SLA Development LLC

"SLA will always go the extra mile to satisfy our customers. Unfortunately, we were unable to make [member name removed] happy. First off we charged the [member name removed] $360.00 not $425.00. We were contacted by Angie's List directly to assist them as they had been through many contractors and couldn’t find anyone willing to help them. My Estimator, Shawn, and I met with the homeowner to discover they have an existing deck that was built and finished by an unlicensed contractor. When the unlicensed contractor had applied the sealer to the deck it had rained and caused severe issues with the appearance. The decking looked like it had mold covering it. We were both very leery of doing work for this couple as they had a very hard time understanding simple statements and were trash talking every contractor that had been out there. After hearing their stories about the bad contractors I decided that we can and would help them as much as possible thinking that everyone has had bad experiences in the past. We had explained to them that we would suggest pressure washing it and possibly a "light" scrubbing as needed. If additional scrubbing was needed there would be an additional charge. Since we are not familiar with the chemicals the previous contractor used we then suggested once the washing was completed we would evaluate the condition of the decking before we move on to refinishing. We did submit a written estimate to the homeowner explaining exactly that. At no point and time was this a "Time and Material" (Hourly) estimate as they claim. The film and residue on the deck came right off with minimal scrubbing. [member name removed] called me and starting screaming and demanding that I get someone back right away as they did not scrub the whole deck (Again not in the estimate). After discussing this with my employee that performed the work, it was unnecessary to scrub the entire deck. In an attempt to satisfy our belligerent homeowner, we sent another employee over just to scrub every inch on the deck even though it wasn't needed or expressed in our estimate at no additional charge. This should have been an additional $180.00 for this service. Here is the exact wording of our estimate that she has failed to supply… “Power Wash - Wood deck in back yard to have a light power wash performed to try to remedy the removal of a black substance across the majority of the wood deck. No chemicals are to be used at this time. Light scrubbing to be incorporated as needed to areas with heaviest build up. If additional heavy scrubbing is required, there will be an additional charge of $180.00 for additional labor.” At no time did we EVER try to change the price. We did submit another estimate the same day after the completion of the power washing. That estimate was for $1000 to strip, sand, and re-seal the entire deck. Luckily they decided they would do it themselves. It’s a shame that a bunch of hard working guys like myself and my employees can have our reputation damaged by a client that can’t even get the facts straight. We have been in business for many years and have many reviews on this site along with dozens of other sites and have never once had less than a A+ rating until now. I now understand why Mr. & Mrs. [member name removed] have had such a hard time finding good honest contractors. I consider myself to be very honest and have never taken advantage of a single customer. If this review is keeping you from calling for an estimate, please give me a call directly (Cell 505-307-5275). I would be happy to share these estimates and all correspondence to verify these people are unstable."