My wife and checked out several companies before choosing Avalon mainly because of price (approx. 20% cheaper than the companies on the top of Homestars list) and reading some of the reviews on Homestars. Also what helped us with choosing Avalon was the receptiveness when obtaining a quote. Sue and Martin are very nice to deal with but there were some communication issues along the way. Being satisfied with the quote, we went to one of Avalon's suppliers and chose a granite slab then set up a date for the templating of the kitchen. Prior to install, there was a small hiccup in the plans as we were told to pick another slab as the one we chose had a crack in it. So back my wife went to go through the process of picking out another slab. I had one major concern of the install and that was in regards to a seam that had to be put in. I was concerned that the veining in the stone was not going to match up at the seam. I feel the communication was lacking and I had to initiate most of the communication to be put at ease. For example, one of the things I did was obtain the measurements of the slab and I drew to scale the countertop pieces within the slab on a piece of graph paper. This way, I had an idea where each piece of the countertop came from on the slab. They ended up using the template I designed to cut out the pieces on the slab. I wish they could have provided this detail and given us the homeowner some input. When in came to install, the installers worked their butts off bringing up the heavy slabs up a flight of stairs. The installers did a great job putting it together. However, if you're looking for attention to detail, this is not Avalon's forte. One part of the countertop was cut too short leaving a half inch gap from the wall. They blame it on an uneven wall however, you can see clearly that it was cut too short. They kept asking me if I was going to install backsplash because then it would 'hide' their mistake. One thing I wanted when researching companies was to go with one with a CNC fabricating machine (for precision cuts and edging) and for some reason I thought Avalon had one of these machines but they don't. The other thing that was not done to my satisfaction was that there were three chips on one edge of the island that was filled with resin with a colour that did not match that part of the stone. The installer said that the colour was in other parts of the granite so it was acceptable. He then changed the excuse to that the resin colour changed after filling the chip possibly due to the cold outside. I agreed to have them return and recut the edge to get rid of the chips. The installers tried to do a quick fix outside then came to terms with having to take the island back to the shop to have it cut PROPERLY. Now, with the island an inch shorter, there still ended up being a chip in it but it was filled with a better colour matched resin. Finally, another mistake I accepted but want to note is they brought in a different sink than the one I had ordered (same model, different depth). The whole project started out nice but ended up with me pondering if I should have spent the extra money and went with one of the companies on the top of Homestars list. There must be a reason those companies have a perfect 10. When you spend so much money, you expect companies to care about their workmanship or even take responsibility for their shortcomings. All I expected was a job done right, not somewhat right.
