TRADITIONAL RESTORATION SERVICE

The job came out beautifully, it has lasted for 7 years or more now and I will be calling Teo when it is time to do it again. The work was done onsite, it took a couple of days with the thorough sanding. He arrived when he said he would with no communication problems. I am very satisfied with all aspects of his work and recommend him to my friends.

Teo and his wife came to my house around 10:00 A.M..    She spent no more than 30 - 45 minutes sanding and scraping the bad spots on the wood by hand while he stood behind her talking to me for most of the time she was working.   After she had almost finished sanding, Teo told me some ridiculous story about it being too hot  to apply the urethane.   It was warm for November, but it was not that hot.   He told me that he had another job to go to and he would come back in the afternoon.   I suspect that the only reason why he left was that the other job was more important to him than what he was currently doing for me.

Teo came back to my house later in the afternoon without bothering to call me to make sure that I was at  home.   He stained a few areas and then brushed on the urethane finish while I wasn't home.   The entire project couldn't have taken more than a total of  1.5 hours.   Teo's wife sanded & scraped and then he came back and stained & finished.   They did not both work simultaneously.    I paid  what works out to be almost $147.00 per hour for this horrible work that is going to have to be fixed by someone else at additional cost.  

I could have done a much better job myself.    There was not anything special about what Traditional Restoration Service did.   There are no special tools or techniques.   They used sandpaper, a scraper, wood putty, compressed air, stain and urethane.   Anyone that has ever sanded anything and used a paintbrush could do his work with about $30.00 or $40.00 in supplies
and couple of hours of free time.   The main problem is due to the fact  that Teo didn't want to spend the time to do the work properly.    $220.00 only gets you 1.5 hours of his time. 

These are the unresolved issues that I will have to pay someone else to fix:
1.  The spots on the door that were weathered the most were not sanded sufficiently.   They were simply covered up with stain and urethane and they look horrible.   Interestingly enough, Teo did tell me that he could take care of these areas if I paid him $800.00 to refinish the entire door.   The entire door does not need refinishing right now.  
 
2.  The urethane finish that Traditional Restoration Service used is much more shiny than what was used last year during the refinishing.   The urethane finish that was used last year had a satin finish and it matched what is on the inside of the door.  If Teo had bothered  to call me so I could have been home when he got there, this problem could have easily been avoided. 

3.  Teo applied the urethane to the door while it was closed because I was not home.   There is an area at the top where the door that is up against the weather stripping that was not refinished and it stands out when the door is open.  If Teo had bothered  to call me so I could have been home when he got there, this problem too could have easily been avoided.

He was terrific, every other place I called wanted to do it at my front door and I didn t want that. Traditional Restoration picked up the door on a Sunday night and it only took him two days and he brought it back and told me how to properly care for it by only using water and no chemicals. I did some research on that and found it to be true, so he is very knowledgeable. He had me test my locks and alarm system before he left and also replaced my weather stripping for a 1/4 of what other places wanted. I never got an answering machine when I called, he always answered the phone and I dealt straight with him.