Unique Builders And Development Inc.

Unique Builders were referred to us by a family member who used them for their kitchen remodel. We were very pleased with the team, the quality of workmanship and the quality of the materials used. Jakob, our project manager, Ana, our designer, and Eddie, the construction manager, were always professional, courteous, and quick to respond to any questions or concerns we had.

The very best of the best. We shopped around for a year, with no success, until we found Unique Builders. Words can't express how satisfied my husband and I are pleased with our additional room from start to finish. Jakob, sat down at our kitchen table and explained the entire process and the team was professional, knowledgeable, and always attentive to our needs and preferences. They listened to our ideas and brought them to reality. Jakob, Alex and Daniel also offered valuable suggestions and creative solutions to make the project a success. The project involved adding a floor and a wall to our existing home. Including adding speakers, recessed lighting, outlets, ceiling fans and realigning the air ducts as well, all done successfully. The team handled every aspect of the project, from design to construction without sacrificing quality or attention to detail. I was mostly impressed with the cleaning everyday, sometimes twice a day. The level of communication throughout the process was very impressive, to be commended. Jakob, Alex and Daniel were always available to answer my questions, provide updates, and address any concerns. Jakob was especially transparent about the budget and timeline, which made the process much less stressful. The quality of workmanship was exceptional and we are completely satisfied with the final results. Overall, I highly recommend Unique Builders for any home remodeling project. Their expertise, professionalism, and attention to detail made the process seamless and stress free. The results exceeded our expectations. We now have the Boom Boom Room of our dreams, thanks to the team at Unique Builders.

They were very professional. My bathrooms and our new roof came out amazing. Would definitely recommend then again.

It turned out amazing! Our new kitchen is beautiful and we're looking forward to making memories in it for years to come thanks to Unique Builders & Development. Highly recommend them if you're looking for experienced professionals who take pride in their work.

I called Unique Builders & Development Inc. on a Monday and the next day Steve Zitman, the owner came to my house. By the following week, they had started the job. ‪Unique Builders is an excellent company that has a trustworthy, courteous and hardworking group of craftsman. We would definitely use them again and would recommend them without reservation.‎‬ ‪Thank you Steve and all your staff!‬

Everything was absolutely phenomenal! Johnathan was amazing! Very helpful and knowledgeable and made sure the job was completed swiftly! It did not take more than 3 weeks to finish which is awesome considering the amount of windows! Would recommend to anyone out there looking for these services!

Customer service, communications and the quality of the work were all outstanding.
From the initial encounter, I was impressed with Steve Zitman and his professionalism, attention to detail and communications. As the planning of the project unfolded, Steve was very easy to work with. My wife and I were very impressed, not only with Steve but also with the Unique Personnel that were involved with our project. We made changes and mediations as the project unfolded and these were easily accommodated by Unique Builders and were seamlessly made. The project flowed as explained and was on time. The quality of our kitchen, bathroom, and garage renovation and remodel is exceptional.

It went very well. Everything was completed on time and looked very professional. I will definitely use them again.

My outdoor kitchen is amazing. The team from Unique Builders handled everything, from permits, to making sure the design was perfect, to helping me pick the best quality materials. Unique Builders did it all.

These guys perfected my out of date kitchen. They were professional, on time, and on budget. From the first appointment to the finish of the remodel was just over three months! The workers were very polite and always cleaned up after themselves. They really did a great job. Thank you for giving me my dream kitchen!

The team at Unique Builders took care of every step of the process. I have never had a project go as smoothly as my bathroom update did. I will be calling Unique Builders for help with my next project.

Let's start with where we started.   House had  a closed-in kitchen and a funky patio who's only feature was to let light in.  It had been remodeled previously, but only the appliances, counter tops and floors.  In terms of usability, this house sucked.  I used Unique to handle the design, then then reconstruction, then the rebuild.  I know people b**** about how they had to stay on top of things.  NEVER had that problem.   My whole experience was first class.  Scott, who handled the design, also project managed everything.  He was awesome.   The subs who did the work - 1st class.  It took 8 weeks from start to finish and I couldn't be happier.  Did the punch list today.  I think there we 5 minor issues.  Scott found a few more.  To say I'm pleased is an understatement.  For those of you wanting to do things simply on the cheapest, Unique, might not be your guys.  For those looking for the best value for your dollar - you'd be stupid to go elsewhere.   I spent a lot of money on my kitchen and couldn't be more pleased.  But I sweated every dollar...and I couldn't still be happier.  I hired them 12 weeks ago...and I would so do it again.  Highly recommend folks consider them.  Any question - I'm a personal reference.

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I want to start by saying that I am typically not one to leave online reviews, but months after the work has been done on our home by UB and I still feel just as uneasy as before so I am hoping this review provides some closure for us after this horrific experience.

We purchased an older 1950's home in Westbury and one of the updates that we insisted on doing upon moving in was the kitchen.  We immediately started reaching out to contractors in the area and UB was one that we read decent things about online and they offered a great financing option.  We had someone come out to give us an estimate and we were told that the only thing they could do for us was totally replace all of our cabinets with custom built cabinets and that it would be 35-40k.  We are first time homeowners and new to Houston and could not spend that kind of money on the kitchen alone, but knew we wanted updates.  We dismissed them after their initial quote and a few weeks later they called back and asked if they could come out and do another quote.  They said that they fired the guy that came out the first time for upselling and they wanted a second chance.  This was a red flag but we had them come out again, they gave us a quote we could live with and the work started two weeks later.

At first our contractor/project manager was responsive and helpful.  After about 2 weeks of back and forth with him on cabinet decisions and backsplash options he suddenly stopped responding.  When we had appointments to meet him at granite/tile/cabinet places he was sometimes an hour late.  My husband and I were appalled, but being new at this did not know what the industry norm is for this. 

Once our selections were made we were told that our cabinets had been ordered and that the granite and tile had been ordered as well.  They demo'd our kitchen in 2 days and then there was a 2 week delay in our new materials coming in - so our project was delayed by 3 weeks.  By this point our project manager is MIA and we are reaching out to UB office to find out what was going on. 

That night we received a call from our project manager and were told that he too was leaving the company and they would assign us a new project manager.  This was another delay in the installation of the new kitchen materials.  At this point we have been out of our kitchen for a month, and the total job was only supposed to take 2 weeks total.

Once the work began on the kitchen the true concerns started.  To name a few of the problems the cabinets that were installed were different then what was on our original kitchen layout.  Seriously, drawers where cabinets were supposed to be and doors opening in the wrong direction and upside down.  When installing our cabinets they damaged our new plank porcelain tile that we had put in when we bought the house.  They told us they would fix and they ordered new tile and when they "fixed" it, it looked like a kindergartener did the tile work.  The tiles were not level, they were crooked, and some were even cracked and put together like puzzle pieces.  Needless to say they had to redo the tile again. 

When the backsplash went up we had similar problems.  The original tile we picked out was never ordered even though we were told that it had been and now it was discontinued so we had to rush and find a second tile to go in, and then UB tried to charge us the difference in cost.  Tiles were cut crooked, some fell off, and others did not have grout touching them.  The tiles were not even flat.  We had two different tile teams in to fix the original tile work, the second tile guy that UB brought in laughed at the tile work the first guy had done - he could not believe it.  When they corrected the tile they could not match the grout colors and expected us to be okay with two different grout shades on the same wall of tile.

They cracked our granite counter tops when installing them, and despite the large crack (12 inches) they continued to install it and needless to say it had to be replaced.  The problem with this was that the replacement granite was from a different slab and was not the same color as the rest.  It did not flow at all ? it was two different shades of whit/cream completely.  The edges were supposed to be beveled, and they were rounded instead.  The granite they installed for our window seal was 1.5 inches off level.  A marble rolled down our window seal from one side to another.  The granite work was sloppy and we still ended up with a cracked piece of granite but since it was not in an easy to see area we let it go - at this point we wanted them out of our house.

They incorrectly installed our gas stove/oven range and we had a gas leak for 6 weeks - A major gas leak.  We had trouble getting UB to accept responsibility for this.  We had to keep reminding them to do things like switch covers, put the rubber stoppers on the cabinet doors, install the knobs and pulls, and hook up our vent hood. 

On one of our cabinets we were supposed to have an under the cabinet light installed.  Instead of a traditional under mount light, they installed an actual can light (one that is meant to go into the ceiling.  The can and wires took up the entire bottom half of the cabinet ? it was huge since it was intended to go into the ceiling.  My husband and I were shocked and at this point were in disbelief that this was happening. They had to repaint and texture areas so that it was a continuous texture three different times.  Their subcontractor dumped paint and dirty paint water in our front yard on our shrubs against the bricks to our home.  We could not believe it when we saw this.

Overall it was a terrible experience.  After the first project manager was fired or quit they brought in one of their better PM's and he made the process a bit less horrific.  He did what he could to correct the mistakes that had been made on our project, but it was apparent that we were not a priority and that at this point the company wanted this job to be over.  We were not offered any type of compensation and no formal apology from the company after this process was over. 

The owner was supposed to contact us to come out and look at the finished job, but never did.  When we reached out to him to set up an appointment upon job completion.  The appointment that was set up was cancelled, it was mis scheduled by their office.  At this point we gave up and have not heard from him since.  Overall we got the feeling that UB did not want to do our kitchen and that our 25000 job was no big deal to them.  We were obviously not a priority, and even though the job ended up taking over 3 months to complete we refused to settle for mediocre work.  We regret using UB on our kitchen.  Had the company done more to make their wrongs right we might have been able to let it go, but we have not been able to get past the unsettled feeling we have when we think about the horrible experience and their lack of follow up. 

I am unclear on how the requirement that two people be present for estimates assists Unique Builders.  From my perspective, we would have to include additional cost for extra time on the homeowner's part to have two people present.  No wonder Unique Builders must drum up business with cold calls.

I wanted to start my review by saying that even though I am not happy with the work Unique Builders did on my kitchen upgrade, there was no issues that I feel are BBB reportable or anything like that.  My issues are with their quality and following through on what was promised at the beginning.  The thing that really pushed me to do this review was a family safety issue where I
feel they did not address an issue that could have been very bad.
At the beginning we were told they would cover all cabinets with plastic, and then put up plastic on the openings to other rooms.  For the demolition of the countertops, backsplash and island, they did put up the plastic and it
helped.  But the plastic came down after 2 days and they did not cover anything after that.  Even while they were cutting granite there was nothing but an attempt with a small vacuum to control the dust.  So we had to bring in a cleaning company to do post-construction cleaning.  We had wallpaper before but they were going to either remove it or float/paint over it
and that went ok but there ended up with a lot of paint on the cabinets. One of the project managers said that was paint from before and we had to remind him with pictures that we had wallpaper before.
We were also told the granite and backsplash would be sealed after it was installed.  The granite seems to be that way from the fabricator, but no sealing was done on the backsplash.  I purchased some sealant and handled this myself.
I have pictures of everything we were either happy or not happy with if anyone would like to see the issues.

 

Quality
The new island panels are shrinking or shifting and leaving gaps of un-stained wood where the panels meet the raised sections.

o   They have been out twice in the last 6 weeks to re-stain these gaps.

o   My wife and I originally considered re-doing all cabinets and I can't imagine how horrid we would feel if we had.  With this quality of craftsmanship, it is bad enough on an island and down low.  If this had been the entire set of kitchen cabinets and at eye-level it would have been so much worse.

Backsplash tiles weren't at the same depth

o   You could run your finger up the backsplash and get hung up on tiles sticking out too far

o   They had to pull them all out and fix them.  And even now, it?s not what we would like

 Medallion inserts were not at same height

o   On one wall they were 1 tile from the bottom (as planned)

o   On the opposite wall there were 2 tiles from the bottom

They stopped tiles so that 1? of electrical outlets were above the tile line
o   You could put a pencil on top of the tile behind the electrical outlets.
A cabinet was moved out from the wall to be flush with other cabinets and they didn't paint where the cabinet was.

o   You could see that area standing in the kitchen

To cut a hole inside the new island to run power to the wine fridge, they used a reciprocating saw which just tore up the interior of the island.  A simple hole saw drill would have been clean.

o   Their comment ? ?no one will see it?

The wall texturing is very poor and the trim painting is really uneven.

o   We?re getting quotes now to re-paint the walls.

A wine fridge was going into the end of the new island.  There was a lot of sawdust and wood parts on the floor there and when my wife mentioned it just before the wine fridge was being pushed in, the project manager said ?No one will see it?. 

o   To me, this is the core issue of how I feel about Unique Builders.  I don?t believe they care to do a good, clean job.  If they can hide some sub-standard work or dirt behind or under things, they will.

Downdraft installation:  The cooktop has a downdraft blower that was pointed to blow out the back for the normal install along an exterior wall.  Ours is in the island which should blow down.  I asked the project manager about this and he said they would just bend the duct and fit it to the hole in the slab.  The day of the install I decided to read the installation instructions because bending duct work will reduce the flow and of course there are instructions on what to do for downdraft.  You remove a couple screws, rotate the blower down and replace screws.. Easy.  So I left the installation instructions out and wanted to see how Unique would handle this.  As I expected they dropped in the cooktop without rotating the blower.  I then stopped them and showed them the instructions.  Then they did it correction.

o   What if I hadn?t shown them that?  The downdraft  would work but not nearly as efficient as it should.  How often do they do this and no one knows? 

Good
Quality Item
The granite fabricator was really very good.  Other than cutting the openings in the kitchen while nothing was covered and the mess that made, the finished result really looks good.  I?m very happy with the granite work.
Safety
The island cooktop was changing from electric to gas.  When we built the house, 16 years ago we had gas ran to the island and capped off.  So the plumber?s helper was the only person to come out to install the cooktop and hookup the gas.  He got that done and when we got gas turned on you could really smell it.  The burners worked but even after turning off the cooktop for a while you still smell gas so there is clearly a leak somewhere.
           
We turn the gas back off and the project manager said the main plumber would be out in a couple days to find/fix the leak.  Well the plumbers helper came back and we turn the gas back on but don?t smell much gas.  He does the soap test and says ?no leak? then just leaves.  Later that night the smell is very bad again and we haven?t used the cooktop at all so I shut the gas
off.  So the project manager says the main plumber will be out in a couple days, but the plumber helper shows up again (déjà vu).  Same thing, don?t smell much gas and his soap test doesn't find anything, he says ?no leak? and leaves.  Again that night we smell gas again so I shut it off.
              
I decided Unique Builders didn't have any intention of putting effort into this so I call a real plumbing company.  They come out and in 15 minutes had found the leak.  They proceeded to fix it and charged me a few

This company refused to do business with me because my husband would not be present for the estimate. After the operator initially refused I made the effort to call back and talk to a supervisor - I was sure that this could not be company policy. "Steve" was even more condescending and sexist. His claim that they wanted the "decision maker" present was appalling...this is not 1950! My husband travels. I have handled pool building, roofing and large remodeling projects in our home. As a part of my job I handled the contractor and subs for a million dollar remodel. How my husband and I make decisions on financial projects in our home is not the business of this company. I urge everyone that believes in equality to avoid this company and their bad business practice.

On first visit, Steve came in and took pictures, measurements and listened to our wish list. On 2nd visit, he presented a beautiful design and more functional layout along with the details of his bid. Given the size of the space and the house price points in our neighborhood we didn't want to go "all out" and Steve's proposal made the best of our budget without going overboard. We loved all his ideas. Also everything in the bid proposal was pretty straight forward and in line with the research we had done online.
The entire construction process went pretty smoothly and with no real delays. We were fortunate as old as the house is (built 1969) that upon opening the walls nothing out of the ordinary was found - our neighbors had told us about the pin hole rust leaks they experienced with their old pipes, so we half expected to find at least one hiccup along the way. My husband and I had known from the beginning we would want to replace all the pipes as long as the walls were already open.
Just in time for the holidays, Unique Builders & Development finished our Master Bathroom. It feels so good getting ready for work now! Not to mention the peace of mind that we managed to stay ahead of the aging curve of the house. Next hurdle will be our kitchen (pink tile counters)! We will certainly put Steve & his company Unique Builders at the top of the list for that project next year.

For a long time, I wanted to remodel my kitchen and add on a breakfast room.  As a homeowner, I wanted to employ a contractor who could integrate all the components of a remodel and manage the entire process from start to finish, without my husband or me to oversee and inspect the project on a daily basis.  After much research, I hired Unique Builders & Development Inc.  From day one, upon meeting Steve, he was completely professional and showed a passion to make my dream kitchen a reality.  Steve and his team gave us the incredible experience of watching our dream kitchen emerge from conception to reality. It was an enjoyable experience and no worries about quality, integrity, and honesty?it was there at all times. 

Their new and creative ideas made our kitchen truly incomparable to any other.  They made every effort to discover our personalities and introduce them into all aspects of the remodel, making it uniquely ours. His team demonstrated meticulous craftsmanship and provided exceptional customer service.  The kitchen and cabinet designers worked hand in hand with me to make sure that my kitchen utilized my space in the best possible way.  During the renovation, the Superintendant was always responsive to any questions and concerns and any issues were immediately addressed.

We have shared our experience with family and friends, and for those who have seen the transformation, they are all amazed at the attention to detail and quality that is seen throughout.  What really sets Unique Builders apart from others is that you never feel like you are just another client?the team makes you feel like your project is the most important thing they are working on, and the results show.  Without a doubt, we will be calling on them for our next project.

Steve appears to be a nice and engaging individual and has a lot of ideas.  That is initially what separted him from 2 other potential vendors.  He promised a very short time line for a complete kitchen remodel.  I paid him $1250 for a layout/design.  None of the other potential vendors required this (other vendors were quite capable and had good Angie's List reviews) but it seems like a good idea to have buy in from everyone. 
The trouble started with his contract.  It was so biased towards his company I was shocked.  Below is the worst of it:
(a)     OWNER
AGREES TO RELEASE AND/OR INDEMNIFY AND HOLD CONTRACTOR HARMLESS FROM AND
AGAINST ANY AND ALL CLAIMS, DEMANDS, OR CAUSES OF ACTION ARISING IN FAVOR OF
OWNER OR OWNER?S LICENSEES AND INVITEES ON ACCOUNT OF BODILY INJURY, DEATH OR
DAMAGE TO OR LOSS OF PROPERTY IN ANY WAY OCCURRING OR INCIDENT TO THE CONDITION
OF THE PROPERTY.  THIS RELEASE AND
INDEMNITY TO GIVEN TO CONTRACTOR REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE CONTRACTOR OR ITS
AGENTS OR EMPLOYEES ARE NEGLIGENT IN WHOLE OR IN PART AND EVEN WHEN THE INJURY,
DEATH OR DAMAGE TO OWNER OR OWNER?S LICENSEES AND INVITEES IS CAUSED BY THE
SOLE NEGLIGENCE OF CONTRACTOR OR ATTRIBUTABLE TO CONTRACTOR?S NEGLIGENCE PER SE
OR IMPOSED BY STRICT LIABILITY.
This is crazy!  I expressed my concern with Steve Zitman.  He was initally dumbfounded and commented that people have been signing this agreement for years.  I told him that I would find another more balanced agreement. 
I found an agreement from American Institute of Architect (aka AIA).  It was a general contract that in essence states the vendor holds insurance and the homeowner holds insurance.  Fair!  Steve wasn't interested in this unbiased contract so I had my lawyer review and edit Unique's agreement.  We removed several draconian clauses including the aforementioned indemnity clause.  I sent my changes back to Steve Zitman on 11/18.  I never heard back.  My last contact with Steve was on 12/3.  I requested my design file electronically.  His response:

Sorry for the delay.  We are in the process of moving our office and I am expecting to be moved by this coming Wednesday or Thursday the latest as soon as I have access to my server  I will email you the files and the modified contract
I never complained about the 41k price.  I just wanted a fair agreement.  At this point we have moved on.  Mr. Zitman is not someone I would conduct business with ever.  The bad part is we are out $1705 for the design (which is worthless to other vendors) and lawyer's fees.