Rubicon Building Group

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• By Paul M.

  June 25, 2019

  Kitchen countertop upgrade, backsplash, undermount sink, carpet, paint, tile, bathroom plumbing/ligh

  $13,800

  Rubicon was recommended to me by Knock.com who I went thru to sell my house. Rubicon was to replace the carpet throughout, paint throughout, replace light fixtures mirrors and plumbing hardware in bathrooms, tile bathrooms and laundry, install granite countertops in kitchen, tile backsplash, undermount sink. Refresh and re-caulking of the master shower rather than replacement of glass and frame.

  I would say the gross work was good but the details left somewhat to be desired.

  I never got the opportunity to do an official walkthrough and signoff on the work with the contractor. Since I was going thru Knock, completion was reported to Knock but I had already gone out to check on progress and noted issues.

  Painting was done first. Carpet came next. When the old carpet was removed there was damage to the paint in some areas that was not corrected before declaring completion. The first thing I noticed when I walked in after "completion" was the ragged edges between the ceiling and walls. Grey paint on the white ceiling and white paint on the gray walls. That made me look closer at everything.

  Doors were removed to be painted. Door trim was painted (on the outside only). Closets were painted but if you walked into the closet and looked at area around the inside of the doorway, the trim was not painted unless you count the grey overspray. Wall space next to the door may not have been painted at all or not full coverage.

  They came back to fix the paint issues and got most but not all of them. During the paint repairs someone used the toilet tank as a step and cracked the lid. That was left until I complained and eventually the toilet was replaced. New toilet had a cheap plastic seat and lid, New $45 seat, installed a few weeks before renovation began, was trashed.

  Blinds removed during painting were damaged and just replaced in the window damaged. Parts missing in some cases where they were complete when I moved out. One blind and missing parts were replaced after I complained.

  One place in the tile was not grouted at all. Left a 4+" hole in the floor next to the tub that was never fixed. Baseboards reinstalled leaving large gaps between new tile and bottom of the baseboards that was never fixed.

  Shower had a few places on the outside re-caulked with clear silicon. Inside was not touched at all. Complained and some bad caulk inside was re-done with white caulk. Complained and re-done with clear silicon as it should have been done in the first place.

  Side of the master tub (removable panel) was removed to replace the plumbing fixtures. It was not caulked back into place during renovation. I had to complain and then it was fixed.

  Inspector came out and pointed out that some parts of the new plumbing fixtures had not been caulked in the showers and the undermount sink in the kitchen had not been caulked in. What the inspector missed both times but I found was that the new master tub drain plug was just sitting in the drain hole. It looked like it was attempted to glue it in but only on half of the base ring and the whole assembly just lifted right out of the drain hole, plug, ring and all. Complained but it was never fixed.

  Other than that, the outright theft of one of the two fire logs in the fire place. The new shrink wrapped A/C filter left in the closet to replace the filter after work was done was put on the trash heap in the garage and had to be rescued. The water main key was taken or trashed. The almost full cans of new touch up paint that was still good for the exterior and the garage were trashed. The garage door remote and several replacement light bulbs left in a drawer in kitchen were trashed as well as some tools left in the garage in case they were needed during the showing period were taken or trashed.

  Overall, the majority of the work was acceptable after several return trips over a 3 month period. Attention to detail was lacking. A lot of carelessness that was not voluntarily corrected. General lack of concern for someone else's property where common sense would tell you "I should not touch this".

  No direct communication after contract was signed. Granted, Knock was "managing" the contractor. No opportunity to address billing where I feel the work was not done. (Window sill over the sink I understood would be done in granite for $200 but was not done and nothing refunded and complaint/question not addressed.)

  Their work needs piecemeal task completion scrutiny rather than post "completion" self walk-thru with third party trying to get them back out to address issues.

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