Chris Picolo

Chris was punctual in that he arrived early in the morning (though we did not know what days he would be here). He was professional in terms of his equipment and knowledge (he's not a weekend DIYer). That's about it for the 'pro's. Communication/responsiveness was a large problem. Your only hope of talking to Chris was leaving voicemails. When our shower started leaking through the ceiling our voicemails went un-returned. We were only able to get him to come out by calling our FHA loan advisor who got in touch with Chris directly. Quality is/was a mixed bag: - Chris did a great job hooking up our dishwasher. - Chris patched some holes in drywall in various rooms (good) but never sanded them down (pain in the butt). - The aluminum flashing has held up. The caulk job around the flashing is extremely messy, so much so that 3 painting contractors have cited it as an additional cost to trim back and clean up. - The bathroom he basically built from studs looks good, but has lots of functional issues. The tile floor is nice, the toilet, sink, exhaust fan/light, vanity light and general drywall are all sound. The attention paid to spackling the window recess was especially good and must have taken a long time. The electrical cutouts he made (outlet, switch) are SO oversized that not even 'jumbo' plates/covers cover them. I'm going to have to 'make wall' with spackle and then repaint before replacing the covers. The plastic dual-gang lightswitch box he installed was also broken and left in place (not a huge issue, but the switches 'give' when used. will eventually need to replace). The BIG issue: The ceramic tile shower bed is not watertight and leaks through the floor/ceiling into our kitchen. No amount of caulk will hold it back. he warranty on his work as mandated by the FHA has lapsed so it looks like we're looking at an extremely costly repair that we'll have to shoulder ourselves. - Chris replaced the top piece of a recessed window frame that was damaged due to a leak (something he believed the flashing would fix). The leak was not fixed, and we will again need to replace this window piece. The 'C' on professionalism is generous. His use of ladders outside the house created dents in our siding everywhere he worked (confirmed via before and after pics). He encountered some problems during the bathroom reno that required him to bust through other ceilings/walls/floors to fix: - The floor he busted through was comically unprofessional. He cut out sub-floor with some kind of rough tool, then screwed an oversized piece of plywood on top of the rough opening. Upon discovering this when we re-did carpet I removed the 'fix,' made a clean cut around his service entry, created appropriate braces and replaced the sub-floor. This took a day and required re-scheduling the carpet installers. - The wall he busted through was re-spackled but never sanded. - The ceiling he busted through was really never re-finished. Since it's leaking water again we'll have to replace it anyway. How convenient!

I had questioned his work for the beginning because he wasn't going to put down a sub floor. He gave me his reason why he wasn't going to use a sub floor. He finished the job and I did the clean up of the grout because he told me that couldn't do the clean up. I realized that all of the tiles were uneven and the tiles were not set right. I noticed that the floor wasn't leveled. I questioned him why it wasn't leveled and he gave me his reasons. He told me that he was going to correct the job but he would never return my many calls. I finally got ahold of him and he came to my house. He agreed that it wasn't the best job that he has done. He wanted me to pay for the tile to correct the job. I had supplied the tiles and material and I paid for his labor only. My foyer still has not been corrected.