This business gave me an initial quote but...
This business gave me an initial quote based on some very accurate CAD drawings for walk-in robe and laundry joinery. When the representative came to do a site measure, they didn’t have the drawings sent and originally quoted on and knew only about the laundry joinery. Clearly, the internal briefing and communication were poor. I had to explain the scope of work over the phone, which led to problems in understanding. The representative on site doing the measure as a result came across as frustrated, looking to place blame on me as the customer for the missing internal communication.
As expected, when I received the revised quote from the site measure, it had bizarrely gone up by 38%, despite being originally quoted on very accurate drawings.
For some of the joinery, I wanted a basic simplification of what they were quoting on and they refused to accommodate value management of their more complex proposed joinery carcass, which eroded available internal space.
They also did not allow for 20mm benchtops to be installed on top of the carcasses and failed to correctly measure the 450mm spacing between overhead and bottom joinery units. When I sent an email to update the problems, they became overly proud and hubris and did not want to do the work.
Their excuse was that my work was more complicated than what they are capable of handling; however, all I was asking for was a standard full-height wardrobe unit, a standard overhead cupboard unit, and a standard drawer unit in the walk-in. The laundry was an open broom nook and a sink cupboard, and a standard overhead cupboard unit. The work cannot get any more basic.
I was satisfied with some earlier work they carried out in 2022, which is why I returned in good faith for further work. However, my recent experience was disappointing, not only because they couldn’t accommodate the request, but because the quoting process was dismissive and not in keeping with the level of service I had previously experienced.
I fully understand that estimated quotes are subject to onsite confirmation and that some items may fall outside the typical scope, but a 38% miss alignment in the quotation is well outside of what could be considered reasonable for basic joinery. Having said this, my concern is less about scope and more about the unprofessional and dismissive manner in which this company acted. They recommended another company, but this did not come across as a proactive attempt to assist in resolving the project as a whole.
I had hoped for the same professionalism and thoroughness as before, with a mature level of communication rather than abandoning my work. I want to be clear that customer expectations are shaped as much by service and communication as by technical scope.
This company's website says they customise their work to suit client needs, but the reality is they are dogmatic, unwilling to adjust to customer needs / and reasonable comments, and have arrogant client behaviours. Strongly recommend you avoid this business and pursue a more professional and client-focused business where you will get accurate quotations and joinery aligned with requirements!