Vero Beach Kitchen Transformation: Structural Concrete Slab Modification by db Home Improvements

“Note to our Readers: At db Home Improvements, we value your time and total transparency. For those who prefer to skim the facts rather than watch the full video, we have provided the actual transcript of this transformation below. This is unedited ‘human proof’ of our One Job at a Time policy and our Bone Specialist standards for structural integrity.”

“Hi, Dave Browne here with db Home Improvements. We’re outstanding in the field once again with two happy customers from Vero Beach. We came in and this was a typical kitchen that needed to be remodeled. They’re so happy that they’d like to say a few things on film about our company and also the kitchen that they helped design and are going to live with for the next several decades.

One of the things that I’ve told friends was Adam—when we first met with Adam, he said that once we’re on your job, we’re on it until we’re finished. And the first day that someone was here, there was a person here every day until you finished. So true to his word. And that was very important to us. Also, we were very fortunate to meet Dave Brown and his crew at the Home Show at Vero Beach at the Fairgrounds. And we decided that we were going to move forward and hire them to remodel our home.

So how did you find the experience of shopping contractors and deciding on us?

Well, we did have our previous contractor come into the home and he went forward and said he was going to do A, B, C, and D. We were supposed to have people in here looking at designs. They came; we didn’t get the design. He didn’t contact me for two or three more weeks after the fact that he was supposed to contact me that following week. And I decided not to hire that company. And then I went and I said, ‘I have this card in this bag and I’m going to call this other company,’ which is your company. And it was the best thing that we could have done.

The other thing that was interesting too is Adam actually spent about six or seven hours here just designing the concepts. It’s not like he came in for an hour; he was here for quite a while, spent a lot of time. And as you can see, he had great vision. What we’d rather do is get everything—get his vision down along with your vision, your wants, and what you’re going to want—and get that all coupled up and get it on paper before anything starts. Because if we start without having that information, it can really turn into a lot of extra pain and suffering.

Yes, that’s exactly what happened. He came in, we had a lot of conversations about what we wanted to have done, we went back and forth, and we just agreed on everything that needed to be done in here. I just love the whole concept of the whole house.

What’s your favorite part?

It’s hard to say. I like the island; I just love the kitchen. I love the cabinets, the flooring. They did such a fabulous job with the flooring in here. Everything is just immaculate. The work was outstanding.

So there’s no favorite part? It wouldn’t be the under-counter microwave or the software as well?

No, that’s the secondary part. It’s the whole thing as a whole—the coffee station. We had him chop the slab and put the coffee station in. That was Adam’s idea, too. He’s brilliant, Adam.

Justin and Dave, they worked so hard on this house day in and day out. All the blood, sweat, and tears that went into this house. They were a pleasure to work with, too. They always were very polite when they had questions for us. If they had questions we couldn’t answer, they had good input as well. So again, they were a pleasure to work with.

What do you think of that triple drawer cabinet? Because I have one of those at home and my wife is ecstatic about it.

I have so much room to put everything that I need to put in these cabinets. I have silverware; I have a lot of stuff in here. Just fabulous. We love those 36-inch drawer cabinets.

And for the power, you got the jumbo quartz slab because the regular size slab would have a seam in it. And of course, the up-to-code pop-up outlet, the coffee maker, and the paint. That was when Adam came and he said, ‘What do you think of this backsplash?’ And I looked at it and I said, ‘You know, I think that’ll look really beautiful with the cabinets.’ The colors are really beautiful. It matches everything so nicely.

And the floor? I picked the flooring out. I went to the store and I took one of the cabinet doors with me and I went back and forth. Finally, I had a conversation with Adam and I said, ‘This is what I think. What do you think?’ And he said, ‘I think that’ll be really nice.’

The prep that goes into the slab—these old slabs that require so much to get a floor to install. Adam was meticulous in putting up the backsplash too. I mean, it was very interesting to watch him work on that. I came in one day and he had a light setup back there and I could see it and go, ‘Why is it green on the backsplash?’ And he goes, ‘Oh, everything’s got to be leveled.’ And I just didn’t know that it took that much. Everything’s meticulous.

And the cabinets don’t have shims. We assemble all of our own cabinets right here in America so that they’re all solid wood. There’s nothing cheap about these cabinets. No, Arlington is the premier. It has this radius instead of just a flat and it has the beading that goes with the gold so much. So Arlington is like the premier selection of the line we like to use. Of course, we can use anything, but we don’t get callbacks until it’s custom work.

I’d like to add one more thing. Again, he was meticulous. He asked Pam if she wanted to put tiling up on the island face, and he even took the time to match the tile from the floor up to the island so it matches there. We have these waterfall details where this piece is cut out of that piece and this piece is cut out of that piece so that you don’t have a big block of black sitting over a big patch of white. That way the whole thing has flow. That’s called Waterfall; we specialize in that and it separates the men from the boys.

With modern substandard products and substandard installation, we see tile floors that pop up in the middle. We get the calls—people’s floors just came up under their feet because of expansion and contraction over 10 or 15 years. It’s a shame. If they’re installed correctly and everything is correct, then really you’re never going to have an issue with the floor, the backsplash, or the bathrooms. And that’s critical to us because we’re tired of buying product that just goes straight to the landfill. We’ve recommended these cabinets for 10 years and never had a callback from finish quality. No hardware issues, no warping issues. And that’s why we love them because we don’t have a team of guys on the road to drive around and fix callbacks.” or issues with previous jobs. Our policy is to finish a project right the first time and move on to the next transformation. It’s a goal we strive to hit 100% of the time, but no matter what, we are never leaving a site until everyone is happy.

That’s a great feature—it’s just beautiful.

Again, this is Dave Brown with db Home Improvements, serving from Port St. Lucie to Vero Beach. Thanks for watching the entire video. My phone number is 772-353-0140 and our website is www.dbhiproducts.com.

In this area of the home, we addressed the old, large hot water heater by switching to a tankless hot water heater system. We then installed a toilet and created direct outside access to the pool to prevent people from having to walk through the main house. We also transitioned the laundry area from an old side-by-side setup to a stackable washer and dryer. We didn’t have much space to work with, but Adam helped us make economic use of the laundry room to get exactly what the homeowners wanted: a functional pool-access bathroom made possible by the space saved with that tankless system.”