Jul 19, 2014 06:53 PM
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This is story is a year old.Like many other home buyers, me and my wife were scouring around many Bangalore wood work vendors. Some came recommended, some were omnipresent through their marketing. We spent around 8 months(while our apartment was getting readied) to look at the right person to trust our wood work with. Our builder kept delaying the work which fortunately bought us time to do research for the wood work. Our builder first promised delivery of apartment for wood work by Mar 2013. We started looking out for wood work by Jan 2013.
We were clear in what we wanted: wardrobes in bedrooms and woodwork in kitchen was the primary need. If budget allowed we would get the TV unit and some more storage in utility and elsewhere. But we wanted the internals of the wardrobes - shelves, hanging units and the kitchen cabinet sizes to suit our needs and be tailored according to that.
Incidentally Karighars was the first name suggested by a friend who had heard about them but had not taken their services. We looked them up and their reviews on the internet were few but good but their prices looked pretty premium. We kept it aside.
We continued our search elsewhere. Many fell short of holding there promise of sending us quotes and designs in time. Some were not reachable at all after the first visit. Obviously all of them got off our list.
Some tried to explain why MDF is the best option and customers do not know what they want and "they" know it best. While others were inflexible to meet our demands or the measurements. The sheer bad reviews on mouthshut and other places for multiple vendors gave us goosebumps on thoughts of investing in them.
Many others recommended their carpenters. On one side was the need to invest considerable amount of time and trust while getting someone to work like that. On other side was the sheer lack of predictability and the horror stories about customers being at mercy of their carpenters and begging them to complete the work.
As weeks and months passed by we got a feeling of what the wood work market is like - cheating and poor customer service from even corporate brands; lack of predictability on schedule, quality and cost; and finally the difficulty to get what you need(colors, layout, etc) and probably a huge compromise on that front.
In July 2013, we still had not got our apartment but it looked promising that it will be ready for wood work in 2-3 weeks. We started reviewing all the wood work vendors we had talked to so far. We had forgotten about Karighars. When I looked at it, with the new found knowledge on the wood work market, there seemed nothing wrong in contacting them. First I scoured the internet for reviews on them. The number of bad reviews were - zilch! Too good to be true, I thought.
With nothing to lose, I made an enquiry on their website. Within a few hours Mr Abhishek Chaddha called me up. He explained about Karighars - his partnership along with two others and how they work. We scheduled an appointment on the following weekend to meet up at our under-construction apartment. He was there dot on time. He patiently asked and listened to us on our budget. He quickly took rough measurements and did back of the envelope calculations. What we wanted(wardrobes and kitchen) would exceed our budget. He advised us what to drop and what to keep. He was clear on the quality of materials that he would use and therefore was not open to any negotiation on the cost/quality. We were slightly heartbroken. We politely agreed to think about it and follow up later with him. We went home and pondered and came to a conclusion. We liked the man's honesty. But that was not a sufficient condition to go with him yet. If we go with him we would stretch our budget and get what we wanted.
We called him a few days later and said we want to move ahead. He said his model of work is 50% payment before he starts designing and rest in parts later. We were surprised as this was not an unknown model but by far seen very less. Typically vendors would have a design fees to be adjusted against the actual work. So we had to be absolutely sure about the person/Karighars before we went ahead. He may have sensed our uneasiness. He offered a visit to one of the other apartments he had just completed the work at. We lapped up the opportunity. When we visited the said apartment, we were dearly impressed with the work, the quality, and the final finish. He also promised free alignment adjustments and free replacements for any material/workmanship defects. We wrote a cheque then and there for 50% amount based on rough measurements. We are excited and apprehensive - sometimes doubting ourselves if we took a hasty step. It was middle of Jul 2013. He called us in a couple of days as promised to fix an appointment for actual accurate measurements only after which the design would start.
On the day of measurement, we actually talked in detail on the layout - specially in kitchen. We had some ideas which he took. Some he rejected giving very good reasons for that. We were happy to be corrected for the right technical reasons. Having talked about what we wanted and the measurements done, he promised to get back with designs within a week. He got back with the designs within 3-4 days. Then we did a few back and forth until we saw what we liked. He did not do fancy 3-D designs but showed them over spreadsheets but it was impressive. Our confidence in him was growing. We did an OK on the design. Next was the finish. He came him one day - dropped about 8 volumes of laminate collections and asked us to go over and shortlist what we like. He came back after a few days and saw what we short listed. He understood our taste and based on technical reasons he dropped some of the designs we chose - like some patterns would not be good as it would be difficult to match them for wardrobe doors and loft doors while machining them. He asked to shortlist again and came back after a few more days. We had a small child and he advised us against veneers(though he was willing to provide them) as they are prone to damage in the vicinity of small kids. We accepted his suggestion. We sat together and finalized on the laminates. It was Jul end and he told us that the work would started in the factory on that. By Aug end he would deliver the material to the apartment. By Sep end the work would be completed. We were getting more and more impressed and decided to stretch the budget a little more and get the TV unit also done. We again did back and forth on the designs and then finalized on that as well.
The material landed by mid-Aug - a pleasant surprise. We were to pay him the next instalment at that time. He never haggled on that and when we asked he said he will reach out to us and not to worry. The carpenter would come daily and do the assembly. We would visit only on weekends but were satisfied with the work. In between the work slowed a bit but by Sep end the work was done and the handover happened bang on time(though it could have been completed a little earlier). They took another week to clean things up and handed over to us. In between we wanted some help for some civil work - he was ok to do it but advised against using him to get some things as he would be expensive. Again an honest person!
Abhishek also helped us with selecting dado tiles in kitchen, putting them up; the lighting in the house, the curtains. Overall we were mighty impressed with the work - it was bang on schedule and budget. We got great compliments during our house warming. What followed only vindicated our faith in Karighars. After a couple of months after we moved in, he sent his men to tweak and adjust the alignments. They also helped us with other miscellaneous move-in tasks(though at a small competitive price).
6 months after we moved in we had a plumbing leakage in kitchen. I called him up - he promptly answered, gave us suggestions and assured us of quality. He also reminded us that if something happens to the material he will replace free of cost as the marine ply he used should resist such leakage.
What we paid in premium initially bought us quality, schedule, peace of mind and superb customer service. If I need to get wood work again, I will go back to them again, and agin. We understood that whatever they take up - be it a 6 lakhs project or a 6 core project(yes they do that) - they do it with the same level of professionalism. Thanks Abhishek for the professional services, advise and support! I wish you guys all the success.
