- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Movies |
- All
Austin Granite Direct
Categories: Home Services Building Supplies Home Services Contractors Building Supplies, Contractors [Edit]
5214 Burleson RdSte 113
Austin, TX 78744
Neighborhood: Southeast Austin
(512) 825-5625
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
13 reviews for Austin Granite Direct
13 reviews in English
-
Review from Lisa I.
Cedar Park, TX
4/30/2012 2 photos
After getting quotes from the big box stores, I decided to search yelp and see what companies around had the best reviews and experiences.
Jose with AGD gave me the best price without having to sacrifice beveled edges, and the chef size jumbo large stainless kitchen sink. ;-)
We were so pleased with the kitchen quote, we decided to redo all of our bathrooms counter tops in granite.
Inspecting the granite slabs ahead of time, gave us the opportunity to pick out an amazing new color for our bathrooms.
Jose and his staff were very professional and helpful throughout the whole process. -
Review from eddie m.
Austin, TX
9/29/2011 3 photos
My wife and I recently had every bit of our floors redone with new carpet, wood, and tile in various places and dealt with various crews of dudes in the house for a few weeks. Then, we did our counters. So I'm well experienced now with how dirty and unreliable crews can be. I wasted lots of time waiting around for guys to not show up that day. What, like my time as a prof at UT is less important than theirs? rubbish.
But AGD and Jose and all their crews are part of a 5 star outfit that takes it very seriously to be to the minute on time, impeccably clean, and at the end of the day, the best granite installers in town. Jose gave us the best of our 4 quotes on price, and the job was done beautifully and on time. Here's an offer, I'm in north central austin, and you can yelp me and I'll show you the handiwork of black pearl granite and marble backsplash myself if you're into the counter shopping phase of life. The counter and backsplash are impressive, to say the least.
Trust all these 5 star reviews. Period. -
Review from Kimberly K.
Austin, TX
1/24/2008
Before Jose Berbel shows up at a jobsite, I always try to guess what his estimate will be for a new granite countertop, undermount sink, and travertine backsplash. EVERY time, I am wrong.
Before we hired AGD, Jose gave me 4 referrals so I called all of them. They all thought he did a bang-up job...of course, that is why he uses them as referrals, right? Two of the 4 were within 15 minutes of my house, so I randomly chose one to visit.
Standing in a total stranger's kitchen and surveying Jose's work, I completely lost the seams. A good granite job can be judged on several merits, but one of the easiest to critique is how well the crew knits together the slab after they have cut it for the layout. I lost the seams! Rare.
Well, the way this woman was going on and on about Jose and his glorious crew, I thought that something else besides money had to have been exchanged... for her to sing his praises... like this... if you know what I mean. "Bet she has his private cell number," I think... wryly.
He and his crew installed our countertop and island with 3 cm Giallo San Francisco, full bullnose edge, free undermount sink in less than 10 days from the day I first called. Since then, I have recommended him to 4 clients and friends and he has, every time, been well below what we thought he would estimate for the job.
It is refreshing to be so, so wrong about his estimates, especially when it adds up to potentially thousands of dollars of savings for myself and my friends. I mean, I LOVE this sweet guy and his deliberate, thoughtful way of speaking. I had yet another rendez vous with him yesterday at a project where he was measuring templates for the granite.
(I have his private cell number...and I am not shy about letting you know that. 633-7271. Jose Berbel. I won't get jealous because I hope he is in business a long, long time.)
Nothing else besides money was exchanged in our deal. Really.Listed in: Building and Architecture, Bringing SEXY back
-
Review from J D.
Georgetown, TX
10/20/2008
I have lauded these guys on some talk threads in the past, but it's high time I finally wrote a review.
I am convinced that you WILL NOT find a better value for granite or Silestone material/installation in Austin - you just won't.
They are fast, they are courteous, they are clean, their work is some of the best I've ever seen, and their prices are absurd for this level of professionalism.
I still go out and get other bids becuse it's the "responsible" way to do my job, but Jose gets all of our work because he's far and away the best value for our money. I seriously can't remember the last time I used any other contractor for this type of work.
I just had Jose bid another job for me last week; price came in 40% below the other bids I got for the job. Given the superior QUALITY of work his guys do, and the timely and courteous way in which they get things done, care to guess who is getting the contract? It really is a no-brainer.
Jose spends a fair bit of time away from Austin, so sometimes it may take a day or two to get in touch with him, but he's a super-easy guy to deal with.
These guys rock (no pun intended). -
Review from Chip A.
Austin, TX
2/3/2009
The first major renovation we've done to our house was the kitchen countertops, which we just had completed by Austin Granite Direct. After looking at various local companies as well as Home Depot and Lowes, the best deal and best service was definitely AGD.
Jose came out within 48 hours of our initial call for a free estimate, which was MUCH lower than his competitors. We then scheduled a day to meet him at the slab yard, picked out our granite, came back for final measurements, and three days later we had new countertops.
We also had AGD put in a travertine backsplash, which was installed the following day. Every step of the entire process went smoothly, and Jose was always there to answer any questions we had. His crew was very professional and the install was immaculate. If you are looking for new countertops, make sure that Austin Granite Direct is on your list of companies to get quotes from. Great people, outstanding service and very reasonable prices. -
Review from vidor h.
Austin, TX
7/30/2008
After dealing with 2 big box services -estimators, bids with outsourced dipshits, measurer peeps and constant ass-riding, I gave up and called Austin Granite Direct.
They did a fantastic job, i mean PERFECT- at 1/4 the cost of the Depot estimate, and 3 weeks sooner.
The guys showed up, knocked out my old shiz, and got to cranking out my new Silestone with sink. Started about 10AM and totally done (with cleanup) by 1PM. Jose and Trent are professional and kept me posted on each step of the process. -
Review from David B.
Lago Vista, TX
6/25/2011
Jose and his staff are truly professional. They exactly what they say they are going to do and they do it WHEN they say they will do it. Best job by a contractor I have ever had in my house.
-
Review from Susie R.
Austin, TX
1/7/2010
Aside from being very friendly to deal with, Trent was punctual in returning my emails and getting me a quote for a Silestone counter. Prices seemed on par with Home Depot, but their turnaround time was far faster - about 10 days from measurement to installation (vs. a six week wait from Home Depot).
Although there was a mistake made in the fabrication that wasn't caught until installation time, we worked out a compromise and it all turned out beautifully. We especially appreciated Pedro's patience and perseverance during installation. Our house is very old and none of the walls are square, so he had to do a lot of problem-solving on the spot. -
Review from j z.
Austin, TX
1/9/2011 3 photos
Our entire experience with Austin Granite Direct could not have been better! Jose is just so nice and really knows what he is doing. Everything went smoothly and exactly as he said it would. The installers showed up on time everyday, and were great about not leaving a big mess. The only minor issue we had was that we had a very dark granite and the seam, or joint, was very light in color and kind of stood out. We spoke to Jose about this, and he could not have been nicer about the whole thing, and the next day they came out and darkened the line and now you can't even see it! They were just really great to work with all around. Most importantly, our granite and tile back splash look beautiful! We will be calling them again to do our bath rooms!
-
Review from Jim C.
Austin, TX
7/4/2009 8 photos
The Yelp reviews for this place seemed to good to be true... I mean, 1/4 the price of Home Depot? Invisible seams? And except for Kimberly K., the reviewers didn't have many reviews... were they shills, or relatives of the proprietor? I don't think you can blame me for being suspicious, especially now that it looks like they are a Yelp sponsor.
So the answer to the are they perfect question is... no. But, they ARE great. I'm going to focus on the negatives to balance out the other glowing reviews, but I was very happy with their work and will use them again when doing the counters in my bathrooms.
I called one other independent place for an estimate before I called Austin Granite Direct. Their estimate came in around the same as Jose's. However, Jose was much better during the visit and after. He talked me through the whole process, asked questions, and explained everything really well. As an example, he said a lot of people replaced their backsplashes (I had to ask what those were) at the same time, but it wasn't necessary, they only broke tile in about 1/30 jobs, and the tiles were easy to replace if they were still in production. He did say some customers called them back to do the backsplashes afterwards and that was harder to do. (I ended up replacing my tile backsplashes with polished marble because my "decorator" said the white tile would look oldfashioned next to the granite counters). When he sent the estimate, he sent three different ones as an example of the costs for different levels of granite.
The counter installation went perfectly... it took two days (necessary for undermount sink to dry), started and ended on time, and the results looked great. The backsplashes did not go as well - there was a delay getting the marble (Jose let me know ahead of time and asked if I wanted to reschedule the counter install but I said no), it took a whole weekend, and they ran out of material so they had to order more, so the backsplashes weren't completely done until almost a week after the counters were done, which was ugly but not inconvenient. (The material shortage may have been partly my fault, I made them rip out lots of the little 2"x2" squares because the corners looked broken off when they cut it, but it's not really noticeable after they've been grouted).
So, to summarize the negative things:
- their pricing is average or slightly higher than other independents, not 1/4 or 40% that of other places (Jose said this himself when he came to do the estimates, he must have had some disappointed Yelp readers).
- their seams are not necessarily invisible... unless you get a Level 1 granite or solid black, that's impossible, the patterns won't match up. It's clear they take care to try to match things up, they did a nice job of trying to continue some red streaks across a seam boundary, but you do see a discontinuity in patterned granite. They did do a good job of minimizing seams - I only had one, which was necessary because the counter ran longer than a standard slab size.
- I was also initially unhappy about their cleanup after they put in the backsplashes... although everything looked clean when I wiped my hand across the counters it came up dusty. It turns out though that marble dust is just hard to clean, it took me four tries to get the counters clean myself. Their cleanup after the counter installation and the fireplace surround installation was very good.
All in all, they didn't live up to some of the unrealistic hype I saw in some of the other reviews, but they did a really good job, and they had a happy crew, so I recommend them highly.
Things I learned from this experience:
- The reason granite installers include sinks but not faucets in their estimates is that there are only so many sink variations, but a zillion types of faucets. I was initially surprised people didn't include (what I thought was a) $20 faucet until I went and looked at the variety (and prices!). It's worthwhile spending time looking for the perfect faucet, I found a pulldown faucet whose arch and single lever echoed the neck and wings of the swan in the stained glass above my fireplace.
- If you install marble or travertine backsplashes you may end up having to replace a lot of electrical stuff. I ended up having to replace 4 sockets, 1 GFCI, 3 switches, and two motion detectors (and the wallplates for all of these) because they were pure white and stood out against the new polished marble. Also, marble (and probably travertine) is thicker than tile, so you'll probably need longer screws than come with the new wallplates (even the travertine wallplates).
- You may end up replacing your cooktop as well... I wasn't going to replace any appliances just because my sink went from white porcelain to stainless steel, but I had a plain white cooktop with burners that just looked bad against the new granite, so I had to replace it with one of those black smoothtop ones.
Good luck with your remodeling job! -
Review from Vivek A.
Austin, TX
4/20/2010
Our experience with Austin Granite Direct was pleasant from start to finish. Jose was extremely professional in his communications, and very forthright - he was very clear on what he could do, making sure he did not over-promise on any aspect of the job. He guided us through the process and ensured that we knew what to expect and when. His demolition/installation crews were also professional and did their best to minimize dust.
We did run into one issue with the granite having natural discoloration that we did not expect - Jose worked with us to replace the granite pieces even though he was not obligated to do so per his contract.
On pricing, I think Austin Granite Direct is very competitive with the other folks providing this service - we had quotes from 3 different suppliers and AGD was close but was not the cheapest. I am extremely price conscious in general, and I must say that Jose's professionalism, sincerity and knowledge won him my business.
All in all, I would highly recommend Austin Granite Direct to anybody looking to do granite countertops and kitchen backsplashes. -
Review from Andrew C.
Houston, TX
9/2/2009
Trent was my initial contact with AGD, what a terrific salesman. Juan & his crew come over on Monday Aug 31 & installed the granite. At the end, a perfect job & no mess. Congratulations to AGD for understanding what a homeowner wants.... honest salespeople, good pricing, meet the install date & exceed the customers expectations all around!! ATC.
-
Review from Pug L.
Austin, TX
9/27/2010
Jose at Austin Granite is great. I called him the NIGHT BEFORE I needed a project done, thinking it was a long shot. Not only did he get 2 professionals out the very next morning, but he came by himself to check on things. The result? Our kitchen looks amazing. These guys know what they're doing, are reasonably priced, and have great ideas. They went above and beyond for me, and I'll use them again next time I need tile or granite work done.
