[Erin524]

Couple of days ago, a painter, who had painted my house and my aunt's house a few years ago, showed up at my aunt's door and asked if she needed to get some work done. The painting company he used to work for had gone out of business and he was looking for work.

She decided to get her garage painted and have her unfinished part of the basement painted with a sealant (to protect the cement walls) After talking to the guy and giving him money UP FRONT! (bad juju there) she came over to our house with the guy and somehow convinced my dad to let the guy paint our garage (the inside) and do touch ups on the outside and do some caulking.

They painted our garage (1 coat, instead of the promised 2 coats) caulked one window in our basement that the builders of our house never sealed (he used a can of my dad's spray foam actually, instead of real caulk), and then supposedly touched up the paint outside. They also repaired a rotten board across the top of our garage.

For this work, my dad paid him over $600 (yikes! overpaid much?) and they were supposed to stain and seal the deck stairs (cedar stairs, that go up to a glass enclosed deck and patio room) for another $600.

I've been really uncomfortable with this painter. For one, he contracted out the work instead of doing it himself, when he had promised a bunch of things. I walked around the house today, which was tough to do while limping with a cane and walking on uneven ground. This guy did no touch ups on the outside of the house. The only two spots that he caulked outside were the 2 spots that we specifically pointed him to. (my dad could have done those) and I found a ton of places that they said they'd touched up that werent touched up.

At my aunt's house, which they've had unrestricted access to, because she gave them the code to her garage, it doesnt appear that they've even painted the inside of the garage yet. I need to help her change the code to her garage now. The caulking they did on the outside looks like crap, and they apparently have never done any of the promised work in the basement. My aunt paid them up front ($400) and then paid them another $250 (or $350?). So they've got about $600 of her money and she hasnt seen much work done yet, and it was supposed to be all finished tomorrow.

I feel like these people have screwed my parents and my aunt over. To make things worse, my aunt talked to a couple of neighbors and those neighbors were going to have work done by this guy and his subcontractors.

I have serious concerns about their knowledge about carpentry, because they said they were going to have to rebuild one of the neighbor's deck.

The carpenter was the same guy who said it was ok to put up grab bars on the wall in our garage without putting the screw into the studs. (they were going to use alligator screws) I told them no to that. I wasnt comfortable with the idea of a grab bar that I might need to grab onto some day being held up by nothing more than a couple of alligator screws screwed into the drywall, which I dont think is very thick.

They told me that the studs in our garage are not 16inches apart. (not true) I've seen the studs inside our walls before the house was finished! I've also seen our walls with the drywall removed so we could put bracing in the walls of our bathrooms so we could put up proper grab bars in the new showers. They're 16inches on center. They also didnt think that grab bars needed to be anchored in a stud or on a 2x4 that's been anchored to the studs. They said alligator screws would be just fine.

I just feel like my parents just got screwed over. Just like after we had a bad storm 3yrs ago and the roofer screwed us over (and stole stuff). We thought we'd gotten a local guy, but it was an out-of-towner who came to Omaha right after our big storm to try to make some quick money. They stole most of our large landscaping rocks while they were doing our roof. I saw them put some of our rocks in their truck just before they packed up and left.

Wish my aunt wasnt so trusting, and that she'd stop sending people over to do work for us. We got suckered into an alarm system 4yrs ago when she sent over a door-to-door salesman and my dad misunderstood that the guy was selling them door-to-door. He thought the guy was a friend of my aunt's (aunt didnt come over with him) It wasnt until after the guy screwed up our telephone line in the kitchen and spent the entire day hooking up the system (it was his very first install...we were his guinea pigs) that my aunt came over and said the guy was a door-to-door salesman. The alarm company is at least reputable, because the alarm works, and they've had a great response time when we had a problem once.

My parents and my aunt are too trusting, and I kind of ignored my Spidey sense for a day, and a few hundred dollars too long this week before I said something to my dad. I think I'm going to have to start being the one to find contractors the next time we need something done.

My parents and my aunt are in their 60s and 70s. (my aunt is 63 or 64, my parents are early 70s)

Never pay up front, always get a contract in writing that explains and lists exactly what's going to be done, and never pay the entire bill before the work is finished. And always anchor grab bars in the studs and use the correct type of screws.


At least I didnt let these guys mess around with the structure of our garage and all they did was do a crappy painting job (didnt fill any holes before they painted, didnt fill nail holes with putty before painting the piece of wood they replaced) and I didnt let them put up grab bars. I'll go out and buy a 2x4 and a stud finder and do that myself if I really have to and have a few days to work up the energy to do it. (actually I'll call someone who I know knows what they're doing and pay them to do it correctly)

I have to go email the BBB now. *grumble*