Ridge and Sons Painting LLC

Initial walkthrough: Provider reviews the work to be done, claims he has experience with this type of work, and can get the majority of the framing and drywall completed within a weekend (minus the mudding and electrical). I am told he will order supplies at Home Depot and pick up Friday night to begin work Saturday morning. Work Day 1: Arrives 1.5 hours late, due to issues at Home Depot picking up supplies. Him and the assistant he brings with set up and begin framing. Around noon he needs to run to Home Depot for supplies he was not adequately prepared with for the job. I am told all of the issues are the fault of Home Depot and he will never go back there. This doesn't matter to me, as long as the work gets done. They return and start framing in earnest. Walls go up but mysteriously come down, I am told this is because of his assistants cuts being off. I am ending up with more holes in the wall and more studs wasted due to incorrect cuts and the frustration begins at the lack of progress. Mid-afternoon, the provider cannot comprehend the stud arrangement in basement walls. My house was built in 1982 and is very typical construction. It might be because he didn't bring a stud finder, but he reminds me that he does this all the time "by hand," which apparently means more holes in my walls and less work truly accomplished. Due to his confusion of my wall stud layout, he suggests an alternative closet arrangement that would allow him to adequately support the framing. Wanting to get this completed, I oblige and have to say his suggestion was a good idea which will allow us to utilize more of the space. The work continues, but again true progress towards the completion of the project eludes him as more time and materials seem to be wasting away. After telling me he would stay until 7 or 8 to offset his late arrival, he leaves around 5 with a promise of hitting it hard tomorrow. Day 2: Arrives about 45 minutes late with no assistant today, I am told he did not want to wake up this morning. It seems the progress made previously is going backwards as framework I thought to be finished is taken down due to lack of attention to detail. Once again, when the work truly begins it is back to Home Depot to obtain supplies and tools that once again he was not prepared with. Today he doesn't have an assistant to blame, so the blame defers to the change in plans he suggested the previous day. I am told he would have this done if it weren't for the minor change that apparently now I coerced him into. It gets to be early afternoon and now the blame shifts to my basement floor as he is unable to properly secure the studs to the floor. Note that at this point he had run out of treated wood for the floor so he simply cut a standard board for this purpose. Even I know this is not correct. This is the last straw, I ask him if he can or cannot complete the work. He asks me what my hurry is after a day and a half of work and exactly 5' 7" of straight wall framed in (out of 21 ft). Of the 30 studs, 10' in length purchased for the project, only 9 remain untouched with only this small fraction of work accomplished. I am reminded of all the good framing work he has done in the past, though what sits in front of me shows no evidence of this previous life. I realize quickly that logic and accountability are not on the table for discussion, only a merry-go-round of deferred blame. It is Home Depot, his assistant, my home, or the fact that I was in the adjacent area completing some finish work. I truly did try to leave him to his work while I completed my own, but couldn't help but point out a door that would have opened up to the middle of a wall and a bathroom that may have no access upon completion. I politely ask him to pack up his tools and equipment. He asks why I am "kicking him out" but of course has no time to discuss a partial refund that still would have paid him generously for the work accomplished. He packs up and storms off, squealing out of my driveway, taking with him some of the materials I had purchased at Home Depot and even a tool of mine that I had allowed him to use. What he left is framework I plan to remove myself out of sheer embarrassment prior to the next contractor coming out to give me a bid. In calling the next day to see if it was a better time to discuss how to proceed, I am unable to get a word in as the circle of blame and excuses continue. I am polite, I don't argue, but quickly realize the overarching theme that there is no accountability, apology, refund, or even a goodbye as the phone hangs up. The weekend's work, supplies, and pay is lost, but the project must go on.