Exterior Restorations

My initial call was to have our house painted and woodpecker holes (count 17) repaired. I received 3-4 quotes. I mentioned to each company our ongoing issue with woodpeckers. Scott came back the next day with multiple bids for possible solutions to my problem. That set the stage. I contracted with Exterior Restorations. I changed the scope to putting up stone, adding a minimal amount of hard side stucco and painting the remaining siding on the house. From that point, I was introduced to some the most hardworking and very skilled men of their trade. Duane, hands-on owner, who oversaw the project was very professional and was on site checking in every day. There are always snags/delays and this project was no exception. Duane smoothed everything and was very accommodating to my ever-changing ideas. Duane (#2) and Josh framed out the dimension on the columns to recreate a similar look of the stucco columns - it turned out beautifully! Miguel had his guys zinging on the demolition of the stucco. They even made a point to show me the largest woodpecker - turned squirrel hole and the damage involved. Luckily everything was exterior. Let's face it, what it all comes down to are the details and for this job, that's Mario. The detail and skill he and his crew used to paint and place each and every stone was without question masterfully done! Not to mention all countless the little extras, truly amazing! Scott and Duane have surrounded themselves with a great, hardworking, skilled group of men. From Duane and Josh in carpentry to Miguel and his stucco crew to Mario and his painting & stone crew, there was not a detail missed. It took every last one of them ...and in the end they made our house a showcase home. I checked out their website and see a couple pictures of my house on it, check it out for yourself.

After the owner assured me that he did "all his own work", two non-English speaking crew members showed up to install mortar board, making a mess inside and outside of the house, leaving the front door open during the work time although the heat was on, and then storing their materials under the front deck in plain view until their next install date, which was supposed to be the next day. They began installing the stone they had without regard to the placement and continuity of the individual panels, cutting small pieces to fill unexpected holes due to their lack of measurement and planning. Had they planned or measured before placing pieces up on the wall haphazardly, this could all have been avoided. At the end of the day, they told me they had to order more stone, which ended up taking almost two weeks. I insisted that they move pieces which were poorly placed on the first day, leaving gaps so large one could see the cement board behind it. The product that I paid for in advance is known for the tight fit of the panels when installed correctly. Once pieces were moved around, the mortarboard behind it had to be replaced in patches, since it was destroyed. Spaces were filled with globs of cement, not even grout. When the wall was "finished", it was much better than after the first day's work, although I mentioned to the owner that there was still a space where the cement board was visible. He offered to send someone out to move pieces around, but I decided we had better quit while we were ahead. I asked what I could use to fill in the space and he told me I could "go find some grout that matched and put it in there". That is the customer service I received for $1000 and two weeks living under construction. The workers themselves told us they got paid $15/hour; they spent 2.5 days in total (approximately 15 hours) over the course of two weeks in their installation effort and I was charged $1000, "cash or check only", payable immediately. I called the owner to say that I preferred to pay by credit card and that normally bills are payable within 30 days of receipt, to which he responded, "I don't believe in credit cards" and "we are a small business and my workers are already paid". I suggested, perhaps he preferred not to report his income for tax purposes and that in my experience, all established companies accept credit cards. He defended his company as being established and offered me no options. The wall looks O.K., but it is far from perfect and far from the way I saw it installed in photos on Houzz. Definitely not high quality installation.

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