Core Remodeling Group

Like a mosquito in a nudist colony, I’m not sure where to begin. For those of you seeking a “quick and to-the-point” review, here it is: We are happy with the final product for our kitchen, bathrooms and fireplace remodeling. However, if the means toward achieving that end are of interest, read on. Getting to an acceptable conclusion of this project was disappointing if not painful experience. In short, our biggest error in judgement was to vacate our home for this 8 month long project (budgeted 3 months). By living elsewhere (about 1.5 hours away by car). By taking this approach, we effectively abdicated management of all subcontractors to CORE. This seemed reasonable as that is what their very high prices are represented to encompass. Not for us apparently. Garage doors left open with no one home (several times), mains power left off resulting in freezer/refrigerator leaking all over wood floors (twice!) and all contents being thrown away by the workers (even the dishes!), A/C vent covered by tiler (it’s easier that way), conditioned crawl space left open several times (our neighbor was our watchman and eventually started to visit daily), lights, A/C, etc. always left on, etc., etc. All of this was brought to the attention of CORE many times to no avail. Subcontractors, while well-meaning I’m sure, simply have to be managed or “policed” to be at their best. My wife’s favorite episode is the frequency that the plastic barriers were left open while workers sanded drywall. Indescribable mess. This was followed by a ~$600 cleaning bill and then more sanding of drywall obviating the value of the very high priced cleaning. Workmanship and attention to detail were disappointing and finally my wife took it upon herself to caulk and touch up painting on her own.
Concurrently, and as a coincidence, we have also been in the midst of a very large building project on Lake Gaston. The project is orders of magnitude larger than the Cary remodeling job. What’s interesting is that the Gaston project has none, and I mean NONE of these issues. The contractor is on site each day. He expects and receives excellent service and craftsmanship from his subs. He actually MANAGES the project. The entire experience has been excellent with this project.
Having said all this, I actually think that CORE will work well for you if you continue to reside in the house during the renovation. This way you become effectively co-managers of the work and you’ll not likely have any of the problems we experienced. You’ll be there to close doors, turn off lights, question sloppiness, remind them to remove shoes indoors, etc., etc. It’ll be fine I’m sure. My only real disappointment in this entire experience was that the owner took no responsibility/accountability for any of this when confronted about it. I never asked for any discount or token financial acknowledgement of poor service… I’m just much wiser now and want to share this with others.