Hired this company to restore both my garage and driveway, fix cracks on my chimney, and seal my…read morepatio. In short, the job started well but soon deteriorated into skimping on both material and labor. The end result was nothing (with the exception of the garage floor) was finished professionally.
I was hopeful because they very promptly responded to my Yelp request and came out to assess the different repair items. Had asked for an estimate for driveway replacement, they responded that it was okay enough to seal it and that sealing would last at least 10 years before cracking - they would be able to combine this as well as all the other repair items (garage, chimney, patio) for $6500. I went with that offer knowing well that the amount typically balloons over the course of the job as contractors find issues that need immediate attention. Little did I know they would take advantage of "finding issues."
On day one, during demolition, they told me the existing garage walls were plaster and that the bottom section, which was bowing, would need to be redone - they floated an additional $2800 for just that section. The next day, before anything was signed, they came back and said that fixing only the bottom section would leave the top part unsupported and it would eventually crack. They recommended replacing all the walls with drywall instead, along with resurfacing the concrete, replacing wooden beams if needed, and repainting. This became the second contract - $11,800, replacing the original $2800 proposal, with wording specifying drywall would be installed "where necessary." I paid this in full upon completion, before any of the issues below became apparent.
At this price point, the baseline expectation was professional-grade work - not shortcuts, and not corners cut to save time.
After they installed the drywall and painted, parts of the paint started cracking. They told me it was because those sections were actually still plaster, and they swore they "didn't know." To prove it, they knocked on the wall and showed me how you could hear the difference.
This didn't add up. They had shown me the walls were all plaster on day one, during demolition. It doesn't make sense that only some sections would be plaster while the rest were properly replaced under the $11,800 contract. And if the plaster was that easy to identify by sound, they would have known well before they ever mudded and painted over it - not to mention that cutting into the wall would have exposed the mesh and plaster underneath.
In short: they hadn't actually drywalled the full space as the $11,800 contract called for - and their proposed fix was to charge me another $6000 to do the work already covered by that contract. In hindsight, "where necessary" gave them room to decide unilaterally how much of the space actually needed it, without me being able to verify anything once it was painted over.
As for the wooden beams included in that $11,800 scope: none were ever replaced, and I don't recall them purchasing any wood for that purpose.
Obviously, I said no to paying another $6000 for work that I had already thought was done. Had them just fix the cracks (the paint and mud still cracked after) and just cut my losses.
Other issues:
- Driveway sealing: parts cracked within days; they resealed once, and cracks reappeared again weeks later
- Driveway holes: poured crack filler instead of grinding and properly patching them
- Mud/paint application: applied in a single thick layer instead of several thin coats, causing uneven drying and cracking (per an independent handyman's inspection)
- Driveway sealing (technique): same issue - applied as one thick coat rather than the recommended thin, built-up layers
- Garage wall painting: rushed and inconsistent - several areas have thin coverage or missing paint entirely
- Flooring scope: "epoxy resin flooring" ended up being "paint with resin" instead - a downgrade from what was discussed, though the floor itself came out reasonably well
- Chimney cracks: covered over rather than filled and repointed
- Property respect: workers entered my house without asking to use my stepstool for painting. It was only later, when I came to check in, that they asked me for a ladder - which made their earlier decision to grab my stepstool without permission even stranger. Both stepstool and ladder were left covered in paint and concrete. They also broke both spigot sprinkler head attachments and left dried concrete on my brand new spigot itself.
- Garage door: left with dried mud drips despite being asked directly to clean it up
Looking back, the pattern is clear: thick single coats on walls and driveway, corners cut on the chimney, cleanup consistently skipped. Drywall alone for a garage this size should run under $1,000 - not $11,800. Their own quote to finish it was just $6,000. Total paid: $18,300.
2 stars, not 1. The only reason it's not lower is that the garage is technically better than before I started.
