We hired this contractor to replace two boards on our deck and to then power wash, sand and stain the deck. Work was delayed for several weeks because of weather - I don't blame them for that. Work was eventually completed while we were away on vacation and we had our son pay them, which was our mistake. When we returned from vacation and inspected the work we found that two of the boards on the deck were damaged - it appeared to us that a prybar had been used to remove the boards that were to be replaced, damaging the adjoining boards. Also, a corner of one of the boards that had been replaced was not flush with the rest of the deck, creating a tripping hazard. We didn't even ask the contractor to replace the damaged boards - we only asked if there was some way to sand down the damage so people wouldn't get splinters when walking over the deck. The contractor refused to even come out and look at the damage and took the position that his people would never use a prybar to remove the boards. He said that he would send someone out to fix the one board that was sticking up, but to date that has not been done. Paid over $1500 for a pretty small deck, and we are definitely dissatisfied with the work and the customer service. The staining is just OK, but not worth what we paid. I recommend that you do not use this contractor under any circumstances, but if you do, I recommend that you do not pay them until you thoroughly inspect the finished work and are completely satisfied with it.
UPDATE/This is in response to the contractor's recent post:
It is accurate that the contractor has consistently denied using a crowbar to remove the damaged boards. I was very careful to write in my initial post that "it appeared to us" that a prybar had been used, because the damage to the boards was consistent with that. We have no idea how the boards were actually removed because we were not home when the removal occurred. What we do know is that the boards were not damaged before the contractor did the work and that they were damaged after the work was completed.
With regard to whether or not the contractor came out to look at the damage to the deck, all we can say is that we notified the contractor of the damage by email at 7:03 pm on 8/3 and the contractor replied by email at 10:15 pm on 8/3 that the damage was not their responsibility. If the contractor inspected the deck during that three hour interval, it is news to us, as we were home the whole time. The contractor may have looked at the deck at a later date, but never informed us that he had done so - the first that we knew about his alleged inspection of the deck was when we read his post. To be clear, the contractor has been consistent in saying that since his workers use a cats paw and not a crowbar, they couldn't have caused the damage to the deck.
With regard to the need to install more boards against the joist to fix the board sticking up (which is a different problem than the damage to the deck), the first time we were made aware of this need was when we read the contractor's post. Had we been aware of this at the beginning of the job, we certainly would have agreed to it. Why would we agree to pay $1500 and not pay an extra $90 so the job could be done right?
The contractor says that he wants to avoid any hard feelings, but he twice called my wife a liar in his post (and called her a pathetic liar in a separate email to her), which is an interesting way to try to avoid hard feelings. He says that his offer to fix the board sticking up still stands, but to date he has made no offer to us. Originally he indicated that he would send somebody over the fix the problem, and only now is he saying that more work needs to be done for an additional fee (and we don't know if the additional fee is $90 or some other amount, because no offer was ever communicated to us). The bottom line is that we now do have hard feelings, and we have no desire to have this contractor back on our property under any circumstances.
While we fully expect that the contractor will respond to this update, we will not respond any further, so please don't take the lack of any further response as any acquiescence by us to any of the contractor's allegations. read more