Lawson Contracting Inc

Unfortunately this was the worst choice I've ever made. My wife and I were under a tight timeline due to we just closed on our house, my wife was 8 months pregnant, and we had a large list of renovations that needed to be completed in 3 weeks that spanned a dozen different trades. Kirby did a great job selling Lawson Contracting with all their experience, level of quality and how they could get the project done in time.
I interviewed 5 companies. Kirby said everything I wanted to hear in terms of the sequence the project would be done in, number of workers dedicated to the job, products that would be used, etc. He gave me the most confidence. Even though Lawson Contracting was one of the highest bids, I went with them for what I thought would be the best job. This was sadly an expensive mistake.
Nearly every project they touched was poorly done. From day one there were issues which continued to the very last day. I quickly realized that he over promised the job and had poor quality control; but was too deep in and would have to see it through. I found myself having to spend more and more time at the property pointing out issues and making sure things were done correctly.
Some of the larger issues were ?
- When they patched the hardwood floor, they did a great job cutting the boards, but did not weigh them down after gluing. The result is the lifted more than 1/8" above the other flooring which looks horrible.
- Another area where they added a strip of hardwood, they left glue residue on the surface which you now can see strips of it on the floor.
- They put too much glue under a transition between hardwood and travertine which resulted in glue seeping out onto where it can be seen on the hardwood.
- When they replaced a section of travertine, it was set much lower than the rest of the floor which they had to redo. On their second attempt, they chipped the side of the existing floor when pulling out their poorly laid tiles which they said they would replace, but they never did. They simply grouted in the chip.
- There was a surface crack on a wall I wanted fixed. 3 times they painted the wall not fixing it. After bringing it to Kirby's attention 3 times, he skim coated it. I told him that would not fix it, that it needed to be chipped out and replastered with tape to not crack again. He said I was wrong.  Well, the crack came back due to his poor "fixing."
- A number of areas around the house where they caulked separation points have cracked opened to look just like it did before in less than a year.
 
- He told me that the walls would be first primed then painted with Sherwin Williams 400. Deep into the job I found out that they did not prime and instead choose to put multiple coats of paint up. Some rooms required 6 coats due to the original dark colors (some rooms were dark grey) and the new colors were very light colors. Kirby tried justifying this by saying the paint has primer in it. When I pressed that this wasn't what we agreed to be done, he said he would keep putting as many coats as needed to make me happy. However, as the coats increased and we could still see the dark color coming through, he started complaining about how much extra this is costing him in time and materials, and how it was putting them behind.
- I didn't realize until the end of the job that even though I paid for Pro Mar 400 paint, they used lesser quality 200 and Super Paint.
- There was old water stains on the kitchen ceiling which they swore they primed before painting. Now know that was likely a lie due to parts of the stain reappearing.
- They did not prep all areas, clean, then paint (which is how a professional crew works and what Kirby said would be done). Instead, they would every couple days sand a prep a new area while painting at the same time. This resulted in poor paint adhesion. When we moved in, I used painters tape to hold up butcher paper on a couple of the doors and hallways to protect against scratches and dings. When we pulled the tape off a strip of paint came off with it from one of the doors (2 weeks after it was painted). They fixed it and swore it was a fluke, but in less than a year EVERY door is chipping and peeling, as well as the baseboards and even the ceilings. We have had a few kids birthdays were we'd tape decorations to the ceiling. When taking them down chunks of paint come down with it. I have talked to a couple painters since and all have said that only happens if the surface is not prepped properly / left dusty.
- I went to the local Sherwin Williams location to pick-up a gal of paint to touch up the spots that peeled on the ceiling (since that was the one color they didn't leave any extra for). The store was able to look up my address and see Lawson's order for all of our wall color but no white. In fact they couldn't see in all of their orders enough white to cover my ceilings (over 3,700 sq ft). It was theorized that it might have been a collection of "leftover" from other jobs ? which could also account for the peeling.
- They wouldn't work well with the other crews. I would inform them of the schedules yet the Lawson team would end up being right where another trade had to be that day; when there was plenty of other areas that could have been worked on that day. One example is our housekeeper had to clean the house 3 different times due to I being told that they were done sanding so I would have her start cleaning, then afterwards they would sand some other area which would put a fine layer of paint and drywall dust throughout all downstairs; so she had to do it all again. This happened 3Xs. The feeling was that they didn't care what I told them, they were going to work how and where they saw fit.
- Caught Kirby rinsing out extra drywall plaster and cleaning tools in the kitchen sink. That should never be done as that could break the disposal or mess up the nice stainless sinks. He should know to either use the utility sink or outside.
- Had a bad issue with flashing throughout the house (highs and lows of shiny parts that look like brush strokes). Ed refused to admit they were there. It was only after one of the other painters confirmed what I saw did he then admit it. But he immediately then tried to make it not their fault from saying that is why I should had them prime first; which I then explained that was my agreement with Kirby. Then it was my fault for picking Satin finish; which I also had to tell him that was Kirby's recommendation. They were able to fix most of it, but can still see areas of it in every room at certain times of the day.
- Even after multiple attempts, including at the end cutting the wall out and starting over with new drywall, they could not float 2 walls properly. They twice tried to say the wall was done with grossly obvious waves in it. Each time I pointed out that it doesn't look good, they would say something to the effect of "yea, I didn't think you were going to like it" ? then why did you paint and try to say it is done?! That right there told me everything about their professionalism on at least this job ? they themselves knew it wasn't good, but tried to pass it off to just be done.
- They were more than a week over deadline. Being on-time was critical factor, and Kirby's confidence that they could make our schedule was a major factor in selecting them. If they didn't make so many errors and put the number of crew originally promised on the job from the beginning, this would not have happened.
- Sadly, Kirby had a heart attack mid-way through the project so his brother Ed took over. He was curt and borderline rude from the beginning. Felt like I was always battling with him to fix their mistake. He never apologized for being over deadline which caused problems with my family; or for the number of grossly obvious errors I had to bring up. In fact, the last day when he was collecting payment, he tried making me wrong saying something to the effect that they were nice e

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The exterior of this front door had a very unattractive appearance due to the many coating applications over a long period of time.  Mr. Lawson (Kirby) spent days removing all coatings down to the bare surface of the wood, followed by the proper application of superior products thereafter.  The results exceeded our expectations as the door now looks better than it did originally (20+ years ago).  I would definitely use Lawson Contracting again and would highly recommend them to others as well!

Excellent work. Ed worked with me to schedule various parts of the job to work around others who were also doing some work for us. He stayed in touch and always followed up when necessary. He made suggestions to make the work go most efficiently and made suggestions as to what work could wait for awhile. He has a great eye to detail and has very good people working with him. I will use Lawson Contracting again without hesitation.

Lawson did a great job on all, final cost was less than estimate due to some jobs easier than others. The floors were difficult to remove as there was tile over tile and he had to bring a special crew in to do the work but it was done in a timely manner. He promised us a completion date and it was completed.

They were very professional. They cleaned up every day, never leaving a mess behind. They worked consistently and worked a full day. They were friendly, clean cut, and polite. The price was certainly fair for the work performed. Any extra charges proposed were presented to me for approval before any work was done. I am very happy with the work Lawson Contracting performed..

Went well. Quality of work is excellent. Ed Lawson and his team were meticulous throughout the process and extremely neat and clean. Ripping out popcorn ceilings and respraying new is a huge mess and Ed's team protected flooring, etc. extremely well.
We had design issues at the last minute with the kitchen cabinetry that created huge problems with ill fitting cabinets and appliances that did not fit. Ed and his team re-did the work, accomplished some very creative carpentry design during this 'fix'. The end result is beautiful - like it better than what was originally designed. Ed worked with the cabinet designer on all the overtime charges for all the extra labor - no impact to me. I requested a couple of last minute add-ons (extra backsplash tiling) and Ed quickly accommodated us. All cost billing was right on the estimates provided. I recommend him highly and will use him again.

It went VERY well. This was a big job that I had two other painters tell me they just couldn't do. One of them recommended Lawson Contracting, and Kirby Lawson came right over and did the estimate. He was very professional and took very good notes on what I wanted. His estimate was complete and outlined everything we had discussed. He was able to get his crew started within a couple days, which was great because we needed this work done before we moved in. His crew showed up on time each day and worked hard. Kirby was there most of the time as well, so when I popped in and out he could give me updates and show me the progress. I was very pleased with their work, I saw a couple really minor things that I wanted redone and they did it quickly without any hassle. They were a well experienced crew with professional equipment, so I was confident that they would perform up to my expectations.

I would highly recommend there services to anyone and I plan on having them back. They are good, professional, courteous, accommodating and do good work. They are just a good all around company.

His bid was very fair, he is very responsive, and he did a good job. I used him before in and old house.

Lawson Contracting are excellent. They are very professional, timely, prompt, and they will come exactly on time. They are also neat and clean beyond words. He only hires experienced painters. They put in a full day of work with small breaks and a thirty minute lunch. Over the 26 years of being a home owner out of all the paint contractors I have used Lawson has never returned from break drunk or even a hint of drinking. They are meticulously clean and make sure to leave no supplies beyond. I have used Lawson consistently for 10 years. I will only use this company. They are also fair in press. Lawson is simply superb!

very responsive and easy to work with. Repaired rotted fascia and insalled a custom window unit. Paint looks great and the crew was very efficient.

They did excellent work. Very professional, very neat, and for a very reasonable price. They are very easy to deal with, were flexible when the job increased in scope, and are very knowledgeable about all kinds of remodeling problems. They took care of everything for us and they did a great job. I recommend them highly.

There was very little follow up communication for the interior painting. The door part went well as far as the timing. We assumed that when we spoke of painting doors it would include the ends as well. The doors we used were MD fiber type construction, good for Florida and humidity changes, no warping as with solid doors, and the medium density doors have a solid feel. The edges of the doors were not smoothed out before they were painted, the doors were in prehung frame. Lawson agreed to remove them from the frame, paint them, and remount. The edges were rough and some have the nail holes from the spacers used on the doors when they are prehung. The faces of the doors are very well done with one small exception of a run about 1inch. After numerous tries to contact them, I quit, untill they finally emailed a billing notice, which resulted in a $150 dollar credit, Ok, but we would have liked them gone over, which was not offered. I liked the owner very much, nice guy, but why they did not follow up to do the interior painting,???????

My house is old-fashioned, so there was extra trim work required, and they did an excellent job completing all of the details. They were professional. They honor their contract and still come back after all these years when something needs touching up. I just email them or call them and they're right here!

****Now, 6 years later, the widow's walk had a bottom board fall off. I've been trying to get in touch with them for 2 months about fixing it, but he doesn't call me back. He came out once and left a card on my door, but hasn't responded to me since. Another contractor went up on the roof to check the walk, and showed me pictures, showing that they didn't use pressure treated wood when they constructed the widow's walk, and that now it is rotted. The work is still under warranty until January of 2013, so he should be the one repairing this work.

They did a great job on the floors. We have used them for several repairs around the house. We will continue to use them in the future.

They did a great job! They re-textured all of my ceilings, including the closets. Quite a messy job, but they left no signs that they had been there when the job was complete. Also, they were very accommodating when I had to reschedule the start date several times due to delays with other work I was having done at the time. Thanks for you patience, Kirby! I would highly recommend Lawson Contracting.

WE HAVE USED THIS FAMILY-OWNED COMPANY FOR OVER 10 YEARS. YOU CANNOT FIND BETTER QUALITY WORKMANSHIP OR MORE PROFESSIONAL PEOPLE THAN THE LAWSON'S. THEY ARE RELIABLE, FRIENDLY, AND REASONABLY PRICED FOR THE QUALITY OF WORK THEY PROVIDE.

PAINTED ENTIRE HOUSE. THEY DID AN ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL JOB. THEY ARE HONEST, RELIABLE, DETAIL ORIENTED, PUNCTUAL AND WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND THEM TO ANYONE.