We had a small mold issue on our ceiling and hired Avi to replace the affected drywall and baseboard trim. His quote was much lower than others, so we decided to go with him--huge mistake. He agreed to the following:
1. We'd only need to supply the paint, and he would provide all other materials.
2. He would handle mold prevention.
3. He would use a HEPA vacuum (due to mold).
I've dealt with contractors who make promises but later deny them, so I confirmed these points multiple times with Avi.
Before work began, we cleared out most of the room, leaving only heavy items like a treadmill, exercise machine, table, monitor, TV, TV console, a big carton of books, etc. When Avi and his assistant arrived, they moved everything to one corner and attempted to cover it with a plastic sheet that was too small. They laid a dirty rag on the carpet and started working. Avi asked my husband to pick up the paint from Home Depot, but while he was there, Avi kept adding items to the list: trim, nails, a paint handle, silicone caulk, etc. We ended up spending over $100 on additional materials beyond the paint.
They replaced part of the drywall and the trim, but the drywall sealant was too wet to paint, so Avi said they'd return another day to finish. The ceiling was visibly crooked, and when my husband asked if it would be leveled, Avi brushed it off, saying once he was finished, it would only be noticeable if someone looked really hard (big lol). The trim work was shoddy, with visible nails and large gaps at the seams. This after Avi said they had completed the work there. When I pointed this out, Avi casually said he'd fix it next time.
When they were packing up, my husband calmly asked Avi to confirm that he'd cover the extra material costs. Avi suddenly became angry, shouting about us "busting him over $20." My husband reminded him it was over $100 and that he'd already sent the receipt. Avi refused to believe the trim could have cost that much and stormed out to his truck. My husband tried to calm him down and said we'd cover the materials, and asked him to finish the job properly. The assistant did a great job of cleaning up after them. He basically took the rag that covered the carpet, dusted it off on the carpet and left my carpet covered in debris. Since we had the drywall replaced due to mold, I would have expected better precautions to cover everything properly but no precautions were taken and no mold prevention was done.
The next day, they returned to continue the work. I had no idea how much white dust the sanding would produce, but Avi should have known and covered everything better. I checked in during the work and asked if he could make the ceiling look even, as it was concave in some areas and convex in others. He said this was the best he could do.
A few hours later, his assistant informed me that the job was done, and Avi was outside on the phone, asking me to pay the remaining balance via Zelle. At this time, I went to inspect the room. The ceiling patch was so horrendously uneven - like someone had smeared the ceiling with mud and painted over it; it didn't take any effort to notice it. The trim was a disaster, with nails still visible and gaps filled like a child's art project. The paint job was uneven, with one wall looking fine and the other looking like someone randomly rolled paint in different directions. The carpet was covered in white dust and chips. When I looked at the items in the corner, they were coated in layers of white dust--every single item, every single part. A carton full of books had been left open, and now all the books were covered in dust. I went out to ask them to clean up after a minute of looking at the sorry state of affairs, but they had left already.
I messaged Avi to ask if they had used the HEPA vacuum as agreed. His response? "What's a HEPA vacuum?" Seriously? He claimed he had used a vacuum and was "sorry" I didn't hear it running.
A few days later, I opened the door to my closet in the room where the work was done, and everything(clothes, sheets, bags, etc) in the room was covered with a layer of white dust. Not only that, they had thrown the mold infested garbage from their work in the backyard dustbin and didn't care to even inform me. I have had very extensive attic work done prior and they sealed off the work area so well, left my house in a better state, took all their trash with them and didn't leave a mark. On the contrary, a couple of months since these guys did the job and I'm still clearing off white dust from all the stuff and still need to pay someone to redo the work. Avi made sure to let us know how little he made in this job. That is no excuse for a shoddy job and for sheer disregard for someone's home.
"How you do one thing is how you do all things." This phrase perfectly sums up their work--shoddy, careless, and far below even basic standards. Everything they touched, was left in a much worse state than before. read more
