CEDAR BEAUTIFUL

Dan and Cedar Beautiful did a very good job, were very professional and delivered as promised. I really liked their work. my only complaint would be the pricepoint. Estimates came in well over other estimates received - but Dan was willing to negotiate some. the reason I chose this company was that I wanted the stain/seal applied by brush and he was the only provider that specifically put that in the bid. bottom line - Dan caters to higher end clientelle than where I live :)... so you will pay for the advertising, etc that comes with that. No complaints - just be aware this service will cost more. I found it to be worth it.

Mr. Dan Novara, owner of Cedar Beautiful, gave us an estimate for pressure washing and staining the deck on our home on March 26, 2008. The pressure washing was done on Friday, March 28th, 2008 with the staining done on Saturday, March 29, 2008. During the estimate process, Mr. Novara went to great lengths to educate me on the poor quality of the stain that had previously been used on the deck (Hood's Semi-Transparent Deck & Siding Stain). He explained that the best thing to be done would be to strip all of the stain off and redo the deck. However, since we are moving and are in the process of selling our house, he stated that he would just pressure wash and re-stain with the stain previously used on the deck. The estimate was for $955, which included pressure washing, applying 1 coat of the stain by brush, and the cost of the stain. They were expedient about giving the estimate and getting the work done. However, I noticed that the deck floor did not take the stain very well and would need a second coat. I left a voice mail message to his business number on Monday morning, March 31st. At this point, Mr. Novara was so not expedient and never returned my call. I again called him on Tuesday, April 8th around noon. When I again couldn't reach him, I went ahead and called his cell phone number. During that conversation, Mr. Novara told me that he couldn't help it, that it was due to the poor quality of the stain, and that he would charge me $175 to come back and re-stain the deck floor. I told him I would let him know if I wanted to do that. I left another message for Mr. Novara today, Wednesday, April 23, 2008. I told him in my message that he was so knowledgeable about the type of stain that was on my deck, and had gone to such great lengths to educate me on the poor quality of it, that he should have had a good idea that the floor would need another coat and should have included that in his estimate. In his return voice mail to me this afternoon, Mr. Novara stated that there was "absolutely no way" he could have known that the stain wouldn't cover adequately and that he would not come out and put another coat on the deck floor without charging me $175. I think he probably had a good idea that the deck floor may very well have required 2 coats. At the least, I think he should have been able to tell that certain areas of the deck floor would need a second coat while he was doing it, as there are areas that took up very little of the stain. I had no idea that "apply 1 coat" literally meant they would only go over each area of the deck ONE TIME with stain. In short, I don't feel I should have to pay another $175 to Mr. Novara to get him to do the job correctly.