Kiwi Home Renovations

Do you work for this business? Unlock this free profile to update company info and see who's viewing your profile.

• By Linsay D.

  September 14, 2021

  update dining room, laundry room, powder room & living room

  BUYER BEWARE
  If you are thinking of hiring a general contractor for home remodeling, do NOT go with Kiwi Home Renovations (in Gahanna). We were looking for some simple updates in a couple of rooms, nothing complicated/structural primarily cosmetic. We were referred to Kiwi Home Renovations by our interior designer. She said they (Owner Glen Williams) did excellent work.
  The ONLY reason we dealt with ANY red flags is that we really wanted the work done as soon as humanly possible. This company came highly recommended by our friend/interior designer.
  Initially, my husband reached out to Glen via cell phone; he answered and said he would call us back to get scheduled.
  FIRST RED FLAG: He did not call us back for 7-10 days. He did not apologize or act like it was an issue. We chalked it up to contractors being busy/understaffed. We scheduled about a week out. Glen arrived on time; he was nice enough. He had a few ideas for things we didn't think about; we were impressed. As we were wrapping up, he said he would get an estimate to us in about a week, maybe earlier. SECOND RED FLAG: A week passed- no email, no text, no phone call. We figured he was just busy. We reached out to him on day 9. No acknowledgment of time passing, he said he'd get it to us in the next couple of days, he did. My husband sent him an email back with a couple of questions about the estimate: a couple of the things should have been quoted and not "possible add-ons." He also asked him about a price for a part of the project. Glen never emailed him back. We reached out to our interior designer a little troubled. RED FLAG THREE: She said to send him a text to "gently remind him," so we did. Nothing. Concerned, I reached out to him separately (unknowingly, my husband did too.) He sent a text saying he had two foremen out sick, so he was working. Reminding myself we could have this project done by Thanksgiving, I politely responded and admitted we were excited to start the project. TWO DAYS later, Glen sent the contract to my husband. Even though a couple of questions were never addressed, we signed it and said we would address them in person. RED FLAG FOUR: We sent our initial deposit in the mail about 10 days before our "scheduled" start date. Mind you, we still had questions/concerns that were not addressed. We texted Glen to let him know and be on the lookout for it. Glen said he'd be in touch to confirm the start date "on or before the 13th." On September 8th, we texted Glen to get the details on our project, which was quickly approaching. We asked Glen if he had received the check because it hadn't cleared on our end. We asked about a final walk-through and admitted that there was some concern because of the lack of communication. In our experience working with contractors, a more transparent idea/plan led up to the start. We still had questions that were not answered (lead times, ordering, etc.) We also told him we understood that they were swamped, but we would like a more open dialogue moving forward. About an hour later, we received a text message sort of apologizing for our perception of lack of communication. He answered the questions we laid out in the text but then became cryptic and ended saying that he didn't want us to be unhappy/uncomfortable and that he could return our deposit and cancel the project if we felt we needed to find a contractor more "suited to our needs." A couple hours later, Glen text us again (10:30pm), canceling our project, stating that since we didn't respond- that was a response, and now HE was wary of starting this project. When my husband saw this message (about 11pm), he texted back apologizing, letting him know that I had a death in my family (that day!) We didn't want to cancel, and that we would like to talk the next day, and we were expecting them on Monday still. I felt so terrible that I called Glen first thing in the morning. It went straight to voicemail. I reiterated that I had a death in the family and apologized for anything that may have been upsetting or offensive to him. I mirrored the text, saying that we did not want to cancel the project, and pleaded for a callback. Glen never responded. We found out from our interior designer that Glen was "done" and told her he had not received our last text message. Glen said we used incendiary language, and HE was uncomfortable proceeding. It dawned on me later, after hearing that he hadn't received our last text message, and my call went straight to voicemail that he blocked us in his phone. I called him from my cell phone (again), it didn't ring/went straight to voicemail, then I called him from our landline, and he answered the phone! I was speechless. I was so upset; I just hung up the phone. To me, this would be an unbelievable review, so I've added screenshots as proof. I can't help but ask who exactly was incendiary or hard to work?

  Read more