DARKyellow

We had the misfortune of working with Alain / Dark Yellow on our 2x bathroom remodel. Our experience led us to letting him go before the job was completed. Below examples of mistakes committed by himself and his team, which brought about this sad conclusion: 1. Underfloor heating which Alain recommended & installed is too weak to warm the floor (power output too low for our tiles - but Alain was fitting our tiles as well, so he should have connected the dots). As a result, we paid him for ufh which (sadly) does not work 2. For the month and a half he was working for us – Alain never performed any quality control on the site. He would only turn up to collect money, or to discuss new ideas. Knowing next to nothing about bathrooms, it took us a while to start noticing the jarring mistakes made by his team (see below). While pitching to us, Alain would often say things like „I have OCD and I will check every tile to make sure it is laid correctly” – well, our walls are crooked, and tiles are fitted unevenly, and Alain could not have cared less 3. Silicon around the bathtub stared to come off mere 2 weeks after fitting (see photos) 4. Crooked ceiling, which his team was plastering (1cm differential over 1m) 5. Crooked wall, which his team was tiling (0.5cm differential over 1m) 6. His fitters broke our 2x extractors while trying to install them. As a result, motor was malfunctioning and we had to replace both units 7. Tiles in the en suite are unevenly installed due to wrong fitting (too little glue, see photos) 8. His fitters broke a tile in a not-so-visible spot (see photos), and failed to inform us or offer to rectify (perhaps, hoping we wouldn't notice) 9. Alain’s team installed a shower door which was faulty, and failed to inform us that the product was broken (again, hoping we wouldn’t notice). Upon bringing it to his attention, it took two days to persuade Alain to unfit the faulty product without charging us 10. Leaking shower in the en suite 11. Alain does not know how many of the bathroom fittings operate. For example – ignorant of how cisterns and flush mechanisms work, he talked us into buying a part which, as it later turned out, could not be fitted in our bathroom and had to be returned 12. Overall – there was no timeframe, or a plan of works whatsoever (who does what and when). The whole affair was a stream of ad hocs, driven mainly by his fitters, who did what they pleased, and when they felt like it (with serious gaps in knowledge about bathrooms, Alain did not even attempt to manage them - all the while, calling himself "Project Manager", which is puzzling). Initially, we didn’t notice that – as for the initial four weeks, we were not living in the property 13. Alain dislikes written communication, and prefers to agree everything verbally – which later leads to misunderstandings. This was extremely inefficient 14. Alain claims to know about design, but found ourselves doubting this claim – he failed to come up with any vision other than replicating the one scheme he and his team always do. Plus, he encouraged us to order most of the fixtures from his one "friendly store" – and was reluctant to deal with items which did not come from there 15. Early November, we moved back in – and Alain’s team forgot to switch the heating back on. As a result, we spent the weekend freezing cold, with only hot water bottles to keep us warm 16. And last but not least – after his team left, in our oven we found a one-month old box of chicken nuggets, covered in mould (left there and forgotten by one of his fitters). See photo - truly disgusting, and a health hazard, too

This was a complete refurbishment of a tired 1960s house, which involved re-siting the front door; re-siting and re-modelling the toilet/shower; new tiling and flooring; electrical re-wiring; new lighting throughout; new boiler and plumbing; re-designing of kitchen; redesigning of bathroom; re-plastering; decorating. There was also a great deal of rubbish removal. The house was tired, dated, old-fashioned dingy and uninviting. Now it is bright, modern, with all mod cons - a lovely welcoming living space. As we live out of London, most of this project had to be done at a distance using emails, texts, photos and phone calls. It says much for the communication skills of the project manager that we were able achieve such a brilliant result. I would certainly use them again and recommend Dark Yellow to anyone who wants a professional job done. In fact, we have another project in mind!

DARKyellow completed a total renovation on my 3 bedroom apartment and the result was simply phenomenal. The designs were exactly what I wanted - modern, fresh and to high quality. I got this, and more! Alain leads a great team, and he is creative...this helps when deciding on colours, layouts, fixtures etc. An excellent, honest and hard working team that produce high quality stunning work.

Alain refurbished my entire flat at Raleigh Court. We spent a lot of time discussing ideas and logistics; Alain was able to take my ideas a step further and really transform the cream coloured 1980s style flat I'd bought into a home I adore. The result is a very functional, comfortable and beautiful flat that everyone falls in love with as soon as they enter. The team is very good, flexible and trustworthy. Indeed, most of the work was conducted while I was away on a long holiday and I came home to a brilliant finish. I couldn't recommend them higher.

I have used Alain and his team many times with a number of properties over the last few years, and just recently they refurbished my office to a very high standard. They are approachable, honest, hard working and get the job done! We still work very closely with DarkYellow on all of our maintenance and refub projects and have a very good working relationship with them.

I have worked with Alain and the DARKyellow team on three different projects now and can recommend them with confidence for any decorating job. Any interior designer knows that having a good relationship with your builders makes the job a lot easier. The guys at DARKyellow are very flexible, easy to communicate with and work with. Alain is always available to meet and discuss any concerns and don't be surprised if he has a few ideas you may not have thought of!