SWEET SUCCESS CONTRACTORS

Chris performed the work as contracted. He was professional in all aspects: prompt, efficient, tidy, dependable, etc. He arrived and departed when he said he would. He did not cut corners. The results of his efforts transformed the curb appeal of my home. The individuals he has working for him work together as a team and the results show. This was a messy, dirty process and when all was said and done, my property was clean. I would recommend Sweet Success Contractors to anyone considering exterior painting. I would especially recommend this business for anyone with an older home whose needs exterior paint restoration. Chris performs all the necessary preparation, even sanding to bare wood if necessary to ensure that the surface is properly prepared to receive the paint.

Mr. Dallaba, owver and main contractor for Sweet Success Contractors, looked over the project in the Fall of 2012 and provided an estimate for the work. I was immediately impressed with his attention to detail and suggestions for the scope of the project. I had an unual existing stain on the deck, and he indicated he would need to research the proper reapplication of this product on the deck. The deck had not been cared for in over 10 years and required both repair and reapplication of the deck stain. The estimate was about what I expected to pay for the project, but over other estimates I received. I chose this contractor due to reputation and initial opinions of his professionalism. In the Spring of 2013, we initiated the work on the deck. He had one helper. The job, including removing trellises, cleaning, sanding, and reapplication of stain lasted 2-3 weeks (based on the weather). The work was completed neatly and the contractor was very professional. He was available for questions and concerns through the work and after the project was completed, the workspace was clear and clean. We are pleased with the quality of the repair and work. While did provide an estimate of the work and was on budget, I would have liked a written, typed accounting of all of the repairs/rennovation. We ended up paying for more stain than was applied, but I imagine this can be used in the next several years for touch up and/or reapplication. There was a mild add-on suggestion (paint the metal i-beams below the deck), which I thought was appropriate. We utilized angie's list for this contractor and were provided a discount for services. We recommend this contractor highly and we will use the contractor in the future.

Chris and his team are tremendous. This is the second time that we have had this firm do work for us and we would not hesitate to do so again. The team is friendly, professional and meticulous. Chris maintains a good line of communication and addresses all concerns. The wood repair work is literally second to none. Some may find that this firm is a little higher in price than others but they are worth every penny as the quality of their work is superior to anybody else I have worked with.

We wanted the privacy wall and support posts to match the floor and railings of the deck, and it now looks great. The job was done in the amount of time and within the estimated price range we were initially given, and the contractors were very professional and trustworthy, having access to our home while we were at work for most of the time. The door hinges squeaked loudly and they were able to correct that problem too and provided advice on how to fix in the future.

It went very well. They were professional, kept me informed during the process and cleaned up afterward. Almost everything was moved into the dining room. What wasn't moved was covered with plastic. A large sheet of plastic was taped to the doorway between the living room and dining room to contain dust & debris. The only item to be added that day was the cost of insulation. The cost was minor and installation didn't affect the timeline of the project. It took a little less than 1 workday and looks wonderful.

It went very well. They moved almost everything into the dining room and what wasn't moved, was completely covered. A large piece of plastic was taped over the doorway between the dining room and living room to keep dust and debris contained. I thought they were professional and kept me informed during the process. The only extra thing to be added was the cost of some insulation that had to be purchased that day. The cost was minor and installation did not significantly affect the length of the repair.

After receiving estimates from 3 contractors, I selected Chris due to his professionalism and thoughtfulness. I needed someone trustworthy to perform the job properly and Chris gave me the confidence that his team could handle it. As the crew began to remove the the cracking stucco, the Sweet Success team ran into a few concerns, including a power line that was close to the repair area. Chris called me back to site and carefully explained all of my options. He then gave me time to consider how I wanted to proceed with the job. Once the electric company covered the power line with a protective cover, Sweet Success was able to continue with the job. The entire thing was completed in 5 days (including the initial demolition day) and all went according to plan. Although Chris warned me that the new paint color would not match the original wall color exactly, I was pleasantly surprised with the final results. I was also pleased to see that team cleaned up the site very well when finished. Sweet Success was extremely timely and professional throughout the process. I would definitely recommend them to anyone looking for quality work.

I bought this house thinking that I would be able to take down the wallpaper, sand the walls, and patch them up. As the layers of wallpaper started coming off, I realized that the plaster was severely damaged underneath and that there was old water damage/mold in some places (I wanted a 105 year old house...so I knew some things would need work!). I knew it was time to get some professional help. I called Chris because of his positive reviews on Angie's List, and I am THRILLED that I did. I've heard horror stories of contractors that didn't get/follow your vision for the space or did "okay" work, but I had the complete opposite experience. Chris responded timely to my calls, and he was able to give me advice on how to deal with the water damage (start at the top and work our way down). He gave me the number of a roofer (who was excellent) and as soon as the roofer was done, Chris came out and checked out my walls (that afternoon!). He agreed to work on the water-damaged walls, but was booked through the summer doing exterior work (I can now see why he's so popular!) so if it rained, he would come by to do some of my interior work. Luckily, it rained and Chris is a super-fast worker. He was able to remove ALL of the wallpaper in my house (it was seriously everywhere) and fix ALL of the walls (cracks, damaged plaster, etc.) including priming them to the colors I wanted. Walking through the house now, it feels like I'm living in a new-build home, not a 105 year old house. It really is all thanks to Chris.

Chris and his crew were able to completely repair the interior of our bedroom after an ice dam caused a leak the previous winter. They showed up on time, stayed a full day (usually from about 8:30 to 4:00) and completely cleaned up after themselves at the end of the job. We were particularly impressed with their ability to restore the finish on part of our bedroom window to match the remaining antique patina on the rest of it - the damaged portion is indistinguishable from the rest of the window that is still sporting its 100+ year old finish.

The entire experience was great - the work was done when they said it would be done, and the final bill matched the estimate. The quality of the work was excellent - especially the painting, which far exceeded the quality of the original pain job in the house.

I was not prepared for Chris' arrival on Monday morning but he took that in stride and started moving furniture and paintings quickly and started work in no time. I have a lot of stuff in my house, and there were no complaints or delays. The work was done quickly-can I say that enough?- and with quality. Chris brought in his hepa filtered sweeper for lead paint removal and plenty of fans and painting tools. The paint work is excellent and neat. The clean up was as good as expected and I couldn't be happier with the completion. The plaster dust was cleaned up constantly and there was no paint chips or plaster pieces anywhere. I hope to use Chris in the future for another job I have planned. His work is really good, quickly done and nicely cleaned up.

Arrived on time, work was performed according to plan, did a nice job. Very professional and knowledgeable.

This was the third job Sweet Success has done for us. Each time we have been very pleased. They are very professional, knowledgable, and do a quality job. They watch for the details, and obviously take pride in their work, and justifiably so. We would highly recommend them to anyone interested in quality work.

No issues - was about a one-week job, all told. They focused 100% of their attention on the job, working 7-5 every day until it was complete.

Short version, Sweet Success Contractors did a great job and I would hire them again the in the future. This is the bottom line. Given the time and effort, quality of work and focus on one job at a time; we felt that we received excellent value for what we paid. Chris and his team were flexible, respectful, did the work on schedule and well within estimate, and cleaned up after their work at the end. His assistants were clean cut and responsible, and we felt OK having them working in our home when we were not home. Longer version: We found this contractor through Angie's list. They had high ratings from others, and it appeared that the vendor was actively responding to many reviews, including ones that were negative--the responses seemed reasonable and I appreciated that the vendor was aware of and participating in the Angie's List community. These responses gave me an insight into the contractor's personality/philosophy and it led me to contact them for a quote. He offered an Angie's List discount but this did not factor into our decision to hire him. Chris Dallaba (owner of Sweet Success) came to our home the Saturday after we called--we walked through the home together and my wife and I pointed out areas we wanted to work on. After this, Chris lent me his portfolio (photos of prior work) while he went through the house on his own and did a detailed estimate. It was not a passive estimate--there were things that I was expected to purchase to make sure that it was what I wanted (kitchen sink/faucet, door hardware). There were places where we initially wanted "repair" or repainting of just part of a wall--Chris correctly pointed out that the best result would only be possible by repainting an entire wall. This is important--while he is cost conscious, Chris was unwilling to cut corners by doing work that would not have a good cosmetic outcome. If one wants the corners cut, there are other contractors for this. I think that Sweet Success's strength is their ability to achieve superior cosmetic results--trying to match mismatched paints in the middle of a wall is nearly impossible, so they do not waste time trying then failing. I vastly prefer this approach to that of others who I have hired, where they fail to make a good end result and gloss over it or tell me not to expect any miracles. I prefer this approach because it's more honest and the end results are more in line with expectations. They started work the next week, and moved in a large amount of equipment in a neat and organized fashion. The work went for just over 2 weeks, which was what we were quoted. It was difficult to have folks in the house for 2 weeks, but they worked around us in terms of scheduling, and also in terms of when rooms were worked on or sealed off, and they gave us advance notice so we could clear out rooms for them to work. Chris and his second assistant were accessible and responded to concerns (this was our first time having lengthy work performed and it was our first positive contractor experience of any size). There three people, and there was a hierarchy (Chris, then Jason, then Justin). It was a well organized operation. There were minor glitches, but once everything was cleaned up and tools moved back out, the work spoke for itself. Chris and I walked through the house and he went over the work done in a very itemized fashion. I had the original estimate for comparison, but he also listed original estimates as well. It was a very organized conclusion, and I appreciated it. Financial terms were reasonable and simple--a third at the start, a third at halfway, and a third at completion. I may edit this in the future, but I think this encapsulates the experience.

I was very pleased with the outcome of the job. The quality of the work from Sweet Success was top notch. Chris estimated each part of the job so I could pick and choose what I wanted them to do. He provided a price range for each portion, and did a good job of staying within those ranges. I originally selected Chris/Sweet Success because he pointed out some very important aspects of the repair work that other contractors did not pick up on. I could tell that he was committed to to doing the job right.

This is the second time that I've worked with Chris, and I am very happy with how everything went. Shortly after I contacted him, Chris came and did the estimates. He was thorough and gave me a clear explanation of what to expect. He gave me a range of pricing because he was not sure whether we might be unpleasantly surprised when working on the attic (e.g., black mold, rotting wood, etc.). The work started about a week after. The crew was careful to move out the smaller furniture and cover up everything else. The work was completed professionally. Lucky for me, there was no surprises in the attic, so we came in well within the estimated budget. While working on the two water damaged areas, Chris also noticed a rough patching job in another guest room and offered to smooth it out for me. Everything went well. The rooms look great -- you can't tell that they've been patched at all. At the end of the job, the workers were careful to put everything back where they belonged and vacuumed thoroughly. I'd be happy to hire Sweet Success again when I am ready to renovate my attic.

The overall process and efficiency of the team was great Will definitely contact them again for other related work tasks.

My son called Chris for an estimate in early February. He came over the following day to take a look and told us he could fit us in the schedule in about 3 weeks. The estimate was reasonable and since we had been so pleased with their previous work asked him to schedule us and let us know when they could come. On 2/13 he called and said they could start on 2/14 and it would take about 2 days work. They arrived at 8 am, putting down drop cloths to ameliorate the dirt as much as possible. They worked thru the day leaving at about 5 pm. They were back at 7 am on 2/15 and finished the job by midafternoon. We are again very well satisfied with their work and attention to what needed to be done. They even put up a long ladder outside the house to facilitate finishing the caulking they had to do around a window. We are very pleased with their work and would hire Chris and his crew again if the need arises.

I'm very satisfied with the quality of the work done and the manner in which it was done. The fixed up areas look super, putting to shame some untouched nearby areas. Times were respected and it was a very professional job. Not the cheapest, but I think it was excellent value and I will gladly have them back for future work.

I was called on January 24th 2013 to say he would be at our home on Monday 28th 2013 between 8 ans 9 a.m. and true to his word, he and his two workers appeared! While the staff proceeded to take down our ceiling tiles, I pointed out a spot on the drywall behind the kitchen sink that had a gap between the marble windowsill and the dry wall which he said he could calk and paint. Chris than went to Home Depot which is very close, bought the calk and new screen door handle. He than replaced the handle and had his workers calk and paint the trouble spot beneath the windowsill. The work started at approx. 9:00 a.m. and was finished by 10:30 with everything cleaned and restored including a light fixture and a smoke/carbon monoxide detector. The staff vacuumed and mopped the floor and removed all the old building materials!! Was very happy with all the outcome, and would call Sweet Success again should the need arise!! The price also included a deduction for being a member of Angie's List!

I contacted Chris via email through Angie's List on a Sunday night, and I received a response via email on Tuesday morning. He wanted to go over information via phone which is difficult for me because of my workday, so he was very nice and did what he could to gather information via email. He was very friendly in his emails, which was a nice change from the email responses I had received from other companies. I provided the information he needed and gave my phone numbers so he could contact me for additional questions and to set up an appointment. He called just before 8:00 PM on Thursday. When I called back a few minutes later and spoke to him, I was answering a few questions about when we wanted the job completed and mentioned that while we wanted ASAP, if the company we got the best price from was booked, we could be a little flexible for the early January timeframe instead. Chris' response was very surprising -- he proceeded to, in a tone that I interpreted as slightly condescending, go on about how his is not a commodity company, it's a quality company that doesn't compete on price but focuses on quality and customer service instead. I was a little speechless by how aggressive the statements had come off, and so I asked him if he found that his prices were higher than other companies and he said "oh yes, much". Nothing else to spin the statement, like "we charge more but feel you're going to get a better result and service experience, so you won't regret the price". To me, it sounded as if he was almost offended that I would be shopping around and using price as a driving factor for my decision. In the end I did not set up an appointment for an estimate so I have no idea what he would have charged. It just didn't seem like we were on the same page so I felt it was better to pursue the work with a different company.

I called this contractor and left a message for them to call me back and the call was returned within a few days. (I forget the exact timeline.) An appointment was setup during his lunch break shortly thereafter. He arrived on time for our estimate appointment. Before starting the estimate he asked to use the restroom. I thought, no big deal. I heard the water run in the sink as soon as he entered. Again, no big deal. "Maybe he wants to wash his hands first," I thought, but the water ran for quite a while. He was in there long enough that it was obvious he was not just urinating. Later that evening when my wife and I returned from work, she noticed the window in the bathroom (on the first floor) was open. He must have opened that while using the restroom and left it open. We view this a breach of our home security. It's not a problem that he used the restroom, it just seemed unprofessional for an estimate meeting. I would have expected for that to have been taken care of before entering our house to perform an estimate. We walked through the house, and I pointed out all of the areas we wanted fixed. He suggested that the water damage to the ceiling would be covered by home insurance. Even though water damage was pretty well contained to an area of about 4ft x 4ft, he suggested that the whole ceiling be replaced (20 ft x 10ft, approximately). (I'm not suggesting there was/is a connection between these two observations, just what I observed.) After pointing out all of the areas we wanted addressed, he gave me a portfolio of images from his previous jobs. All of which looked impressive, by the way. He gave me a written estimate, but only had one page of invoice paper on which to write. (He needed two.) He gave the remainder of the estimate on a piece of notebook paper, but did later e-mail the remainder of the estimate to me. Overall, a good experience, just seemed to lack professionalism once at our house.

From the start, my experience with this contactor was great. They were responsive, punctual, diligent, and thorough. I had other estimates that would not have completed the garage as well. They were on time every day and worked hard. They also did a great clean-up job. It wasn't the least expensive estimate, but the results were well worth it.

Chris came out to do an estimate - and then returned later to do the work. He did the work within the estimated project cost - despite the damage being a bit more than he originally anticipated, I believe - and within the timeframe that he told me he would be on-site. I did not have to reach out to him - he checked back in with me to finalize and schedule the job. I was very pleased with the end product. Chris also took great care to clean the workspace when he was finished and to minimize the disruption.