Paid top dollar for a poor-quality job with nothing but defects and problems…read more
If you want to work with a charlatan who lies constantly and cuts corners to do the job, then this is your guy. The job will not be done by the codes and the steps that you specify, rather by the way that is to his benefit, while you're paying top dollar for the job.
For the stucco job, the pre-existing wood planks had to be removed before the weather resistance barrier was placed and stucco coatings done. Instead, he just put the weather resistance barrier right over the wood planks and followed through with the rest of steps. Of course, he saved lots of time and money at my expense with a job not done to the code. Now I always must worry about with wood rots and other problems that may surface, none of which he will be responsible for. As he had not removed the wood planks, the applied stucco coats raised the wall thickness over the window framing, and the front door frames. I had pay extra money so the door wood frame would be raised to compensate for the stucco thickness. Now the window framing for all windows looks like shit, but I let this go as I was thinking to replace the windows. I still don't know how much more it will cost me to replace the windows till I get the windows replaced.
He did about 380 sq.foot of pavers for $11,200. That is $29.5 per sq.foot, a hefty top dollar price for the job. What I got was a piece of shit paver job that just after one year from installation looks like something that was done over 15 years ago. Putting edge restrainers before the paver installation is a standard part of the job to prevent the pavers from moving over time, which I learned of only after searching online. He had not installed any edge restrainers until I asked him to do it. Of course, by then it was already too late as the pavers were already placed in, so he did a shitty patch-up work that basically amounted to covering only some sections of the pavers' perimeter by restrainers. The pavers are sunk-in in some sections and raised up in other areas. That is because he never used the bedding sand that needs to be applied 1 inch thick before the pavers are placed in. Now he lies to me that he had used the bedding sand. He gives me excuses that the ground moves and so the pavers have shifted. I guess all this must have happened in only one year time since the job completion date, according to him. Meanwhile, the house right across me on other side of street had his pavers done about 4 years ago, and they look perfectly flat just as do a few other houses in the neighborhood. I asked him to use polymeric sand to fill in the gaps, which is a very common way of doing the job, instead he gave me bunch of bullshit and used regular sand to fill in the gaps. Of course it saved him money on the material, never mind that I had paid more than a fair price for a good quality, professional looking job. Now, all the gaps between the pavers look shitty, unfilled, nonuniform and esthetically look like a 20-year-old job. I asked him to come over and fix it, he told me this is not in his contract.
So, stay away from this charlatan if you want to get a professional looking, quality job. You won't save any money but gain a lot of troubles.
He claims he never cuts corners and is always there if you ever have a problem with the job, far from the reality.