as the existing stove top was a downdraft model (built-in) and I was replacing it with a 5 burner gas cooktop (where the fifth burner took the previous place of the built in downdraft model).  
When I spoke with Rick at Austin Kitchen and Bath, he told me that he could instantly accomplish this task and that it should be no problem for his crew.
I sent Rick, by email, a few detailed pictures with drawings on them of what I wanted, along with the dimensions of the parts I purchased.  I used my iPhone and the app Skitch to markup the photos showing him what was happening and what I wanted.  I sent those with a detailed explanation of my work requirements.
Rick received it and was extremely timely in getting back with me regarding the detailed scope of work, including drilling a hole in my stone countertop for the reverse osmosis system, placing exhaust system in place for the new hood, and patching the existing hole drilled in the cabinets by the builder/previous owner.  
I was surprised he was so responsive as he was moving showrooms and his internet service provider was giving him problems in hooking up his new internet.  Kudos to Rick for doing whatever he did to get the information I sent.
He told me his guy would come over the next day and just knock it out, if I signed the contract and got it back to him that night (e.g. pricing was acceptable).  He told me it would be one but more like two days depending on what they get into.
I signed it and returned it to Rick that evening and his guy showed up the day before Thanksgiving (as promised) to at least get the cooktop and hood functioning.  The following Monday the gentleman returned to finish patching the cabinets, cut the hole in the granite, and hook up the water filter.
They cleaned everything up both times, as if they were not even there!
All appliances function perfectly and everything is excellent.
I wouldn't only use Rick's company again, I would recommend them to anyone who has any type of work they require.  I will be giving Rick's company a call for any project in the future, because he was extremely honest, responsive, and had an excellent person working for him (a reflection of what type of person owns the company).
Give them a call, you won't be disappointed.

We first contacted Rick Sparks, owner of Austin Kitchen and Bath regarding a room addition of a laundry room.  We planned to completely remodel our previous laundry room and kitchen when that was finished. Rick met with us at our home in response to our email.  He provided us with a comprehensive bid for both projects.  We could not be more pleased with our results.  Rick offered design help in all areas.  His knowledge of current trends, products and best practices was immensely helpful.  He is very focused on detail and didn't let any go unnoticed.  Even when we did.  Our custom made cabinets from his shop are wonderful.  The crew at AK&B is professional, have great work ethics, and made the whole process as painless as it could be given the magnitude of the job.  Thank you, Randall and Willie!  I loved that Rick does not contract out, he has his own employees so we always knew who was going to be in our home.
If you need a remodel, large or small, I highly recommend you give them a call!

Rick has a very good crew working for him who are very meticulous.  Before they made any decision about how to install any part of the work, they checked with us and discussed the isssues and options.  After the work was done and paid for Rick came out and attended to a stain which we inadvertently caused, and at no charge.  He left us with a near-full bottle of granite sealant for use next year, which he recommended for us.  About a week afterwards he called back to insure that we were happy with the work, which we were.  I give him and his company, Austin Kitchen and Bath, a grade of A+.

After meeting with owner Rick, never got a call back nor did I receive a quote. Completely waste of my time! 

Rick and his crew took a small, 1970's galley kitchen and made it beautiful!  They had to knock out a wall an completely gut the old kitchen, then lay new tile, install can lights, new tile backsplashes, beautiful cabinets with custom pulls, and rewire everything.  They made great suggestions for a corner cabinet with lights and a glass door, and installed lazy susans and pantry pullouts that made my small space seem much bigger.  I can't be happier, and I will certainly call Rick again when it's time to remodel my bathroom.  The crew was efficient, polite, and cleaned up after themselves every night.

The room addition was done in a very professional manner.  All of Rick's employees were knowledgeable, fast and took pride in their work.  Rick was involved in the whole process and came out to check with us to make sure we were pleased.  In all it was a pleasant experience and well worth the cost.  We have already contracted the company to do our kitchen remodel.

I needed two bathrooms remodeled. I selected Austin Kitchen and Bath after talking to and reviewing several remoderlers in the area. I am so glad I did.  Mr. Sparks is experienced and very knowledgeable about remodeling. His suggestions made all the difference in the final look of the bathrooms. Both bathroom's finished look exceeded my expectations. They are beautiful.
Mr. Sparks was very patient and helpful while I tried to make all the decisions about materials and colors.  His crew began on the date negociated and worked around our schedule during the 3 weeks of work. When his crew began working, they were very respectful of our property and our animals.
We are so pleased with the result that we want to highly recommend Austin Kitchen and Bath to anyone needing remodeling services.

Rick did a great job on this project. We were concerned this would be a small project that most bath remodelers wouldn't take seriously. Not so for Rick. He did research on his own to come up with the best solution for the shaving ledge, talking to several vendors of pre-fabbed ledges. Communication was also much better than we've seen from other contractors. And when it came time for installation, Rick and his team were very thorough and professional. Matching existing tile work can be challenging. They did an outstanding job, and we're very happy.

AWESOME

Apparently business is so good at Austin Kitchen and Bath that they don't even feel the need to bother with returning any of my calls requesting a bid.  The first time I called on 5/3/12, I actually spoke with a warm body by the name of Kenyon, and after I explained the scope of our project and that I found them thru Angie's List he assured me he would have Rick Sparks call me so we could set an appointment date to do an estimate.  Never hearing back, I called again on 5/24/12, got their voice mail, and left a detailed message for Rick Sparks again that I was very interested in obtaining a bid from them.  Again, zero response.  So on 5/30/12, I left yet another voice message for Rick, and again, 9 days later, no returned call, no messages, nothing.   Even if I give them the benefit of the doubt that perhaps they're so busy they wouldn't be able to get my job done, it is incredibly unprofessional to not even so much as return my call as a courtesy and in my opinion doesn't bode well at all for how the vital communication during this project would go with this contractor.  We'll be spending the money we budgeted for these improvements elsewhere.