DECK MAGIC

I saw the advertisements and before/after pictures for Deck Magic. My 16 year old deck had been painted by me every two years, but I was unhappy with the results. The advertisement pictures were so appealing that I decided to have a professional do the job. When I called, I told them my deck needed some "magic". I was appalled at the $600 estimate I was presented with, but being gullible I thought that for that much to just paint, I would certainly get some awesome results. Not so. I could have done it as well myself by power-washing and then painting. I was disappointed and feel the cost to merely wash and paint a 20X12 deck was pretty outrageous. Learned my lesson. Sorry I didn't have Angie's List back then.

To say that Jim's employees are incompetent is to be far too kind. The work wasn't just bad it was devastatingly bad-and dangerous. They cut a whole in my house to fit the french door. They did not put a header and as you might imagine the weight of the second and the third stories eventually caused buckling. And inexcusably when it would rain, I would have large worms on my new white carpet in my family room. I called them out about the worms...I did not know about the header just yet. wait, it gets worse The deck they built was a second story deck. They did not bother to dig the post holes to the proper depth, the deck listed towards the house. I called them back and they said it was fine, all in my head. wait it gets much worse they did not flash the deck where they bolted it to the side of the house. When it rained, the water was running into the house between the exterior insulation and my interior drywall in the family room. Called Jim back and said why does it smell so wet in the family room-lady its spring and it rains. THE SMELL WAS BLACK MOLD GROWING INSIDE THE WALLS. but I dd not know it yet. I finally called a commercial engineer (Jim said all of the other folks who looked at his work had an ax to grind) The engineer told me the deck was structurally not sound, there was not a header and the house was beginning to buckle under the weight of the dining room sliders and huge windows in the two story great room. He also told me to immediately get a mold specialist and a lawyer and I probably should leave the house as he could smell the mold. I sued Jim's insurance company and they wrote a check. But Jim never took responsibility or learned from what he did to me. Under the terms of the agreement I cannot name the insurance company but I am free to tell you what Deck Magic did to my home. It took well more than a year and thousands of dollars upfront to get the insurance company to finally pay. I had two summers without an HVAC system as it had to be sealed because of the mold, they took off the back of my house to the studs for the mold remediation. It was devastating, no birthdays or holidays for nearly three years. Jim never had a consequence beyond losing his insurance relationship. Hire this man at your own, substantial risk. All of this is public record, he was sued in Allegheny County.

The company basically failed to execute the work well, and it came down to poor painting. Jim was great on the phone, and professional, but things we discussed did not happen (repair of deck lighting) and I had them come back several times until it became clear to me that they weren't going to be able to satisfy me. They were willing to come back a few times but it was ineffective (mostly). Issues: 1) Quality of the painting--I think they just didn't pressure wash and sand the old stain adequately--when you paint over peeling paint, it will peel right back off--we had this happen immediately and this was one thing I gave up on having them come back for. To be fair, the kid they sent first to do the detail paint work (with a brush, around the edges) was really careful and well done. There were footprints in the painted areas, which probably they should know how to avoid as professionals. 2) Sloppy paint application - they used an airbrush, which meant they got paint on the patio door and deck lighting fixture covers. Not a little, either, in some cases. They had to come back to clean this stuff up, they had to be told to do this. I still have brown-painted light bulbs (they sometimes took the cover off before painting but left the bulbs in place). 3) Didn't do anything about the lights--I understand that they couldn't find new covers for the lights (I tried online previously), but there was no effort to do anything further--if it were me I would have suggested installing new lights (I would have been open to this) but aside from a quick mention of "we couldn't find them" there was no further mention, and the fact that they just painted over the lights shows they weren't thinking about the big picture--I'm spending money to have the deck maintained, so why would I want broken lights? They did not charge or include the lights on the initial estimate, so maybe this was my fault for not pushing them on it--but they're the experts. 4) Payment--I'm a rube for even doing this, but I gave them a credit card number instead of paying them by check--they charged half up front and promised not to charge the remainder until the work was completed. If I'd paid by check I could have with-held payment until it looked better. They did wait until their first attempt was over to charge the remainder, but then they did charge my card--before I signed off on the job (I never did sign the paperwork acknowledging that it was complete, as I recall). I had them come back and come back, but they had already charged me for the remainder of the work despite my dissatisfaction with it.

We had a pretty good experience with Deck Magic. The Owner met with us at our home and gave us an estimate on site and discussed various options for stain products. The work was performed within a month of signing a contract. I did have to call to have them come back to pressure wash a second time because they did not get every area. At first the owner said they would "touch up" the dirty areas before they painted, but when I insisted he did send them out a second time. His workmen were courteous, neat, and worked quickly. They did the staining on a Saturday and completed it in one day. They did have to come back to touch up a few areas but overall it was a job well done.

just bad!!!!!

They did a terrific job. They were a very professional group of guys. They were knowledgeable and experienced. They were protective of my things.

I have two 10 year old (upper and lower) decks and privacy fencing. I met with the owner first, very professional and courteous, he examined the decks carefully and provided an estimate. The workers were prompt, skilled, and went "above and beyond" to answer my questions. Mark was great! The carpentry work was solid and high quality, I know it will last. They provided samples of their deck stains, walked me through the process and provided a timeframe from start to finish. The workers paid attention to detail, worked efficiently and effectively. They even made certain everything was neat and clean...then walked with me to review all that was done. I am very happy with the results, my decks are beautiful, I love the stain and the new railings. At the end, the final price matched the estimate I was provided. I would recommend Deck Magic to anyone.

They were prompt and timely, They did a good job in the repair work. The staining and sealing left a lot to be desired, as well as some other minor problems.

Everything was done very professional, from the initial phone call through completion of every job, big or small.

Overall the experience was good.

Total disaster. I ended up suing in Allegheny County. He never closed up the opening from the attached deck, he did not flash my deck and water seeped into the walls onto the drywall and black mold developed. My homeowners cancelled me because black mold made my home worthless. They sealed off my family room and my HVAC system was so clogged with mold it had to be removed. The deck was supposed to be three feet in the ground-the deepest hole was ten inches. The deck listed towards the house and was unstable. After suing the entire deck was torn down and my family room was stripped to the studs, ceiling removed and down to the cement floor and totally rebuilt. The exterior wall was removed to the middle of the second floor. Black mold cannot be cleaned it must be removed-literally by men in white suits with respirators. This is a dangerous company.

It was a total nightmare. They did not install a header in the new opening, causing the doors to buckle under the weight of the two story great room above! Also, they built a deck (seperate nightmare) and put the dirt in front of the doors. Every time it rained hard, mud, bugs, and huge earthworms were driven through the ill-fitted, non-level, nowhere-near-plumb doors onto my new light beige carpeting. Disgusting. I gave them every opportunity to make it right before I sued them (his insurance company). I won, but it took its toll and a lot of time. I notified the BBB of all of this and they gave him a pass, because the insurance company wrote me a big check. That big check did not take into account the unforseen damage and all of the time I can never get back. I had an engineer come out and give me an independent assessment. He told me that I needed to get a contractor ASAP to shore up over the door before the damage became irreversible. He also told me to get a lawyer.

UNSATISFIED. GOOD NEIGHBOR REFUSED TO REDUCE PRICE WHEN I INFORMED THEM BEFORE STARTING JOB THAT I WAS DECLINING TO HAVE SOME OF THE ESTIMATED WORK DONE. CAULKING WAS NOT DONE CORRECTLY EVEN AFTER THEY RETURNED TO FILL OBVIOUS GAPS.