Kain Construction

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I am extremely happy-- the entryway is beautiful now.  Kevin came out and installed a tile floor for me.  I was not completely satisfied with the first one and even though I had already paid and signed off on the job he came back, removed the first tile job and completely redid it for me so that it is absolutely perfect now.   The floor looks fantastic and is in the diagonal pattern that I had requested.  The subfloor had to be completely taken out and redone due to part of it being missing where I had removed a wood bench that was originally built into the house and was looking somewhat dated.  He took care of all of this for me and replaced the trim pieces as well and it was very affordable.

Kevin Kain did a great job on the installation of my maple hardwood floors and creating soffit corners in my kitchen in the end of
October, early November.  Our first oversight was about the hall closet - I wanted the closet floor replaced but Kevin hadn?t included it in the initial spec, which I was completely taken aback by.   I figured he would?ve verified with us had there been any question on his part. I was also slightly surprised be the ?Are you sure you want this done; most people don?t do it? response that dripped condescension.        
During the hardwood floor installation, we searched for tile to put in the entryway which is when things started to go really downhill.  The purchase of the floor tile was included in his initial $5,425 bid, but when we finally (!) selected a tile he informed us that we were going to have to pay him more because we had selected a "premium" tile that was more than his allotted price.  I called multiple independent tilers and asked the salespeople what they considered a "standard" price range for tile.  All were baffled by the question and suggested staying under $5 per square foot -- my selection was almost $6.  That settled (after MUCH
argument), we then discovered that he had bid to replace the entry way only, not the laundry room (separated from the entryway by a door, but no floor transition), so the bid went from 40 square feet @ $620 to 80 sq ft (with $6 tile) at $1600. 
Also during this time, Kevin was selecting wood trim for our baseboard (kitchen and dining area) and windows (2 in the same area).  He brought us 3 samples to choose from, none of which I liked.  I showed him a picture - plain, simple, slap up a stained 2x4.  A few days later he brought us a sample of the window trim - with stain on it.  He had never run the final trim selection past us (I thought he was still searching) but instead began staining a selection of what HE thought would fit the space.  It's only 2 windows, so I relented.  
Kain also installed our pre-purchased laminate countertops (which he said needed to be ?specially? sanded down in multiple areas due to warping since they had been in the garage for so long ~ to the tune of $250 extra).  He installed the new (pre-purchased) sink, old dishwasher, and faucet, but a piece of the faucet was broke.  Instead of taking the faucet to where we purchased it (Menard's, literally across the street) he called and ordered a new part from the manufacturer, shutting off our kitchen water (we hadn?t yet had to go without water up to this point, nor were we prepared to go without water it).  When the piece came in 4 days later, it didn't fix the problem, but lucky for us we had gone to Menards and picked out a completely different faucet which he installed with no problems. 
While moving the washer/dryer to make way for the tile installation, we discovered an area of mold in the subfloor.  That night we emailed Kevin questions about replacing that 2 square feet of mold versus the whole 80 sq feet of subfloor - pros and cons?  We didn't hear from Kevin in the morning (which wasn't unusual as he often worked other smaller jobs in between projects at our house) but mid-day my husband got a picture text from Kevin ~ Kevin standing on my basement bar, head in our main floor laundry room.  He had opted to replace the entire 80 sq ft of subfloor without quoting the job or waiting for consent from us.  We were invoiced $2600 for the subfloor within an hour of him leaving the job site (still, not having TALKED to my husband or I, save for the texted photo).
By this time, it's the end of November although it was supposed to be a 2-week job that started Oct 22.  I acknowledge that it did take me well over 3 weeks to find tile during which some things got done, and that they had to install the new subfloor (which took less than 6 hours).  I was pleading with Kevin to finish up the little things ? trim around the soffit, baseboard in laundry room, stabilize the wobbly dishwasher, re-do the tile grout which had crumbled within days of drying (no, we weren?t walking on it)?  Mostly, he showed up sporadically or sent a very young man to do things, someone who obviously was not well-trained in any of these tasks. 
Kevin invoiced us along the way for parts and labor.  We had initially paid a 50% deposit to install a floor with materials WE had purchased, at which point we stopped being dumb :) and started paying upon completion of a specific job (completion of soffit
corners; installation of baseboard, etc).  At one point, after the increase in tile job cost (remember, $620 - $1600) Kevin sent me a detail of the $2600 subfloor installation ? which included duplicate charges of things I had already paid for!  I had to remind
him about things he had claimed (via email) to not be charging us for, as well as things WE did that they were supposed to (like reinstalling the garage-to-house door that they left off the hinges one cold November Friday).     
Final invoice: $9,889 on December 27th, 2 months after commencement.  (I didn?t pay that much)
Two and a half years later: the wood floor is still beautiful.  The soffit corners aren't the same angle or measurements, but the seams are flawless.  My tile flooring grout cracked and crumbled (again) - and looks terrible.  The under-cabinet-light screws extend through the floor of my cabinets, so we we've had to put a piece of plywood on the bottom of every cabinet so that glasses, plates, etc don't get stuck on or scratched by the sharp end of the nail.    And some of my trim (near the sink) is water damaged ? even though Kevin and I talked about this concern and he assured me extra coats of polyurethane (or whatever top coat he used).  It is these little things that I realize now make a big difference.  And the way he talked down to me.  The condescension was the most horrible part of it all.  In the beginning ? charming, and will play in to your design wants.  But then, he knows better than you, and his opinion is superior thus he will fight you to have his way.  Ugh.  So glad I have Angie?s List now!

The work is not done right. I have been trying to get them to come back for a couple of weeks, and they are wasting time getting here. I have to be on them all the time. Communication is poor. They make it seem like it is all my fault. They are trying to correct some of the errors and are making an attempt to do so. I had to call another contractor to come do some work on the roof by Kain Construction. I am not happy with the tile work in the bathroom and will have to have another contractor fix that. They attempted to fix some of it but there is still more that needs to be fixed.