Normally I review Taylor Swift’s songs and albums, which is really fun, but here I’m reviewing something much less fun: Our bathroom remodel with Nebraska Furniture Mart (NFM).
We have been NFM customers for almost 20 years, furnishing our first apartment as a newly-married couple out of the Omaha store, and much of our Texas home from the location at The Colony. Among the options available, we chose NFM for the renovation due to this longstanding customer relationship and their brand reputation.
Here’s some videos and pictures from the 5-6 week project that turned into a 6+ month renovation nightmare that still isn’t settled.
The waterfall flood
The first time we tried to use the upstairs shower, we discovered that NFM had actually installed this new ‘water feature’ in our master bedroom. They paid for a third party inspector, who discovered that NFM’s incompetent subcontractor, who was probably unlicensed, caused it due to misinstallation. More on the quality of their work in a moment.
We’ve asked for licensing information about the plumbers who did the work, and NFM has refused to provide it. One NFM employee did, however, cite their longstanding relationship with this subcontractor in an email to us (“Since we use the subcontractor for many different projects, we do not have access to what staff have been requested for each home”).
We’ve also asked to see the inspection report, and NFM won’t give us that either.
Here’s more detail on the incompetence that caused the flood. (I wish I’d caught on camera how the fixtures moved up and down, but that was a crazy week…)
The destroyed master bed
But it is apparent that the subcontractors should have known about the misinstallation. Because we were replacing our master ceiling fan at the time, our master bedroom mattress was right below the vent at the time the workers installed the shower. That earlier flood destroyed the mattress and the bed.
Valve leak and the bathroom cabinet
NFM incorrectly installed the shutoff valve in an upstairs bathroom sink. It leaked every 8 seconds for a week and damaged the bottom of the cabinet.
Missing caulk around standing tub
I mean, water can only splash out of the tub in the front, right? WordPress isn’t letting me embed the tweet with the video of the poor caulking, but here it is: https://twitter.com/dr_ledbetter/status/1758919452475768842
But, the bathtub didn’t hold water anyway…
No O-ring means no seal, which would mean a rather short bath.
Trashy, smelly garage
NFM said the worker’s trash wouldn’t be stored on site. Yet our garage was filled with trash for weeks. What this picture can’t capture is the rancid stench from the workers’ leftover food as it decayed in the sweltering Texas summer heat.
Questionable quality
Here’s the niche in the upstairs shower. The workers made it rather small. Notice the messy grout around the edges, and the way the gray grout bleeds into the white grout. And the tiny triangles at the top are a strange way to cut the tile. This is but one example of many quality issues during the initial install.
Firing the subcontractor and discovering even more problems
After 8 weeks of dealing with these quality issues, culminating in the flood, we were livid. We insisted, and NFM fired their incompetent subcontractor they use “for many different projects” and hired someone who was actually competent to do the work. And that contractor discovered many, many problems with the first contractor’s work. So, after moving out of the house for 8 weeks to avoid living through a renovation… well, we lived through a months-long renovation anyway.
Lack of upstairs tub support
The waterfall flooding wasn’t the only issue with the upstairs tub/shower. NFM didn’t bother to put support underneath, per installation instructions. Instead, it was sitting on leveling feet, and those feet weren’t even level. For about three months this was our only working shower (once the flooding issue was repaired, of course). Not real fun as a family of four, and the tub bottom felt squishy and unstable while using it. Our entire family continually felt like we might fall through the floor of the tub at any moment while showering.
Wrong lumber in the master shower
I’m no expert on these things (and it appears NFM might not be, either), but apparently you’re supposed to use pressure-treated lumber for a shower, given the dampness of the area. NFM used plain old lumber. I’m told NFM used the wrong type of concrete as well. This meant that the shower floor had to be completely ripped out, all the way back down to the foundation to redo it properly and then have it permitted and inspected, which the original NFM contractor never did.
Uneven backsplash
No insulation for a pipe on an external wall
Our new standing tub needed pipes to run along an exterior wall for the placement of the fixture. Even though I’m no expert, I know insulation is needed so that pipes don’t freeze. But NFM didn’t put any in there. And to have the new pipes on this exterior wall required cutting through some studs that hold up the roof of the house. You guessed it, improper support was provided where the studs were notched.
Improperly installed tile
Wrong color grout for the master shower floor
If white grout around white tile is your thing, hey, you do you. But to us, it looks washed out and bleh. Before work began, we made it clear that we wanted gray grout around the white tile. NFM didn’t communicate this to the original subcontractors. Even though the subcontractor called me to clarify, they still misinstalled it, so they did it again. Then the new contractor had to rip it all out… but NFM miscommunicated again, and we had white on white a second time (!). They finally got it right the fourth time.
Not getting proper permits and inspections for plumbing work
Even with reliance on a subcontractor, I don’t know how this procedural and legal detail escaped NFM’s attention. And the shower drain was loose, so water could have traveled along the drain pipe down into the foundation of the house.
What about the aftermath?
I wish I could say that, in the aftermath of all of this, NFM has engaged in good customer service, treating us like longtime customers who spent a lot of money in their store on this project. That has only been the case regarding actually fixing the work. In the end, the bathrooms turned out fine.
Disappointing customer service
Making things right has been another story. We spent thousands of dollars to cope with the flood in August (hotel fees, replacing the master bed, etc.). NFM wasn’t interested in reimbursing that money until the work was done… in January.
And by that point, they were uninterested in talking directly to us at all. They just wanted to push us off onto their insurance claims adjuster (who, obviously, works to serve NFM, not help us). Nearly a month ago, I asked for a high-level member of their customer service team to call us to discuss what happened and how to make it right. Other than a few curt and uninformative emails from the store manager at The Colony, we’ve heard nothing. At one point, we called and left a voicemail. NFM never returned the call.
But when I tweeted about the flood, they did tweet back. “Just talk with us through the BBB” is painful to hear after our experience.
Confusing financial practices
Dealing with NFM’s financial practices also has been frustrating and confusing. We took some credit from NFM to fund the project. By the time the initial subcontractor was fired in late summer, NFM said we owed a certain amount, and that amount was consistent with our agreement when we contracted for the work.
Then in September, the amount dropped by a few hundred dollars.
In October, our bill was over $1000 less than the prior month.
Then in November, $6500 less!
But in December, it was $6300 more.
And in January, another $1200 more.
We’ve asked for explanation why our bill has gone up and down. They’ve pointed to their general accounting practices–essentially, ‘this is just how we do business.’ They also sent us this spreadsheet, which isn’t exactly illuminating. It feels like NFM is making this up as they go.
Personal impact
But beyond the construction hassles, the financial wonkiness, and the poor customer service, this has just plain overshadowed so much of our lives since last June. We moved out of our house unnecessarily over the summer, during which our youngest daughter slept on an air mattress for 8 weeks.
My wife and I both work in higher education, and we planned the renovation for the summer because that is a slower and more flexible time. During fall semester and now spring, this has impacted our work productivity, between meeting with contractors and phone calls and emails.
Our house wasn’t a great place to celebrate the holidays, when the work should have been long done. It has been massive amounts of stress and time lost that we’ll never get back.
And the impact on our kids is just the worst. Here’s my oldest daughter’s narration the night of the flood, as we packed up to head to a hotel. (Admittedly, the lost wallet is my fault, not NFM’s, though the stress of this entire ordeal certainly didn’t help matters!)
We regret choosing Nebraska Furniture Mart for the renovation, and we will not buy so much as a lightbulb there in the future. We hope our story helps others make informed decisions about home remodeling work.
Andrew M. Ledbetter 