My name is Scott and I am the owner of All Pro Painting Co. I am rebutting the claim made by Leonard Salazar. In his statement he said "nothing" was done right. This is exactly what happened:
I was introduced to the Salazar's by a friend of mine. I was asked to keep the price point low for their friends. No problem.
They showed me the bathroom that they were looking to remodel. The texture was done poorly and extremely rough. They wanted that sanded smooth and retextured to a "light orange peel" finish. They wanted the bathroom sink, vanity, and mirror completely demolished and the wall behind repaired. It was quite extensive since there were massive holes behind the mirror. We had to mud and float the holes, then apply texture. Sanding the texture down was labor intensive. It took my partner and I an entire day of belt sanding just to remove. Once that was completed we applied a much more appealing texture followed with two coats of primer and two coats of high quality Sherwin Williams semi-gloss finish. We painted the ceiling, walls, door and trim.
Next was her shower. It was a deep red and she was talking about taking it out. I explained that I could save her money by applying a "pure white" epoxy over it for only $300. Once finished they were amazed and Cynthia was under the impression the bid included her tub, which it was not, but I did it for her anyway. I took photos and the job was amazing. They paid me in full.
A few weeks later I got a call from Leonard Salazar. He said they removed the hardware from the shower and installed smaller hardware and a red ring was showing. He also said they removed the toilet and noticed that we did not apply texture behind the toilet, even though it was flush against the wall. I replied by saying, "did you install a new toilet"? He said "yes". I then said why would you want texture in an area that nobody would ever see? I told him that I did in fact pull the toilet back for a skinny roller and applied a protective layer of paint there, but if texture was desired that is something that we should have probably discussed prior to writing the details of the contract.
As far as the red showing around the faucet handles: I told Cynthia that I would be willing to come down there for no charge and touch the areas up if she would be willing to pay for the material. A quart of epoxy cost me $42. She said "if you don't get down here and fix this I'll see your a-- in court"!! I tried to explain that if the handles were going to come off after we applied the epoxy that we should have taken them off prior to application. Leonard got on the phone and said, "a good painter would have taken them off". As painting contractors we remove temporary fixtures such as light plates and refridgerators, but permanent fixtures we do not remove such as ceiling fans, toilets and faucet handles.
The Salazars did in fact take me to court. First time ever in 20 years as a contractor and after successfully completing literally hundreds of commercial properties and homes without complaint. My original bid was at $2300, but discounted it to $1500 because they were friends of the family. I was shocked to see Cynthia was suing me for $4000! Cynthia not once mentioned the toilet or the shower handles. Now that I was in court she had a completely different story. Despite the fact that she already paid me, now all of a sudden her claim was that the epoxy was running all over the shower. Only problem with that story is epoxy has a two hour pot life and it hardens. I showed the pictures to the judge and he was impressed. Even the judge asked Cynthia why she was suing me for over double what I charged? She said the District Attorney told her to do that. The District Attorney happens to be a friend of mine and a member of our church and I know he would never tell anyone to do something so dishonest. Cynthia told the judge lies such as paying us to install the sink and vanity and paying me to epoxy the tub. I took it upon myself to go the extra mile for her. I epoxied the tub for no charge and she told the judge that the epoxy began to run after I had left. I fought the case with integrity and believed the judge saw through everything. Later I came to find that he denied her request for $4000, but did award her $750 for a new tub (which I did for free). I'm not sure maybe that judge didn't understand the pot life on two part epoxies, but I did explain it to him.
So, as far as Mr. Salazar saying nothing was done correctly, that is far from the truth. Mrs. Salazar did in fact say in court that the walls and ceiling were amazing. We were in court because of the red showing around the shower handles and it wasn't even mentioned. Should have I just bought the epoxy myself and touched up around the handles even though it wasn't part of the procedure? Probably. read more
