Carnemark Systems & Design, Inc.

On the whole, adequate quality for the high price, but highly variable. Interaction with the company was terrible. Everything seemed fine until the problems started popping up, then the relationship spiraled down. My sense was, as long as I was writing checks, there were no problems. When it came time for Carnemark to fix problems or provide an adequate level of quality for items that were obviously poorly done, and occasionally validated as poorly done with outside vendors, they often either declared them complete as is or refused to fix. At least two times they said that before the contract was signed I removed an expensive aspect of the project to save costs. Fortunately I had the email exchange that showed neither were removed, so they relented. Change orders were highly variable in costs compared to other similar work in the house. A tile backsplash for example, total area roughly 6 square feet, they wanted to charge approximately $3000 and wouldn't explain why when other tile in the house was not even close to that price. Another example of their character was when one room was painted with matte paint instead of satin as planned. The project manager, Frank S**, tried to tell me it was satin and argued to the point that I had to buy a can of satin paint of the same color to put a swatch on the wall to prove it was done incorrectly after which he finally agreed to repaint with the correct sheen. The consistent theme was prices are high, quality is variable, expect a lot of add ons, and keep your checkbook handy. I would not recommend Carnemark to anyone. Most of their subs were ok. The one person who saved the entire project was a subcontractor named Sergio, who did the framing and finish carpentry. He was excellent.