O/T Got bilked by crappy contractor =(

Thinslis

New member
Paid the guy to paint my office (where my new tank is going)... I told him he could use my new brushes ect if that would help him save on costs and give me a better price. Well he painted all the walls and then walked off with all my brushes and left the one wall looking so bad my neighbor laughed at it. =(

Now the guy will not answer my calls or return my voice mails =(
 
well Im-laid off now and before I folded up my remodeling firm that was incorprated in 1993 and started working as a painter/lead abatement worker for the union.I still have proly over $30 grand in equipment and about 50-100 brand new brushes and 3 airless sprayers if need be(for painting) .My last project before getting burned out of 24/7 headaches was St Peters church downtown,oldest pre-civil war church in the dioceas.Made my $ told my workers shop is closed,file for unemployment .,and it was the best thing I've ever done.Owning your own business is not glamorous at all when looking from inside out.I'm sorry to say this and dont take it the wrong way,but "you get what you pay for"I always told all my customers that when I did estimates ,and never called them back,just gave them aprox 2000 references and gave them lists of cities where we did 3-4-5 projects on one street so they wouldnt have to waste lots of time.driving around.If you need any advice please let me know.
 
Thanks for the info. Unfortunatly I'm under the gun... my house is an absolute mess because my entire office is sitting in my living room and my parents have my dog. Basicly I have to paint the wall myself tonight because my parents leave for Arizona on Thursday =( I'll just buy another brush ect from home depot on lunch and hope for the best.
 
this is the exact reason i do everything for myself, i hate waiting on someone else to do what i can do by readig on the internet asking around or knowing it from being in construction for many years. there are alot of good contracters out there but there our just as many shady ones. in my 10 years of owning homes i only had 3 things done for me proffesionally. roofing because the roof was to steep, gutters which was a big mess after them coming out 6 yes 6 times and cocrete lifting. 2 out of three times i was right there making sure i got what i paid for, guess which one i wasnt there for. yes the gutters your right. what im trying to say is that you should be there watching them making sure they do the job right if not tell them to hit the road. it sucks to see that happen to anyone out there.the bad thing about doing it yourself is you take 5 times as longer do to it but it will get done right because you did it yourself. if you need any help fixing this mess pm me i will help you out as im off all week every week. plus there are many people on here that will help with a little beer in front of them and a pizza slice tied to a string in front off there nose, me im a little more expensive with some subway.lol
 
Take pics before you paint incase you decide to go to small claims to recoup your losses. Then take pics after to show how much nicer it is done.
 
Amber, thank you for the advice. I took some initial pictures but they don't show how bad the wall looks. I'll take another set as soon as I get home.
 
It's fly by night guys that give the real contractors such a hard time. I've tried the small claims things on subcontractors before. you think it's just 50 dollars to file but your time is what really costs you. Multiple trips to the court and even if you win you end up having to lean something of theres to get payment which equals more money. Ugh I tell ya Ugh.
Erik
 
Well my orginal idea was to print copies of the pictures and go to the hardware stores and staple them to his cards that are pinned on the boards, then create a website so it showes up if you google his company, create a myspace page for the issue, and a youtube video....
 
Hey Mike, since our wives are related somehow, i have some trim left to paint in my hallway....

*dangles subway(tm) sandwich*
 
Well I did the painting tonight and I'm actually impressed with how well I did =) I'll have some before and after pictures tomorrow.

A big THANK YOU to those of you who offered to help, I really really do appreciate it!
 
joe i seriously dont think you need help on your house as it looks brand new, but i will take a sandwich anyway. you guys know where im going tomorow at noon.lol thats good that you got the painting done Thinslis. good thing about painting is if you goof it up you can paint over it.
 
Ok here you go... The pictures actually make the before pics look better then what it was.

As left by contractor:
DSCN0958.jpg


DSCN0966.jpg


DSCN0967.jpg


After my fixing:
DSCN0969.jpg


DSCN0971.jpg


DSCN0974.jpg
 
when ever I painted something red ,I always used grey primer ,it helps eliminated extra work and the finish product looks uniform,brtween the cut and roll but what everyou did now it looks great now I'm sure.Even though I'm out of business I still like to do some work ,but not on my own house,,lol.I'll be more than willing to givr anyone any kind of advice and maybe pick up a tool for nice fish or a coral .Please ask and I'll do my best to help .Thanx.Chuck
 
Back
Top