Unique Home Design & Remodeling

Just thought I’d add another update. This company sent me what I believe was supposed to be a very scary letter from a supposed attorney demanding that I remove my review of their company saying I violated the terms of the settlement agreement. I’ll upload the letter (if thats even possible) as soon as I get a free minute. Obviously I disregarded it as my review is still up. Besides the fact what it stated was inaccurate, I questioned whether or not it was from an actual attorney. The reason I thought this was because in my opinion, most attorneys can spell. (Or at least run a spell checker)

Well what can I say, my wife and I were looking to have my kitchen redone and we spoke to my long time friend David who had his kitchen and some other work done around his house. I asked David if he was truely happy with Unique and if the experience was worth what he paid for all the work that was done. I also asked him if he would rehire them in the future to do additional work and he said «For sure».
His project manager Steve K, ironic we share the same first name, so he had to be a great guy :-)… so Steve came by our home to give us an estimate on our kitchen. He was unbelieveable thorough and I didn’t realize how much was involved in creating a kitchen. He spent nearly 3 ½ hours going over every detail. I was blown away with all this information and my wife was very intrigued about all the incredible kitchens he designed and was responsible for.
We of course asked if he could create something special and awesome for us at a price we could afford? He said he could work with our budget.
We agreed and decided to hire him and his company.
To make a long story short, the job went great with a couple of hiccups, but nothing too serious that would stop the job. Steve would always give us a schedule and what to expect on the job and we would call him a few times a week to ask him questions. He would always get back to us when he could and in the same day.
The job took about 6 weeks and within budget. Steve came about 3 months later to check on us and dropped off an unexpected gift.
It was just a great experience and would reccommend Unique Home Design, especially Steve K to anyone that wants a job well done. They were not the least expensive company but with what they did for us the money was well spent and well worth all the mess of the demolition, to the completion of our incredible kitchen.
It’s now a pleasure to entertain and show off our kitchen.
**As a side note, for anyone using my review to help them make a decission, please keep in mind that my friend David referred me to Unique and I read some of the negative reviews here because I feel it important to know what other people went through and I feel that they had an individual issue with there project manager and not the company. Steve works for Unique and he was awesome but like any other company we all deal with, it all depends on who you work with because they are all individually doing a diffrent job.

Want to share a victory story that i had with a contractor. Wait, you say victory with a contractor??? Impossible right??? Actually, totally possible.
About a year ago i had my bathroom completely remodeled by Unique. A friend of a friend referred me. I requested a bid, they came out and met with me. The estimator was really knowledgable, although i felt i may have been «sold» at the time, looking back the suggestions that were made were fantastic. I chose to work with Unique because the were not the cheapest or the most expensive of the quotes, they were knowledgeable and the reference of my friend. The job took a bit longer then i expected, but when it was complete, i had myself a masterpiece master bathroom.
In a nutshell, we extended the shower into the closet, made the closet a bit smaller, put in a new sauna tub, new sink fixtures and cabinets, tile and a great new toilet area. I took pictures from a vacation location and used these as the basis for my new bathroom. They pulled it off and i was happy, end of story.
Well the story does not end there. about 2 monts ago i noticed that a few of the tiles were cracked on the floor. I blew it off. About a month ago my handy man that was working under the house notice a leak in the crawl area. After further investigation, we found out that either the shower pan was leaking or there was some issue with the shower faucet.
I called up Unique and explained. They sent someone out a few days later. I really was expecting a fight, what i got instead was proactive work. They tested the shower pan, then cut a hole in the wall opposite the shower and found that the shower direction valve (there are 2 shower heads) was bad. This was no fault of Unique’s, it was a Moen issue. They ordered new parts for me, installed them, patched the hole, fixed the tiles (this was due to water damage from the leak) and i am good to go again.
Long and short, i was impressed with the original work, but more impressed with the proactive work that they really did not have to do. Now i am writing a review to share my experience, and I will suggest them to anyone… good business in my opinion!
I gave them 4 stars! (I’ll upgrade to 5 if there are no more leaks!!! LOL) They are great. Hope this helps anyone looking to work with them.

I will NOT use Unique again. Beware of the sales tactics they use — Very deceiving and tricky. For example, they would convince you that they could get material for a certain price and it’d be a bargain. In your contract, there would be an allowance for this material. If later they couldn’t get the material for the amount allowed, you’d have to pay extra for the difference. So of course, two days after they started my remodeling project, they told me they could not get any of the materials, which had «allowances» in the contract, for the amount of money allowed in my contract. They were either 50% or 100% more. Were they in business the first day? EVERY material that they «allowed» for was off their estimates. How convenient! Being in this business for 27 years, I’d think they should have the ability and the experience to give more accurate estimates. They acted like they were amateurs. I really felt that I’d been tricked into accepting these «allowances.» My takeaway from the end of the remodel is not to fall for the «allowances,» and make sure everything is included in the price. Screw the allowances!!! And, you should, too. Make sure the word «allowance» doesn’t show up in your contract. Their sole purpose will be to take your wallet/​purse for a ride. During your remodel, they will keep raising price on you, and leave your project hanging if you don’t agree. You signed a contract with them; what are you going to do? Break the contract and find someone else to finish the job? They have you hooked. Imagine standing in your already demolished kitchen or bathroom right after they tell you the price has increased — you’ll feel like you’ll never see the completion of your remodel, and you’ll never wake up from your endless remodel nightmare. And, you’re going to wish that you’d never hired them. Just remember this: «I told you so.» There were just lies after lies. Here is one: I was told that the owner would visit my home during the remodel; I was like «whatever» and didn’t take it seriously. Come on! Ask me if I even care whether the CEO of my own company visits me. The only person that I’d met from Unique from the start till the end was the project manager, and it was usually when a payment was due. It definitely made me feel that they care about my money more than my satisfaction. I just wanted to show that they would say anything to lure you into signing contract with them. I simply stopped believing half of what they said. Another lesson that I learned: No matter how busy you are, always get as many estimates as you can for your project to increase your chance of finding an honest contractor.

I initially called them up to set up a free in home estimate for my bathroom remodeling project. They said the earliest they can come out is a few days before the closing of escrow. So, we set up the appointment for two weeks after. The late evening of the day before the appointment, they called and told me it’s against the company policy to do the estimate before closing. Hello! If it’s company policy, why they let me set up appointment in the first place? The rep tried to work it out and promised to call me back in 15 minutes. I waited for an hour and called them back. Another lady told me the rep was gone for the day and left a Message for me «we could not do it.» Not even a phone call back and it is the way they treat potential customer. It’s very unfair that I reserved a spot for them and have my husband and agent to leave the time slot open and they called the last minute to cancel the appointment. When you come across with their newspaper advertising, just ignore it.