Green Renovation Group Inc

Adequate. That is how I would describe the workers Green Renovation Group hired to do the remodel of our home. Reactive is how I would describe the employees of Green Renovation Group. They didn't have a plan for how things should be done to enable other jobs to progress but had crews make repeated corrections so that the next step could be started. A bit of planning, better communication with their sub-contractors, and a process would have saved a lot of redos and made the finished product better. We signed a contract with Green Renovation Group to: Remove asbestos in the living room ceiling Remove a lead tile shower Remove an old water heater and install an on-demand system Relocate the washer and dryer to another location Full Master Bath remodel Full Kitchen remodel including removal of a load-bearing wall New flooring & baseboards throughout Fresh coat of paint on everything. We expected Green Renovation Group to be in the General Contractor's role ensuring that things would be done well and coordinate the work. We found them to be a scheduling house for the crews and we had to provide the information about the work to be done by the crews that arrived at our house. If we asked for something that, unknown to us wasn't in the scope of the work, we immediately received a change order asking for money and time. Example. There was a pocket door that had been trapped in the wall by years of flooring layers. When we asked how soon until that would be useable, we were told that wasn't in the contract. Thankfully my husband is handy and he made it work. The original plan was we would not be living in the home while construction was happening. Coronavirus came along and we needed to move into the house on week 11 of an original 12-week (90 days) project. Our first mistake was not realizing that the Project manager and owner of Green Renovation Group does not hold his own contractor's license, but in essence, has a rent a license. The holder of their license also holds the licenses of several other companies and receives a percentage (we assume) of every job Green Renovation Group and the other companies complete. So the project managers need to rely on their subcontractors to know building codes (as they don't) and the person who does know the codes well enough to pass the certification test, never saw the project. Demo started quickly, within 3 days of signing the contract. The initial demo crew did a good job. They laid tarps down and removed all of their debris. Asbestos removal and lead removal went well except the asbestos guys missed a 1'x 10' area of the living room ceiling and needed to come back and remove it while we were living in the house. (More like rough camping in the house.) The water heater and laundry got done, but with a few issues. Issues were when the plumber didn't remove the old pipes fully from the wall that was going to be removed. Miscommunication from the Project manager so that needed to be corrected. Laundry was delayed a few days by the paint crew as they needed to frame and drywall in the new closet space. We were informed that we should have a booster unit on our water heater to the tune of $1100. We said no thank you. This is where things went really wrong. The painters that were hired were also the rough framers and did a poor job of cleaning up after themselves or creating smooth surfaces on NEW drywall. The contract stated they would not improve or smooth, existing drywall. We expected any new drywall would be smooth and not have ripples around outlets or fixtures, this did not happen. We were unsure if this was the painters Green Renovation hired, but the crew that did the master bathroom, all new drywall, also left ripples and a did poor job. Master bathroom. Inspector was out several times for corrections, thus delaying the completion of the room. The bathroom is okay. The vanity we chose is a wall-mount and was not installed square. They have tried to correct it, but when I open a drawer it still rubs the wall and renders useless the quiet close feature we chose on that piece. I now have a white spot on the wall from where the drawer rubs it every time I open it. We had shown the light fixtures we chose to the contractor, but when the electrical was install they did not leave enough room for one of the fixtures to sit properly on the wall. It too bumped the adjacent wall. We ended up purchasing slimmer fixtures and installed them ourselves. When the bathroom contractor installed the slider door, (door into the bathroom) he didn't do it well and when you tried to use the door it rubbed a groove in the drywall above the entryway. Again, we removed the door and corrected the mistake and now it works fine. We learned through the first rough electrical inspection that we needed a vent somewhere in the house that exchanged 20% of the air in the house. (Most people have this with a vent over their stove and as we have high ceilings and didn't want to block the views, we need a fan.) We purchased the correct fan and had their electrical crew install it. It was to vent through the old ducts from the fan they had removed originally because they are unfamiliar with national building codes and didn't advise us we would need a kitchen vent. The first installation of the fan was terrible. It was not venting the air anywhere except into the ceiling bay of the kitchen. My husband had to get up on the roof to be able to verify this. The electrical crew came back again and did install it to vent to the outside, but it was not aligned properly to the existing ceiling. We were told the painters would be able to fix that when they repaired the drywall and painted the ceiling. They did not and we have ripples, a dent, and an eyesore on the ceiling. Thankfully I do know how to drywall and apply joint compound and I will be fixing this along with many other areas of the house. The load-bearing wall was also a case of they did an adequate job. The original ceiling beam extended outside of the house to hold up the 2' of the roof that extends past the exterior wall. The contractor had purchased a beam long enough that it could have fully replaced the beam, but instead cut it off to rest on the wall post and left the cut off piece of the old beam just hanging from the roof, not attached to anything else. After we pointed this out they put in a support post angled from the wall up to the old beam. Doesn't match the rest of the house, and it is not the right solution, but the right solution was unavailable once the subcontractor cut off the new beam. There was a gap between the new kitchen beam and a ceiling beam on an addition to the house. They filled it the way we asked, (they didn't seem to have any ideas on how to do it, and our solution would work). Once again on new material, we have ripples and cracks. We have decided that I will repair them as we don't want their crews working over our new kitchen counters and sink as their record for keeping things clean is not good. Flooring. The long-awaited flooring. Started great, ended poorly. Brand new flooring, (click vinyl) has seam gaps in different rooms and big ones appeared in the hallway. The flooring crew came out 3 times and we were told they have done all they can. Short of removing baseboards and a large portion of the flooring, it is as good as it is going to get. The brand new floor has gaps. We were also promised the squeaks and creeks in the floor would be eliminated, unfortunately, many still exist. The kitchen cabinet maker they hired, Rene, is good. He is very detail-oriented and created custom cabinets that fit the space exactly. The kitchen counter has an overhang into the next room, and if we hadn't been adamant that the counter needed to be wider, I would have had a 4” overhang instead of the 10” we manged. (Was supposed to be 12-16”) The tile installer for the backsplash did a poor job cleaning all the grout off the tile and another worker had to come out and correct it. Then less than 2 weeks from installation a crack appeared between the tile and the counter in the grout. Another worker came out and had to remove the grout and put in new. We are only 1 week into this fix, so we'll see. Details and fine finishes are not done well. The Project Managers, we had 3, would react to what the subcontractors would do rather than have a plan. Once we realized this, around week 21, we started to do more of the communication with the workers and ask what and how they planned to do things. We had a working doorbell when we purchased the house, but it didn't work after all the electrical wiring was hooked to the main breaker box. (Which was after they had the kitchen cabinets on the walls and paint was finished.) We were told by the electricians that they didn't break it and therefore couldn't fix it. Long and short, we had to fight for Green Renovation to authorize the electricians to look into the problem. Originally we were told it couldn't be fixed, I asked if there was a connection between the button at the front door and the chime box. They hadn't looked for that, but would and wah-lah, a wire had been cut. They reattached the wire and the doorbell magically works. The electrical crew also installed 5 canister lights in the ceiling of the kitchen. 1 was obviously mismatched and we were told would be replaced at the end of the project. When it was replaced, it was still not the same and didn't match the other four. It took 3 trips for the electrical crew to finally install 5 matching lights. Some of the switches still are not the same color and are probably from different manufactures. Everyone we dealt with at Green Renovation would tell us what they thought we wanted to hear, but as nothing was in writing it would not get done later without a change order, added time, and money. Example: The painters had painted over all of the existing outlets & switches in the house. When we asked when these were going to be replaced, we were sent a change order to do it. Thankfully, we are handy people and we bought and swapped out all of them ourselves. We also installed all the new wall light fixtures and once they had the kitchen to a point the appliances could be put in place, hubby installed the refrigerator and microwave. Had we waited on Green Renovation we would have been walking around a maze of appliances for another 2-3 weeks! When we learned we needed an engineer to design the wall removal for the permit. We began to look for engineering firms. Green Reno told us they had a company. We wanted the CAD files for the house after the changes would be made and asked for it. Our bad, when we signed the change order to use their engineer the wording said “digital copy of the finished plans.” We received a PDF file of the print outs that were sent to the city for the permit. This is not what we were expecting, and when we mentioned it, we were informed that no one ever wants those and they didn't recall us asking for them. No one from Green Renovation Group checked the quality of work the subcontractors did. My husband went up on the roof to check that all vent caps and holes were properly affixed and watertight. If you've read this far in this review there will be no surprise when I tell you the vent caps that were installed were not done correctly and one had no cover and a 1/8”-1/4” gap all around the pipe. Green Renovation is sending a worker to put the one vent cover on and my husband is prepared to waterproof the others before the rain arrives this weekend. Adequate, and disappointed sum up our interactions with Green Renovation Group. Good luck if you decide to hire them.

Stellar experience with a highly professional company. I'd highly recommend them if you're in the market for a home remodeling project. Specifically, if it's a kitchen or bathroom remodel. They fully transformed our kitchen and bathroom into the structure & design we're interested in. Well done Green Renovation Group!

Phenomenal home improvement service. My questions were answered prior to the kitchen remodeling project and they were sufficient enough for me to want to move forward. The communication never fell short of the high standards that I was promised and the quality of work is incredible. My family and friends haven't been able to stop complimenting me on how the design of the kitchen looks. I thoroughly appreciate this home improvement companies ability to communicate and perform well crafted designs!

Overall, my experience with Green Renovation Group was completely favorable. The remodeling project was well supervised and the crew was very consistent in delivering quality work and approachable customer service. I'm confident more homeowners will have similar, positive experiences with this remodeling company in Los Angeles. I am glad I went with my gut instinct and hired them.