Reviews

• Emilyann M.

  Here's the short version for those of you who don't like reading a wall of text, full version down below. Bruce seemed like a really pleasant guy at first. He seems nice. But then after we saw the horrible work he did, making mistakes that even someone not in the field knows better than to make, his pleasantry disappeared and he became completely unreachable. It looks like I paid a teenager who didn't even bother to google how to plaster OR paint to come in and work on my room. Photo links are at the very bottom of the page, and keep in mind the walls are painted and then plastered because Bruce "finished" the room, and we gave him one chance to come back and fix it. The photos are at the stage where he said it was ready to paint over once again, but there were still a lot of bumps and dents in the walls where he didn't sand properly or hit the walls with his tools. Also, the ceiling was supposed to remain untouched, and I now have to pay someone else to paint the entire thing to cover up his mistakes in getting paint and plaster on the ceiling. Full version: This is my first time writing a review to anything, so bear with me, but I want to help others avoid making the mistake I did. I hired Bruce to get rid of the textured walls in my room and paint the room. It took him three days for a job he said would take two, which was an inconvenience but I normally would not complain about something that small. At least, I wouldn’t if it weren’t for the number of mistakes he had made, from skid marks in the walls, small indents from tools, badly sanded spots to the point that there were raised lines that stood out from the rest of the wall, and a lip along the upper wall near the ceiling where there was a clear indent that did not get new plaster to cover up the texture. On top of that, the paint was chipping off the trim the day after it was painted. I wanted a refund then when I saw that I was not receiving the $200 quality I paid for, but I was convinced to let him come back and try to fix his work. He did come back, but he only fixed about half of his mistakes. When he came out into my living room to get the paint (he was working on my 200 square foot bedroom), I asked if he had primed the room yet. There was a difference of opinion here when he insisted that he does not have to prime new plaster when the paint has primer in it. Now I’ll be the first to admit that I know nothing about the industry, but everyone I spoke to who does, and every source I’ve found online suggests that new drywall and plaster must be primed, regardless of paint quality. When I, as politely as I could manage, told him that I wanted it primed first, he said he would need to go buy some primer. Okay, that’s fine. But then as he walked away, he scoffed while I was still in hearing range. When he left to get the primer, I went in to look over the room and make sure it was good quality before being painted over this time. I’d like to point out that I’m not a perfectionist. I’m the kind of person that when my car gets a mark of any kind, by my fault or someone else’s, I consider it a mark of character as long as it still runs. But even I noticed that the unfinished ring around the upper edge of the room had not been fixed, there were still some tool marks on the walls, and the corners did not feel sanded at all (using the rest of the room as a comparison). On top of that, he had gotten plaster (not just a little bit, but huge circles of it) on my ceiling, and the ceiling was supposed to remain untouched. Then the real nightmare began. I called him to let him know that I wanted a refund, because at this point, I did not have the time to keep having him come back on different days to fix his many mistakes. I said it much more politely than that, but that was the gist of it. He wanted explained to him exactly what he did wrong, which would be fine, but I was going to have my brother in law, who knows the technical terms and proper procedures of the industry, call him for me after I sent him pictures. He became unreachable the moment we hung up. First his phone went out of service, and a few hours later, he contacted me from his wife’s phone. I was relieved at first that he actually called back, but then he became unreachable again for the rest of the night (it always rang but went to voicemail). Finally, after not being able to contact him to discuss a refund or anything about his work, I looked up his company. Finding his business card as the first Google search image result, it showed an address and I assumed it was a business address. When my husband and I showed up, it was his home address, but he did come out and speak with us. We explained everything that had been wrong, and he insisted he didn’t see any of that. When I showed him a picture of a gouge in the wall, he doubted me and asked if I was sure it was a gouge or was it dirt or a bug on the wall. He told me that it was normal to go back and forth until the room was perfect, and while I’ve never hired a contractor before, I refuse to believe that it takes weeks to do one 200 square foot room (and only the walls, not even including the floor or ceiling!) Finally, I put my foot down about a refund, and he agreed to give us one. The next day, when he promised to call, he didn’t. The following day, he did, but only after we had left a message saying we would be stopping by again to find out what was going on. Then he changed his tune about the refund and informed us that he had a discussion with his wife and wouldn’t be refunding the full amount. Again, a promise that he would call later that day to further discuss it. Nothing for two days straight. At this point, I left him a message saying that if he didn’t get back to me by the end of the day, I would have to assume he was dodging my calls once again and start leaving reviews. So here I am, out $200 for a job others assure me should have been half that cost, and having to pay another contractor to fix his mistakes as well as parts of the ceiling he painted when I specifically told him to leave the ceiling alone. This is also the watered down version of my review as writing everything he did wrong would leave you with too many pages to read through, and I don't see an option to post photos so instead I'll try to link to a public photo album where you can look over the mistakes yourself. Please do not make the same mistake I did, and only hire someone who has positive reviews. For your own sake of mind, do not hire this company. At this point, I'm not sure I'd trust him to wash my car let alone allowing him to touch my walls again. http://s218.photobucket.com/user/WhipSmartxCarnivore/library/Horrible%20Contractor

  Jun 27, 2015Verified

• What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
  Price is by the size of the room, texture requested by home owner,and if its a re-scim (plastering over drywall)
• What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
  Yes.
• How did you get started doing this type of work?
  I am very artistic and live chat cunsrtuction. To me plaster is an art