T And T Painting North Liberty IA

unknown

Tom was quick to respond to us as and pleasant to work with when we were new customers so we contacted him again when we needed the deck re-treated. The second time was a different story:
1) His workers left a mess when they left, including empty soda and paint cans
2) They promised to put all the furniture back on the deck when they were done but never did so I had to haul everything back up the stairs by myself
3) The treatment, which we were told was so expensive because it lasted several years, did not even last 10 months before it wore off (and our deck is not at all high-traffic)
4) I contacted Tom 5/6/14 and let him know of the problem and he said he would come out that evening to look at it. He did not come so, on 5/10/14 I called again and he said he would come out that evening and take a look at it. He did not come so on 5/18/14 I called again and he said he was "on the biggest job of his life" but would come take a look at it in the next few days. He did not come so I called again 5/20/14 and was told the same story.."biggest job of my life but I will be there in the next day or two." I gave him a couple more weeks to finish his "big job" yet he still hadn't come by (or even called). On 6/7 I texted him a picture of his failed product to which he responded that he couldn't come because he was on "the biggest job of his life" but said that "My sales rep has been called and he will come next week to problem solve." Two and a half weeks later, still no visit or further communication so we decided that it was time to write this review (6/25/14).
Tom seems like a nice guy and, when it works, his product looks great. Unfortunately his priority is clearly new business and not taking care of previous customers when his product has failed.

I needed my house painted and found T And T Painting on Craigslist.  I called then met with the owner, Tom Hasbrouck, in the fall of 2012 for a free estimate.  He quoted me a price of $5200 which he said would include power washing my house & garage, scraping, caulking, priming & finally painting both structures. He then informed me that he had a great crew of about 7-10 guys and could "knock it out in about a week".  He also said he would include repairing & refinishing my deck. I liked Tom's enthusiastic attitude towards my 1905 Victorian. When I was finally in a position to go forward with the project, I again contacted Tom on May 28th, 2013.  He met me at my place of employment that day, wrote up a contract that included what we discussed in the fall and requested 50% down for the job to cover "materials & gas".  I wrote him a check for $2600 which was cashed within 24 hours.  He told me he would be at my house with a crew to begin work that Thursday, 5/30.  I would like to add that before I gave Tom any money, I told him I was planning a vacation and wanted this job to be completed by June 28th and if he wasn't able to do that to let me know immediately.  He assured me there would be no problem with that deadline. Tom didn't show up on Thursday or even Friday or Saturday, as promised.  He finally showed up on Sunday, 6/2 with borrowed equipment to begin power washing to remove old paint. I know the equipment was borrowed because the person he borrowed it from accompanied Tom to my house to make sure his equipment wasn't "misused or damaged".  The house wasn't completely power washed and only one railing of the 520 sf deck was touched. Tom then informed me that he would be back Wednesday saying "I promise, you have my word on it". My friend asked if we could have it in writing and Tom said "my word is good enough, I'll be here".   He didn't show up or call on Wednesday.  He called me Thursday and said he wouldn't be working on my house on Thursday or Friday, but his plan was to begin work on Saturday through Monday.  Tom didn't show up on Saturday and had his business associate call me because he didn't want to "catch s***" from me. In other words, Tom wasn't adult or professional enough to speak with me himself. Tom's business associate informed me that they wouldn't be doing any work at my house during that weekend and that they "HAD to finish the job they were on in Iowa City by Monday" or else "the owners are threatening legal action" due to numerous delays. He said they would start working on my house Tuesday morning, 6/11.  Tom's business associate showed up Tuesday with all the equipment, which coincidentally belongs to him, not Tom. I learned Tom doesn't own the necessary equipment to run a painting business that he claims to have been in 23 years nor does he have the manpower.  Several phone conversations with Tom took place Tuesday evening, one where he even  promised he would show up Wednesday morning at 8am or agree to a $225 daily penalty for every day he doesn't show when he says he will.  I was worried because his business associate told me that Tom had asked him if he could borrow some money from him. Where was the $2600 I gave him for materials for MY house?  Tom didn't answer but did admit on the phone that he did have to have his mother-in-law get involved to help with finances. This was not professional behavior. Tom's business associate left, leaving his trailer but returned several hours later to pick it up. I called Tom and asked what was going on and was met with an irrational rant of "why are you doing this to me"? "I have never been treated this way before by anyone", "you and your spoiled rich girl attitude".  WHAT?! When he finally let me get a word in, I informed him that I figured out he had no intention of showing up Wednesday morning as he had told his business associate on the (speaker) phone to "go, just get out of there, take the trailer home". His business associate told me that the last conversation he had with Tom included an agreement that Tom would call me, relinquish the project and give my money back. When trying to talk to Tom during his rant, I was able to get him to agree to give me my money back and he said he would be at my house at 4-5pm Wednesday.  I said 'if you had planned to be at my house at 8am like you promised, why can' you just give me my money at that time"?  He refused and said he had to be able to get to the bank. I spoke with Tom today, 6/12, and he promised me he was going to the bank at 1:30 to get my money and would call me by 2pm and meet with me to give my money back.  I leave work at 3pm today, and if I don't have the cash in my hand by then, my next stop is Keokuk County Court House to file a small claims document.  I've included so many details because if anyone is considering hiring T And T Painting of North Liberty, you will have all the information you need to pick up on the warning signs you are about to also get taken for a ride by a person that doesn't have the first clue about business & professionalism. Don't let your money pay for someone else's project. Don't allow your money to pay for a service provider's lackadaisical day to day lifestyle while having no consideration whatsoever for how hard you actually work for the money to make your investment more valuable.

They were supposed to start on Aug 20 but they did not show up or call.  After making four phone calls each day they gave me a one week date.  They showed up a week and a half later and worked for half a day.  They had trouble with their washer.  They came back  a week later for half a day and left after a city car drove by.  I called and   gave them the name of a local contractor we had used before
and he said he would help them with the city.  The next week they started. They painted the house and started on the trim but they
had the wrong paint colors so after more phone calls and a few days they got the right colors and continued. They finished up two weeks later and had to redo the storms due to using longer screws and the windows would not open.  There cleanup was unprofessional.  Its done and looks OK I hope it lasts for a while and will go to siding next time.

EXCELLENT.  VERY HAPPY WITH THEIR WORK… ALL WORKERS COURTEOUS AND WORKED HARD TO GET THE JOB DONE ON TIME. VERY HONEST.