Don's Ceilings & Lighting, Inc

They gave us a great price Came on time And did great work

Great 1 day turnaround service on our popcorn ceiling removal.

good

Don, as well as his team lead, told me prior to job that all I would have to do when they were finished was paint. Not true. When they were done removing the acoustic, there were places in the corners that still had acoustic. All corners needed to be caulked, sanded, patched prior to being painted. The crew told me they thought there painter was coming in behind them as their painter does the clean up of their sloppy job. Obvious miscommunication between Don, the owner, Antonio, the team lead and the crew doing the job. When I told Antonio that I had even double confirmed this with him prior to his start - he would talk over me, give excuses. Don the owner has also given excuses. Don is arrogant. Narcissist. When I told Don I would dispute my credit card payment he threatened to put a lien on my home. Keep in mind - Don will tell you that he will do a great job, he wants great reviews, he says he will correct issues but he doesn't. He only responds unprofessionally. Don's Ceilings has BBB complaint. He has very bad reviews on Yelp. I only wish I would have seen those bad reviews before believing in his few good reviews on his website. Do not use this business. You'll regret it as I do. Check out their Yelp reviews [*** Link removed ***] I'm not alone...See pictures. They leave with all ceiling fixtures (lights, smoke alarms, vents) hanging from ceiling, mud blobs on kitchen cabinets and bathroom wall. So much more....hopefully this will give others a warning -

The CEO, Donald Kelly McKinnon messaged my friend of Facebook the quote below. I have a screenshot too. If masks work why didn’t they give them to prisoners instead of letting them out of prison I was in the grocery store yesterday and I didn’t have a mascon and he said why are you not wearing a mask as well I just coughed on this hundred dollar bill and handed you and you don’t have any gloves on what good does a mask do... If he acts like this in public, imagine what he would do in your home or business.

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We got a coupon in the mail for these services and searched the provider on Angie's list, read praises, had don sr write quote for work and expected great job done. Don sr sent his son, don jr. Don jr came when he said he would add a couple of things and we paid him extra for led lighting. When it was getting late, don jr scrambled to leave the house leaving holes and cuts in drywall where he worked and did not sweep after his mess. At the time, it wasn't a problem because we had other work being done and felt this would be absorbed in the other labor. Also, there were other issues with his workmanship that caught our eye (a socket was loose in the wall). It turns out that a few days after don jr left, some of the lights stopped going on and we called him to check it out. After a few days and no response, we called his father (whom we contracted) about the issues. He told us that he had and quot;subbed it out to his son on the side so it was his son's job and to call him. So we did, we called again and left more messages for don jr. After a few more attempts we called don sr again and he stated he son had been busy at a conference and to try calling him again. So we did, this time, don jr called back a couple of days later, said he'd been busy and could not get back to us until the following week. That day, we waited all day for him to show up. No show, no call. After that, we sent a text asking what happened - nothing. We then had to pay another electrician to come and fix the critical items don jr failed to respond to so that other work could be completed. I could have been happy with the speed, price and work even given the problems had they merely responded as promptly and resolved the issues. However, if this is the service we should expect from a contractor that gives side jobs to his son without any guarantee he will stand behind his work, then this is not a contractor we want back in our house, or neighborhood if possible.

The quality is outstanding and everything was completed in one day. Now the only complaint is that I wish that 2 of the 4 lights in the kitchen were closer to the counter but we didn't communicate about it before hand so I'm half to blame and that when I wanted to add a 3way set of switches in the living room and kitchen hall during the job we couldn't agree on the price and he wouldn't let me send my electrician who was standing next to me while the ceiling was open anyway(insurance reasons). So now it makes it a little inconvenient when you come home and enter from the back(garage) of the house and have to walk across dinning room and living room to turn on those lights.This should have been discussed before the job but I didn't think of it first so I will take most of the blame, just wished they were a little more willing to work with me on the price, also I would have given them 2 more jobs in other homes within a month.Overall I liked their work very much and do recommend them!Sometimes people who are very good at their job are less flexible I've found. While some contractors who are not perfect are more willing to work with you and do some favors or meet your price. So I can understand why Don's adheres to their rules/ways-they do a good job. I found Don to be amiable and professional and his workers were professional too.This has been my experience and am only expressing my personal opinion. I almost forgot, last minute he did decide to cut me a break on the kitchen lights and ceiling for both our benefits and I agreed. I am thankful to him for that and when they removed the ceiling cabinet and found mold, for a fair price it was fixed and done well. It's not easy to replace drywall and patch and sand, again I am happy w their work.

Interacting with Don (the boss) was not pleasant. The employee came at the scheduled time to look at the job and then called Don to get the price estimate based on his assessment. The price Don quoted seemed high, so I talked him down roughly 40%. However, throughout the negotiation Don interrupted me several times in a very aggressive and bullying tone of voice, saying that I wouldn't be able to find anybody to do the work for that kind of price, saying that he needed to cover the cost of his advertisement and to pay his employees who are apparently salaried (why I should have to pay for 8 hours worth of labor when the job is only 2 hours is beyond me; that's a problem with his cost structure). After we agreed on a reduced price, the employee did the texturing over one patch of wall, and I noticed that the edges between the patch and the rest of the wall were abrupt and noticeable. The employee said that he could not sand down the edges to get the new texture to blend in with the old texture for the price we had agreed on, so I called Don again. I felt that we had agreed on a price based on the assumption that I wanted the new texture to blend in with the old texture, and I was being told that I'd need to do the final sanding myself because they wouldn't come back in a couple days when the mud was dry to do the sanding themselves. My conversation with Don resulted in more bullying and eventually a shouting match in which we both decided that the job would not get completed by his company. I don't have a problem with him feeling that the price was not fair for the work I was expecting; that's a normal part of business. I do have a problem with being quoted one price and then having the price change, and I have a big problem with being bullied during the negotiations by being interrupted and told I need to pay more to cover expenses related to a poor business model. I think the same conversation could have happened in a more calm and dignified manner if he ran his business in a more customer-focused way.

Don's crew (he didn't show) were on time and did finish in one day. But I came home to find most of my furniture still piled up in one small room. There were chunks of popcorn ceiling everywhere, on the floor and on upholstery, as well as dirty paper towels and tape. A post-it stated they "wanted to clean and put furniture back, but couldn't find cleaning supplies". Of two bathrooms, they used the bathroom I had expressly told them not to use, because of an inoperative sink drain, and left the sink half full of dirty water. As for the ceilings, I was disappointed in the end result appearance. Don did allow me time to get a second opinion on the ceiling work before I paid, and I did this within a week. Don was unsympathetic when I told him about the mess the workers left and told me this was normal. His website gives the impression you'll come home to a clean house. Not so in my case. He orally quoted me $1900, but said the quote had always been $1995 when it came time to pay.

THE CREW TACKED UP PLASTIC ALONG THE WALLS AND THE FLOOR TO PROTECT THEM. AFTER REMOVING THE CEILINGS THEY PLASTERED IT. THEY CAREFULLY CLEANED UP THE MESS BEFORE THEY LEFT.

ARRIVED ON TIME WITH A LARGE CREW. WENT ABOUT PROJECT PROMPTLY, AND FINISHED THE SAME DAY. 4 BEDROOMS, LIVING, DINING, AND FAMILY ROOMS. ONLY DOWN SIDE WAS US NOT REALIZING EXTENT OF CLEANUP REQUIRED AFTER JOB WAS COMPLETED. THIS IS A VERY MESSY PROJECT, AND THE CREW DID WELL IN CONTROLLING IT AS BEST THEY COULD. I DID COMPLAIN BUT REALIZED IT COULD HAVE BEEN MUCH WORSE.