Wolak Interiors LLC

Rocky start- communication mix up for date/time of estimate.  Worker did not bring enough primer for job/communication error for starting time on day 3.

Emailed Mark via Angie's List and set up a time to do the work.  Mark was easy to left a hold of and set up an appointment.  The job his guy did was better than expected.  I will hire Mark in the future and recommend him to my friends and neighbors.

about as good as it could have - would recommend

Every thing was done well. If I never used Angies list again it was well worth it just to find Mark.

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The toilet leaked & a contractor was sent out from our home warranty company who did nothing on the initial visit and then failed to respond to phone calls. We received another referral and the contractor was a no show to the appointment. I originally found a coupon on Angie's List for tile installation and based on Mark's responsiveness we decided to use his company to do the work. Throughout the process, the individuals doing the work were respectful, professional, and punctual. Mark came as soon as the job was done & was very accommodating when I asked for a couple of small items to be adjusted. He worked with our schedule and the job was completed below the cost of his original estimate. We are extremely happy with Mark & his employees and will certainly use them again.

Mark and his crew did a great job on all projects in our house. He was very responsive to communications and fair on all prices/negotiations. we would definitely use Mark and his crew again. Thanks!

It was very, very good. It was quick. The person was very, very helpful. The person was prompt. He was very intelligent. He was very good at his job. He was faster than what we had planned. He painted more than just what we had talked about because he had time. His price was reasonable.

They were not prepared for the job, had to leave several times to get material, and they were never hear when they said they would be.

Difficult to schedule.   They ended up bringing too short of a ladder to install fixture.  Ended up working out okay but took longer than it should have.

I chose this contractor to complete a bathroom and laundry room remodel as well as some interior painting.  My initial meeting with Mr. Wolak was pleasant --- he was punctual and got back to me in a reasonable time period with an estimate and worked with me on a project date.  From that point, the project became a series of problems that have resulted in undo stress and additional expenses that were not necessary not just for myself but for Mr. Wolak.
On the first day of the project, I should have known that the estimated length of the project would not met (told it would take approximately 10 working days) and the quality of the work would be in question.  The painters showed up over an hour late --- they showed up to my home/the worksite without any drop cloths -- professional painters coming to a work site without drop cloths??? Then they spent quite a bit of time on the phone .... complaining about another coworker ... and then left at 3PM even though Mr. Wolak said the work hours would be 9 to 5.  On one day, all the staff left around 2:30 without any acknowlegement to me even though I was sitting in the living room.
To make this short ... here are the problems experienced with this contractor's staff:
1.  A group of workers who did not respect my house.  I had to demand drop cloths for the carpet so they would not destroy the carpet going in and out of the house.  Even then -- the cloths would move and they made no effort to fix these cloths so the carpet would not be damaged.  To this date, one person has cleaned the carpet and some of the stains remain and a professional must come in to see if they can be removed.  I am still picking up cigarette butts in my backyard and driveway.
2.  2nd day of project --- one of the painters took the hose to the furthest point in the backyard to wash brushes -- only to leave the water on for over 5 hours.  Evidently another time they took the hose to wash paint brushes near the garage and now I have white paint/water marks all over the side of the garage.
3.  During the demolition of the bathroom, the toilet flange was broken.
4.  During the demolition of the bathroom, no one covered the tub/shower drain.  When everything was done, I was completely surprised to find the shower would not drain at all.  Interesting that no one even tested it prior to saying it was ready for use.  A plumber had to come out and found large junks of concrete and grout down the drain because it was not covered during demolition.
5.  During the demolition of the bathroom, the toilet was placed on the guest bedroom hardwood floor -- and yes -- water leaked and damaged the floor to the point that the entire floor had to be refinished.  One of the workers did this work -- only to stain the floor much darker than the master bedroom directly across the hall -- left stain on baseboard and radiator -- and sanding dust all over the blinds to the point that they must be replaced.
6.  During the demolition of the bathroom, the window lock was broken.
7.  Painter took off the stairwell railing -- did not completely reattach it -- when I went to hold on to it when going down the stairs, it came off in my hand and resulted in a fall.  When I asked them to reattach it properly -- they actually put it on backwards.
8.  Tools and other equipment were left laying around the hallway after they left for the day --- tools and various supplies were left on the guest bed resulting in a stained quilt -- the only thing that was suppose to be done in the guest room was painting but this became the junk room for all their equipment/supplies.  This paint job should have taken 3 days at max -- but this room was not returned to livable space for 6 weeks!!
9.  Painters did not take any care in checking their work.  I had to leave taped notes all over to show them the numerous mistakes.
10.  Poor communication --- the tile shower was suppose to have a frameless shower enclosure.  But the employee doing the shower did not put in the required blocking to allow this to happen.  Mr. Wolak was told the plan for the shower by myself but evidently he did not communicate this .. and the person doing the work never asked me even though I was at my home for the first two weeks of the project.  Then told the glass rep that I never told him what I was going to do --- how about ask the customer??!! 
11.  Tile -- way too much was ordered of one type and not enough of the other -- resulting in having two boxes of tile that I cannot return because it was thru Prosource.
12.  Laundry room remodel -- must have an electrician come out and reset wiring to the boiler as the worker left the wires sitting on top of water valves to the washer!!  Some how I don't think that is a wise thing!!
13.  Numerous tile issues/paint issues/carpentry issues had to be pointed out over and over again before they were fixed yet still finding errors.
I could go on but the bottom line is that a 10 day project turned into a 6 week nightmare.  My home was not respected.  Even after all these mistakes and issues brought to their concern, the workers did not appear to be invested in providing quality workmanship.  Instead it appeared that they wanted to just get a job done because they didn't want to be working on the Peninsula (heard many complaints about this).  The only person to truly apologize for all of this was Mr. Wolak but always after the fact.  There was little oversight by Mr. Wolak of his staff.  
To this day I continue to find things that were done wrong or with poor workmanship.  Under no circumstances will I ever use this company again.  I will say that I have shared all the above with Mr. Wolak and my concerns about others using his company.  He appeared receptive to the feedback and stated that he will be making some changes.  My impression is that he has taken on too many projects and quality of services has suffered.  But I have learned my lesson and will not be using Wolak Interiors again.

11/8/13 -- Update -- I wanted to take the time to add an update.  I had an issue arise that needed some follow-up from Mr. Wolak.  He responded prompty --- arranged for Josh to come out and do the work to take care of the issue.  I appreciated the prompt attention.  Mr. Wolak took care of what needed to be done and assured me that if I needed anything else done in a followup, he would make it happen.  Considering everything, I appreciated Mr. Wolak's willingness to work with me on this followup.

The owner sent out someone with very little experience.  I had asked if two people would be coming and was told , "yes".   If the other experienced person would have come it would have made a difference.  The experienced person came to finish the job but at that point I was glad the job was over.  The first person asked for towels for cleanup and when I said I thought they would be bringing all supplies , he told me since i was getting the bargain price, they did not supply them. .  Later I told the owner this and he said that employee should not have told me that.  I felt that because I used an Angie's list coupon I was treated poorly.  Not a good way to increase business.

Exceptional Professionalism, Clean- taped everything off and kept job site neat the entire time.

went well. sales person came out gave us options. workers had a supervisor come out and check and work

The company came out and re-stained the front of the house.  The service went great.  They were on time, polite and professional.

One workman initially showed up to do the framing and a second workman came a little later to assist with the installation of the garage shelf.  Both projects went well.
Before scheduling the work, Mr. Wolak stopped by to assess the work requested and time needed for completion.  And although we had to reschedule once due to Mr. Wolak work load, he called me well in advance to advise me of the rescheduling and worked with me to find an amenable day.

Consult
Mark showed up at my condo and took notes on the work I wanted to have done.  Going through the house, I would mention items that needed to be caulked, holes in the walls that needed to be filled, old paint that needed to be scraped off, etc.  He took notes on the items I was pointing out and he agreed that all of these things can be done by his guys without a problem.  He also assured me that at least 2 coats would be put on every wall/ceiling I was having painted.  A couple days later, he sent me an email with prices totaling out to around $915.  We decided to go forward with hiring him/his workers.
 
Day 1
One worker shower up (on time) and had everything ready to go.  He started with the downstairs half bathroom.  A short time later, another worker showed up and started on the upstairs master bathroom.  Everything was going smoothly for the first day.  There was some arguing between the two workers in my home which I found somewhat unprofessional, but didn?t mind as much as long as the job was done right.  After the two gentlemen had left for the day, we checked the work they had done.  There was discoloration on the ceiling and on the walls.  There were clear borders on the walls where they had cut in and we could clearly see that the ceiling only got one coat of paint (we could still see the old paint that had gotten on the ceiling from the former homeowners).  They had missed areas around the mirrors and windows and we could still see the old paint.  There was a bit of trash left on the floors and the bathroom sinks had paint spots in them where they had cleaned their brushes.  There was also some paint drips left on the floors and counters.  The holes, caulking, and old paint that needed to be scraped I discussed with Mark when he came for the consult were not fixed.  Apparently, I needed to bring these up to the workers myself to have them fixed; well then what was the point of discussing them with Mark and having him take notes on it?  I called Mark about my concerns and he said he?d be over the following morning to address these issues before any painting was done.
 
Day 2
The same worker showed up on time the next day.  He set up his painting area and started painting.  Mark never showed up or called; I had to call him and at that point I was livid.  I called him and he said he was sick and apologized for not calling or showing up to my home to address the issues I had.  He said he?d send another worker of his to come out and address the issues.  He also called the worker in our home and had him stop until the other gentleman arrived.  This whole situation made it very awkward for us and could have been prevented if Mark showed up or at least called the worker to address the situation before he arrived at our home to start painting for the day.  The guy that Mark was sending arrived and we discussed our concerns and disappointment in the work that was being done.  He said he would work with the other gentleman to fix these issues and perform some of the work himself.  We agreed to let him help us and allowed them to paint the rest of the day.  We left for a couple hours and returned to find out that Mark had shown up and left us chocolates (which I do not eat), a gift card (that did not have any money on it), and an apology note.  I felt that he should have called to inform us he was coming, not show up unannounced with the chance that we may not be home.  After the workers wrapped up and left for the day, we again inspected their work.  The same issues arose as in Day 1.  Being highly frustrated, we called Mark to fire him.  However, he was very apologetic and persistent on fixing the work.  As he continued, he went on to say that he thought there was something wrong with the paint.  I explained that I bought the paint from Sherwin Williams (where he buys paint for jobs) and was confused that ALL of my paint that I purchased could be ?damaged?.  Being so incredibly frustrated with him, I told him I did not want anyone back for a little while and I would call him the following week if I wanted him to fix it.
 
The Following Week
I called Mark Monday or Tuesday the following week and agreed that I would allow him to send someone to come fix it.  He told me he would be sending the same gentleman he sent to help with our issues on Day 2.  I agreed and informed him I did not want the other gentleman returning as I did not like his work.  He agreed and we scheduled times to fix the job.
 
Day 3
The young man (that came to help with our issues on Day 2) showed up late and started working.  He seemed to stay as late as he wanted without telling us a timeline of when he would be coming/going.  After the day wrapped up, we inspected his work and agreed it was much better than the work done by the other gentleman.
 
Day 4
The same guy showed up but this time he was even later (around 10 a.m.)  He again painted throughout the day and left whenever he felt like it which began to be frustrating.  Mark also showed up again (unannounced) while we were not home to inspect the job.  It seemed very convenient that he would always come over when we weren?t home.  He didn?t leave us anything this time but the worker informed us that he had come by.
 
Day 5
Being that the work still wasn?t finished, and that Mark decided to put this young man on another job come the following Monday, this guy had to work on a Saturday which I?m sure wasn?t only an inconvenience to him but an inconvenience to us.  I found it incredibly rude and irritating that Mark decided to do this without consulting us and knowing that the job wasn?t complete.  The young man showed up late again on Saturday and started working.  He painted throughout the day and we ended up having to tell him to leave because it was getting so late.  He said he would have to return the following week in the evenings (due to him being on a new job) to finish everything up.  Frustrated, we agreed and he left.  We inspected his work and the cut-in job was terrible between the tops of the walls and the ceilings (in the master bedroom).  We called Mark (very angry and upset) and told him that we longer needed his services as we were not pleased with the work or how long it was taking.  He apologized and agreed to call it quits on the job.  He said I did not have to pay for the work but I said I would pay a portion ($700) of the original $915 estimate.  I told him I?d leave a check in my door and he can pick it up that evening or the next day, he agreed he?d be by around those times to get it.
 
I left the check in my door for days and he finally came to pick up the check about 3 days after we spoke.
 
The following week, my dad (a general contractor) came over to fix the problems that this professional painting company couldn?t even manage.
 
This company is the most unorganized, mismanaged, and discourteous companies I?ve ever hired.  I do not blame the workers for the majority of my frustrations, I blame Mark.  He is irresponsible, rude, and should not be running a business as such.  He is lacking the one thing you need to run a business well and that is customer service.  I will NEVER hire them nor will I recommend them to others.  I will do the opposite and tell people NOT to hire them.  My experience with Mark and his company was terrible and I do not wish this experience (and waste of money) on anyone.

Mark did a makeover of my parents' 5-bedroom, 3.5-bath 1916 house to ready it for sale after they had lived in it for 42 years.  There was more work to be done in there than we ever imagined.  Mark's quote was the third one that we obtained and it was extremely reasonable compared to the others -- in fact it was so low that I asked him to go over it to make sure it was correct, which it was.  Mark was very responsive to all of our needs throughout the project.  He kept us informed of all surprises that came up during the work and provided a quote for the additional work promptly.  He was extremely easy to work with on changes that we wanted to make as the work progressed, and he and his crew always sought our input when there were decisions to be made.  The contract was started on time; however, it took quite a bit longer than anticipated to finish due to the surprises that we encountered and the changes and additional work that we requested.  Mark's crew was always there when he said they would be, they were always courteous, and they did a good job of cleaning up after themselves.  They all went out of their way to make us happy, and even did some small extra jobs at no charge while they were there.  The final bill came in only 10% higher than the original quote, which was very reasonable given the amount of changes and additions that were made during the process.  I would recommend Mark and his crew to anyone who has a multifaceted job to do, particularly where price is a major concern.  He is very focused on meeting the customer's needs and making sure they are satisfied.

I have used this provider number of years ago and when I purchased my new investment I contacted them immediately as I knew they are very busy. We started preparations early and purchased all materials ahead of time. Mr Wolak is very professional and courteous as always. He helped me with all details, answered all my questions and even helped with purchasing materials. Yet again I was very happy to have Wolak Interiors work on my project. We have renovated a master bathroom, painted walls throughout the house, replaced some doors. They have installed wood flooring in dining and living room and did some small repairs in the kitchen. We also added a small deck in the back.

There has been a number of other small repairs that they took care of for me.

I was very satisfied with entire crew, they were mostly on time, which considering traffic was very good, always answered my questions, were very clean and very polite.  I especially enjoyed working with Val and Paul, although everyone was great.I am planning on using them again in the future. Keep up the awesome work. Thanks.,

They were good. I don't have any negative thing to say about them. Actually, I had hired the two guys that came out to my house to work on a property I have. They were pretty good.

Mark was here when he said he would be here and took time to walk through my list of tasks I needed accomplished. We had a slight miscommunication regarding the work when I got the estimate, but it was immediately corrected His guys showed up promptly; kept the house as clean as possible given the scope of the work; and cleaned up after themselves. Mark personally inspected the work to ensure my satisfaction. Even though it was a smaller job, I believe I was treated the same as if I had a major remodel or install. i have already recommended him to two people and would definitely use Wolack Interiors again.

The installer, Joe Fogel, did a very good job.  However because of all the follow-ups I had to do with the owner and work I wound up doing behind the installer I would not recommend this company.
I contacted Mr Wolak via email explaining I had one of his Angie List coupons and wanted him to stop by and look at the job and give me an estimate for the job,  He called the next day and setup a date to come out.  He did not show up on the scheduled date or call me.  The day after that date I called him and he told me it wasn't on his calendar?
We rescheduled and he did show up on time.  he reviewed the job and asked me what materials I was going to provide.  I told him I wanted him to provide the underlayment hardee board and the mastic glue for the tiles.  He told me he would email me the estimate to buy and install the hardee board, and provide the mastic for the tile.  I waited 3 days for the estimate then emailed and called Mr Wolak.  He did not answer so my wife emailed him.  He finally called and said it would cost $150.  I said okay, he told me he would call Tuesday evening to confirm the installer would be out the following day.
Tuesday evening and came and went with no phonecall.  I called on Wed and he told me the installer would be there on Thurs, and to remember for me to get the 8 sheets of hardee board.  I asked him he was suppose to provide the board and what did the $150 estimate cover?  He told me the labor, I said okay he he told me he would get the hardee board.
The next morning the installer arrived at 10 AM with the board but no mastic glue.  I explained he was suppose to provide it and he said he wasn't told that?  So I went off to Home Depot while he installed the hardee board and got the mastic glue.
The next day when he was done he asked if I was going to grade the job on Angie's Lista good grade on Angie's List.  I explained I was pleased with his work but felt I got the run around from Mr Wolak.  He explained he was busy and also sick.
The next day after the  I eexplained I felt gave several other excuses. grout dried I inspected the job and found a number of tile edges which where terraccota color exposed and not covered by the grout.  I emailed Mr Wolak and told him I wanted the installer to come back and regret.  He answered immediately and said he would arrange it.
Today the istaller came back and regretted. covering all the terracta edges.  He explained the grout needed to dry about 4 hours before being sponged/cleaned.  I said okay and he left.  Four hours later I spent an hour cleaning the grout residue off the tiles.  Enough grout had been applied to the seams to cover the terracota edges, but I wound up doing work that should have been part of a professional job.
Because of everything I went through with this job - I Would Not Recommend Wolak Interiors LLC.

The installer, Joe Fogel, did an excellent job and was very knowledgeable in all aspects of the work that needed to be performed. Based on my experiences with Mark - i.e. lack of follow-up, not showing up for appointments, not providing the materials we agreed to, and his quote not including everything we agreed to I cannot recommend him and would not do business with him again.  There were just too many screw ups and things left up in the air for me to take care  to get the job completed.

Overall, the project was completed in a timely fashion and to our satisaction.  I had a plan from Home Depot which served as the "blueprint" for the project and the kitchen layout was completed as we had envisioned. Since we live two hours away from Virginia Beach and I could not check the progress of the work on a regular basis, this meant that Mr. Wolack and we (my husband and I) had to communicate via phone and e-mail.  This worked well for the most part.  I only had a few things that I felt could have been improved:  1.  Although Mr. Wolack was instructed to make sure his workers did not park in the reserved spaces in the front lot of our condo building, they did not follow that instruction, and I was informed by my neighbor that the contractors were parking in those reserved spots.  2.  Because there was a great deal of sanding in the original kitchen to repair the walls where the old cabinets were removed and some sawing was done in the unit, the site was very dusty.  Although requested, I don't think plastic was hung across openings where there are no doors to prevent the dust from going into other rooms.  3.  There are some smudges on the new cabinetry that I've been unable to remove and one section of the crown molding at the top of the cabinets is not secure.  4.  The stove and dishwasher were not working when we tried to use them after the renovation.  However, my husband was able to determine and correct the issue with each (stove was left unplugged; electrical lines to the dishwasher were left unconnected behind a plate in the space where it was installed in the original kitchen). 
These issues are largely minor and did not impact the quality of the job.  In fact, I haven't even contacted Mr. Wolack about #3 above because it has nothing to do with the functionality of the kitchen.  And, Mark noticed we had not included an electrical outlet (other than the hidden ones for the microwave and oven) as part of our remodel.  He contacted me to find out if we did want an outlet for additional appliances and determined where the best place would be for that outlet.  We're just glad to have this project done and we're really enjoying our new kitchen.

Mark is great.  Mark used two other people chris and can't remember the other mans name as this was a while ago.  I did have a couple of issues such as the tile not cut the way I wanted it and orange rust looking stuff around the caulk area and the bathtub keeps creaking when someone is in it which is very loud and I figured it was the tub bought from lowes but I found out it was because one of marks people did not bother putting mud underneath the tub so it could crack and flood at any moment. I have been trying to get it rectified for the last YEAR and I keep getting emails telling me soon; at this rate it will crack and flood and it will be litigation. For the tub flood damage and everything else my insurance will take the to court for. Its a shame as mark seemed to respond initially.