The Art of Dwelling

Mitzi S. _{on Yelp}

May 27th, 2021

I contracted with Michael Ponder, The Art of Dwelling to remodel 3 bathrooms.  The work was to be completed in 5-6 weeks according to the contract.  Michael did not send enough contractors to complete the job within the agreed upon time.  He repeatedly told me he would send another crew but did not.  When questioned about it, he became very defensive and angry.  His foreman was not a good communicator, did not manage the job site well (inventory was lost, tile measurements were inaccurate, property was damaged).  At the end of 5 weeks, Michael quit, leaving approximately 1/2 of the work unfinished, trash all over my yard, and my property damaged.  I was paying him percentages of the total project regularly as well as paying for materials.  When I deducted the negotiated costs in the contract vs work that was completed, I notified Michael that he owes me approximately $17,000.  He replied a week later claiming he is due the full charge for most of the work, as well as several charges that were not in the contract.  I had to pay another contractor to finish the job as well as fix several things that were damaged or incorrectly installed such as plumbing, tile, grout, electrical wires that were cut, and damaged sheetrock.  I also had to reorder wallpaper that they installed incorrectly and pay to have it installed.  I had to purchase 2 new toilets because they took one away and broke another one.  They lost plumbing supplies that I had to reorder.  In summary, I suggest that you stay away from doing business with Michael Ponder and the Art of Dwelling.  As another person reported, he can be very nice and he has great ideas but, in my experience, he does not have adequate contractors to implement his ideas, his foreman does not communicate well, and Michael can be quite volatile when challenged.

Nate U. _{on Yelp}

Nov 6th, 2019

I wasn't going to review "The Art of Dwelling"  because the owner Michael was very enthusiastic energetic and makes you feel he cares.However that is the reason we needed to write this review even though we didn't end up officially using Michaels company. (Or he got what he wanted.... keep reading)We are doing a full kitchen remodel (60-100K after everything) and received a few bids before Michael came in the picture.He had a vision of knocking walls down and doing things we didn't think of doing.... and we started then using his vision and ideas and bid that to other companies. He gave us an estimate immediately.   Michaels quote was the highest of the three other companies that mirrored his vision ... however we went with Michael because we weren't just going with Michaels because of his vision but also his drive and energy.1 weeks later my husband met Michael.  Now the bid increased 5K.  Michael never said why it increased because we didn't add anything to the scope of work we discussed a week before.  This was our mistake not to question even a slight increase immediately.Weeks go by and then his cabinet guy comes out to get measurements. Then another week his crew comes out. Michael tells them what needs to be done when the works starts.Another week goes by and after 5 visits and 2 of them with his crew nothing changed as scope of work or talk of increasing the budget.He finally sends the contract (4 days late than promised).He sent it by email stating sign right away and to let him know when the cabinet guy could come out within the next day or so.However nothing in the email explained why the bid sky rocketed another 10K!!  We sent an email immediately asking for clarification because nothing was added to the scope of work.  His email ended stating they were "trying to get water from a rock" to get us the kitchen we wanted.... what???As the owner Michael would have fired the sales person giving a bid 15K difference than what was initially quoted for over a month without any work changes.Instead Michael responded to our email 24 hrs later (no call) stating the sub contractors prices came in higher than expected.Ok instead of hiring 5 guys hire 4.... I don't know hire a different crew... Michael didn't seem to be able to effectively explain this huge increase.Michael mentioned that he had 3 crews itching for work because it's the slow season.  However now they want prime dollar and that prime dollar is an additional 15K??These are Michaels employees so not sure how he couldn't budget this properly.We thought it would have been something with the work as an excuse NOPE sun contractors.... hahah laughable.After 2 days we turned Michael down and didn't hire him.As the great owner and sales person Michael is he responded with "Hate to hear this but if you change your mind let him know".  No call, no how can we work this out no APOLOGY.We feel Michael was taking advantage of us.  A few days before he sent that contract I mentioned to him I was battling cancer.  I was in the middle of Chemo and would be during the duration of the this full kitchen remodel.A few days later we get a 15K increase contract!!  We weren't even worthy of a phone call to discuss this increase... Michael thought we would just sign it and not question anything.Maybe he though we were so far along we'd just sign it because of the stress and drainage of energy because my cancer.Maybe he was just trying to take advantage of a combat veteran?Maybe he was trying to take advantage of a gay couple?Maybe he just wanted to increase the contract so much we'd walk away because he didn't want us as clients?Maybe he isn't a good business man and needs help on giving estimates after 20 years?Whatever the reason may be I just wish I had an opportunity to read a review like this one to help guide me and give me an outlook on Michael.  Again when I met Michael he is very nice, energetic and makes it seem like he knows what he is talking about... that is why it's hard writing this review because a lot of people probably feel the same way but think "but Michael was so nice" and they don't review him.In fairness Michael did take 4K something off and made it seem like he was giving us such a great deal... he would be almost losing money on this deal he tells us in an email.   Michael now wants us to think he is doing us a favor by increasing the contract?A real owner would NEVER allow a 100K remodel walk away unless they didn't want the project for their own prejudices mentioned already.... I'll let Michael pick which one because it was never explained to us.Nate and Dave Nate and Dave