Doty Plastering and Drywall Inc.

I decided to have the wood siding which was on front half of house removed and have stucco installed. I got three bids, Exteria Construction and Consulting (General Contractor), SOD Builders, and DOTY plastering and drywall. Steve at Exteria was knowledgeable and answered questions, SOD just gave a quote which was way to high. Sheldon of DOTY was also extremely knowledgeable and answered all my questions. I decided to go with Sheldon due to his patience and knowledge on stucco. I also decided on Einswell Rapid Set (where the scratch and brown is done in one coat and final finish coat in two steps) vs. traditional scratch, brown and finish conventional stucco 3 step method. Sheldon's was quote was also competitive. He itemized so if I did not need plywood or insulation installed, I would not have to pay. For install Salvador Sr and his crew showed up. The DOTY plastering and drywall business is co-owned by Sheldon (who seems to be the sales guy writing the bids) and Salvador Sr who co-ordinates the actual work. Salvador and his team is also friendly, easy to talk to, answers questions and all his team members take great pride in their work and it shows in their finish results. His team quickly mobilized, started covering areas where wood, stucco debris would fall. They managed to get the wood siding off and also took off about 6" of stucco from side and bottom, so they could tie in the lathe. The put up two layers of Bituthene (black tar paper) over the plywood which they stapled. Then they put up 16-18 gauge wire mesh to install metal lathe and used 2" nails to secure. They also put some caulk over the nails. They completed teardown, and prep (Bituthene, wire mesh, lathe) in the same day, took about 7 hours and then cleaned up after themselves to pickup nails, wood boards, etc and also washed driveway clean. They came the following day, taped off all the windows, covered the door, removed the light fixture and covered the mailbox. Salvador Jr, Salvador Sr son was also on hand to help out, nice way to see family tradition and business being carried on and passed down. The team started mixing the einsenwall rapid set cement with sand (23 shovels of sand to one bag of einsenwall mix) and 3-4 gallons of water on the street so as not to get my driveway dirty. They carried up the stucco mortar up by bucket. They had put up some scaffolding on the side of the house as they had to get up to the second story of the house. Started to apply the stucco about 3/4" thick with a nice smooth finish. I asked Salvador how they know how to get the stucco to 3/4" thick and he showed his Darby tool which lets them get a smooth finish and gauge the thickness, also the distance from metal wire mesh to window edge when measured is near 3/4". Salvador also installed two small control joints to avoid stucco from cracking, so the stucco was split into three sections. I had read CTS Cement datasheet who recommend control joints be placed every 12 feet. The datasheet also said to keep stuccofog misted wet for 90mins after final application. I asked Salvador to keep fog misting the stucco as it dries through hydration for 90 minutes. He had brought a handheld sprayer which puts out a fine water spray mist and diligently kept the stucco wet so it could cure properly. They cleaned up after themselves and said they would return in about a week to do the final finish coat with color and texture. I conversed with Angelica over email and occasionally by phone to get invoice/ receipts for payments. She was pleasant and prompt in following up. Dennis and another co-worker showed up for the finish coat, they taped off the windows, covered the roof and front door. Mixed up the color, showed me a sample which was way off!! He skimmed on a thin layer then later realized they had to mix two bags to get the color I wanted which they did. The final color is a lot closer to what Dunne Edwards paint color I will have painted later. Dennis did a fantastic job matching the existing texture of stucco on the rest of the house. He also reattached the gutters they had taken off and cleaned up after themselves. They finished the final finish coat in around six hours. In summary, DOTY plastering and drywall did a superb job in removing wood siding, putting on Bituthene, metal wire mesh, lathe and eisenwall rapid set stucco with final texture match. They also put the gutters back up that they took down. They were courteous enough to add color to the final finish coat which was close to my final paint selection, while not a perfect match its close. I also liked the water table they put on, as the stucco they applied was thicker than the stucco I already had but this really adds a little pizazz to the final stucco look, the water table can be painted same as the trim color to really add some flair to the house. 5 stars

I met with the owner, Sheldon Doty, who came out the next day after service call. He inspected the work site, and initially had a specific concern that he may not accept the job because he cannot guarantee a solution that was waterproof. After some on the on the spot brain storming, he drew a sketch of an awning with sides that came half way down the newly installed electrical panel. I felt the quoted the price of $1100 was high compared to other quotes ($500), but he was the only one of the contractors that was initially going to reject the job, and then worked through a solution that he could stake his contractor's license against. Other contractors only offered to patch around the panel without the awning solution. He accepted my 10% discount request, and I accepted the offer. One week later, his guys (4 guys) came out and completed the work in half a day. The site was cleaned up and all debris hauled away. Very professional.

I decided to have the wood siding which was on front half of house removed and have stucco installed. I got three bids, Exteria Construction and Consulting (General Contractor), SOD Builders, and DOTY plastering and drywall. Steve at Exteria was knowledgeable and answered questions, SOD just gave a quote which was way to high. Sheldon of DOTY was also extremely knowledgeable and answered all my questions.I decided to go with Sheldon due to the sheer number of positive Yelp reviews, feedback from one of his customers (Negar) and his patience and knowledge on stucco. I also decided on Einswell Rapid Set http://rapidset.com/Eisenwall_data.asp (where the scratch and brown is done in one coat and final finish coat in two steps) vs. traditional scratch, brown and finish conventional stucco 3 step method. Sheldon's was quote was also competitive. He itemized so if I did not need plywood or insulation installed, I would not have to pay.Luckily I already had blown in insulation in walls, plywood and a sound board. So saved $$ there. For install Salvador Sr and his crew showed up. The DOTY plastering and drywall business is co-owned by Sheldon (who seems to be the sales guy writing the bids) and Salvador Sr who co-ordinates the actual work. Salvador and his team is also friendly, easy to talk to, answers questions and all his team members take great pride in their work and it shows in their finish results. His team quickly mobilized, started covering areas where wood, stucco debris would fall. They managed to get the wood siding off and also took off about 6" of stucco from side and bottom, so they could tie in the lathe. They put up two layers of Bituthene (black tar paper) over the plywood which they stapled. Then they put up 16-18 gauge wire mesh to install metal lathe and used 2" nails to secure. They also put some caulk over the nails. They completed teardown, and prep (Bituthene, wire mesh, lathe) in the same day, took about 7 hours and then cleaned up after themselves to pickup nails, wood boards, etc and also washed driveway clean.They came the following day, taped off all the windows, covered the door, removed the light fixture and covered the mailbox. Salvador Jr, Salvador Sr son was also on hand to help out, nice way to see family tradition and business being carried on and passed down. The team started mixing the einsenwall rapid set cement with sand (23 shovels of sand to one bag of einsenwall mix) and 3-4 gallons of water on the street so as not to get my driveway dirty. They carried up the stucco mortar up by bucket. They had put up some scaffolding on the side of the house as they had to get up to the second story of the house. Started to apply the stucco about 3/4" thick with a nice smooth finish. I asked Salvador how they know how to get the stucco to 3/4" thick and he showed his Darby tool which lets them get a smooth finish and gauge the thickness, also the distance from metal wire mesh to window edge when measured is near 3/4". Salvador also installed two small control joints to avoid stucco from cracking, so the stucco was split into three sections. I had read CTS Cement datasheet who recommend control joints be placed every 12 feet. The datasheet also said to keep stucco fog misted wet for 90mins after final application. I asked Salvador to keep fog misting the stucco as it dries through hydration for 90 minutes. He had brought a handheld sprayer which puts out a fine water spray mist and diligently kept the stucco wet so it could cure properly. They cleaned up after themselves and said they would return in about a week to do the final finish coat with color and texture. I conversed with Angelica over email and occasionally by phone to get invoice/ receipts for payments, providing her the color that I wanted to match a future color that I wanted the house painted. She was pleasant and prompt in following up. Dennis and another co-worker showed up for the finish coat, they taped off the windows, covered the roof and front door. Mixed up the color, showed me a sample which was way off!! He skimmed on a thin layer then later realized they had to mix two bags to get the color I wanted which they did. The final color is a lot closer to what Dunne Edwards paint color I will have painted later. Dennis did a fantastic job matching the existing texture of stucco on the rest of the house. He also reattached the gutters they had taken off and cleaned up after themselves. They finished the final finish coat in around six hours.In summary, DOTY plastering and drywall did a superb job in removing wood siding, putting on Bituthene, metal wire mesh, lathe and eisenwall rapid set stucco with final texture match. They also put the gutters back up that they took down. They were courteous enough to add color to the final finish coat which was close to my final paint selection, while not a perfect match its close. I also liked the water table they put on, as the stucco they applied was thicker than the stucco I already had but this really adds a little pizazz to the final stucco look, the water table can be painted same as the trim color to really add some flair to the house. I will wait two weeks (normally around 20 days is preferred) before before painting, as the pH has to drop (normally high after fresh stucco application) enough so paint does not burn. The painter will also need to add masonry primer prior to two coats of Dunne Edwards Evershield finish paint. I whole heartedly recommend DOTY Plastering and Drywall for all stucco work, the team that Salvador has takes pride in their work, they don't take shortcuts, they do the work according to code, they are licensed and the finish result is superb. They back their work with a 3 year warranty against cracking. DOTY's pricing is competitive, they are friendly to talk to, listen patiently and answer questions, and I would use them again in a heartbeat. 5 stars for stucco work.