AUSTIN PAPERHANGING

David came out months ago to assess the job and give a quote.  He was recommended by the builder's designer.  At the time, the house did not have drywall, but the designer explained how the wall would include stone, a wood beam, with wallpaper starting at 15 feet and going up 15 more (approx.). Scheduling was difficult.  We finally had a date for Sept. 17.  The week before, we were told the job he was on was going longer, so he would start on the 18th.  We were to have scaffolding at the house and ready.  We were told that he would have floor padding in which to put the scaffolding on.  He was set to arrive at 9 a.m. and showed up at 10:05.  It had been raining. Our yard is dirt right now and so I asked him to take of his shoes. He rolled his eyes and walked in the house.  He looked in the living room and asked why the scaffolding was not set up. The scaffolding takes less that 30 minutes to put together and we were told he would have prep work, so the scaffolding should be put together once he showed up with floor pads/protectors. He did not have the floor pads.  He scoffed at me stating that he has to prep with the scaffolding and can't do the job.
I, in turn, got frustrated and started griping about him being late, delaying the job a day, and not coming with supplies.  We began arguing.  I told him we apparently have some miscommunication issues and wanted to start over.  He walked out.  The designer called him and he returned with floor protection. Meanwhile, he had hired an assistant, Eric, to help him. Eric showed up not knowing what had happened and stated he would be happy to do the job.  After assessing, Eric said he couldn't because the wall was too high. David returned, they went to lunch (1.5 hours), came back and "assessed".  I had an appointment, so I returned and neither of them were at the house.  I was told they would start Friday "first thing" and finish the bedroom and powder bath, but would have to figure out how to do the high wall.
David finished only half the bedroom wall on Friday. Eric walked in and out of the house, talked to someone on the phone about what glue he should use for the powder bath.  Troubled our painter to move scaffolding so that he could have an extra two feet by his prep table. Asked me to move a table, box, and side table so he could have appropriate workspace, and only put wall prep on the wall.  
Saturday, Eric was to show up at 9 and David at 1:30.  Eric showed up at 11:25.  Walked around.  Talked on the phone. Went back and forth to his car.  Around 3-3:30, my husband told David that the community does not allow workers to be in past 4 p.m., but we could find a way to work around that.  David said he'd be finished.  Eric only had the ceiling completed.  The room is only about 5 ft x 5 ft.  My husband had texted the designer and stated that this guy is "worthless".  The designer sent the text to David and David showed Eric.  Eric threatened my husband for "threatening his reputation"and said he was leaving.  My husband said he wasn't threatening, he was complaining that in 3 days, he only competed a small ceiling.
While David only worked 5-6 hours total in three days, we at least had the bedroom finished.  Not happy, just relieved.  The quality is mediocre.  He wallpapered over nail pops, instead of prepping the wall properly.  David left.  Meanwhile. Eric became belligerent and said he would "come after" my husband for threatening his reputation.  He also said another guy had to pay him $25,000 to keep him (Eric) from coming after him (the other guy).  My husband told him to get the F out of the house.  He had earlier told me to stay in the back with the door close because of the first time Eric threatened him.  Eric to about 1 1/2 hours to pack up his stuff (that should've taken 15 min if I did it).  He took his stuff out to his car and circled his car, opened the door, but his hat in, then took his hat out, put in on. Walked around the car and did the same thing.  Went to his trunk looked in it and continued this odd behavior for 20 minutes or so.  
David never came out to the house after his initial assessment (while the house was in framing) and prior to the first day he was supposed to start.  He stated that he didn't realize how difficult it would be to do the high wall. It also has two niches.  He should have come out to determine exactly what he needed and what to expect.  Now our walls are not covered in the living room or bathroom.  The bank will not allow us to close because of these unfinished walls.  We have remodeled another home  (this is a new build) and have hired many contractors and service companies.  We have never encountered such unprofessionalism and scary circumstances.

Horrible workmanship!!!!  Did not prep my walls as needed resulting in the textured finish showing through the paper.  When questioned about it HE WALKED OFF THE JOB!!!  Stated that it was not possible to cover the texture and he was an expert!!!  This was after he rescheduled my start date (after I waited 6 weeks), and then showed up 1-1 1/2 hours later each morning than the time he was expected. He likes to brag that he has been hanging wallpaper for over 35+ years- it's obvious he shouldn't be doing it any longer.  Rude, unprofessional, and unqualified.  

David did a beautiful job with the wallpaper. He came out promptly to give me a bid and arrived on time the day of installation. It was a complicated paper to hang, with a big, bold pattern and a 1/4 drop repeat. Plus our walls were textured and needed to be smoothed out. David was able to complete the job in one day, cleaned up thoroughly afterward, and was careful not to waste the remaining wallpaper. It looks great. I'm very pleased with his work.

Wednesday at 10:30 I call David to see about the delay. His response, "I apologize I won't be able to make it, I left my appointment calender at the office". Now don't get me wrong, I'm also a business owner and understand things can happen. The fact I changed my work schedule to be home, adhering to his availability is one thing. What I have a problem with, David came across that his time was valuable and mine wasn't. He was willing to have me wait with no phone call from him letting me know he wasn't coming out.
I have never in my life written a poor review. I'm also the most easy going person and an easy sale because I understand what its like to be on the other side in business. The fact this was the business owner. He deserves this dose of reality. I would never expect to be succesfull if I ran my operation the same way. The only way I can see this owner recovering from this review is if he came to install my wallpaper at no charge, why else would I want to do business with him. By the way, this would be something I would have no problem doing if I made the same mistakes this business owner did. I would send another review afterwards based off of the actual work done. I would hope for his sake that it would be phenomenal. David appears to have so much business though this glaring disappointment of a review surely won't affect his business.
Angie's List ------ My time is also valuable which is why I utilize this search engine ------ please make it easy for these places of business to notate when they have so much business they can't take any new clients. It would save us all a lot of trouble when searching for someone who actually wants it.

David is Amazing! And his prices are awesome as well. We found him after seeing work he had done in our neighbors house. We had 3 rolls of very special wallpaper (hand screened on mylar) from Flavor Paper that we were nervous about having hung because it is not forgiving at all and every little mistake shows up. David smoothed out the walls, hung the paper beautifully, and even dealt with my miscalculation (we were short a foot) beautifully. We can't even see that there was ever a problem! All of that and he took the utmost care to be respectful of our home. He even checked in a week later to make sure we were happy and all had dried down nicely.

When I first called Austin Paperhanging, I was able to get a free appointment quickly to receive an estimate. At that time, Dave also helped me determine how much wallpaper I needed to purchase so I did not over- or under-purchase. He explained how we would proceed with the work, and we agreed on a date and time. Wallpaper installation is a true craft, and given the investment you make in selecting paper, it's important to have somebody who knows what he or she is doing. Austin Paperhanging has some 30+ years of experience. Dave worked quickly but expertly and cleaned up thoroughly. I felt very comfortable having him in my house.  I could not be happier with the outcome. The pricing is very reasonable for such professional work.  About 6 months prior to this visit, I had Austin Paperhanging install wallpaper in another room in my house. That project went equally smoothly, and it's now my favorite room in the house!