Joe's Home Repair & Improvement LLC

We have been waiting for years to change our kitchen floor, because we prefer to wait to be able to get exactly what I want (pricey and heated large porcelain tiles)When we were ready, friends recommended J [redacted] saying he was really good and reliableSo we hired him to remove the old cork floor, lay the heating mash, place the porcelain tiles over it, and install insulation under the kitchenThe space is an addition and the crawling space, if not insulated, would make the tiles very cold in the winterWe also hired him to install just tiles (no insulation or heating mash) in a small bathroom and the room that gives entrance to our basement (6’ x 6’ maybe)All started wellHis cutting is impeccable and he is reliableHowever, we were not satisfied with the final resultThe tiles were not leveled, one tile is always higher/lower than the next, with hardly two consecutive tiles with a smooth transitioncleaning tools don't reach the corners caused by the different levelsNot what you expect when you buy shiny and smooth large tiles! At first, I did not complain because we knew that fixing that would require breaking the entire floor and redoing everything, wasting all the expensive material we bought, and J [redacted] would not agreeThis was May With time, more problems started to appearRight at the entrance of the kitchen there were moving boards, badly placed probably years ago, when the kitchen was added to the houseDuring construction, J [redacted] himself pointed that out, and fixed it before placing the tile, always making sure to emphasize how his job was going to last foreverWell, the boards started to move a couple of months later, and the grout started to crumble awayWith summer, the ants came, through gaps between the floor and the baseboard (tile baseboards also installed by J***The house is old, we know that things happen over time, but we never had ants in the house before, it was sealed well from the outside when we had the old floorsThen winter cameThe heating mash under the tiles works wellInsulation probably helped tooHowever, somewhere below the counters there is probably a gap, not isolated from the outside, where the cold air is able to pass through the insulation and into the kitchenNow it is March, it’s been full months since his job was completedMore grout is crumbling awayAfter experiencing that floor in every season we asked another professional tile installer to provide an unbiased opinion on the project He stated: “The way the tile was placed is unacceptable.” So decided to contact JoeWe wanted to be compensated for at least what we paid him to install the tiles, as fixing is not possible without redoing it, even though our loss goes well beyond that because of the pricy materialsOr we wanted him to provide an effective and professional solutionWe asked him to come over, we wanted to show him in person how the tile has seemed to get worse in less than a yearHe said as he arrived that his warranty was only for six months, information we never received before, as we have no contract or receipt, but he always claimed his job was going to “last forever, unlike what the previous contractor’s job” (from years before!)He said that it is an old house, that the structure was bad, and that the tile could not be flat and even because of the heating mash underneathHe could not justify why the tiles are also not leveled in the small bathroom and the room leading to the basement, since there is no heating mash thereHe kept blaming the old houseWe know it is old, but that is why it needed construction, to be improvedAt the time of construction, he pointed out the problems and told us how he was fixing themNow, he blames them for the imperfections in his workHe just walked away after thatHe made no attempt at trying to find a solutionSo far we hope to have been fair and objective in this review, relating only facts about Joe’s work and our experience with himIf we were to add our opinion about J**, we’d say he is a nice and reliable person, he works hard, his construction was in time (rare among contractors)We don’t dislike himWe are just not happy with the fact that we will have to replace the kitchen floor again in the future, spending all that money and going through construction again, bearing all the loss of money and timeThis was a step towards improving our home that should have been finished last yearWe would most likely have used Joe for other future jobs, however this will not be the case because of this unprofessional side of him we have experienced

We have been waiting for years to change our kitchen floor, because we prefer to wait to be able to get exactly what I want (pricey and heated large porcelain tiles)When we were ready, friends recommended J*** saying he was really good and reliableSo we hired him to remove the old cork floor, lay the heating mash, place the porcelain tiles over it, and install insulation under the kitchenThe space is an addition and the crawling space, if not insulated, would make the tiles very cold in the winterWe also hired him to install just tiles (no insulation or heating mash) in a small bathroom and the room that gives entrance to our basement (6’ x 6’ maybe)All started wellHis cutting is impeccable and he is reliableHowever, we were not satisfied with the final resultThe tiles were not leveled, one tile is always higher/lower than the next, with hardly two consecutive tiles with a smooth transitioncleaning tools don't reach the corners caused by the different levelsNot what you expect when you buy shiny and smooth large tiles! At first, I did not complain because we knew that fixing that would require breaking the entire floor and redoing everything, wasting all the expensive material we bought, and J** would not agreeThis was May With time, more problems started to appearRight at the entrance of the kitchen there were moving boards, badly placed probably years ago, when the kitchen was added to the houseDuring construction, J** himself pointed that out, and fixed it before placing the tile, always making sure to emphasize how his job was going to last foreverWell, the boards started to move a couple of months later, and the grout started to crumble awayWith summer, the ants came, through gaps between the floor and the baseboard (tile baseboards also installed by J***The house is old, we know that things happen over time, but we never had ants in the house before, it was sealed well from the outside when we had the old floorsThen winter cameThe heating mash under the tiles works wellInsulation probably helped tooHowever, somewhere below the counters there is probably a gap, not isolated from the outside, where the cold air is able to pass through the insulation and into the kitchenNow it is March, it’s been full months since his job was completedMore grout is crumbling awayAfter experiencing that floor in every season we asked another professional tile installer to provide an unbiased opinion on the project He stated: “The way the tile was placed is unacceptable.” So decided to contact JoeWe wanted to be compensated for at least what we paid him to install the tiles, as fixing is not possible without redoing it, even though our loss goes well beyond that because of the pricy materialsOr we wanted him to provide an effective and professional solutionWe asked him to come over, we wanted to show him in person how the tile has seemed to get worse in less than a yearHe said as he arrived that his warranty was only for six months, information we never received before, as we have no contract or receipt, but he always claimed his job was going to “last forever, unlike what the previous contractor’s job” (from years before!)He said that it is an old house, that the structure was bad, and that the tile could not be flat and even because of the heating mash underneathHe could not justify why the tiles are also not leveled in the small bathroom and the room leading to the basement, since there is no heating mash thereHe kept blaming the old houseWe know it is old, but that is why it needed construction, to be improvedAt the time of construction, he pointed out the problems and told us how he was fixing themNow, he blames them for the imperfections in his workHe just walked away after thatHe made no attempt at trying to find a solutionSo far we hope to have been fair and objective in this review, relating only facts about Joe’s work and our experience with himIf we were to add our opinion about J**, we’d say he is a nice and reliable person, he works hard, his construction was in time (rare among contractors)We don’t dislike himWe are just not happy with the fact that we will have to replace the kitchen floor again in the future, spending all that money and going through construction again, bearing all the loss of money and timeThis was a step towards improving our home that should have been finished last yearWe would most likely have used Joe for other future jobs, however this will not be the case because of this unprofessional side of him we have experienced