Suedell Pro-Services

On May 18, 2012 we hired Todd Suedel from Suedel Pro Services LLC to rebuild our deck. He was to remove and replace the existing floor, railings and stairs. The week of May 21st, the work began and 15 floor boards were replaced - that was the only production for the week. Personnel issues were cited for lack of progress. The following week another 6 floor boards were replaced - that (and some light deconstruction of the existing deck railing) was the only production for that week. A vehicular accident was cited for lack of progress. After repeated promises to actually show progress and finish the job by June 8th (we were having company that weekend), the week of June 3rd showed a lot of progress with our deck - though he kept extending the completion date & time. The evening of June 8, 2012 he told us the project was complete except for some touch ups to the paint and stain, and that he would return at another time to finish so that he and his crew would be out of our way. We paid him for the entire project on June 8, 2012. He told us he needed to pay his crew. The next day when the stain was dry, we had a chance to thoroughly review the "finished" project. We contacted him immediately with the following concerns, and he told us that he would return to correct these issues. 1) The space between the spindles on the lower level of our deck and the stair railings were large enough for our 1-year old child to walk through. 2) The stairs did not have a center support stringer, there was only one on each end of the stairs. When we walked on them, the stairs sagged in the middle. 3) When he ran out of stain, he purchased more but it was the wrong color. We have two different color brown stains on the floor of our deck. Other concerns that we have since noticed:1) There is a pointed end of a screw sticking out of the railing, about eye-level with our 5-year old child.2) The spacing on the spindles of the upper deck railing are 4 1/2 to 6 inches apart. Building code is 4 inches. On June 15, 2012 we terminated our relationship with Todd Suedel because we needed the project to be finished in a correct and timely manner.

On May 18, 2012 we entered into contract and paid Suedel Pro Services 50% of the total cost of our deck project. The job, which began the following week, was to replace the extisting deck floor, rails and stairs, staining the floor one color and the rails to be painted white. On June 8, 2012 we paid the remaining 50% of the cost of the project even though it was not complete. He told us he was coming back to finish, but that he needed to pay his crew that day. We ended our relationship with him on June 15, 2012. We expected the project to take approximately 4 or 5 days, not a month or more. We have a bi-level house, so we have an upper deck, one set of stairs going down to a lower platform, and then another set of stairs going to the ground. All of the spindles that he replaced on the upper deck rails are spaced approximately 4 1/2 to 5 inches apart (building code is 4 inches). The new stairs he built are 36 inches wide. He did not use a center stair stringer, only one on each end. Without the center support, the stairs sagged when we used them. The space between the spindles on the stairs and lower platform are large enough for my 1-year old child to fit through. Several of the wood spindle ends on the stairs and lower platform are split, and also the beveled ends do not match. On one part of the railing, the pointy end of a screw is sticking out of the wood, about eye-level for my 5-year old. Also, we had the floor stained a brownish color. He ran out of stain, and the second batch he used was the wrong color. So now we have two different colors of brown on our deck floor.When we saw the large spacing of the lower platform spindles and stair spindles, we calculated that we would need approximately 24 more spindles to make it safe. We purchased these extra spindles ourselves. We contacted Suedel and told him our concerns about the missing spindles, missing stair stringers and wrong color stain. He said he would finish the job to our expectations. We spoke to him on Sunday, June 10, 2012. The following Monday, he came to our house and took the spindles we purchased so he could paint them at his house and install them on our deck later. Throughout the week we left several messages for him. He did not return our calls. He finally answered his phone on the afternoon of Thursday, June 14, 2012. He told me he would arrive the morning of Friday, June 15, 2012 to work on our deck, and that he had the supplies to get the job done. We called him at approximately 10:30 Friday morning, after not seeing or hearing from him again. He said, "I'm painting the spindles as we speak." At this point, we told him we just wanted him to drop the supplies off at our house and we would finish the job ourselves. Approximately 4:30 that afternoon Suedel returned the bundle of unfinished spindles (no other supplies) that we had paid for at the end of our driveway. He didn't stay to speak with us, even though we were home and in the yard when he came by.