Bathroom remodeling company recommendation (Monroe: countertops, house, contractors)

[lulu6035]

Can anyone recommend any good stores/contractors that specialize in bathroom remodeling in the North Hills area? We are looking to re-tile 2 bathrooms, change out a shower and replace countertops. We would like to find someone who does good work and is reasonably priced (of course, don't we all!).

Also, if anyone has a painter they can recommend, that would be helpful as well, thanks!

[Honest Bob]

I would avoid those so called Bathroom experts such as Bathfitters due to the fact that you are not dealing with an individual - but a corporation.
Most if not all of the work is sub contracted and you never know what you are going to get until you get it.

What I would do is go to a place that sells ceramic tiles and ask the salespeople who does the most business with them and who has the best reputation.

I would then interview the contractor - just like as if you were hiring them and I would request the names of the last 20 people that they did work for and I would call those people and ask them how satisfied they were with the workmanship and materials.

You really need to educate yourself on this before you commit to spending any amount of money right now. Just like the hurricane season brings out unscrpulous contractors - virtually 2 men and a truck, where they show up with a load of plywood and some shingles and offer to fix your roof.

When you are between a rock and a hard place, it is hard for you to not want to hire them when your house has a big old hole in the roof.
Sometimes jobs that should only cost $5000.00 ends up costing double or triple when the work is being done in the busy season or the materials are hard to come by. You get my point.

Most contractors aligns their work in the wintertime and they are too busy in the summer to even come and look at it. The ones to be wary of is the ones that can come right away and can start tomorrow. That tells me one of two things. Either they aren't pretty good, which means that they have a hard time finding work, or they are just in it for the money and they are not out to do a good job.

Sometimes it takes longer to find the contractor then it does to have the actual work done.

I would suggest that you wait until this winter and go to a couple of those so called home shows where the contractors sets up a table and they solicit work for the following year. Ask to see some of their work, if they cannot come up with good references - move on.

Discuss the materials they are going to use and how they are going to apply those materials. I have seen jobs where the people applied the tiles incorrectly and in a matter of years, you will have to pay to do the job again because the tiles cracked, popped up or was improperly grouted and leaked and the floors rotted or moisture got behind them and caused rot or mold.

[BrianTH]

We had a couple bathrooms done by a place called Commonwealth Heating and Remodeling. They are based in Monroeville but I think they do work all over. We've given them tons of repeat business over the years, and recommended them to many people, and to my knowledge everyone has been happy. They aren't the fastest, but they also won't disappear on you, and they do quality work for less than anyone else we know of.

[lulu6035]

Thanks for the advice. Will look into Commonwealth, that's exactly what we were looking for - personal experience, thanks!