The cabinet-maker left in the middle of the job!

by Caroline and John
(Sydney, Australia)

Well, this was worse than that! Our cabinet maker was contracted to replace all of our old kitchen cabinets with brand new 2 pac glossy white ones, when the company went belly-up and was put into administration! We were devestated... we had paid all of the money up front, over $11,000 (please learn from us and NEVER do this)and so we were left with a half-built kitchen, mess and sawdust throughout the house and no money in the budget to get someone else to finish the job!
This wasn't our fault really, except for paying the money before the job was finished to our satisfaction - you can imagine how upset we were!
Anyway, after 4 weeks we approached the bank, explained what had happened and they reluctantly gave us enough to get someone else in to finish the cabinets. This was another hassel...he had to remeasure, source the same materials and just pick up where the first contarctor had left off! But he was wonderful - the kitchen was finished 6 weeks later and now looks great.
We also changed from granite countertops to laminate due to the loss of cash, but even so we're really happy with the results and have enjoyed many good times in the kitchen already.
So the moral of our story is - don't pay before the job is done!