The Grout Doctor

He was right on time and went immediatly to work after reviewing both areas. He answered all my questions. He did miss a small caulking spot in the bathroom that I did not see until he left. Overall I was happy with his work and would use him again.

John cleaned the grout in our kitchen and bathroom shower. He did a great job. The grout in the kitchen looks better than when we moved into our home. The shower looks great too. John arrived on time, and worked hard, working on the shower while the floor in the kitchen dried.

The grout on our kitchen counters was showing some of the original darker color after years of wear. John came out to give us an estimate and explained that the grout color which has been applied over the original color was wearing off. We wanted all the grout to be a uniform color so he said he would strip off the old color and reseal it and it would all look uniform again. John's estimate was extremely reasonable so we agreed. John was at our house for about 4 hours, stripping off the old color and re-sealing it. When he was nearly finished, I notice the grout didn't look uniform - in fact, it looked worse because some parts were now very dark and some parts of it were still the color of the lighter grout. I pointed that out to him but he said that was because the darker areas were still damp and it would lighten up as it dried. However, it did not lighten up and we were left with grout that was even more mismatched than when he started. In addition, he had not covered our hardwood floors with dropcloths all around and the stripping liquid had dripped and stained our hardwoods in two places (althought small stains) where there were no dropcloths. I asked him to come back to look at the darkened, mismatched grout and also to remove the stains on my hardwood floors. He seemed surprised to see the color of the grout but made no offer to re-do it. He also was unable to remove the stains on the floors, but said he would research it and could have a flooring person come out if necessary. I told him I did want him to do that because I wanted the stains removed, even though they were small. That was 17 days ago and we still haven't heard from him. We decided not to have him work on our grout anymore because I had lost confidence in his ability to accomplish the job, but I will be calling him again to remind him that he still has to fix our floors. In the meantime, I had another grout expert - listed on Angie's List - out to repair the same grout and he had no trouble making all the grout color uniform and applying a sealer, all within 4 hours and without spilling anything on our floors. Our grout now looks wonderful.

We spent about $ 250 on that service. The quality of their work and follow-up was great. We called, they followed-up and the price was what they said it was and they really listened to what work was needed. They were a little bit late and we had to call them that day.

Both for the estimate and the actual job, he arrived on time. Took the time to tell me what we was going to do which included showing me some grout colors and asking for my opinion. He also sealed some of the lower grout lines in the shower to prevent future damage. In the end, the shower looked good and I was satisified with the work.

very competent and pleasant to work with

Great! I've had him out before, so I knew exactly what to expect. I called him on Monday and he called me back on Tuesday. He offered to come out and give me an estimate, but since I had dealt with him before and it was kind of an emergency (I was afraid to use the shower because of the cracked grout and possible water damage), I told him to just come out and do the job. He came out on Thursday morning and was done in 2 hours.

John came out to our home two months ago and gave us estimates for all of the work to be done. The work was done in stages and, at every stage, John was great to work with. He was able to remove a strip of accent tile in our bathroom without damaging the surrounding tiles and replaced the strip with new tiles, that he picked up for us at a supply house that was a considerable distance from our home. He repaired a badly damaged and poorly maintained terrazo floor and made it look almost new. He cleaned and sealed a slate shower surround and, again, made it look new again. His prices were more than fair and he was always prompt, courteous and easy to work with. We recommend him without reservation.

The work was perfection. He needed a little tiny part and he got it on his time. The bars are very sturdy and they look lovely.

Did the work in oct. 2009, was called back July 9, 2010 to fix a couple of places under his warranty and to also replace another cracked tile. Came right out, puncutally and took care of his warranty stuff, and fixed the broken tile. Only charge was for replacing the broken tile.

John gave me an estimate and then came back 10 days later. He was punctual and the work was done well at a reasonable price. I would definitely use him again.

He did an ok job for a great price!

John responded quickly to my call and provided an estimate on site. Work was done professionally and completed as promised. Will definitely use his services in the future.

John responded to request for a quote within 24 hours and scheduled an appointment to view the work to be done and provide an estimate a few days later. Due to my schedule, the job was scheduled three weeks out. John arrived on time on the day of the appointment. I had 11 hand-painted accent tiles on my countertop that I wanted removed and replaced with tile that matched the rest of the countertop. Because of the way the tiles were laid, John advised that some of the adjacent tiles may be damaged when the accent tiles were removed. This is what occurred and John had to cut tile to replace adjacent tiles that were broken or chipped. He also regrouted the entire countertop. The finished countertop looked fantastic. You couldn't tell that some of the tile had been replaced. John put up plastic sheeting to keep the mess contained and prevent dust transfer to other rooms. The work area was thoroughly cleaned. John completed the job in the estimated timefram and for the estimated cost. I was very pleased with the finished job. I would definately recommend John and would hire him again.

It went great. John was always good at calling back (as there was a lot of leaving messages in order to set up appointments). He came by to look at the shower, and offered a quote with the Angie's List discount, and stuck to the quote. Was able to set up an appointment for the next week. Said it would take 4 hours, and he was done in 3-1/2. He was friendly and quiet, and was nice to the kitties. He explained how long to wait for it to be dry, and pointed out places on the shower tiles where there was intentionally no grout, so that it wouldn't be mistaken as a missed spot. Would definitely hire him again!

The company was quick to return our initial call and scheduled a visit and estimate with my husband in the near future. On the appointed day--a Friday--John from Grout Doctor left a message on my cell phone a few minutes before his scheduled arrival saying he couldn't find the house and may have recorded the address incorrectly. I returned his call within minutes, reached his cellphone (?) voicemail and left our address, my husband's cell and our house phone numbers. I immediately called my husband to relay the information and gave him John's phone numbers. My husband called John also and left voicemails since John didn't answer. My husband waited for an hour but never heard from John. We had no contact from John until he left a message on my cell phone again at end of business the next Monday saying he had accidentally erased the message with my husband's cell phone number. In fact, we had left two separate messages for him containing that information. He also apparently still had the contact information we provided in our initial email communication. We were shocked and surprised by this experience given the very high ratings reported by other Angie's List members. This was a such a weird experience in our decades of working with service companies that we decided not to pursue contact with this business.

I would rate him "A's" on everything. He did a great job.

excellent, exceeds expectations. John was on time, responsive to questions, and competitively priced. the shower looks like brand new. highly recommended. i shopped around before moving forward, and i'm really glad i did. His competition pushed a lot of needless work into original bid, and added too many disclaimers about possible cost run-overs and no-fault clauses due to chipped tile. But John was upfront and honest on what needed to be fixed and what could wait until later. He even through in a small touchup in different bathroom at no charge, when competition wanted to bill me an extra 4hrs. very good experience overall.

They were very responsive. They did a fine job and were fairly priced too.

John did a very nice job and cleaned up after himself. The shower and floor look brand new. He was friendly and courteous. I would use his company again.

John came out to see our master bath shower, which badly needed recaulking and regrouting. He gave a very reasonable estimate for the amount of work involved. He was extremely professional, knowledgable and willing to answer any questions. When he came back later to perform the work, he arrived on time and did a thoroughly careful, quality job. The shower looks wonderful, just like new! While he was there, he also cleaned and resealed our granite tile counters in the kitchen and did some minor recaulking/tile repair while waiting for the shower grout to dry. I would give him an A+++, and definitely use him again. Highly recommended.

On his first visit to inspect the tiles, we agreed that once he ascertained the condition behind the shower wall, he would either proceed with the work or not. Once he discovered the problem during our second appointment, he agreed to repair the loose tiles only, and he also installed a reinforcement to stabilize the the area. So he only charged me for the minimum work done and did a nice job of cleanup. It's nice to get someone honest in for an opinion, and I recommend that you always get a second opinion.

I called John Start, the owner, approximately three weeks ahead of when I planned to book the appointment. His reviews on Angie's List were strong and so after speaking to him, I decided to give it a shot. John showed up today, at the appointed time, and was punctual and professiona. He had taken good notes of the things we needed done in the house and (unlike some contractors) had saved them for the day he did the job and even reminded me about the kitchen backsplash that I had previously mentioned in our phone call and had since forgotten. His recommendation to only re-grout 1/2 the tub ended up saving us about 50% in terms of cost and the end result was excellent. All of the work took him about 2-3 hours and he cleaned up nicely after completing the project. John was a breeze to deal with, and I would absolutlely hire him again for work in the future.

John cleaned the shower and floor tile on one day and came back the next day to see how it looked when it was dry. The cleaning worked well, and he felt that restaining would not be necessary. He sealed the grout. He recaulked the shower as well. He was pleasant, professional and worked quickly.

John came to our home to give an estimate within a few days after I called. He said he could be back in a week to do the work, and he did! The job was professionally done, he was happy to answer any questions I had, and the price was reasonable. Our "new" shower looks great! I would certainly call him again.