Mark "Skip" Paradise

Don't know how many remodeling contractors collect full payment and then don't finish the work, but Mark(Skip) Paradise is one of them. Don't know how many remodeling contractors don't do the work correctly and then blame others or products for the major problems, but Mark(Skip) Paradise is one of them. Don't know how many remodeling contractors tell you they will "always be there for you", and then don't return calls or texts, but Mark(Skip) Paradise is one of them. There are four condos where Mark(Skip) Paradise did some remodeling work in the complex where I live and Mark has let all of us down. After he completed work on our bathroom we tried using the bathtub. When draining the tub there was water all over the bathroom floor and clothes closet. Mark didn't caulk the rubber gasket in the drain. He had a guy I know tell him how to fix it using plumbers putty. Mark didn't learn anything from this episode since the same thing occurred to another resident who had Mark(Skip) remodel their bathroom. He takes no responsibility as he says the rubber gaskets were defective. Its a rubber gasket made to specifications!! What could be defective. Again, he should have caulked the gasket. Mark(Skip) installed the shower door in our bathroom. Guess what? We had a lot of water on the bathroom floor while we showered. We figured out he didn't do the caulking right and cut the stripping on the bottom of the door too short, allowing gaps for water to get out. Had Mark come and fix it and I told him he cut the stripping short. He replied by saying "we didn't cut it". I caught him in the lie as I showed him where it was cut In addition the grout around the tile is breaking loose. He doesn't protect the flooring and other stuff while doing work. When the bathtub was installed his team removed the protective plastic and the guy doing the tiling got mortar all over the tub. I noticed this after they left. The next day after it had dried a guy scraped it off which took some of the finish off of the acrylic tub. I asked Mark why they removed the protective plastic. He said there wasn't any. He was wrong about that. There is also other minor bits of damage to our tile floor, wood floors, walls, and door jam. The plumbing was done by amateurs and to correct assumptions or error had to cut a hole in the wall behind the shower. One good thing, the guy doing the tiling did a great job. In the other unit where he did remodeling, he has collected all the money he is due and hasn't finished the job. The resident has a hole in her wall due to plumbing problems that had to be fixed. His team also hasn't finished painting. The resident has made many attempts to contact Mark(Skip) Paradise for at least six weeks and Mark has not returned calls or texts. I know this resident well and have texts to support this. Another resident hired Mark(Skip) Paradise to remodel a shower. Three months later he still isn't finished and has collected full payment. The shower is close to being completed, but he had to come back because he initially installed the shower door upside down which left a huge gap at the bottom of the door and allowed water to escape. Again Mark cut the stripping too short. I am told the grouting is cracking and breaking in the new shower as well. The resident has repeatedly left phone messages for Mark(Skip) and hasn't received any replies. I contacted Mark(Skip) this week to tell him I need him to correct mistakes in our bathroom and request that he come back and finish the work for the other condos where he did work. Guess what? He didn't reply. I know this resident well and we talk all the time. Mark(Skip) is a jovial fellow. We were in our condo unit the whole time his team was here doing work. One time a helper didn't show up and Mark had to cut the tile. At one point he sat down to chat for some time while the guy installing the tile had to run outside and back to do the cutting. One time when they were working on our bathroom the two helpers assisting him suddenly stormed out about 10 AM and left for the rest of the day. I asked Mark what that was about and he told me they had to go finish staining a deck before it rained. Before I hired Mark I asked if they would ever leave work here at my home to do work at another site. He assured me they wouldn't do that. I later learned the walkout was due to pay issues. There are other things I could list about his not following up, not doing good work, but like I said he is a nice fellow.

He left the job and was unresponsive about 30% (or so we thought) left. He then tried to get more money and yet had not paid any of his crew. He also used cheap material and masked it as expensive high grade. Upon hiring more painters we found out how much he did that was wrong on an attempt to cheat us. He used window glaze to fill in areas. Said he painted our ceiling but in face only used the primer. He is VERY slick. He would tell us he would have a crew there the next day and never show. The lies got so deep that it was comical except for he was a "premier" painter who did terrible work and did not finish. BE WARE-- this guy is a super slick talker but doesn't pay his crew and will hide behind cheap product to skim every dime - even when you have paid him for the better materials. We kept asking him to get the exterior done because of weather and it was always "yeah, yeah we are going to work inside and hope out" Now it is winter and to cold to do it. All I have is primer up-- mind you this is 6 months later. We had one color of paint. We paid him to do extras like a third coat of trim paint for which he did not do. He tried to lay on one thick coat instead of 2. He used a nasty old roller and it left a gross texture on all my walls. The walls are white so if you can see it on white you know it is bad. We had to sand the walls and start again. Mark or Skip as they call him is nothing short of a terrible painter and can not be trusted. IF you choose to use him check all of his supplies. Do not pay him past the work given no matter what he says. He will not pay his crew and they will not show up. We spoke to another client that he bailed on and they have had the exact experience. There are apparently 2 more that he has done this too at the same time as ours. He drives a Marroon Honda pick up truck. Has long blondish hair and also dangles his mentally challenged son Cory as bait to suck people in. My house will look beautiful now that I am NOT USING MARK "SKIP PARADISE --- I am suing him and doubt I will get a dime but will do so in the hopes of alerting all people to what I truly believe is nothing short of a ponzi like sceam. Oh and on another note.. he was a distant relation so if that isn't salt in a wound. If he would do this to his own "kin" he would do it to anyone. SHAMELESS