GRAND CENTRAL PAINTING

He wanted a lot of money upfront ($18,000). I told him that the only way I would give him any money up front was if it was for materials. He stated that he had $15,000 in materials for the job. At the time, I naively agreed to give him $15,000 upfront. He requested that it be sent in small checks of $5,000 or less because Bank of America would freeze the money in his account for a few weeks and it would delay project progress. This was the first of many lies that he would feed me during the project. As I found out later, all payments I made to him were cashed at a currency exchange!!! Can you believe it?! He cashed my checks for my project at the currency exchange (unfortunately I did not realize this until later). August 2012 - I signed the contract on August 10, 2012. Prior to the project beginning, I installed an ADT system to secure the property and monitor activity at the property. I get emails every time the doors open and close, which was very useful for me, since I live about 1.5 hours from the project. The project seemed to get off to a very good start. His guys were there every day for about a week or so and seemed to be making good progress by the end of August. September 2012 - I visited the site mid September and noticed that nothing had really been done since my last visit in August. I asked Andrew why nothing had been done. He replied that his guys had been there almost every day for the past several weeks. I checked the security system records and found that this was simply not true; the security system confirmed that there was very little activity during this period. Then on September 22, 2012, he requests $26,000 more upfront so that he can "keep going on the project and buy materials". I was really p*****. I asked what about the $15,000? He said he spent it doing plaster prep. In the end he only had a receipt for $4,000 in kitchen cabinets. He lied to me and stated that the plumber needed $6,000 just to show up to the project and the electrician needed $7,000 just to show up because the project was so far. I agreed to another 17,000 ($4,000 for him) so that materials could be purchased and so more work could be done. The project was beginning to run behind and I didn't want to jeapordize October completion. October 2012 - Not much was happening. I visited the property on the morning of October 23, 2013, only to find a stop work order on the door!! I was furious. At this point, we were near the end of October 2012 and I find that no permits have been pulled for the work (electrical or plumbing). The plumber started working without a permit. I talked to Andrew and he empathized with me and said he was going to take care of it. He said he "sweet talked the inspector" and that all of his paperwork was in order. Mind you at this point, he still hadn't brought the electrician on board. And he had no idea how he was going to get the sewer work done. Novermber 2012 - Hardly anything happened still at this point, other than him cashing one of my checks ($7,000 of the $17,000 I released to him at the end of September) April 2013 - As it turns out he mismeasured the kitchen by a whole foot and the cabinets did not fit, but I had to find out about this 6 months later from one of his subs who wasn't getting paid.

Horrible! Most awful, upsetting experience ever and I work with many contractors personally and professionally. Joined Angies list recently and see that this company is on the list. Please get the word out on this guy. Buyer beware! Never, ever, ever work with Grand Central or Andrew. Proverbial scam artist!! Don't let the big gold cross arouned his neck fool you. Check him out with the Illinois Attorney General and the Better Business Bureau. I filed reports with both. He goes under several names and business identities. Unfortunately, they are understaffed and the contractor must cooperate so I never got results. Andrew sold himself on the untruth that he was a full service general contractor that only used his own team of professionals. Little did I know that his crew consists of a cell phone and shell office (Palatine) and that he subcontracts all work to others at low-ball prices. The subs that he sent over were decent guys that, because of prior bad experience with him, mostly turned down the work after the on-site visit due to what he was willing to pay them. Several told me that he underbids the project and doesn't comunicate the agreed to and actual project requirements to them in advance. He also owed them money from prior projects. The flooring contractor for example did not use professional grade product, did not replace damaged floorboards, and left several areas damaged and unfinished. The sub said he would come back and complete the job when Andrew paid him for his last project. I looked into it further and learned this subcontractor has a decent reputation when working directly for the consumer. The worst is that other subs won't finish the project, they want to rebid and redo the job correctly. Who could blame them.? I can provide further details about other aspects of this project if needed. I have saved complete and accurate records of my experience and correspondence with the Illinois Attorney General and the Better Business Bureau.

Two crews showed up, one was his 3 man crew and the other was a subcontracted 2 man crew. The 2 man crew showed up about 8:00am. The other crew didn't show up untill about 10:30am, every day. Since andrew didn't show up with the crews on the first day as he said he would the subcontractor had many questions. I called rental places to order an etching machine & called paint store about the stain for the basement. The subcontractor said that the machine wasn't working correctly and Andrews crew said the preparation work for the basement was going to cost extra and take several extra days because of drying time for the power washing. I called the rental place and was told that the pad on the etching machine was worng and they needed a more agressive pad. But the subcontractor came back from the paint store and said that what they did was going to be fine according to the paint store. The staining in the basement looks great except one spot where the stain bubbled up. Very small area on such a large basement, I'll touch it up. Andrews 3 employees wanted to start by painting the garage. We had moved all the items to one side so they could finish 3/4's of the garage and we would move the contents to the others side later that week. They insisted on moving most of the items outside because they said they were going to finish in 1 day. Three days later they finaly finished. Andrews crew told us how much more work was needed and it was going to cost more. We agreed to $200-$300 more. After the garage was done, part of the kitchen and the crown we receieved a call from Andrew the owner. He said that he wanted alot more money because the time he had into the job so far was costing him to much. We stoped all work upon hearing this and meet with Andrew. We did not contract with his company on a time and material basis. His quote was in the middle of all the estimates we received. He wanted us to pay for all the extra time his guys spent doing un-need patch work in the garage. We were going to have another company finish the work but we reached a mutual resolution. We had only his subcontractor come back to finish the work. The sub finished his work in 4 days. We made final payment and received a waiver of lein from Andrew. We deducted the stain we went out to get and the cost of the crown molding also. We had to order the crown and make arangements for pick up of material and payment to the millwork store even though this should have been Andrew responsibility. We felt as though if we didn't step in to manage ( general contract) these crews that the job would have come to a halt. Oh, The memorize of the babysitting crews as you build a house if you general it yourself. This is just a short list of our expierence.

THEY WERE FAST AND EFFICIENT. THE WALLPAPER HANGER WAS PARTICULARLY ATTENTIVE TO DETAILS AND HE DID A FINE JOB. HE REALLY KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING. THEY DID AS MANY COATS OF PAINT AS NECESSARY TO MAKE THE QUALITY OF WORK THE BEST. TWO WORKERS WERE IN AND OUT IN FIVE DAYS. THEY DID A LOT OF PATCHING AND IT LOOKS GREAT.