Richard Larsen

unknown

Not even a decent job. Very bad work. Fully misrepresents capabilities.
1. He was asked to put on non slip surgical booties. Would not do. Driveway was muddy and is gravel. Told me their wasn't any mud on his shoes cause he wiped them on my entry mat. I asked again, he said the same thing. This is MY home. I do not wear shoes in the house, but with contractors it is harder for them, so booties work. Disregarded the instruction.
2. Told me he would put a tarp down in the hallway while he brought supplies in. Did not do that either. I put back my rugs because he was walking on my oak floors with outside shoes after refusing my requirement to use the surgical booties and not doing what he said he would (no tarp put down). This includes outside shoes in my bathroom.
I had to vacuum, wash all the rugs and floors post work.
3. He then asked me what I wanted him to do? What?? Fill all the holes and cracks on all the walls and smooth everything out so you do not see it. Did not do.
4. He covered furniture in both rooms leaving the back of my tall armoire uncovered (spare room) and the tall cherry wood dresser in the master bedroom with half top drawers and right side uncovered. Why, after I was assured he would cover and quot;everythingand quot;.
5. He agreed during the estimate to my requirement to make an access panel in the spare bedroom opposite the bathroom plumbing. There was already a cut out in the wall. The day of the job he said he forgot what I wanted, so we went over it.
He said he forgot the appropriate saw. Did not have any wood. So I told him to look in the shed. He said nothing was appropriate. I looked around while he followed me. I was in the garage and he went around to the side door which was locked, which he thought was just stuck and pushed the door open. If I did not call out to him to watch out, my new used car would have been dented. I also went back by myself to confirm that he did not damage it.
Then he kept explaining as he pushed on the plumbing that I did not need an access panel, that it will never leak, because he has the same type and it never does etc. etc. etc.. I was worn out, wanted him to get started. It was obvious he did not want to do what he originally agreed to. So, I had him sheet rock it. I'll have someone else do it.
Somewhere during him bringing in a ladder and moving about the bedroom, the bottom right side of my dresser was chipped because it was not covered as assured. (I took before photos of large pieces and pictures of his half covered pieces). After he went out, I removed some compound from the front of the dresser. I got a scissor and cut another piece of plastic to cover the rest of the furniture. There was plenty of plastic sheeting lying on top of the tall dresser to do this in the first place.
6. When I was told the master bedroom was finished, I went in to take a look around. He came up behind me and said none of the paint on the side of the closet woodwork was his, so I went up closer. Most was not, some of it was, a small amount was new, but I was thinking no big deal, easily removed, but before I could finish talking, he strongly disagreed, came close up behind me and agressively said he does not want me telling anyone he is a terrible painter! Whoah. I never said anything about him being a terrible painter. I was specifically looking at MY BEDROOM to see how everything came out. Wholly inappropriate response on his part. He didn't want me looking at all.
Now what happens after this when there is something else I might need to address? More aggression? I am the homeowner and need to look at the finished work I am paying for. The room was already finished and not done as agreed. I walked out and into my office to decide how to proceed.. He went back to finishing the spare room which was not finished yet.
He got very little paint on the woodwork but did not tape correctly and can see original paint color lines on walls. When you turn on the lights you see his compound issues and previous paint color.
7. The first day, he said it would take approximately FOUR days. It turned out to be less than two days, rushed, not well done and way overpriced over $50/hr. (price times actual hours), with walls still rough, poor sanding, wall dings not filled or touched up, can still see the previous color, sanded incompletely, compound bubbles... obvious simple things that normally would be taken care of. Overall rushed unprofessional to me. Didn't use painter's tape to achieve straight lines to adjoining wall.. Most apparent incomplete items unable to be covered with furnishings or wall coverings.
He does whatever he wants regardless of your instructions and does not want you saying anything about it because he has been doing it for years and thinks he never does anything but perfect work?....If you do, you are labeled and told you do not need to be too fussy????
8. He was supposed to repair and paint the outsde of the house, which I was no longer going to have him do after day one.
After he was paid in cash on day 2, he said he needed to look at the outside again and thought his original estimate was too low. Wanted me to go over what I wanted again. Didn't think he understood exactly what I wanted. OMG, please go away.
9. I called the next day to see what he had for hours on finished job as it did not say it on the final bill. Was told 15 ($46.666/hr.), was actually less than 15, and more than $50 per hour. I also count hours and progress. As soon as I hung up the phone, he called back and said his hourly inside is $45 and outside is $55. I really did not care. Was never hiring him again.
Later that same day he left a message wanting to discuss the outside of the house with me, AGAIN, with his concern about how and quot;FUSSYand quot; I want to be, ? said the best way we could be and quot;compatibleand quot; is if I pay him by the hour as he and quot;knowsand quot; that his hourly rate scares me. ???? He would be more comfortable working for ME paid by the hour. ? He guesses he's forcing my hand a little bit. ? Holy Hannah. it is an absurd rip off, plain and simple, not frightening. I already called FIVE people who have available time to do the job in the next few weeks when it warms up. Three have already been here for exterior and interior estimates. I said I just had the back rooms painted and they wanted to take a look. THEY pointed out what should have been done properly without me even pointing it out....and thought the back wall in the spare room adjacent to the bathroom looked like it only had one coat..
Less than adequate, not as agreed, incomplete, sloppy, disrespectful, disagreeable, overpriced. worse after.
A well adjusted professional job should have been around $400-$450 TOTAL and he should be mailing me a check back!, since someone else needs to fix all he did not do that he so adamantly assured me he would.
Since he does NOT allow me to give my opinion about work done in my home, here it is.
In addition, I was told to buy 4 gallons, 2 for ceiling, 2 for walls. Walls are a different color. Job was supposed to be 2 coats ceiling and 2 coats walls. I have 1 full unopened gallon of the ceiling ($56.30) and 4/5th of a gallon left of the wall color. WHY? When I went to hang a small picture on the wall in the master bedroom, I realized all the walls only have ONE COAT, which is why I have 4/5th of a full gallon left of the second gallon of wall color.

Update: I have taken pictures of this entire job prior to another painter coming in 4/7/14 to correct gobs of unnecessary joint compound used to fill picture holes and limited cracks in the walls incompletely sanded everywhere!. The holes and dings required simple spackling, instead their are swaths of compound sweeps/blobs such that their is shadowing it is so thick and painted over before the required drying time for compound, even the access panel, is a bulging blob.. Incomplete paint on all edges. Wall paint on portions of the ceiling with i

Finally, a painter that I can use over and over again. He is meticulous, takes great care in color matching and has wonderful technique. He shows up when he says he will and stays until the job is done. Wonderful communication skills. Can't recommend Richard highly enough. Oh yes, and he does exterior work too.

He was professional, fast, and reasonably priced. I would use him again and again. He's got many years experience and has a partner that has worked with him for years and both are very pleasant and trustworthy.