My basement flooded so I called Color & Arches using the HomeAdvisor site which lists this business as based in Lynnewood, WA and has a photo of Shawn Moynihan on the site. It also stated it was able to do the work I needed to include mounting my flat screen TV and some other handyman type jobs I needed done. My walls had just been painted, the drywall and insulation was in place and I had just had the basement floor sealed with a marble finish for $4300. All Shawn had to do was put in the baseboards and hang the doors. I was leaving for a week so I gave him a key since Color & Arches is licensed, bonded and insured. When I returned 10 days later, I was handed a bill for $2132 and the work was only partially done. He had also hired his son to move furniture (very little since I hadn't moved in completely) for 5 hours and also his wife for 7 hours. He claimed to have worked 25 hours but had installed less than 45 linear feet of baseboard. It just got worse from there. I had invested too much time to fire him so asked him to pick up the pace. He seemed to work best when I wasn't at home and would charge me for times when he would forget something and go to the hardware store to buy it. Eventually, I told him I no longer needed him to build a closet and he was angry. He plastered two small holes in a bedroom that had been used to mount a TV but used so much plaster that the entire wall now needs to be repainted. He was not asked to do any work in that room at all. He didn't cover the vent when he drywalled so I must now have my vents cleaned and my furnace serviced. He cut the baseboards on the basement floor and left a 21 inch gash on my newly stained and sealed floor. The baseboards are poorly jointed and painted and must be removed and redone. They are not sanded. The putty job is messy and amateurish. I gave him the half gallon of A-100 paint that the painters had used the month before to paint the walls of the small room he was working on (the room is only 10'x18'). He then bought an interior paint that was the same color but a different type and it didn't match. He proceeded to paint large areas of the room and hallway with it and then told me that he would paint the entire basement for a mere $40 an hour. There was caulk all over my floor and toxic caulk left on the floor that I had to clean up before my dog could get to it. He drilled holes in my living room wall to mount the TV and missed the studs. He misread the directions on the wall mount and couldn't mount it so he had to return the mount. Now, I have a dozen holes in my newly painted living room wall and an unmounted TV. And then things got shady... He had me pay him through Paypal. He asked me to pay him through "friends and family" to avoid the fee. I don't use Paypal so I didn't realize that meant that I PAY A FEE! He then told me that he wanted to do me a favor by avoiding a paper trail. I explained that I had no problem with a paper trail and I needed receipts for my taxes. He assured me that he was indeed bonded, licensed and insured but couldn't produce paperwork but referred me back to HomeAdvisor, Angie's List and Color & Arches. He then billed me for another 23 hours (we are now at 72 hours and we still aren't done! And he's hired his wife and another friend yet again and billed me for their work!) and I fired him. I research the address in Lynnewood to discover that it's his wife's home address. I called Vernon Lovelace, owner of Color&Arches, who stated that he only has an Angie's List account: he doesn't have a HomeAdvisor account. He had no idea why Shawn would be doing this! He is willing to come to my home, see the work and make things right! That's the last I heard from Vernon Lovelace. I did discover that Shawn Moynihan has never been a licensed contractor in Washington State: EVER. I called in to Washington State Department of Labor and Industry and reported it. I also had my locks changed. I am out thousands of dollars. I am out money I paid to Color & Arches (or Shawn Moynihan) and I still have to have my baseboards removed and reinstalled, my vents cleaned, my furnace serviced as well as have my entire basement painted and my floor repaired. I am also out $300 for replacing my locks. Color & Arches is licensed, bonded and insured but I haven't seen a dime and HomeAdvisor supposedly stands behind their contractors but I haven't seen that either (this is a also a "Don't use HomeAdvisor" review). I wouldn't hire this company. They hire unlicensed contractors that are working illegally on the side and they are turning a blind eye to it. They are not standing behind their company's name or reputation. There is something very disreputable going on here. And the whole time Shawn was in my home, I had to listen to him go on and on about what a good Christian he was!! Unbelievable! read more
