RJ Remodeling

KARL BARSUK OF RJ REMODELING IS A FRAUD !! I am filing complaints with New Jersey Consumer Affairs, the Better Business Bureau, the Contractors Licensing Board & the Federal Trade Commission. This crook should lose his license & not be able to work in New Jersey ever again. It’s a shame that Karl Barsuk has STOLEN money from hard working people, including myself, & has not suffered any consequences. He needs to be STOPPED !!

First, the Good — Karl Barsuk (the proprietor of RJ Remodeling) seems like a nice guy, I’m generally happy with quality of work that was actually completed, and his initial quote was among the most competitive.
Now, the Bad — what was supposed to be a 1 – 2 week job ended up taking 7 months and counting. We signed a contract with Karl on 4÷26÷14. It is now December and we still are not done. Karl went missing 2 – 5 weeks at a time on 3 separate occasions. Before giving him deposit and additional payments, he was very responsive (came to our home several times, always reachable by email, text, and phone). Then after he cashed our checks, he often could not be reached no matter what we did. We tried everything (email, phone, and text) and he would essentially just ignore us.
He promised several things upfront (and I confirmed in writing) including soft close drawers and cabinets, glass cabinet doors, a pull out spice rack, and laminated cabinets. After several thousand dollars had already been paid, he said soft close was not possible given the configuration, the glass for doors would be extra, spice rack not possible (cabinet too small), and lamination was not included (so we would have two-​tone kitchen with different color doors vs. cabinets). He wanted an additional $ 2K extra for the lamination. Later, he took 4 cabinet doors away and begrudgingly told me he would put glass on them but all the rest he basically skipped/​scrapped even though it was very specifically supposed to be included. Then he went missing for 2 months and counting with the glassless doors we already paid him for. I have records of everything above documented in writing/​emails but it doesn’t really matter unless you want to take someone to court over it.
I would be VERY wary of any upfront payments with Karl regardless of how trustworthy he may appear. Bottomline — pretty good quality but definitely not worth the pain, broken promises/​agreements, poor to non-​existent scheduling/​communication, and hidden additional costs. Really wish it had turned out differently for us but hopefully another family will be spared from the same experience. If you still feel compelled to utilize his services, ask yourself why almost all his positive reviews are a few years dated and also be sure to ask him about this specific job with Kevin and Melanie in Short Hills, NJ. Maybe then he’ll take the time to respond to us or at least you’ll get a pretty interesting story out of it. Good luck!