DreamMaker Bath & Kitchen — Local services in Ann Arbor

I am delighted with the results of the remodeled kitchen and two bathrooms that DreamMaker Bath & Kitchen in Ann Arbor helped design and build. My condominium unit is in a former warehouse that was converted to living units almost 40 years ago. Plans for remodeling involved some challenges. The kitchen is part of one large, open (“great”) room with a 16-foot ceiling for a living room, dining room, and kitchen. The “master” (in use, not size) bathroom had a tub/shower with a tub that was never used and had little storage space. Improving functionality and storage were priorities equal to appearance.

The designer, Tiffany Solden, guided me through the design process. I never been involved in a remodeling project before. After learning my priorities and preferences, she broke down the design tasks into a sequence of decisions, each guiding the next set of decisions. She shared ideas, provided samples, and listened! She provided a series of mini-education sessions about sets of choices. That helped me understand and articulate what I liked and would feel like “home” to me. She provided helpful advice at each step, including confirming that an option in which I was interested would be a great choice, commenting that either of two options would be a good choice, and sometimes suggesting that I consider a choice further and why. It took two months. However, I had been guided through decisions big (location of appliances, style and color of cabinets) and small (electrical outlet placement). I understood what I wanted in detail and was looking to having the work begin.

“It takes a village” to remodel. The work on the three rooms was done simultaneously so that the overall project could be completed in less total time. With Lee Willwerth monitoring overall, Matt Calus directly coordinated the work of people responsible for each room. Kyle Davids was assisted by Matt Strahan in remodeling the kitchen, where the location of all appliances was changed to be more functional. Kyle also did the partial remodel of the lower bathroom/guest bathroom (kept the existing tub/shower there). Ryan Jahr did the total remodel of the upper (“master”) bathroom (converting a tub/shower into a shower plus a floor-to-ceiling deep storage cupboard). Jerry Brush handled minor adjustments and follow-up, with Scott Lauffer finishing up after Jerry retired.

Everyone was happy to explain what they were doing, answered questions, checked with me regarding minor details to be determined on site (how high to hang towel bars), and helped make minor adjustments as the construction progressed. I monitored the work and identified a few things that were not done quite as planned. Sometimes they had an important practical reason for varying from the plans and I thanked them. Other times they realized that something was not done as intended. They apologized and made corrections quickly and well.

The COVID pandemic extended the time for the construction to be done. Precautions slowed the work some. More importantly, supply chain issues slowed arrival of some material. DreamMakers updated me at every stage, explained what was occurring, and worked with me to adjust operational plans. Even with COVID delays, construction was done in just over two months. Kitchen appliances were obtained through another source and took longer to arrive. As appliances arrived, DreamMakers personnel returned promptly to install them.

The time spend planning details was important in having the finished product match (and exceed) expectations. After living in the remodeled space, my only “add on” request has been for a small towel bar to be installed behind a bathroom door.

I am extremely happy with the result. Functional use of the kitchen has been meaningfully improved and the clean, neutral design assures that the living and dining areas remain the central focus in the “great room.” The lower/guest bathroom is a “fun” interesting space for company. And the upper/”master” bathroom is a quiet, restful place to start and...

We contracted Dreammakers to remodel our Kitchen-Dining area, our two primary bathrooms, and to convert a small porch to a mud room. They don't normally do something like the porch conversion, but it only involved adding one outside wall, so it wasn't major outdoor work.

We chose them from several bidders because our initial sales contact, Kami, sold us on the idea that while they may quote a larger dollar number, they would properly estimate the project and be able to stay within that budget. They held to this promise despite the fact that there was an unexpected change to the project when it was discovered that the house had previously had a joist bisected and needed to be repaired.

They initially scheduled a late spring date to start the project, which was 6-8 months after the initial project estimates. They wait to start the project until they have all their ducks in a row -- that is, when all materials and contractors are available and all inspections are ready to commence in order to minimize downtime. Again, this went all according to plan. The only hold-up in the primary construction came when some inspectors weren't available as promptly as originally expected.

Once they started construction, they completed the project exceptionally professionally. We had daily updates on progress from the site lead, Jerry. All of their workers, Matt, Nick, Damon & Austin were not only responsive to questions and willing to explain what they were doing, but did so in a friendly manner. They did all work while we lived in the remaining house, and they were very accommodating to our living conditions.

The primary construction, including the joist repair, was done promptly within a month. All work was well-coordinated among several sets of contractors. The work itself was done with exceptional attention to detail. Because of the aforementioned inspection delays, Dominick finished up the porch work the week after the rest of the construction. One shower door had to be custom designed to fit and so that installation took place a couple weeks later. There were 3-5 small details that needed to be cleaned up after the final porch construction, which project lead Gerry completed to our satisfaction and in a prompt manner around our busy schedules.

Overall the experience was outstanding and I'm not sure it could have been done any better. Every promise was kept.

This review was written several months after all the work was done and there have been no flaws or concerns in that time. We love our...

DreamMaker originally did a nice job in gutting out my old bathroom in my bedroom and remodeling it completely. Problems started when I had a leak at the base of my shower on the side with the shower arm and controls. The leak went into the basement and through the wall which caused massive damage to my brand new closet system in my walk in closet and the floor in there on the other side of the wall from the shower. I was left with over $5,000 in damages. I couldn't file an insurance claim really. I have renters that share my home with me and I had to evict a renter for severe damage to my basement and the basement bedroom he was living in. Due to the amount of damage we had to split it into 4 claims. So they told me if I filed another claim, I wouldn't be able to file anymore for 7 years. DreamMaker did agree to fix the problems but they told me it would take a few months because there was a back log on acquiring materials. They came out and caulked the area where the leak was because I had company coming and I needed the shower operational. It was my understanding that the temporary fix was good until they were able to repair it permanently. I was fine with that. A few months went by and there was no follow up from them at all. I sent an e-mail and 3 days went by so I contacted a lawyer to send them my intent to go to court. When I called for their fax number and the employee at DreamMaker realized what I was doing, they suddenly became very responsive. However, I had another representative call and say to me, we did everything we said we were going to do on the appropriate time schedule. You weren't supposed to be using the shower anyway. I felt like they were victim blaming and shaming me. If they somehow thought that would win my business again, then I don't know what the hell they were thinking. So the bathroom originally looked nice, but they're working on it right now and they tore out the shower and the tile floor they just put in. I know mistakes happen, but given the leak, the victim blaming and shaming, the lack of follow up, and their lack of concern for how much I pad out in damages, I cannot recommend them to anyone.

P.S.- as evidenced by their response to my post, DreamMaker could care less about my out of pocket expenses for the damage they caused. Once again they continue to deflect blame, placing it on the consumer....