The reviews here seem to indicate they do good work. If only their contract was as good. I…read moreconsidered using them for a painting project, but their contract is terrible - it indemnifies them for anything but willful misconduct, which means YOU are on the hook if their scaffolding fails due to their mistake, for example. Anyone hurt on the job, any damage incurred, etc., as a result of their negligence is YOUR problem, so be sure to have really good insurance. They expect you to inspect their work and certify the scaffolding ON YOUR OWN, placing all responsibility for their work ON YOU. I'm not a scaffolding expert and it's not my job to do this - I just want my house painted. Go in with open eyes and read your contracts before signing!
Update: reading this owner's response says everything. He's in complete denial about my concerns. Their contract clearly states they are not liable for anything but malfeasance. That means if there is something wrong with their equipment or they are negligent (i.e. they don't do their job right, which they are supposed to be experts at) it's your problem, not theirs. If they put up scaffolding and it collapses due to their error, you are the one who will be sued by whoever is hurt, not them. I have no ability to inspect scaffolding to ensure a job is done right, so I basically have no idea if the work was done competently or not. This is non-standard and, frankly, substandard contract wording.
They can talk all day about how great they are, but those are just words. I'm sure they do an amazing job. But all it takes is one mistake, even by the best of the best, and suddenly you, the client, are on the hook for potentially millions of dollars due to THEIR mistake. They should stand behind their work with more than just words, and they should be insured, so it shouldn't be an issue at all.
And to say I have not done business with them is false. I have had many back-and-forth emails with them on this topic. I have reviewed their contract, attempted to understand their point of view, and asked for changes to the contract. This is called doing business, or at least attempting to do so. Every discussion skirted around this issue, and attempted to misdirect away from the issue, just like their comment here. Every answer they gave was the same as this one: our work is amazing, why can't you just trust us, we can't be responsible even if we screw something up, because who knows what you, the customer, are doing to our scaffold, blah blah blah. Nobody is saying they should be liable if their equipment is tampered with or misused. But they should be responsible for doing the job right and they should put it in words in a contract, like every other company on the planet. There is NO WAY any homeowner should be working with a company that makes the customer liable for their errors.
The punchline is, I got a different company to do the job, and they were wonderful to work with and had a normal contract. No brainer.
Update 2: the vendor here says it's misleading for me to talk about negligence in my comments. Again, they are missing the point. The point of a contract is precisely to discuss things such as negligence, to call out clearly in the wording who is responsible for theoretical acts of negligence. No one is accusing anyone here of engaging in negligence, which would indeed be quite misleading. I really wish this vendor could think and respond logically. I think this just goes to further illustrate the frustration I had in discussing something so simple as a straightforward boilerplate contract like every other contractor in the world has.
To the vendor, please do not comment further. This is quite tiresome. I'm extremely fair and measured in my dealings with vendors, and you could be working on my job right now if your contract was as fair as the ones I've had from every other vendor who has ever worked on my property. End of story.
