Colmar Contracting

Service Provider Response

In any business where you have customers you will meet some wonderful people and some not so wonderful people. I'm not insinuating any conclusion on this person, but perhaps the facts need to be told. The quote I gave to (removed member name) for her bathroom alone was $12,143 which saved her approx. $5,000 from her other estimate. Being that I respected (removed member name) for being a single person in Harrisburg, just buying her first house I wanted to be a nice person and help her any way that I could. Since I had a free period of time for my painters, I offered to paint her condo at NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE. As absurd as it is, I saved her $5000 from the other bathroom bid and painted her condo at no additional charge. You would think a person would be extremely grateful, but much to my surprise & disappointment that was not the case. (removed member name) complained that the complimentary paint job took too long, well we could have done it much quicker had we not cared about the quality of the work. We used a Sherwin Williams paint that we were not happy with after 2 coats of paint throughout the condo. We are not happy unless it is perfect so I purchased more paint and had a third coat of paint and additional primer applied throughout the condo. Of course this is going to take longer and most people would understand that. How ungrateful would a person have to be to complain we took too long on a complimentary paint job where we went beyond the normal 2 coats to make sure it was perfect? As for a mess being left durting the painting, all materials and tools were placed into the corner of a room where (removed member name) chose to have the items placed. In many cases a customer has us place our tools and materials in a basement or garage while we work, in this case, being a condo on the 5th floor, (removed member name) chose the corner of a room she selected. Every contractor and customer who has had work done knows that unexpected things can come up during a project. In this case the detailed work agreement states "Install new tile floor & baseboard". Once the existing tile floor was removed it was noticed that the entire subfloor was in an unstable and not safe condition. The 2 guys working in the bathroom, (removed member name) and myself stood right at the bathroom entrance and had a discussion on this issue and the decision was made to replace the entire subfloor. Everything was gutted to the point when you looked down you saw the ceiling of the bathroom in the condo below. The entire subfloor system was rebuilt with (removed member name) approval. When I spoke with (removed member name) about the cost of the extra work she completely denied ever being a part of that conversation. Out of 4 people in that conversation somehow (removed member name) is the only one who doesn't remember it. The fact is we would have never proceeded forward with the demolition of the existing subfloor if (removed member name) had not approved it and replacing the subfloor doesn't appear anywhere on her signed, detailed work agreement. Once the work was completed (removed member name) didn't feel as though she should have to pay for all of the extra materials and labor to replace her subfloor structure. I certainly learned a huge lesson and now carry change orders with me on every job and they get signed immediately. Another area where extra work was required was after taking the old tile off the walls of a very old building the wall framing was not straight or plumb. Yes we could have left the walls that way and tiled over it, but we took the time to properly shim all areas of the walls to make sure the new walls were perfect. More additional work Jen felt that we should have done for free as well. I wish this sense of entitlement and ungratefulness stopped here, but it doesn't. In an ongoing effort to help (removed member name) I offered to install all of her new lights at no charge when I had the free time available to do it. (removed member name) apparently wasn't happy with the time frame it was taking me to find the "free time" to drive to her condo to install the lights even though one evening I actually brought my daughter to her condo after I picked her up from school and had her wait for me to put up another light. I certainly understand that people just want to get the work done, but when it is free you have to be a little patient. Without my knowledge, (removed member name) asked one of the paid workers to install the rest of the lights for her. He did as requested and expected payment for his time and labor, again (removed member name) refused to pay for work she asked for and authorized. I even paid for expidited shipping on some of the items that were ordered for her bathroom in an effort to finish the job as quickly as possible, another expense I covered just as a favor. Everyday I spoke with (removed member name) I left the conversation asking what else I could do to make this renovation time easier for her. I went out of my way, bent over backwards and did more complimentary work for (removed member name) than anybody before and all I can say is "ungrateful" is a huge understatement. In the begining I said you meet all kinds of people, some wonderful & some not so wonderful, I invite you to draw your own conclusion here. I welcome all comments from homeowners and contractors in reference to this matter. I certainly made no money on this job, so perhaps I can gain a little knowledge and/or advice. You can continue this conversation on this site, email me at colmarcontracting@yahoo.com or reach me through my website if you prefer. I invite everyone to visit our website COLMARCONTRACTORS.COM and read the comments left by many of our other customers.