October 2016 by Emily S.
We loved working with William and Wayne from the moment we walked in their showroom to the moment we walked into our completely finished remodeled house. William and Wayne were absolutely delightful to work with every step of the way. We appreciated that they both had a sense of humor and that they balance each other well, both with respect to personality and taste. Seems like a small thing, but when you and your husband are squabbling about whether you want a 29" sink or a 31" sink, it's nice to have others in the room who can offer more objective pros and cons for whatever options you're torn between. Because they've worked with so many different clients and because they have such different personal tastes, they were great at respecting my husband and I's taste, and helping us to find "exactly what we wanted but didn't know how to look for." I never felt like we were being pushed away from our personal aesthetic, but they were excellent at steering us towards options that would look good with the rest of the design and with the existing character of our house. They also excelled at "crisis management," which was much needed given my worry-wart personality. When something was going "wrong" at the house, or when I decided for the sixth time that the backsplash we'd chosen just really wasn't what I wanted, William and Wayne were great at talking me through the situation and making sure I was feeling comfortable and in control again (or, if not in control, then at least back to a place of calm). Not an easy task! William & Wayne were really helpful in walking us through the stages of the remodel: which decisions need to be made in what order, how long do we have to make certain decisions before we need to place an order in order to stay on schedule, etc. We got a lot of value for the small design fee we paid - their business is set up so that they make money on the cabinet and countertop purchase, not the design fee. That made me feel good that they were never trying to up-sell us on the fixtures, accents, or extras, and that we weren't going to be charged for changing our mind. Our William & Wayne remodel was not "cheap" - our finished product definitely looks, feels, and was priced like quality. That being said, they were transparent about prices and made sure to help us stay on budget when we were choosing our tile, backsplash, and fixtures; and they have good industry connections that offered us a cost savings on those purchases as well. Though I absolutely love the cabinets we got, their showroom is too small to show you all the different available options and what they look like in person; and the Wood Mode website is hard to use to figure out what your options are. Definitely take the time to talk through your needs and budget so you can be sure you're getting the best corner cabinet for you, etc. They would likely choose really great options even without that, but I'm not the type to feel comfortable placing an order for cabinets without asking a lot of questions about "what's in every drawer", so to speak. We also recommend double checking decisions/plans/purchase lists regularly along the way. I'm a detail oriented list maker, and there were times when we'd find newly added details missing on the revised set of plans. That's not a big deal if you know to check for it, but if you're hiring a designer so "you don't have to" you might want to go with a more Type A personality that will double and triple check everything for you.
