Rich came highly recommended from a friend, so I didn't even bother looking at his reviews. He came for an estimate, but never sent his quote in. I assumed he was busy over the holidays, so I waited a month and then checked back with him. I got a rude response that he "sent it a long time ago". I should have paid more attention to his tone, but again, I was going on a personal recommendation. We hired him for a $2,000 priming-painting-staining job of our high end cabinets (Brookstone), that were in near perfect condition, but of a very unfortunate 1980's stain of wood.
The job started off great. I was very impressed with the "clean room" of sorts (think Dexter) his crew constructed in our garage--hence, the second star. They got most of the work done in three days, and I even commented to my husband that it was the best experience we've had with a Denver contractor so far.
...and then it fell apart. A big mess was left in the kitchen for several days that I eventually had to clean up myself. Communication dropped off. They guys didn't show up to finish the work on two different occasions when we were expecting them. There are hairs painted into several of the cabinets. There are small globs of paint all over the place on some cabinet doors, while others have none. It really doesn't look good.
The worst part was that I needed the cabinet details stained with a brown glaze to match the large island I bought for the kitchen, and that was never done. I had a picture from my interior designer, and I specifically recall discussing color options when he came for the quote. Then suddenly he pretended he had no idea what I was talking about (until I sent him a copy of his own contract that had the glaze noted), and then claimed he never saw a picture. I find it suspicious that someone would bid on a job and include the line item of the glaze without knowing what his customer wanted (translation: he absolutely saw the picture). He refused to finish the job, and tried charging me for the full amount, minus a very small sum that is supposedly all it would cost me to have someone else complete his unfinished work. Thankfully, he did provide me with a detailed contract that included the glaze, and stated that the final balance wouldn't be due until the project was complete. His own contract will save me if he were to try to take me to collections. So I was left with a mess and a sloppy partially-completed job. And now I the need to find someone to fix his mistakes and complete the glaze...and no one likes fixing other peoples' messes, especially in a market like this where work is abundant. It definitely wasn't worth the 50% I paid in good faith. I wish I'd never met Rich. Keep looking! read more