This page was written to inform homeowners reguarding our experience using a remodeling company that was at that time owned by Sirage Adem.

We signed a contract with them May 18th, 2005 and as of Dec 15, the work was STILL not completed and our home is badly damaged.
I've thrown the buggers out of our house and I'm going to finish the work myself.

Dateline: Jan 27, 2006
According to an employee of the firm, Adem has apparently decided to get out of the remodeling business and has sold the firm. With Adem gone, the company I originally wrote these warnings about no longer exists - so I wish the new owner well!

Dateline: Dec 21, 2005
We were scheduled to meet Adem on Tuesday 12/20 at 3PM, but Adam had emailed us late Monday - due to An Emergency he needed to reschedule from Tues Weds 3PM. He arrived at 3:40 ... He was eager to sort out the bathroom problems, to have his guys come in and make it right, but after the last two fiascos, Emma and I had vowed to his laborers wouldn't work in our house ever again. We walked upstairs and looked at the bathroom, and pointed out some of our problems, all of which he tried to minimize or dismiss.

He said Cornelius never did work like that, even as we sat in the living room with the the butchered vanity on display. He said that wasn't a problem, because the back would't been seen once it was installed. We did mentioned the chop out of the back of the drawer, but he just wasn't dealing with the shoddy worksmanship.

We had sent him email explaining that we wanted half of our money back ($3k of the over $6 we have paid so far)to resolve the contract, he offered to give us $1500 of our money back, and we settled on a refund ($2000) ... and we're keeping all materials on site to make the best of what we have.

We agreed that the contract has ended and we want nothing more from him - and he left. Then I rushed off to cash the check immediately, just in case ...

Dateline: Dec 15, 2005
Below are pictures of some of the shoddy work his worker have done in our home ... I feel the pictures speak volumes about the quality of work performed ...
Let your eyes be the judge, but I would advise homeowners to steer clear of these folks.

Dateline: Dec 14, 2005

(Cornelius is one of Adem's workers)
Emma told Cornelius that the vanity had a set of feet to be attached. (They just screw into a prethreaded fitting) We are guessing that Cornelius didn't understand that because a bit later we found him trying to install it without the feet. Of course, it was too low for the pipes in the wall, so he took drills and a hacked a bunch of holes in the back of a $500 vanity, instead of asking questions or simply moving the pipes. He even hacked a corner off the back of the drawer!
People who think this is acceptable work should NEVER be allowed to use power tools!!

The last time they were here they hooked up the faucet and shower in the tub - and apparently when they cut in the wall to get to the pipes, they must have forgotten to turn off the water first, as I found water in my keyboard (it was dead), water in the pen-jar over my monitor, and a wet rug in my office!

The tile guy tried really hard, but apparently he was new at tile work. He put tile down the side of the tub, but he notched the Marble floor tiles to fit around the moldings, instead of trimming the (relatively cheap) wall tile and moldings to fit the (expensive) marble floor. I explained the problem to him and asked him to redo it and he did.

In the contract we specified that we wanted off white or almond fixtures, we said "Any color except white" - so of course, they have continually tried to install white fixtures. I saw them opening a white tub and rejected that before it even came in the house, but later they installed a cheap white toilet - and I had to go find the right one locally (Home Despot) and later they tried to install a white sink in the vanity - after I saw the white sink and look at the work I notice the inside of the Vanity was broken. he said they'd fix it - I said I wasn't accepting a broken vanity as a new part.
You can see how the white toilet looks next to the almond tub!

As of Dec 15th there is still open wall around the diverter valve that needs to be sealed and tiled, and have the chrome surround installed.

We were told that due to the stack (vent pipe) in the wall, the medicine cabinet would need to be surface mounted. We can live with that - thats how the old cabinet was - but apparently they didn't get a lightbar to match. This low profile lightbar would be closer to the wall than the surface mount cabinet, so the light would be masked ... Note that they still need to plaster and paint around the electrical box for the lightbar AND for the light switch.

In the contract they were to replace this window with a tilt-out Awning type window - but that never happened, and they haven't tiled around the existing window either. (They also agreed to put a transom window over the bathroom door, and over the bedroom door, but we now know that isn't going to happen).

In addition, we have tile people tell us that the heavy cracking in the grout between the tiles is due to a bad mix (probably too much water), so it shrank when it dried and left the cracks. That means we can't take showers because water would get behind the wall tiles, and they'd get loose and fall off. Thats why I stripped the OLD bathroom down to begin with, water had gotten to the wall behind the old tiles. Basically if the grout is cracked and leaks, all the marble and tile work they just did has to be done all over again!

We can live with the sloppy work where the gout lines don't run true and the tile pattern corners don't line up, but cracks in the grout will leak and that MUST be fixed!

I was told that there are two types of grout, a grout that dries to a smooth finish, and a more course gritty grout (imagine the texture if extra sand is added). The gritty grout looks grey in the picture below.

Another problem is the marble and the tiles in the tub around are not flush - the height varies (the thickness of the mastic must vary), the floor is uneven.

At this point we'll have to pay a new contractor to come in and clean up all this mess from gbk's "skilled craftsmen".

We are more than reasonable and have asked him to refund $3000 of the over $6000 we have paid to date. That way he would be paid for the materials, even tho we have to fix/replace the hacked-up vanity and buy a new faucet and lightbar, and probably replace a lot of the tile when its redone (its very hard to reuse tile once its had mastic applied). We shouldn't pay for any materials his men destroyed, but I don't plan to allow any of his hackers back into our house, and I want this over so we can get someone else to finish the bathroom!