We moved in July 2016. There were dents and stains on the walls done by the movers and the moving company hired Bill to fix it for them.
Every time he came by, the work he did needed touch up or he ruined something else.
-Vail renovations (Bill) came on a Monday to do the repairs and paint. There was a need for a second coat of paint. This is understandable. The main issue on that day was that he took a paint sample to get it matched since we did not had the original paint. The paint sample (5 cm x 10 cm) was taken at eye level on the entrance wall. This wall receives outdoor light continually, which results in that repair being very visible. There are many other areas where the sample could have been taken and be more subtle. The wall where the paint sample was taken did not initially needed to be painted.
-On the same day, he saw some tiny stains on the wall in the staircase. As a kind gesture, he decided to give a quick brush of grey paint to hide the stains. But the paint used was not exactly the same colour as the previous paint. Therefore by doing this, he made huge ''stains'' on the wall.
I called him and mentioned the second coat and my disappointment about the location that the paint sample was taken and the paint spots in the stairs.
-He came back on Tuesday. He did a second coat of beige and grey where needed and painted the wall in the stairs. I was initially very satisfied with this job. That is until I discovered a few months later that he did not asked my wife to remove the child ''pressure gate'' in the stairs and painted around the contact area with the wall. Now there is an area of dark grey on the wall because is was not painted when the remainder of the wall was painted.
Although he re-sanded and repatched the paint sample in the entrance it was still very visible. It also needed a second coat so I called him again. (I am ok with the fact that he needed to come back for a second coat on the area he took the paint sample...he might not have seen it).
-He came back on the Wednesday and gave a quick coat of grey to fix the paint sample. Unfortunately he was in a hurry and touched the next wall along the joint. Since the paint is not a perfect match, he needed to come back a fourth time to paint a wall that did not initially needed to be painted.
At one point during those 4 days, he accidentally dropped droplets of paint on my beige carpet. It is an accident, it happens. But when I told him, he came by and argued that it wasn't him and never fixed it. No one else painted in the house and the paint stains on the carpet were not there before, it must have been him.
Finally, we are now in March and this ordeal was completed in September. And the paint sample he took at eye-level in the entrance is getting more visible by the day as the paint and plasters crack on that area. Even properly fixed, you would see that this area has a different texture than the remainder of the wall. It was just a poor decision to take the sample there.
I never though that it would be so complicated and that every time he worked he would inadvertently do something that needed him to come back again. It was truly a one day job. Had he taken his time and thought before acting, he would only have came once and I would be very satisfied.
I compare the quality of his work to what would be done by an amateur in a hurry. It is poor.
I see the good reviews for him, and I am not a perfectionist. I would be happy with a normal job. Therefore I simply do not understand how this highly praised handyman could do such a bad job in my house.
So my advice/conclusion from this story is: There is a lack of consistency in quality. Before you hire Vail renovations, keep in mind that you might be the job of low quality and your neighbour might be the one extremely satisfied. Therefore it might be best to pick a handyman with a steady performance. read more
