CALbath & Kitchen

I am the renovation coordinator for a property management company and use Cal Bath for every project. They do an excellent job, always work with my scheduling needs, and they have great follow up. A supervisor comes to check on the work of their techs, which I appreciate. I would highly recommend Cal Bath.

I would give Cal Bath in Newport Beach one star because they did not pull a Gypsy contractor move a steal by deposit. But they deserve a NO STAR rating.
I have been a homeowner for over twenty five years. Over this time I have used lots of contractors, some good, others not so much. Cal Bath is hands down the worst contractor I have ever used. I will go on for some time in this review, but to be short, you have been warned.
Cal Bath gave me an estimate in September of 2013 for a full bath remodel. They say they do not start the remodel until all the items ordered are in and they check them, so there are no delays in the job (approx six weeks wait) but they want money up front.
I had to call them and ask what was taking so long for the items to come in. They started work in December 2013. They gave an estimate of ten working days to complete the remodel.
On the second day of the remodel the problems began. They installed the wrong tub, and argued that they had not made a mistake. The first of many. Again to keep it short, not one item was installed correct or was not what we ordered.
You are saying «right he is exaggerating», um, no! Not one. TUB-​Vanity-​Hardware-​Fan-​Molding-​Paint-​Tile-​Toilet, all problems. By February 2014 the job was still not finished (a long ten days, NO?)
After I re-​read some of the ratings from other sites I observed that most of them are for Cal Bath refinishing jobs not remodels. In my opinion a lot of the good reviews LOOK FAKE.
In my opinion the problems I had come from a complete lack of someone competent being in charge, someone who checks the details. When you try to work with them you learn where the word SMART ASS comes from. Mostly you get the run around and they are good at it, they must have lots of practice from dealings with their past customers.
I had a very poor experience using Cal Bath.

Updated 2÷5÷15
You can’t go wrong with Cal bath this is an update because we liked our shower so much we had them come back and match a sink and counter top! And it could not look better!
Colin was the fantastic installer and job Forman and he is the lead example of professional! He respected our home like it was his and he has to be the tidiest contractor I have ever met! Thank you Cal Bath we love our bathroom!
First review
I must say first and foremost our bathroom remodel looks fantastic! This is were I would give 5 stars Luis is the man for the job! Let me just rave about him a minute! He was very professional and tidy! He was very polite and paid attention to detail! He made everything we ask for happen! And we did change things along the way! So ask for Luis if you want a great looking bathroom!
The pricing was a bit steep at first but we ask for the more expensive version and he gave us all the options!
We believe we got our moneys worth and you get what you pay for!
THANKS CAL BATH

I too wish there was a NO STAR option. These people forgot that the customer matters. During the appointment making process they were exceptional. I even received an email confirmation with the time as well as the name of the person coming yo my home. The night before my appointment, I received a confirmation message stating they would be there between 4 – 5. However my appointment was at 4:00. Thought to call them but then thought, no I will wait see if they show up at 4:00.
I waited until 4:20 to call to find out what is going on. Nicole answered and frankly could care less that he was not there. She stated that he was probably on his way. I asked was he on his way or not. She then put me on hold for few minutes. When she came back she stated that he was in unexpected traffic (I do not live in a traffic laden area) and he would not be there until, you guessed it, 5:00. This was the plan all along.
I explained that this was not okay with me, and she again could care less. I hung up and from the time it took me to go from one room to another, I picked up the phone and called them again to cancel. Again Nicole answered and did not care if I was canceling.
Bottom line, thus company is too arrogant. They seemed to think their product and services surpass any customer’s opinion. As I said, you can’t gave a company without customers. Can’t be accountable for being on time, telling the truth and empathizing with the customer, things that are a must for me to engage in business

We recently used CALbath to resurface the older-​looking ‘cultured’ marble counters in our master bathroom. with a granite-​like finish. The result looks spectacular! The price was fair and everyone did what they said they would do. All the people we dealt with were very professional and personable.
The initial quote was in-​home with the estimate and they had small tile samples of the colors and finishes. We were not certain how they would like on a larger scale, so we took the time to drive up to their showroom on a Saturday to see everything real-​size. What a smart move. When we did that, we found our initial choice was not nearly as nice as others we saw in the showroom. So we were really glad we went there and were very pleased with our selection. I would highly recommend visiting the showroom to get a more realistic feel for what the finished product would look like. There are many other ideas you can get from visiting the showroom and plenty of knowledgeable staff to answer questions.
Our reason for contacting CALbath initially was because a friend had used them for a remodel and had been very pleased. Given our experience, we would recommend this company to anyone else who wants to remodel their bath.

We had an acrylic show put into our master bath. I give 2 starts because the end result is decent, but it was a nightmare getting there. First off, don’t believe anything the salesman that comes to your says (mine was Darrell). He isn’t around when the work is done, and when I had a problem during the installation he wouldn’t return my calls. We picked CalBath even though they were way more expensive than our other 4 quotes because I was sold on their quality. BAD CHOICE. We have chucks of wood taken out of our brand new bathroom doors. The caulking between the shower step and wall was dirty and gross on about day 2 so the cleaning isn’t any less (isn’t that the point of the seamless showers?). I had to pay extra to have them fill in a gap between the shower and floor tile because they didn’t realize the shower pan sold to me was curved. I was told the same size would lay directly into the tile. To get that fixed, I had to make a big ol’ stink and pay extra. They were actually going to call it done even with a 2 inch gap in the tile! Terrible service.
There are other companies whose showrooms show many many more options on wall colors. I figure if I spend 6K on a simple double shower (with almost no upgrades), the installation quality should be excellent. I paid additional money because I assumed they knew what they were doing.
The one good thing is that they came in on schedule. We’ll be re-​doing a second shower this year and I would never use CalBath again.
Go with a simple contractor and stay away from these large companies that use the bait and switch.

All I can tell you is that in the beginning Calbath seemed ideal and we very nearly went with them because they really knew exactly what to say to convince us that they were the right guys for the job. But I just had a niggling red flag pop up when they kept showing us books of faucets and sinks and finishes, etc. that had no prices and they didn’t ever tell us if the items we were discussing were top of the line, or kind of middle-​of-​the-​road or what. As if price did not matter in the least. Then, I was kind of blown away when we got the final quote. But, I thought, maybe that’s what things cost these days? However, they had told me that they had done a lot of work in our community, so I asked for a couple of references, hoping that someone might let us see a completed installation, just so I could see with my own eyes what kind of work they REALLY did. And they would not give me one. Instead they said that because they were on our HOA approved list of contractors, that should be enough. Well, it’s not. We got another quote from another contractor who came in at (drum roll, please) $ 20,000 LESS than Calbath for essentially the same project (same brand of counter tops, cupboards, custom showers, etc), and the other contractor gave 2 references, one of whom invited us over to see their kitchen and baths, and the reference told us how great this other contractor was to work with. Well, that did it. We went with the other contractor and are very pleased. So I can’t say for sure that Calbath is not a good company — but just be sure to get several quotes before going with them, and insist on references! If they won’t give them to you, then go with someone who will.

The work once done was decent.
However the customer service is lacking. Once i signed the contract, my salesman never returned any of my calls or emails. There was zero verbal communication stating that NO ONE was allowed to be in the house while we have the showers refinished. We had an entire construction crew at the house that they were trying to kick out because no one told us this. We ended up having to reschedule completely.
Also, they left all the paper that was covering the floors & walls in the bathroom & all the masking. When I called asking when they were coming back to remove it, i was told to remove it myself after another 48 hrs.

I wish I could give 0 stars. Why isn’t that one of the options? Our Property Management company hired Cal Bath to refinish our kitchen sink. The guys that came to the house were nice enough. You have to stay out of the house for 12 hours to let things air out. and then you have to wait 48 hours to have your faucet installed. OK, I understand.
Fast forward 48 hours. The plumber comes to install the faucet. What?! The guys that refinished the sink left the drains in, so it is already peeling?! GRRRR. OK. We will deal with it. We don’t own the house, so we can’t really complain. Wait… The pipes have HOLES in them because they dumped the lacquer thinner down the sink? Awesome. I haven’t been able to use my kitchen for 2 days, now we have to have the pipes replaced… What a terrible experience. Don’t use these guys.
It is now Monday night. We are on day 3 of not being able to use the sink. My daughter is trying to do homework and the only thing we can hear is the sound of the pipes being cut out of my kitchen. WHAT A MESS.

The hubby and I were in the market for having our fiberglass/​acryllic shower and roman tub suite refinished, as well as replacing the enclosure. I had a number of people out for estimates, and Roger with Cal Bath was surprisingly the lowest (beating out Lowe’s & Home Depot’s people). After we visited their showroom and did some haggling, we decided to go with them.
They were able to set up and appointment relatively quickly to refinish the tub and shower, which also included doing a huge patch job where our home’s previous owner had put a gash in the side (??). Cal Bath gave us specific written instructions as how to prepare the area for the treatment — clean the shower/​tub, cover any nearby furniture, etc. — and had us sign papers stating we acknowledged we couldn’t be in the house while the refinishing was taking place, due to the fumes. We completely understood why Cal Bath took such precautions, because the fumes were pretty bad. We had the opportunity to stay — with our cat — at our family’s home for two nights after; it still kinda stunk that third day, even with the windows open and fans on in our place while we were gone.
The refinishing turned out fantastic. It couldn’t have been any better.
The shower enclosure took a little longer to complete. Apparently some measurements weren’t taken correctly, so they had to come back that next week to remeasure. It took another week for the manufacturer to create our brushed nickel/​semi-​frameless enclosure. Once it was done, the installer came but accidentally broke something while installing (fyi — our fiberglass shower/​tub isn’t the best quality to begin with). It took another week or so to get the part fixed and have the installer come back. Luckily we just used another shower in our house while all this was taking place. We didn’t mind them taking the extra time to get it right. The enclosure looks great!
They also warranty their materials/​work, so that was an added bonus.

Worked with Roger at CalBaths for a custom shower surround to replace an existing shower enclosoure.
I was told if I went with a frameless glass I would see the holes from my previous enclosure so I deceded to go framred once again. The shower enclosure is mounted to 3 walls.
On June 15^th, once the installation was completed on 2 of the 3 walls I could see the prexisting holes. The installer said this is because the measurements were ¼ inch off.
When I cancelled the check I got a call back saying they would look at ordering a metal piece to match the framing to cover the holes. A full week later I was called again suggesting I put grout in the holes. Unacceptable… I have to fix he problem! not only that, but obviously they had not ordered the part they said they would.
So finally part on order, they called to schedule the appt on July 16^th… a full month later. Then I schedule the date for Monday July 26^th as I was on vacation and they MISS that appt… then the scheduler tells me he can get someone out there Wednedsday at 8am… no window I made it clear 8am… I had to call and the installer still did not arrive until 9am.
What a waste of time and this is only a small project! I can only imagine the hassle if they did an entire bath!