We contracted with Mason on 2/4/16 to perform the following work: interior trim installation,…read morestucco and underpinning, sheetrock, texture, interior and exterior painting along with staining. We agreed to pay Mason in installments with a 10% withholding on each, 1/3rd upfront 1/3rd at about the halfway mark and then 1/3rd upon completion. This was a HUGE mistake; we should not have agreed to pay him except upon 100% completion of the work.
It's now 3/2/16, the original time frame was 2 weeks. Nothing and I mean nothing is complete or repaired and Mason has gone silent after taking our money.
The stucco work had to be redone because their initial coating was a sand finish - the existing work was a smooth finish. Where they repaired stucco cracks, they didn't use fiberglass mesh (as is necessary for a proper stucco crack repair) so the very next day, the crack reappeared. The stucco work was the first project, it is only partially completed. As with every trade below including this one, day after day I was told "they're coming back tomorrow" and then the next morning I'd find out otherwise.
The stucco guy also did some underpinning and the work was terrible, really bad and the wrong color. Like the stucco, this underpinning work remains incomplete and unrepaired.
The exterior painting was not thorough and the painter had to come back several times. Two coats of paint were not applied and not all of the areas which were to be painted were painted. The work remains unfinished.
The sheetrock "crew" was a single person named David. The sheetrock thickness he used is thinner than what is in our house. The sheetrock work was not 100% complete and remains unresolved.
The 1st texture crew for the sheetrock did it wrong so Mason (promptly I will admit) got a 2nd crew out to fix the former's work, and they did however, they were also supposed to a plethora of other work. Though I was assured daily that the he'd be back out "tomorrow" to finish the work, just like the stucco, underpinning and sheetrock, he never came back but I was assured daily that he would.
The interior painting was also a disaster. The work started: no prep work was performed, e.g. no caulking repairs, not protecting of furniture, fixtures, countertops, etc., no wiping down of the walls to remove dust and dirt prior to painting, no sanding - nothing. They didn't even wrap our cream-white limestone columns or the hearth or the cabinets - nothing. The 2nd day they were on the job Mason called us to say that the custom built dressers in our master bedroom closets were painted white instead of being stained. He explained that this was acceptable because they were made from pine and that pine doesn't stain well. Don't you think we should have been advised of this before they decided to paint them white or when he bid the job?
About halfway through the interior painting and for a nominal fee, Mason offered to paint some areas that were not part of the original agreement. This was offered "to make things right" and to ensure that no details were left untouched and that by doing the "entire house" (interior), "nothing would be left untouched or unresolved". A couple of days before the painters finished I pointed out that his painters hadn't painted everything. They didn't paint several ceilings, none of the 7 bathrooms including the master bathroom, the entire mudroom, the guest suite, all of the walls in the bedrooms, the window above the fireplace, and so on. They didn't do the beams properly (where the ceiling comes in contact with the cedar beams). They stain the porch ceiling properly because they never finished it! Further, not only did the painters fail to do even 50% of the work covered by our original agreement, they failed to do even 1 of the items covered by the revised agreement.
In light of all of this, Mason still wanted payment and like a fool I gave it to him under the precondition that he'd get EVERYTHING resolved "next week". This was on 2/27/16. The next day I had a chance to further inspect their work, it was terrible, e.g. no straight lines on the ceilings and walls, only 1 coat of paint in multiple areas, overspray on our granite, on our cabinets, no caulking repairs - nothing. Mason canceled his check to the painter yet he didn't cancel mine - he cashed it and 4 days later he has not returned to our home - even after promising to do so as recent as this morning.
I recognize that this accounting is in stark contrast to the other posts about this company. I have written agreements, email correspondence, texts, hundreds of pictures and recorded conversations to substantiate my claims. Perhaps people don't post these types of experiences because they're emotionally devastated and just want to move on, are lacking of time, are afraid of retribution or are simply too embarrassed to do so.
Based on my experience, you should stay as far away from this company as you can. We are out $13,398.50.
