Stevens Painting And Remodeling

I am writing this review so owners do not hire this company! Mike is generally friendly, disorganized, and lives in an ad hoc world. His plumbing and drywall working was fine. He does does not do tile work well, nor does he understand how to read architectural drawings. Please hire a more qualified company. We had to pay another company to fix his work.

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In January 2011, we discussed the remodel project with Mike Razafsha. Unlike his past remodeling at our house, Razafsha would not provide a estimate of cost or project length. In February, we met with Razafsha at his preferred Granite vendor and selected two specific slabs for the kitchen countertops. In March, we were informed that those two slabs had been sold to someone else. Furthermore, the vendor was unable to provde replacement slabs of the same kind of granite. We were forced to look for granite by ourselves without Razafsha's assitstance. The new kitchen countertops were installed by a separate vendor in April. In April 2011, Razafsha installed new tiled floors in the foyer and kitchen, a new kitchen sink, and a new kitchen island. The floor in the foyer was done well and has held up. With respect to the kitchen floor, within a month the tiles began cracking. Within a week of the first cracks appearing, linear fissures spanned the entirety of the floor in symmtrical 3 ft. by 5 ft. seams. In all, roughly one-third of the newly installed tiles are cracked. See attached photographs. Razafsha never accepted responsibility for the cracked floor. He blamed the granite contractor who installed new countertops ten days after the new floor was finished, because the granite installer pounded the old countertops to break them up in order to remove them. Razafsha maintained that the pounding of the old granite caused the cracking of the new kitchen floor, even though the kitchen cabints were never removed and Razafsha did not install a new floor underneath any of those cabinets. Third-party experts who reviewed the case and examined the kitchen floor concluded that the granite contractor and installer was not responsible, in whole or in part, for the cracked floor tiles. Nevertheless, Razafsha continues to reject any and all responsibility. Apart from the poor quality of the kitchen floor, the amount that Razafsha charged for the entirety of the project was excessive and disproportionate to the amount of work and the lengthy delays in completion. The project exceeded five months to complete. I received the following letter from Farmers Insurance: Dear Member: This is to advise you that Farmers Insurance Exchange has investigated the above captioned incident on behalf of our insured Stevens Painting. It is our understanding that Stevens Painting was hired to install a tile floor in your kitchen. It has been determined that faulty workmanship resulted in the failure of our insured?s work causing the floor to crack and ultimately need replacement. It is also our understanding that this claim was submitted to cover the cost to replace the tile floor to cover other costs associated with the replacement of the floor. Our investigation has found that our insured, Stevens Painting, does not have coverage for this loss. Therefore, we respectfully decline your claim. I?d also like to advise you that the Illinois Statute of Limitations for property damage claims is 5 years from the date of loss. The Statute in this case will expire on 5/11/20 16. If you do not settle your claim or file a lawsuit prior to 5/11/2016, you may be barred from recovery for any damages resulting from this incident. If there is any additional information chat you feel may lead us to change our position in this matter, please forward it for our review within the next 30 days. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me at (630) 907-3554 between the hours of 8:30am and 4:00pm, Central time. Sincerly, Farmers Insurance Exchange Stacy L Meger Field Claims Representative Liability *All photos were provided by and are the property of the member.*

Thank you thank you thank you to Mike and his crew, including Angel and his brother. Wow, what a team!!!! We have had friends and neighbors over ooohhhing and ahhhhing over the work!! We do ourselves just about everyday. Several friends have asked for a reference and we let the workmanship speak for itself. We bring them through the house and show them what was done, how we selected everything including granite and paint colors. Each part has a story of its own. My sister-in-law used our master washroom and came out saying she felt like she was in church because the tile was so luxurious and the stain glass window confirmed it. We had a strange thin long bathroom window that looked out of place after taking out the old fashioned shutters that were in the bathroom all these years. Mike suggested stained glass and I searched on-line, finding a supplier of stained glass window "covers" that we ordered and hung over the window. It looks great with the light through or at night as a complete stained glass. Important to me was that I looked on Angies list when we first considered Mike's company and found good marks and good comments. We agree: 1. Every area was covered with paper so the least mess was possible. Don't kid yourself. They are taking out old cabinets, cutting tiles, and doing lots of messy stuff, so there will be a mess. But they took a concerted effort to minimize it. 2. They also cleaned it all up for the weekend so our house was "back to semi-normal" for a couple of days. 3. No matter how long you think it will take, it will take longer. And yes, some supplier will be delayed and it will impact your plans. (our cabinets were delayed and then some came without doors, which forced us to delay the countertops .... And the faucet I ordered was too big ... .and then we ordered another one which was not in stock and took weeks instead of days to get..... Just know things will be late and they won't have anything to do with Mike or his people's work. 4. Mike was very capable in scheduling his people to other jobs with some notice that something would be delayed. 5. Mike becomes a part of the process, as expected. But he adds a little bit of himself to each job. We implemented his idea about the stained glass window as mentioned. The colors of paint in one room are warm and bright and perfect for the space and look great with the granite countertops colors. He helped find the faucets and the vent cover for the dryer. Little things that made a HUGE difference. 6. His people also add a part to the process. Each night Angel or his brother would show me what they did and why. I learned about this cool "liquid cement" that levels out a floor so it is tiled properly. The guts of the work he showed us and the parts they replaced. It is important in case we have any issues in the future. We are hiring his company back to paint the outside of the house and fix it up as needed. We love the work and know our friends will also. One is already hiring him for major remodeling!! Great Job!!! Very very professional. One friend of ours was a bit concerned that his company could not do the work, thinking Mike was a one-man-company. Not at all. Mike is such a fine gentleman you may wonder if he is the right man for the job because he is unassuming and most kind. After starting to work with him on your job, you will likely find what we did. He knows his stuff, gives great suggestions, LISTENS to what you want and may make practical suggestions that you will think are your own, and then gets the job done. He does not do a half-way job. If he finds something is wrong while fixing something, he will tell you. He and his people are professional and want to do the best job possible!! They did it for us.

I got his name from the Tile Shop (for our Deerfield home) along with three other remodeling guys and checked them all out on Angie's List. - only two were on the list. Mike got the best reviews and was the first to call back when I left a message. He came over to the house the same day, made an assessment, came to the Tile Shop to pick out the Travertine with his suggestions and he started a week later when the tile came in. The workers started right on time, set out paper, picked up rugs and kept the mess to as low as possible - dust still got everywhere so don't expect miracles. The projection was for 7-8 work days, but with all the add-ons and extra plumbing and electrical issues (he rewired a wall light that kept blinking), it took 12 days, 3 days for plumbing alone. Mike himself helped with design ideas and suggested the arched inset shelf (which we love). Now we feel like we are taking a shower in a Roman bath or some luxurious place. The workers were extremely polite and considerate, just as we found Mike to be. On the weekend, they rolled up and discarded all the papers and cleaned up well. We watched each day as they progressed and saw the attention to detail was important to them. Instead of just letting the tile come to the edge, they put a finishing "pencil" of the Travertine along the edge. The base board was also of Travertine and decorative. Each corner was finished and carefully cut so that every end point continued into the next without an unfinished look anywhere. The mirror had to be replaced as did the fan and some lights and they did everything extremely professionally to make sure it was perfect, even re-wiring a light that blinked. Mike is a professional and wants everything to be perfect. He made sure it was and monitored the workers by going from site to site to make sure all was going smoothly. The workers he had were also very professional and extremely proud of their artistic marks they left on the room. I cannot say enough good things about this group and Mike. If you want someone to trust and can count on to do a top notch job in probably any room, I recommend him. If we ever decide to do our kitchen, he will be the only one I would call.

All of the work was of the highest professional quality. Mike gave a detailed cost estimate, and then completed everything within that budget and on time. Mike and his employees were always friendly and interacted well with our large dogs, who were always present. Lastly, Mike distinguished himself by performing additional necessary and related work, at no or little additional charge. He replaced a number of malfuctioning electrical outlets, his intricate tiling patterns and layout required extra time and expertise, at no additional charge. Every day, his crew taped off work areas and cleaned up at the end of the day to minimize disruption. Mike himself showed up every day in order to monitor the work for quality and accuracy, and to discuss with me the progress and any last minute changes that I would want. UPDATE For the past three summers, the floating faux wood floor that was installed in the basement bedroom has buckled during the summer months. This has become more pronounced in the summer of 2012 due to hot weather and high humidity, and we now have concerns that the floorbords will break unless fixed. The baseboards will have be removed and the floorboards shortened slightly to allow for expansion. During original installation of this floating faux wood floor, Stevens Painting and Remodeling should have allowed for slight expansion and contraction depending on temperature and humidity levels. We are disappointed that we will have to retain another contractor to correct this problem.

On short notice, Mike arranged for the installation of the gas line. This involved the employee working in a narrow and tight crawl space in order to extent the gas line from the basement to the outdoors. He installed shut off valves both inside and outside the house. We found Mike's estimate to be lower than competing bids. Stevens Remodeling was flexible in accommodating our schedule. The work was of high quality and he did a nice job of cleaning up after the work was finished.

All work performed was of high quality, reasonably priced and completed on time and within estimated price. I was very satisfied both with Mike's responsivenes and professionalism. HIs employees are skilled and pleasant to work with.

They came in and did the job on time and it didn't cost an arm and a leg. They came in and got the job done and it looked good. I would recommend this company.

They did a beautiful job. Didn't know painting could be done so well. Brought out all the beauty of the woodwork. And the beauty of the whole house.