I hired Eagle Pro Painting to paint the exterior of my house back on 11/10/2016. I told Tim Markokaj (the owner) I was going to put my house up for sale right after Christmas and he told me he would be able to finish painting the house by then as it was supposed to only take 3 or 4 days. After agreeing to the contract terms and paying Tim a deposit of $2190 on 11/12, I gave Tim my garage door opener so he could put his equipment there. I had also met a couple of his crew on their first day and bought them drinks and sandwiches. I then had to go away on a trip. While I was gone, Tim had called me and told me that the painting was done and he wanted to be paid the remaining balance. When I came back to my home on 12/6, I found out the paint job on the back and the side of the house were not painted satisfactorily at all, and the deck wasn't painted also. Also all the window screens had been removed by Tim or his paint crew and placed in the garage and were not put back. I hadn't given it much thought until it was getting close to my home listing. More to be discussed on this below. I also saw a lot of tape residue stuck on the window glass. I called Tim that day and told him about all these things. He came out the next day and said he didn't see any problems with the paint job. He said I can call another painter to get their opinion if I didn't agree with him.
So I did call another painter, and he said the paint job was a poor one. Tim came out again on 12/10 and this time I pointed out the specific areas that the other painter told me were not done right, if at all. This time, he agreed that some minor touch ups were needed. I told him I needed to have the touchups done, the window screens put back on, and the tape residue removed as soon as possible. He agreed to do these things before I put my house up for sale. I gave him another $800 that day. After he left that day, I realized I wasn't able to open a lot of the windows in the house. They had been painted shut. I called Tim to fix that problem and clean off the tape residue. He came out and cut through the part where the paint glued the window shut but he did not clean off the tape residue. Soon I went away on vacation. But before I left, I called Tim on 12/22 to put the screens back on the windows and also clean off the tape residue that was on the exterior of the window glass. He said Ok he would do it. When I came back from my trip about 3 weeks later in January, he still hadn't done it.
I couldn't wait for him any longer as there was already an offer on my house. So I called a company that specialises in window screens repairs/replacement and they came out here on 1/26 to scrape off the tape residue and also put the screens back in the window frames. First of all, they told me it was obvious that the painter had not used painter's tape, otherwise there would not be all this residue stuck on the glass. Secondly they were not able to put back a lot of the screens as they said it was only possible to remove and put them back from the inside. So I said that's impossible. I never let Tim or his crew inside the house. So I called Tim and told him the closing date of my house was the next day (1/31) and I needed him to come out here to put back the window screens AND remove the equipment and trash he had left in my garage AND to return my garage door opener. He had told me that he was in Portland, Oregon and probably wouldn't be able to come back until very late that day. I then told him I was going to pay him or his guys $150 if they came to my house before 5pm to finish things up and return the door opener. 4 hours later he texted me and said he was at my house in Woodinville, Washington, which is a good 200 miles away from Portland. Who knows, maybe he was just sight seeing in Portland and was ready to leave in an instant. Go figure!!
He proceeded to put back my screens, quite a few of which were not able to be put back from the outside. So I took them inside and put them back myself. At the end, I gave him $160 because the ATM didn't give out $10 bills. In our conversation, I told him that an unfinished paint job probably somewhat affected the price my house sold for. He disagreed and actually said that the quality of a paint job had no effect on the value of a house. He actually said that. Then why would anyone paint their house before they sell it? Just so they could flush a few grand down the drain? But we left it at that.
I was still bothered by the window screen issue. How were they removed if he said his guys never came inside the house? A few days later, I called Tim and asked whether his guys had somehow accessed the inside of my house while I was gone, and he said no. I asked him how the window screens (that were only able to be removed from the inside) ended up in the garage. He said he had no idea. He then became agitated and even started swearing over the phone. I just wanted to know the truth. This guy is very dishonest and crooked. read more
