About 4-5 years ago I started looking to do a bathroom remodel. I met with several contractors and indicated I wanted to do ‘x,y, and z’ in my bathroom. All of the contractors had reasons that I should not do ‘x,y, and z’. I knew ‘x,y, and z’ were possible and were being done elsewhere, but if I couldn’t have what I wanted, why do a remodel? Fast forward 4 years. I could no longer wait on a remodel.
I started doing research and came up with several possible contractors and interviewed them. I also started researching bathroom remodels in general as well as getting more details on some of the major items that I wanted to include in the bathroom – we have a large master bathroom; around 250 square feet.
From our first interview with Buck of Collins Tile and Stone, I knew this was someone who understood what I wanted and could achieve it. He was able to explain that if I wanted ‘x’, it meant ‘this’ and would cost ‘that’ and was I willing to pay that amount of money to get this one thing – granted at this stage is was an extremely rough estimate but did help to provide clarity to make an informed decision on having ‘x’ or not having it. Other contractors interviewed said I could get ‘x’, but not ‘y’ – why did I even want ‘y’, etc. Other contractors agreed way too quickly to giving me anything I wanted making me leery that they actually understood what I wanted or the technical aspects of it. Additionally, Collins Tile and Stone use their own employees for everything but the granite countertop, glass shower enclosures and electric. This made me more comfortable with using Collins as it their employees during the majority of the work. As we got deeper into the details of what was possible (and realistic), Collins had relationships with people that were able to provide the architectural/engineering drawings for the county for getting the appropriate permits.
The other thing I noticed is that depending upon the contractor involved you had typically one of three ways to reach a final cost: 1) allowances, i.e. labor will cost ‘$x’ and you get ‘$y’ to pick out cabinets, hardware, tile, etc. 2) pick from what you see in our showroom and after you pick we will get you final pricing, but if we don’t have a specific item you are looking for, then you may not be able to have it, or 3) make all of your selections at various retail locations and they will inform us of your choices and we will get you the total costs. There is nothing wrong with any of these approaches and eventually you have to make all of your selections anyway. Collins Tile and Stone uses the 3rd approach. It is a LOT of decisions to make when doing a bathroom remodel. The people that Collins referred me to were first rate – they don’t just say go to store#1; Collins says go to store#1 and speak with Mary. All of the people they referred me to were patient, had great ideas, listened to what I wanted the room to look like and then helped me to pick ‘fixtures’ within a price range to achieve what I wanted in a painless manner. It took a little more time going from place to place to pick out plumbing, cabinets and tile than using an ‘all-in-one showroom’, but I got to see more items and be sure that what I picked was ‘right’ for me – this was worth the extra time for me. Additionally, Collins had their electrician come out and listen to what I wanted; dimmers, where I wanted things switched at, type of ventilation fans, etc. This also allowed the final pricing to be completely accurate for what I had chosen, my tile design, etc. – everything was known about what was being down prior to the pricing so it was accurate and there were no surprises.
The main reason that I selected Collins was the comfort that I felt in their ability to get the job done correctly. I wanted Schulter waterproofing – I was told by a lot of contractors: you don’t need Schulter, it is difficult to work with, etc. With Collins, they use this product, they feel comfortable with it and I got the Schulter waterproofing. I wanted an ADA compliant (curbless) shower and a linear drain in a neo-angle shower – you would have thought I wanted to launch the space shuttle from my bathroom. With Collins – it was a discussion of the pros and cons, additional costs, etc. and was I ok with the ‘cons’ and the price. With the most of the other contractors it was either 1) ‘are you sure you don’t want a little curb?’ questioning or 2) ‘yes we can do that’ with no hesitation – in both cases the contractors never explained the pros and cons/ramifications of doing this.
Pricing – Collins was not the cheapest, nor were they the most expensive. In throwing out one of the absurdly high prices (almost twice that of the others without having the ‘features’ I wanted), I was left with 3 bids that were close. We went through and checked everyone’s references; went back through Angie’s reviews (again). There were 4 major items we looked at: 1) time to complete the remodel – i.e. how long would our bathroom be unavailable. 2) How much of this is sub’d out – granite and shower glass are such specialized tasks that we didn’t really count those, but concentrated on electrical, plumbing, carpentry, tile work being sub’d out. 3) Were we getting what we wanted: curbless shower, linear drain, Schulter system, radiant floor heat, and larger shower by securing a microlam beam differently. 4) What was our comfort level with the contractor delivering what we wanted, as well as the quality of the overall remodel. It became an easy decision at this point – Collins Tile and Stone. Why: attention to detail, ability to give us what we wanted, comfort with their ability to do the job from a quality perspective as well as their technical ability in dealing with both Schulter and the curbless shower, unusual shower system, and dealing with the microlam beam ‘anchoring’.
In dealing with Collins back office I was constantly impressed with their attention to detail. I am in the computer field and I know that the ‘devil is in the details’. It is way too easy for things to be forgotten or misunderstood. They didn’t miss anything – totally on top of their game.
I was also impressed with the collaboration with Collins – i.e. you could do this or that, what that meant, exact placement of controls for the shower, orientation of the lights, granite templating, etc. I like this way of working because I think you get a better finished product at the end. You can plan for everything and then when the walls get opened up, find out that that the shower niche you were planning on putting on one wall doesn’t really fit due to the existing studs, plumbing, where you are putting your accent tile (whatever) and need to move to another wall – Collins didn’t just blindingly follow ‘the plan’. Additionally, Collins made several suggestions prior to the start of the project that added value to the overall look of the remodel (additional recessing of the toe kick of the cabinets, doing a tile wainscot on a wall, etc.). Their project lead, Steve, kept us thoroughly informed of the progress, let us know what was going to happen next, and what we might want to have a say in or be home for.
As far as the remodel itself: 1) they showed up when they said they would – which was every day. 2) Collins’ workers were polite and worked full days and made progress every day. 3) Collins ‘operations’ lead visited daily. 4) Things were kept clean as much as possible in a ‘work zone’ – they laid ramboard over the wood floors and plastic pretty much everywhere else. 5) If either Collins or we had questions, a call or text was sent and the questions answered quickly. 6) Collins did not finish on time, however, I am not upset by this and I suspect based off their references that it is very unusual for them to go over on their timeline. They had a very aggressive timeline to start – 22 business days. It was a complex job. I would rather that they ran over by 4 days than to have shortcuts taken.
Last but not least, I am impressed with the follow-up. Are we happy with everything? Did it turn out as you expected? But more importantly, what can they do better? What process improvements can they make? I think this says a lot about their business model and customer satisfaction – they are always striving to improve. I would highly recommend Collins Tile and Stone. I love my bathroom remodel – it exceeded my expectations.
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