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Review 5/10/2008
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We hired Piana to remodel our kitchen, living room and dining room. After investigating the 2 references that they provided, we felt they were the way to go.
Pros:Cynthia Piana, the designer, was amazing. Her design for both the kitchen and the living room (converted to a library) were wonderful. She is talented and clearly understood our design and aesthic needs. Tom Piana, her general contractor and husband, has a team that I believe are second to none. They usually arrived when they were supposed to, and most of the time clean up at the end of a day. They were respectful of our home and trusted them to be in our home in our absence. They do whatever Tom tells them to do.
Cons: Piana is extremely expensive! We expected labor to be higher than normal for custom work, but Tom Piana charged exhorbitant prices for his labor. His standard installation charge for any kitchen appliance is $150. Though our double ovens was one singular unit, Tom charged us $300!
The markups on both construction materials and furnishings were not the standard 15% - 20%, as expected, but averaged 350% of what we were able to buy them for. In one instance, Tom marked up $500 of materials, by 800%, because he knew that we trusted him to be fair because we didn't know what the job would entail.
Another negative regarding Piana was their lack of timeliness in completing the work. We were quoted a 6 week completion time. They started almost 5 months later than when we'd expected them to start and missed 4 different commitment dates to finish the project. Significant inconveniences included a missed graduation celebration in May, and my wife's birthday celebration in August, yet didno't miss their own family vacation to Europe while our house sat idle and in disarray. Piana offered no recompense for the delays and completed the project almost 11 months from when we first engaged them.
By the way, they constantly want their payments when they think it's due them. Tom wanted final payment before the library was complete because he subcontracted out the finish of the library and took no responsibility for its completion. Thank goodness the sub had integrity to do a good job, because neither Cynthia nor Tom ever came back to see how the project ever turned out in the end. I called them several times and invited them back to photo and inspect the job, but they declined.
So there are 2 questions I need to answer for potential clients.
First did Piana do a good job for us? Without a doubt, they did! Our home is still a joyful sight after almost a year. Cynthia's creativity and eye for detail and elogance are terrific. Tom's work crew were terrific as well. I was expecting to have problems with the workers and in all that time the only person I was not pleased with was a young apprentice who Tom brougnt to our home who was rude and obnoxious. I told Tom the fellow was not welcome in my home unless he had adult supervision and learned some manners, and it was clear that the young fellow had been corrected.
The 2nd question to answer for you is whether we would hire Piana in the future? Though the beauty and function of the home was enhanced, the feeling of violation we have from being taken advantage of financially persists when we recount our experiences with Piana. For that reason I don't think I would hire them again. The talent of Cynthin Piana as a designer might be the reason why I would consider Piana in the future, but highly doubtful that we would ever rehire their contractor arm of the business.
I hope this review is balanced and helpful to anyone who would consider engaging Piana design for work in their home.
PS Their website has not been updated with photos of current projects for many years. You may want to ask why, especially since when they worked our home their were at least 4 others (one that was probably $500K) going on simultaneously, but none appear on the site!?!
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