The Shop, LLC

We had Joe build an 8'x2' media cabinet, pretty much a just a rectangle, nothing fancy. We paid $4100 for it. Joe was great for the consultation. He helped us solve the conundrum of how to leave our floor speakers intact without it looking awkward. His consultation was by far his best offering. The first issue happened when Joe showed up with the finished piece. We inspected it before he installed it and noticed that it had the wrong-sized and designed baseboard. When we pointed this out to him, he tried to argue about it, saying that's what we agreed to. We said, "Why would we want a custom built-in that doesn't match the surrounding baseboards?" He thought that it was the same, then my husband pointed out that he had taken a sample piece from our baseboards, which he had with him on the truck. When he compared them, he realized he'd messed up. He agreed to take it back to the shop and redo the baseboard, but since our baseboards were taller than what he put on, it would make the entire cabinet sit taller. He wasn't offering, but we should have insisted that he redo the whole cabinet so that it was the height we agreed to--but we didn't want to cause him hardship and decided we could live with it (something we've regretted ever since). The second issue happened shortly after installation. One of the drawers was misaligned to the point that it looked like the face panel was warped. We asked them to fix it. After much resistance and consternation from Joe's wife Stacy, we finally got Joe out here. He struggled with it for a long time trying to figure out what was going on. By the time he finished, he said it was the best he could do. It was much improved to the point that we could live with it, but we all knew it wasn't straight the way it should be (it still didn't look in line with the other drawers). The warped look (misalignment) continued to get worse as time went on, so we watched the video they sent us for how to adjust misalignments and we went through the same thing Joe did, except this time, my husband pulled all the drawers out completely and discovered that the drawer slider wasn't attached. We found that the screw that originally attached the slider had fallen out. The reason it had fallen out is because the hole was stripped and so the screw was never securely attached. Why Joe couldn't figure this out is beyond us. We contacted them and explained the situation. Stacy responded that we should have let them know sooner, that the one-year warranty was over, and that they would fix it only if we paid them more money. We reminded them that we HAD let them know right away and that Joe never fixed it. We also shared pictures of the stripped hole and detached slider, showing that it was clearly a manufacturing issue, one that never should have happened or at least should have been caught by Joe when he came out. They doubled down that they had fulfilled their state-mandated warranty and would only fix it if we gave them more money. I told them we had 12-year-old builder-grade cabinets throughout our house that we'd never had an issue with, as well as a 25-year-old dresser of drawers from Target that never had a screw fall out or slider detached despite its age and frequent use. Needless to say, I couldn't possibly recommend this company and feel a moral obligation to warn others. Buyer beware!

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I found 'The Shop' at Angie's list and called Joe, after being half burnt from a local renovator. Joe was quicker to show up than I thought, especially coming from a long distance. He is accessible like any other, in the city, person.
We exchanged ideas and finally came up with a plan, he was quick in giving 'estimates'.........boy was it close!
Our second meeting was at their house. Well, at their antique-filled-working-shed, to be more specific. Looks like Joe does most of the ground job and Stacey takes care of the paperwork and scheduling apart from lending a helping hand. Both are very warm and welcoming. Me and my wife were sure we are in good hands, even before they started working. I believe, one who can paint the right picture for your imagination, knows what he's talking about. Needless to say, things came our exactly the same.
We were ready to tear down the whole kitchen cabinets, as we didn't like the colors, wanted them to be smooth and wanted some more of them around our fridge.
He saved us a lot of money by just refacing the existing ones and creating new ones around the fridge, and making all of them 'soft-close'. Looks the same as we wanted it to and thankfully costs much much less. Detail orientation follows when you love what you do. Minor shoe moldings and corner edging (don't know what its called) which he strongly suggested, gave the kitchen cabinets such a rich 'furniture' look.

I should 'warn' you........if you explain to Joe what you want .......wait for his little pencil sketch. If he wasn't in the wood-work he would be sketching!
They tore down the small island in our 'sterile' kitchen and replaced it with a new bigger island, custom built to our specifications, and still made the kitchen bigger.

Joe was also helpful in directing us to the right people for our other requirements. His laid-back friend, the 'Stone guy' would do our granite countertops.
He made sure the 'paint guy' had the exact shade and sheen of paint, as planned.
Overall it was such a pleasing experience. Looking forward to more work pretty soon.
Coming up next is the big wall around the fireplace and the great wall with bay windows. Man-cave is the huge last!
I would be more than happy to recommend them to one and all.
If you have the slightest of idea of what you want done, just say it and leave it to the ex-electrical engineer to brainstorm the rest for you.
Thanks for reading!

Joe came on time for every appointment. When he delivered it, he had enough help to complete the installation. We were very happy.