All About The Finish

Tawmie refinished a large bookcase in my house. She is a miracle worker! She took a bookcase that looked old and worn and created a beautiful bookcase that looks brand new. She made excellent suggestions on the crown moldings and the type of bookcase doors for the bottom shelves. Her design suggestions turned out great. She was easy to work with and was on time, diligent and had great attention to detail. I highly recommend her!

For a business that is named ‘All about the FINISH’ … well Tawmie never finished the job we had originally agreed on. Maybe it’s because she’s too busy now with all her new business from the ‘yelp phenomenon’ and the 8 week wait, so she can’t be bothered with finishing a small job with clients she didn’t get along with.
We, too were impressed with the Unilocal reviews here and contracted her to do some detail work on our kitchen remodel late last year. We were on a really tight timeline (baby #2 arrival was imminent) and the holidays were coming up. Tawmie was initially very flexible and accommodating, and suggested that although she wouldn’t be able to personally do the work right away, she knew someone who could at least get the first part of the job done (we were waiting on some additional trim and it was understood from the beginning that part of the job would be completed in December, and the rest completed in the new year). We agreed.
After the subcontractor started work, we expressed to Tawmie that we felt his work was not as good as we had hoped. Now, let me be clear. At this point the job was (and still is) not complete. We made our judgment based on unfinished work. Tawmie made a point of saying this, and I agree. However, instead of simply stopping there and reassuring us the work, on completion, would be much improved, Tawmie’s attitude became very defensive and confrontational.
For example. There is a really tricky area around our window casing that is just plain awkward. We discussed a lot of different options, and finally I agreed to one. We ended up not liking the way it looked, and requested that it be re-​done a different way. Instead of taking it in stride and simply agreeing to re-​work the area, (which, IMO is a non-​issue as we were paying by the hour) we got into a back and forth regarding the fact that I had approved the work to be done the way it had been completed. I wasn’t arguing that at all. I just changed my mind when I saw the end result, wanted to have it re-​done, and apparently that was an issue. (I can’t possibly be the first person to want work redone because I changed my mind??)
Finally, we agreed to pay Tawmie for most of the work that had already been completed, and would pay the balance on completion of the job in January after the extra trim arrived etc… When we contacted Tawmie in January, she responded that she would not come back and do any more work on the job until she received payment for the full balance for the work that had already been done. This was NOT what we had agreed on in December. And, of the many contractors I have worked with over the years, I have never paid them until a job was fully completed. We have tried to contact Tawmie by phone multiple times to follow up regarding this, but as it stands right now, she has not responded to our calls, and our kitchen trim is still not finished.
It is Tawmie’s attitude in response to our concerns that clearly sent our relationship southward, and has me here writing a two star review, which frankly, is not a fun thing for me to do. I would much rather be writing a glowing review. I acknowledge that communication could have been improved on both ends, but at the end of the day, managing clients (us) and the work being farmed out (subcontractor) is part of growing a business. As far I can see Tawmie’s craftsmanship is excellent, but her customer service needs a bit of… finish.

Unilocal saves the day, once again. This time it brought Tawmie into our lives.
First, some back story: we moved into a fabulous house in Lafayette. My husband and I measured the space for the fridge, and between the two of us and an appliance salesman, we managed to completely botch the fridge selection. When it arrived, it was too tall for the cabinets above to clear the hinges, and you could walk past it only if you went sideways and had no ass at all. A disaster.
So I went on Unilocal and searched for a carpenter, and found Tawmie. She arrived the next day, took a look and gave us a reasonable quote to alter the upper cabinets. She did the work a couple days later, and you’d never know it wasn’t original. A beautiful job! She also helped us with some minor fixes around the house. As the other reviewer said, she’s a gem.

Tawmie is a gem. She is a magnificent craftswoman with a keen eye. Tawmie has helped me with some small projects, but I have also seen her working on her larger jobs. I am always impressed with her capabilities and the level of thought she puts into her work. When I ask her to fix a little thing, she goes above and beyond what I’ve asked to really do things right. Tawmie is very professional, but she is also down to earth, friendly, and easy to talk to. Her creativity and problem solving skills are outstanding, and she is always great with kids and pets. If you are looking for flawless work from a great finish carpenter, Tawmie will be your new best friend.

I had kitchen cabinet modification I wanted to make and wasn’t sure how I’d locate someone to perform a small cabinet job. Found Tawmie through a general contractor I had used in the past. He said she’d be perfect for the job and she was. She was very creative in helping me to come up with a design that would meet my needs and work with the existing cabinets. Completed on time and budget and enjoyed working with her. A couple years later, my Sub-​Zero was failing and needed to be replaced and I did not want another built in frig. So, I gave Tawmie a call and again she helped me figure out how to utilize the freed up space with a shelf and cabinet above my new counter-​depth frig. Again, it was such a pleasure working with her I almost hope I have some more finish carpentry projects in the future.

Tawmie is simply amazing! I’ve had quite a bit of carpentry work done at my house over the past 20 years, and she is, by far, the best. Her attention to detail, follow-​through, reliability and overall carpentry skills are second to none. And, as a bonus, she is an incredibly pleasant person to work with! I’m so excited to have finally found a carpenter of her caliber!!!

If there were more stars, I would give them!
Tawmie is not only an amazing finish carpenter, but she is a wonderful person. She has done many projects, large and small, for me over the years and been with me through two remodels. She is, simply, the very best. She has a lovely, very pleasant demeanor and my two kids adore her and she is so patient with them and always very conscious of noise and mess.
Her attention to detail is second to none; her work is literally flawless, as she has a very keen, trained eye and is happy to make suggestions without being pushy. We live in a 1920’s building in San Francisco, meaning there are a lot of quirks, strange nooks, angled walls, and sloping floors. Tawmie has made our space look like new construction — here are some of the things she has done for us:
— Beadboard and Wainscotting in an entire room that became a nursery
— Finished radiator covers to disguise their ugliness and make them safe for children to be around
— Custom window seat with storage, finished in beadboard (TONS of detail work!)
— Built-​in Cabinets into our Living Room & Dining Room, allowing for lots of usable storage while enhancing the look of the room
— Built-​in shelving in the closet to make use of an awkward space
— Crown Molding in most rooms, including a trickily angled hallway which leads to stairs
— All finish work (cabinets, baseboards and crown) in two new bathrooms (one remodel, one new)
— Custom table to fill a dead space behind a couch in front of a notched out window
— Custom shelves for niche and nook
— Custom tall cabinets for kitchen
Cannot recommend her highly enough!

I recently purchased a new builtin fridge, double oven, induction cooktop, dishwasher and downdraft ventilation. Because of the complexity of this installation I wanted make sure I had the best installer/​carpenter possible. Luckily I was referred to Tawmie Zaragoza. She and her team did an amazing job. As in all complex projects we had a few «surprises» but nothing Tawmie couldn’t handle. In the end the carpentry was excellent and everything was installed perfectly and I couldn’t be happier.
If you have a project give her a call. You won’t be sorry.