CJ's Home Maintenance

Clarence had done some masonry and yard work for me previously which was satisfactory. He tried to expand and hired people to do the work for him. Unless he supervised the quality of work was fair to poor.

He initially came to install a ceiling fan in my bathroom. He installed it, but hooked the wires up wrong and had to take the entire thing down again. This should have been my first clue. I told him that I was going to paint and he asked if I wanted him to do it, so I asked him for an estimate. He gave me an estimate and we agreed on a price. He took the popcorn off the ceilings first and then painted. This took MONTHS to do, as each week he would call and say he needed to "pay bills" or his baby was sick, a grandmother was sick, any excuse to not show up. This is all while all the furniture was moved into other rooms to make room for him to paint. Derrick asked to be paid for each room as he finished the room. I told him I didn't feel comfortable paying him when he had not completed the room. He didn't use tape and the paint was all over the ceiling and trim. He said not to worry, that when he was "completely through" he would go back and "touch up." He also said he would put up trim in the front room (between ceiling and wall) I bought over $100 worth of trim for him. This was going to be an extra charge. He cut the trim and messed it up. He kept cutting the wood and cussing when it didn't work. I told him to look at the other trim in the other rooms to see how to do it. He said he had done it before many times, (I doubted that) and at the end, all the trim was cut up into many pieces and useless. I just lost over $100. I was finally tired of him not showing up and needed my house back in order. So, in December, I said to finish the work now because I need my life back. It shouldn't take MONTHS to paint a few rooms. He said he would. I didn't see him for 3 weeks. In January, he came back and touched up a few things and painted two small walls in my son's bathroom. He said he would need the rest of the money. I told him I didn't want to pay him the rest of the money because then he won't show back up and I've been taken advantage of before (being a widow for 18 years). He said "don't worry, I'm different. I'm not like the rest. I'm a Christian." I told him I didn't think he could finish on the next visit because all the white trim had brown paint on it (from the wall paint) and the ceilings had brown or grey paint on it. I think he did the math and realized it wasn't going to be worth coming back. Just for the record, I also gave him my old refrigerator, over 100 VCR tapes, bags of clothing, lots of stereo equipment, etc. from my house to help him out for Christmas (either to sell or keep the items.) I also bought all the paint, all the supplies, etc. I was really trying to help him out. After the last time he came over, he called me and said he didn't want to come back. I was not shocked. I was right in telling him that he will eventually not come back when it's not worth it. He was no different from the others and he took advantage of my kindness. Now, I have to get up on ladders and paint the ceilings and trim because he was too lazy to not use tape and tape it off. The trim is disgusting because he didn't use tape to tape it off (even though I bought A LOT of tape for him to use.) He also got paint all over the floors, including the carpet and never used the tarps that I specifically bought for him to paint with. I had to put in a new floor in my bathroom because of the paint all over the floor. I can't believe that he has done this to me. I can't believe I let him take advantage of me. All he kept saying (when he quit on me) is how much of a "deal" he gave me and how much someone else would have charged me. I told him that HE was the one that gave me the estimate, that I've never hired a painter because I would do it myself. If it was anyone else, they would have fired him the 4th time he called and said his son was sick, or he didn't have money for gas, or his Grandmother was sick, etc. It was a different excuse every week. As soon as I would pay him for a room, I wouldn't see him for a while. He started in November, and it's February. It was less than 1,000 sq. ft. to paint. I am MAD. He is lazy and has NO work ethics. When he does work, he is slower than Christmas. I would not hire him to watch a fish.