Masterworks In Wood

Was looking to get an older, weathered standard wooden entry door refurbished/refinished. There are not many options in our metro area of approx. 600-800k residents. Engaged John via e-mail and phone in early Oct. of 19'. After many fits and starts he gave me a quote late in that month and finally scheduled to do the finishing on it just before Thanksgiving. I was wary all along, and hindsight being 20/20, I should have taken my hesitancy based on my interactions with him and not proceeded. In short, he is quite brusk, off putting and a bit condescending in his general interpersonal manner. Additionally, if you check out his website, the profile photo he has shows him when he was at least, at a minimum, 10-20 years younger if not more which is another red flag-I was wondering who was this guy who came to assess the work effort-turns out it was him. https://masterworksinwood.com/about/The work was done and initially it appeared fine. He GREATLY encouraged me to give him a positive review on Yelp asap but I demurred. Of course, having dealt with a multitude of contractors over the decades at various homes I owned here and elsewhere I was in a complete wait and see mode-and within a matter of 3-4 weeks, my concerns were justified. I had taken before the work pics. I took immediate pics the day the work was completed pics. Then I took pics of the work that was holding only at about 60-70% of the initial work-clearly unacceptable. Again, in hindsight, I found it odd he did not take credit cards AND he had no sort of guarantee-again, limited options for this type of contractor in our market.When contacted via call, text and e-mail about getting his to do de rigeur rework that many contractors have to do ex post facto and is typically built in their hourly rate as a standard insurance cost for this very need, again, I found him to not be receptive. When I pressed him on this after a couple calls/texts starting around the holidays a week later, he became hostile in response, stating verbatim, "Leave the scheduling to me". Well, talk about the customer always being wrong! Pressed further another week later based on the increasing temperatures in mid Jan. that MATCHED the exact same temperatures as logged in the history of Weatherunderground.com in late Nov. when he did the work over a weekend (52F), he actually sent me a text stating "Are you out of your mind?". At this point, I patiently employed some mindfulness and waited 10 days. Nada. When I finally laid down the gauntlet and asked what was his endgame so I could proceed with my endgame as necessary, he had the gall to insult me further and chastised me for even thinking he had an obligation to perform any sort of rework. Thus, the camel came in contact with the straw that broke his back. Oh, and BTW, he further stated that if I wrote anything that would be critical of his work, he would sic his attorney on me-clearly he is not familiar with the First Amendment and our beloved concept of the freedom of speech. Have at it, John. My attorney would be more than happy to disembowel your internal Leprechaun.

The owner/operator's name is John Brannon and he's probably done some nice work, but his business practices leave much to be desired. Normal business practice for custom work is 50% down and 50% on delivery. He requires a 100% up-front and pushes hard for cash-only. If that sounds sketchy to you that's because it is.What's worse is that the piece we received from him (when we finally received something) wasn't what I'd call a masterwork. There were gaps in miters and other joints -- woodworking 101 -- and the cabinet itself wasn't finished. My mom had to hire someone to attach the doors and hardware.I'm not sure where it all went sideways with John. He's one of those guys that can get really angry really fast -- from 0 to 60 in a split second -- and I think one of the ways he deals with that is to avoid stressful situations. Which means he can go radio-silent for long periods.When he chooses to talk, he isn't a very clear communicator which makes everything worse.. misunderstandings are inevitable and I think he felt like we were trying to trick him. I don't know. I think things may have gone better if we'd had a guy with us.. like going to a mechanic or to buy a car. What I do know is that we contracted with him in January for a cabinet and a kitchen island. We received an unfinished cabinet in October, and in order for him to release it we had to pay him an additional $1500 and pay someone else for delivery. A cabinet quoted at $5000 ended up costing $8000... so buyer beware.

I was looking for someone to clean up my 24 year old kitchen and bathroom cabinets which we didn't want to change the look. Plenty of refinishers in Albuquerque and this is how they do it: remove doors and take them back to the shop, sand the boxes after you remove all the contents. Kind of a mess. Forget all this with Master Works. I finally found the Master I was looking for. John Brannon is truly a master in wood, finishes and preservation. It was truly a pleasure seeing John work and when he left, his masterpiece reminds me of the care he took with our project. He will be adding several of our friends as customers.

we ordered a door from John. He is passionate and excellent at what he does. We were not sure what we wanted when he arrived but he guided us through and together we created a door and sidelights that we absolutely love. As with all art it took a bit longer than expected but all was explained by John. In the end the door is fantastic quality and the build quality is top notch. Any issues we had were addressed promptly as well and the door is perfect.

Thank you, thank you, John Brannon, Masterworks in Wood, for the gift of your superb artistry and incomparable workmanship. As five neighbors have now told us, we have THE MOST BEAUTIFUL front door in the entire neighborhood, (and we humbly concur!). It is truly stunning. The impeccable workmanship, stunning and timeless design, and top grade materials have resulted in an entry door that will outlast our home itself and be as relevant and beautiful.Our entire experience with John has been quite refreshing. All too frequently on past occasions when one is "interviewing" potential contractors for home renovations/improvements, the results are not positive to downright disappointing, with lack of communication unnecessarily adding to frustration. John kept us apprised at all times. When the project was completed, our premises were as clean as when he arrived. It is very satisfying to know what a quality end product we now have and, further, that John does not make any comprises in skill or materials. Plainly put, John "knows his stuff." As a result of our total satisfaction with Masterworks in Wood, we will have additional projects for John in the future. Without reservation we shall most highly recommend him to friends, neighbors, and associates.In closing, however, we would like to say how extremely sad and unfortunate it is, how morally reprehensible, that there exist individuals in this world who, for reasons perhaps initially not transparent, would seek to disparage another. Having read other reviews prior to entering ours in this forum, we were totally overcome and appalled. Having dealt with John over the past months we further find these comments rather baseless. We surmise, however, something more is at issue. We all have heard of the customer who eats his high priced, well aged, marbled and juicy steak and afterwards complains to the waiter. Hmmm . . .As we said before, "Thank you, thank you, John Brannon, Masterworks in Wood, for the gift of your superb artistry and incomparable workmanship.

We trusted Masterworks in Wood to create a replica of our circa 1924 front door after looking around town. His meticulous craftsmanship shows from the street and up close. Thanks John.