handyman service, siding, pressure washing, house painters, roof cleaning
+ 3 moreDescription of Work: United Structures: shady, opportunist, rude, overpriced, bait and switch, fear mongering Let me explain: My experience with United Structures was beyond bad. I feel robbed. I will try to keep this review short. I rarely do reviews, even bad ones, but I felt that this will be a warning for those like me, single woman looking for a honest handyman to do work. That is not what I found with United Structures. First, let me explain that I have had major work done on my house and have worked with some excellent companies. I really have. This November, because of the pandemic, I had fallen behind on maintenance on my house, specifically my gutters and so I opened my Angie’s List app and they sent out: United Structures, supposedly an “A” list company. Dominic came out and he was very polite. I told him I was looking for someone specifically to clean out the gutters and inspect around the gutters and the eves for problems. I pointed out places I wanted checked. I wanted an estimate so we could get started getting any problems resolved. Dominic spent some sometime telling me he had a great deal of experience, but in retrospect where he showed his experience was in bait and switch. It could be explained away that my inexperience with handymen was what made those things that I wanted done my property to not show up on the work list. That is fine, I can take that, but the other things that happened cannot be so easily explained away. While inspecting my gutters and eves, Dominic found dry rot, and we walked about some patching some in the front of the house, suddenly there was possible problems with the roof, and my whole house would REALLY need to be resided. Roof problems, whole house... scary right? Yeah. It seemed crazy to me because all along I have had people work on my house and say my roof was fine, and the south side of my siding needed work. Ok... The south side of my house does get hit by the weather, and I knew because of previous inspections that the siding on south side needed to be patched and painted. After the original gutter clearing was done we had a new estimate for work on the south side of the house (as well as some additional work). I decided to go with United Structures for this big ticket item because December was coming quick and I needed the work done. That was a huge mistake on my part. I should have checked if their name had been changed recently and how many digits in their license (how many years they had been in business under that name). I didn’t and it was stupid of me. Dominic began the work on the siding by power washing it. He patched it messily in only a couple of places. Once he was done with that he said that he was ready to paint. I have never had to do this, but I inspected the paint and noticed that the loose paint was not removed from the siding. I have had the house painted before by professionals, so I knew this was not acceptable. I tried to contact United Structures about the problem and Dominic came out and apologized and got to work on the loose paint. He then taped and covered up the parts of the house that needed it, his tape job made up for my distress about the loose paint, and he and another person began to paint the house using an air compressor. Then he said they were done. What I saw now was pretty disturbing to me. The siding looked good, but on close inspection, he had airbrushed only a thin layer of paint on the siding, they also left the edge of the siding raw and exposed. I understood now why he said that my siding would not outlast his paint job. It shocked me when he said it, because I have painted this house before and know my siding well. I knew the siding needed patching and paint, but replace the siding on whole the house? I asked myself “This south facing siding would not last two years after patching and painting?” I now was uncomfortable and emailed the office. I began to get snooty responses from the office. It was not until I mentioned to Dominic that I would not be paying the second half of the payment till the job was complete that he said he would come out to fix the problem. (At this point he asked me, “out of context” and concern for me if my credit score was good.). I told him it was excellent not considering why he was asking me that. He came out and fixed some of the rough parts that should have been fixed and then he hand rolled the edges of the siding. It took him two times to come out and do this because I had inspected it again and it was not complete. I tried to be polite but by this time it started to dawn I. Ne what was happening here. I wanted this complete and was paying a lot of money. The result: currently the south side of my house looks half airbrushed (a REALLY thin layer of paint, and MY paint - another story), and the edges of the siding are thickly painted with a roller. The south side of my house looks like I hired children to paint it. The edges are painted thickly but against that thin layer of airbrush it looks like a wall that had painted over graffiti. This is unacceptable and I would like a full refund of the money for the horrible job they did on the south side of my house. I have had wonderful handymen and painters work on my house. I had “College Pros” come out last time to paint my house and they did A TERRIFIC job. It has lasted, even on the back side of my house at least a decade. I did not have to tell College Pros to remove loose paint, or coat the siding completely including the edges. I won’t belabor this anymore It should be obvious to you that the paint job that was done my house was not a professional one. I paid a lot to get my house painted professionally. Now? I wouldn’t have United Structures paint my shed never mind clean out my gutters. In retrospect, United Structures appears to be a small company acting like an big one. When they heard a single woman trying to get work done quickly I think they heard “CHA-CHING!” Angie’s “A” ratings only mean that those who have bad experience were talked into removing their bad reviews. I have had this happen so I know it. I thought it was a fluke. Do your self a favor and don’t make the mistake I did. Use word of mouth, and get multiple quotes, don’t rush and end up prey to used snake-oil handymen like United Structures. You have been warned. It was an expensive lesson. Please learn from my experience.