Sun Dog Construction

I’d taken multiple bids for this job and went with Sun Dog because of the Angie’s List reviews. I should have given more weight to the number of reviews which stated that the reviewer got a bid from Sun Dog and, while impressed by their professionalism, went with a lower-​bidding contractor. That first impression seems to be what you pay for. The project manager was at first very responsive and professional — as the project wore on, I found my emails were not answered and my concerns were not addressed. As their cost was much higher than other contractors I’d met with, I expected better communication. The PM didn’t ask me what fixtures I’d purchased; for instance, the sink I chose has an open base, but because the PM didn’t ask, the plumbing was installed as though it had a cabinet and now I have ugly, crookedly-​placed black pipes under my beautiful white porcelain sink. I later asked the plumber if he would have installed the pipes differently had he known what kind of sink I’d purchased and he admitted he would. As I purchased the sink before the project even began and it was in my garage the whole time, this information was freely available to them. Likewise they did not ask what kind of shower fixtures I chose; the result is I have a «hand held» shower that is so far up the wall that a person of average height cannot reach it. Thankfully I’m tall; if I sell the house to a short person I will have to pay to have it replaced.
There were many details that were overlooked and concerns which were ignored which led to a less-​than-​optimum result, but the main shocker was the pricing. For instance — Sun Dog proposed $ 2,375 to paint a 6×9 room. I had them remove that line item and got my own subcontractor to paint (primer and 2 coats) for $ 540.00. Likewise, they proposed $ 2,500 without material to lay ceramic tile in this tiny room (most of which was taken up by the shower) — I found another provider to do it for $ 1,600 including tile. I also had to pay over $ 1,000 for a small window, because Sun Dog’s PM insisted on making the existing opening bigger and completely reframing (he said he thought I’d want a bigger window; he should have asked me.) One of the attractions of using a contractor is not having to organize all these details — had I not done so, I would have paid at least $ 3,000 more — needlessly.
I’ve done multiple projects in this house and never had a provider fail to show up — this happened three times during the Sun Dog job. I several times was given the excuse by the PM that he had a lot going on.
The job was completed within the time frame promised, so that was a good thing. The work is acceptable, but better coordination of efforts and better communication would have led to a better outcome. For instance, the drywallers were not told that there was going to be a medicine cabinet installed, so the carpenter had to cut out the drywall after it was finished, leading to drywall screws popping out and ruining the finish. The light fixtures, which could be hung turned up or turned down, were hung facing down — when I would have preferred them facing up. These little snafus would be more palatable had the cost not been so high. The PM «assumed» I was getting a certain sized sink and had the room all plumbed for that size. Fortunately I noticed that the plumbing was not located in the correct spot to accommodate the sink I bought in time for them to fix it; had I been less alert, we could have gotten to the drywall stage — or later — before the error was noticed.
Given that I ended up having to find may own tiler and painter to avoid being egregiously over-​charged, had to keep an eye on where the plumbing was being placed, and was not listened to, consulted, or considered for many aspects of the project, I will not hire Sun Dog again.

We just had a large closet/​cabinet built along a wall and over a window in our 1910 house to increase storage space. Sun Dog built it off site; they then installed it in our house in just a few hours. It’s solid and what we expected and really pretty too. Other than some minor communication pauses early on, I would definitely work with Autumn and his crew again. The workmanship is wonderful and Autumn followed up to make sure we were happy.