Elite Custom Homes & Remodeling

We needed our master bath remodeled, as it was very outdated.  We contacted several remodeling companies, and we were very impressed with Elite.  Mike called us back after the initial visit and we were impressed with his professionalism.  We went over what we wanted, showed him pictures of bathroom cabinets and showers.  His crew was prompt to start work and they cleaned up every day.  The master bedroom area was quiet a mess, as they totally gutted the bath, but as I say, they cleaned up every day before leaving.  We told Mike what we wanted in the way of a shower and how we wanted the bathroom laid out. Walls were knocked out, doors removed and the bathtub moved.  The cabinets are beautiful, the floors are travertine and beautiful.  We picked out our fixtures and flooring, paint color and style of the shower.  The work took a little longer than expected, but it is pretty much perfection. (It took about three and half weeks to finish)...but worth every penny and the time we were inconvenienced.  I highly recommend Elite.  Mike is a gentleman and perfectionist and I would hire him again.

I was referred to a contractor by one of my medical colleagues.  This gentleman apparently had too many jobs at that time and referred his overflow to Mike Lode.  Mike contacted me and said that he wanted to bid on my office construction.  We walked through my office and went over very specific details regarding its construction.  I was impressed with his professionalism at the time and his bid was considerably less than 2 other contractors.  This should have been my first red flag.  The problems I had with this man began within 2 weeks of the job and there was a laundry list of issues.  I would love to narrate these but it will be simpler to bullet-point them. *  The job was guaranteed to be completed in 30 days.....it took 2 months.  *  He abandoned my office for a week because he said he had a "Very, very, very important" client he needed to do work for. *  We agreed upon $7,000 at the beginning of the job and $7000 upon its completion.  Half way through he demanded I give him $3000 dollars for doors. *  During our initial walk-through it was made clear that the doors I needed were to be raw solid-core doors that were to be painted.  He claimed he had to order these doors and it took over 2 weeks before they came in.  When they finally arrived my "$3000 doors" were varnished hollow-core doors that were obviously brought in from another job site.  Hence the delay.  When I expressed my frustration he stated that they could easily be treated then painted.  In actuality, all he did was paint them.  Paint does not adhere to varnish.  Every time someone so much as bumped the doors the latex paint peeled.  It became a joke in the office and people were literally peeling the paint off the doors.  I eventually bought new, raw solid core doors.  They cost me $1800 at Lowe's. *  The door jams and frames were brought in from another one of his jobs and were not sized for my door ways.  There were gaps in the seams. *  Dry wall - I've actually done dry wall in the past and know how to make a seamless appearance.  Anyone could walk up to almost any of the walls they constructed and could easily trace the seams.  Mike Lode offered to take $500 off the bill. *  He failed to cover the carpet during the construction.  Needless to say it was a mess.  We agreed that he would pay for the carpet cleaning.  He neglected to do so and months later the carpet cleaners were knocking on my door for money.  He tried to get out of it stating that he took it out of the overall bill.  I faxed them the written agreement that I had Mike Lode sign stating that he was to pay out of pocket for that expense. *  The cove base molding  (this takes some explanation) -  In order to reduce his expenses Mike Lode re-used the cove base molding that was torn off the walls during demolition.   Cove base generally comes in 4' strips, however, upon completion the molding was a patch-work of new and old cove base throughout most of the office.  One of my walls that was 10-ft. long had 5 pieces of patched cove base running down its length.  In addition, pieces that had been notched for a corner were now opened up and in the middle of a wall.  He also did not use the proper adhesive.  Cove base requires special 'cove base glue' in order to adhere to the wall, however, Mike Lode used liquid nail (it's like duct tape to a contractor...they use it for everything).  Unfortunately, this does not work for cove base molding and it simply would not adhere.  His answer.....screws.  I had several places in my office where he had actually screwed the cove base molding into my walls.  *  Did not make my x-ray dark room "light tight" as we discussed was required by the state.  When I pointed out the 1/2 inch gap at the bottom of the door his response was "Just that little bit of light?!!" *  One of his workers vomited on my floor and he tried to blame it on the carpet cleaners. *  He never came back to touch-up the paint as he said he would. *  There were a few other somewhat minor things that were done incorrectly but not worth discussing. I was horrified at the quality of his work.  Just to make sure I didn't have unrealistic expectations I contacted a couple of friends that were in the construction business to get their opinions.  They were shocked and disgusted and stated that it was people such as he that gave contractors bad names.  I took them for their word. I contacted an attorney thinking I would have some recourse.  His response was that I didn't want him to file a contractors lien for the remaining balance and I should just pay him and get him out of my life.  Needless to say that my experience with Mike Lode and "Elite Hope Repair", as he then called it, was atrocious.  I wouldn't recommend him to my worst enemy.  

Mike Lode and his team remodeled our bathroom in 2010. This is a small bathroom in an old 1920s built home. They gutted the bathroom and remodeled with new floor and shower tiling, new bath tub, granite counter top, custom cabinetry. We were very pleased with Mike's work and attention to detail. He was willing to work with us to make things right (i.e., the way my wife wanted it!). Since this is the only bathroom in our home, Mike went out of his way to minimize the downtime and keep us with a working toilet and made sure we were only without a working bathtub for a day or 2. Mike was also willing to help fix some extra things that he discovered from a previous kitchen remodel that weren't done quite right. The kitchen remodel was done by a different contractor, but Mike pointed out the issues discovered while working on our bathroom. I really appreciated this. I would certainly consider Mike for another job in the future.

It went really well. He came out on an emergency notice to stop our leak in our water heater. He replaced the water heater the next day and then the following weekend, the drywall was replaced.