TL;DR: We hired Ezekiel in early July for a Level 5 drywall finish and painting. Nearly four months…read morelater, the project remains incomplete, riddled with severe craftsmanship flaws, and abandoned after he took an upfront supply payment for upcoming work.
We paid standard market rates expecting Level 5 results, but working with Ezekiel was four months of constant delays, poor workmanship, and unprofessional behavior:
Substandard Craftsmanship & Rushed Work:
The final result fell drastically short of a Level 5 finish. The walls were left uneven, chipped and peeling, visibly wobbly, dinged, and pitted with pinholes from improper joint compound application. Trim was left smeared with joint compound and paint, blotchy or dripping paint, or skipped entirely. Our new contractor also noted that Ezekiel's painting technique was so unskilled that even with some wall smoothing, Ezekiel's paint application applied an "orange peel" texture because of improper use of rollers and technique. With Ezekiel, we were constantly pointing out areas that needed to be redone, often multiple times for the same area. However, Ezekiel cut corners and rushed work, which then created even more challenges and areas to redo. For example, in our two-story foyer and hallway, Ezekiel redid the area at least 5-10+ times (depending what counts as a "redo"), either himself or by sending a subcontractor. On the last redo attempt, Ezekiel claimed to have applied two coats of paint to our two-story foyer and hallway in just 2.5 hours--an impossible timeframe for the space confirmed by visible white patches, paint runs and large drips on the walls and all over the baseboards and door frames, orange peel finishes, and sloppy edging that went onto the ceilings. (see photos of the final condition)
Unreliability & Communication Issues:
Ezekiel frequently no-showed for confirmed workdays or arrived hours late without notice. When we would text him to ask where he was, he often then requested to arrive at work after 5pm, or on weekends; even after rescheduling, he frequently failed to show up on time or at all. At one point, an unfamiliar subcontractor showed up at our house with zero advance notice or introduction when we were expecting Ezekiel. We were shocked and confused, having no notice or ever meeting this subcontractor. That same subcontractor later told us Ezekiel specifically instructed him not to rectify the flaws we had flagged because he wanted to save money and time.
Unprofessional Conduct:
Throughout the job, Ezekiel frequently sent rambling text messages detailing his personal hardships with finances and health, complained about supply costs we had already covered, badmouthed his own worker, and even asked us to drive to San Jose to pick him up for work saying he wasn't able to work unless we personally provided him with transportation due to gas prices (please note we did not transport him and told him this was not an appropriate request). While we tried to remain patient and accommodating, his lack of work ethic constantly stalled progress and his unprofessional communication was extremely off-putting.
Job Abandonment:
After collecting payment for semi-completed phases plus an upfront advance for materials for the next rooms, Ezekiel delayed work and cut corners on the remaining work he had to redo. This stretched on for months and months; there was a time he said he needed a break and didn't show up for almost 1.5 months. We patiently waited and finally reached back out. He did show up to redo the work, but then complained about supply costs and his time, and again cut corners on the work he had to redo by using sloppy techniques and coming with inadequate and inappropriate supplies. He then walked away from the job after only applying 1 sloppy coat of paint (see attached photos for the final condition), left the worksite unfinished with tape still up and outlet and switch covers off, and without actually bringing the work up to an appropriate standard for both drywall and painting.
We are now paying another contractor to fix his mistakes and finish the job. The new contractor confirmed the condition of the walls and indicated Ezekiel's work is "barely Level 4" and appears to be done by "someone who is not skilled in either drywall or painting."
Update: Shortly after posting this review, Ezekiel began sending hostile, harassing text messages to our personal numbers until we were forced to block him.
