Susan Gregg Wallpaper & Painting
Serving Joppa, AL and surrounding areas
In business since 1976
"I had prior experience with Susan Gregg in wallpapering my Dining Room many years ago and her work was excellent. On the day scheduled for my wallpaper removal, Susan sent two people ( I think it was her daughter and granddaughter) but they indicated Susan would not arrive until later as she needed to go apply finishing touches to another job. I showed them where I had removed the small section of wallpaper so they would be aware of a potential drywall issue. I expected them to use some form of wallpaper removal technique (water, etc.) that would do less harm to the drywall. However they immediately began pulling the wallpaper from the wall in complete sheets with significant damage to the drywall. It took them only 20 minutes to strip the entire three small rooms. They then had to leave and go to Hazel Green (I live in South Huntsville) to get equipment and supplies to start repairing the drywall to get the wall in condition for me to paint. They had no equipment with them. I don't know if that was because they originally expected Susan to be there and she would have the equipment and supplies? They did not charge me for their time in going to and returning from Hazel Green. They seemed surprised when I told them this was an Angie's List effort for 8 hours. They indicated they did not know that! Would it have affected what they did if they had known it was an Angie's List job? After completing the 8 hours of labor which consisted of mudding and priming the drywall to get it ready for painting, there were still major rough areas that required much more work. It was far from being ready to paint. I talked with Susan via phone at the end of the day and told her the situation (she had stopped by briefly during the day to check on progress). I told her I would pay them for up to another 8 hours to get the walls in condition to paint. She gave me what I considered a fair price for the additional 8 hours and she and her daughter came back the next day and worked the eight hours. The walls were greatly improved but still not ready to paint when they finished. I talked to Susan about why they just ripped the paper off without trying removal techniques that might have lessened the damage to the walls. She indicated that the wallboard had not been primed before applying the wallpaper (back in the early 1970s) and there was nothing they could have done to lessen the damage to the wallboard. It was apparent that the people who built the house had not primed the wallpaper in those rooms. I had removed wallpaper from two rooms years ago and it came off with no problems because those rooms had previously been primed by the original owner before the wallpaper was applied. I have spent many hours cutting out and spackling "Bubbles" of wallboard paper and spackling areas that were not smooth enough to paint after Susan and her helpers finished their 16 hours of labor. I now have the three small rooms almost ready to paint and I have learned a lot in the process. I don't really know how to rate the effort I got from Susan and her team. Did I have a bad situation and they did as well as I could reasonably expect? I would not hesitate to use Susan again for work on my home but I would absolutely insist that she be there when the work started and probably insist that she be part of the team doing the work. I think she is very conscientious and is a capable and hard worker. I have no criticism of the other people she used in the effort. When they were there they worked hard, but I wonder if Susan had been there from the start if the wallpaper removal might have been done differently? Also if the two helpers had known it was an 8 hour Angie's List job, would they have only removed paper from one or two of the three rooms and done the chosen rooms to completion. I don't know why they didn't know it was an Angie's List job for eight 8 hours because Susan and I had clearly discussed that in advance. It is very difficult to rate this job because I am not sure what I should have reasonably expected for 8 hours of labor. I thought it was reasonable to get the wallpaper removed and the walls ready to paint after eight hours of labor. Even though I contracted for an additional 8 hours and the walls were still not satisfactory to begin painting, I still choose not to give a bad rating. My expectation that the wallpaper could be removed without significant damage may have been an unrealistic expectation. I contracted for 8 hours of labor through Angie's List rather than for a specific wallpaper removal job to be satisfactorily completed. The facts are in the write-up and will give readers an opportunity to make their own assessment."
Recommended by80%of homeowners
