R&L CONTRACTORS

Run from this contractor! Let me explain why. First of all I showed him what needed to be done and then went to my home office as had phone meetings in the am. When I went down to check periodically he really hadn't done what I asked him to do. For example, I saw that he had started painting by the fireplace and I mentioned that he was supposed to spackle/sand where the tape was coming up, but he never did it. In fact he didn't finished sanding the few spots that I had showed him that needed to be done also. Hmmmm not good, sloppy work....... Around noonish he told he was finished. He mentioned something about my husband going out for more paint and not coming back with it, but I looked at him quizzically and said my husband had told you I was going to get more paint and and I showed him where I had put it, and also reminded him that I had told him when I came home that I was putting it on the counter. Mind you he was using my kitchen sink for cleaning up (although we had told him to use the bathroom/laundry room) and the paint can was right there! At this point it finally dawned on me that he did not understand English so he didn't know what we were saying. Or maybe pretending not to know English?? So around 12:15 he told me he was finished. He had just painted the walls and sloppily put the silicone on the molding around the windows and ceiling trim. He told me he couldn't paint over it until the next day as it would peel. I checked the silicone container instructions and it said to wait 30 minutes and then ok to paint over it.,,,, I told him that the special was for 8 hours of painting but he said his boss told him to leave after painting just the walls. He also told me for the price I paid he wasn't going to do anymore work. I tried to show him the email Angies List had sent me with the special but he didn't want to even look at it. He proceeded to tell me he was going to take pictures and I told him he didn't have permission to do so, He said he already took pictures of my family room with his phone and I said he didn't ask me if he could so I said I was going to call the police. He then proceeded to drive his van over my lawn to leave (My car was parked in back of his in the driveway) but stopped and parked out front when he saw the police arrive. They made him delete the photos when I told them he didn't have my permission as he didn't ask. They also did a check on his van and told me that he was the owner of the R&;L Contractors and that he had been lying about just being a worker and also lying about calling his "boss" regarding the special!! I remembered the business card he had given me when he arrived that I had put in my pocket. I checked it and indeed it did have his name as the owner! The police told me they were going to write up a report. Let me end by saying I have used Angie's List many times and have had great work done. When I called Angie's List they agreed that R& L Contractors should fulfill the 8 hours of work. They they told me to write a review of what happened and they also told me Angie's List guarantees the service quality and if I am not satisfied they will either work with us to resolve the quality issue me a refund. Note: I received a full refund from Angie's List from this contractor. However I am not sure why they are still letting him advertise on their site?

Overall a lousy experience! He was dishonest and a liar. Read on to hear why I had to call the police.... First of all I had phone meetings in the am but when I went down to check periodically he really wasn't doing what I asked him to do. For example, I saw that he had started painting by the fireplace and I mentioned that he was supposed to spackle/sand where the tape was coming up, but he never did it. In fact he didn't finished sanding the few spots that I had showed him that needed to be done also. Hmmmm not good, sloppy work....... Around noonish he told he was finished. He mentioned something about my husband going out for more paint and not coming back with it, but I looked at him quizzically and said my husband had told you I was going to get more paint and and I showed him where I had put it, and also reminded him that I had told him when I came home (9:30) that I was putting it on the counter. Mind you he was using my kitchen sink for cleaning up (although we had told him to use the bathroom) and the paint can was right there! At this point it finally dawned on me that he did not understand English so he didn't know what we were saying. Or maybe pretending not to know English?? So around 12:15 he told me he was finished. He had just painted the walls and sloppily put the silicone on the molding around the windows and ceiling trim. He told me he couldn't paint over it until the next day as it would peel. I checked the silicone container instructions and it said to wait 30 minutes and then ok to paint over it.,,,, I told him that the special was for 8 hours of painting but he said his boss told him to leave after painting just the walls. I asked him to call his boss and to remind him what the special said, but he said his boss was not answering. He also told me for the price I paid he wasn't going to do anymore work. I tried to show him the email Angies List had sent me with the special but he didn't want to even look at it. He proceeded to tell me he was going to take pictures and I told him he didn't have permission to do so, He said he already took pictures of my family room with his phone and I said he didn't ask me if he could so I said I was going to call the police. He then proceeded to drive his van over my lawn to leave (My car was parked in back of his in the driveway) but stopped and parked out front when he saw the police arrive. They made him delete the photos when I told them he didn't have my permission as he didn't ask. They were also going to write up a report. They also did a check on him and found out he was lying as he was the BOSS - the owner of the company. He had been lying about calling his boss because he was the owner. I even saw checked his business card that he left me and it did say he was the owner. Let me end by saying I have used Angie's List many times and have had great work done. Today when I called Angie's List they agreed that R&L Contractors should fulfill the 8 hours of work. They they told me to write a review of what happened and they also told me Angie's List guarantees the service quality and if I am not satisfied they will either work with us to resolve the quality issue me a refund.

Eduardo's team is very professional, punctual, and helpful. They go above and beyond to get the job done in a reasonable amount of time. What I especially like is their work ethic. If there is an issue, it is taken care of immediately. As a whole the group is very easy to work with and actually care about doing a good job and providing good service. The only negative I have, is sometimes at the end of the day they don't clean up as well as I would like. Since the price was more than fair and the ease of doing business, I can certainly overlook a little bit of construction mess. "A" rating in my book.

I can't say enough good things about Eduardo Lucas, the owner of RL Contractors, and his team.  He is incredibly conscientious, detail-oriented, hard-working, accessible, knowledgeable and kind - and he has a reliable and stable team that works with him. 

Notable aspects of my experience with RLC:

• Eduardo has a good eye for design and made many changes to the design that were right-on; he also has a very gentle but persistent way of letting you know when you're making a bad design choice.
• Eduardo's team built an actual wall for dust protection before they started demo.
• His team picked up items from all over the Metro area - from tile in Manassas to a door in Silver Spring.  And for items that he ordered, he passed on the contractor discounts he received.
• They were very skilled at working with and creatively modifying IKEA cabinets.
• Eduardo is extremely accessible: by phone, text and email - even on the weekends (the few times when I had to contact him over the weekend).
• His price was very reasonable, and I had about 10 estimates to compare it to.
• RL Contractors is licensed and insured.
• They never complained about working in DC (and in an area where parking is a nightmare, no less).
• Nor did he complain or have trouble working on the third floor of a 110-year old walk-up.
• Eduardo had great recommendations including a tile store, flooring store and countertop company.  I was happy and got good service and prices with all of them.
• They found creative solutions to all sorts of challenges, including figuring out how to raise all my base cabinets and appliances about 3 inches off the ground, and were always willing to redo something that didn't quite work.

I waded through a bunch of estimates and contractors, and I feel incredibly lucky to have found Eduardo.  From the start to the end, Eduardo was forthright, thorough and a true professional in everything he did. My kitchen looks beautiful; I couldn't be happier.

The bathroom looks great. The contractor is very pleasant and takes great pride in his work. The work was timely as the contractor wants to finish. He offers good prices on the labor and you buy the material such as cabinets, countertops etc. He offers good advice on updates, colors etc. He has been used by 2 more people I recommended and all were quite happy with the work and delivery time. He does all types of remodeling and I would certainly use him again.