I interviewed several contractors in regards to installing my new kitchen cabinets I was getting from Direct Buy. I started this process several months ago since it takes a while to check out contractors as well as time delays caused by the MANY AZ contractors that don't return phone calls or show up for the appointment or don't get back to you with the price when they actually showed up to talk about the job. I chose Dean Trammel of Trammel Construction because his price was good, his references checked out as did the ROC and BBB.
After I told him he had the job, he came over several times to get copies of the kitchen drawings and to discuss installation. When I got word when my cabinets were going to be delivered, I called Dean with the date which was about 2 weeks away. He then told me his installation date. He knew I was going to have Stardust Industries tear out the old kitchen since they will do it for free if you donate the cabinets to them. He also knew I had serious food allergies and couldn't eat restaurant food, so had to have the tear out done the day before his install to be sure I didn't go without a kitchen for too long. He told me his helper would arrive at my house about 7:00am on 9/12 and he would arrive about 3:00pm after another install. They were going to do 12 hours straight through instead of splitting the install into 2 days.
My cabinets were delivered on 9/7.inspected them on 9/8 and discovered a missing base cabinet and some damaged items. I called Dean's cell and left a detailed message about the problem and told him I needed him to call me to let me know if the 9/12 install would still happen. 9/10 I still hadn't heard from him so I left a 2nd message adding the info that if the install would not go forth that I had to call Stardust within a few hours to cancel the 9/11 tear out. A few hours went by and I still hadn't heard from Dean, so I called his helper whose number I just happen to have because it was one of the numbers on Dean's reference list (I never did call the helper for a reference since I thought it would haven been biased). I got a hold of the helper (Keith) and explained the problem. Keith said the location of the missing cabinet was not a problem and that he could fix most of the shipping-type damage. Keith said to go ahead with the tear out and he'd see me about 10:00am 9/12.
About the time Keith was to arrive on 9/12, I got a call from him saying that he hadn't been able to reach Dean so he wasn't going to come until 9/13 and would call Dean every hour until he got him. Keith called me later and said he had finally gotten in touch with Dean who was suppossedly stranded in San Diego and trying to figure out how to get home. Obviously Dean's cell phone was working since Keith got a hold of him. WHY DIDN'T DEAN CALL ME OR HIS HELPER? We both had left messages and our phone numbers! It turns out that Keith is NOT Dean's helper but a subcontractor - the very thing I asked Dean about and he said his people weren't subs! Now Keith says he'll come over and give me HIS price for the install (since Dean wasn't going to do it).
Keith arrived and seemed very knowledgeable. For some reason, which I still don't understand, Keith wouldn't do the job for the price Dean had quoted. Here I was without a kitchen and food allergies that prevented me from eating out, so I had no choice but to agree to Keith's price which was almost twice what I was originally going to pay. Keith came back the next day and installed my kitchen. He did a very nice job. I never ever have heard from Dean Trammel!
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