SEATTLE FINE WOODWORKING

We first hired Mr. Matthewson in May 2007 to re-build our front stairs and re-do our front landing (which is over living space). We emphasized to Mr. Matthewson that we wanted the landing to be completely water tight since this area gets a lot of rain. He came up with a contract with some vague details about his plan (listing products names that did not match actual products), but we gave him the benefit of the doubt. During this initial work, Mr. Matthewson was slow and somewhat difficult to work with. It was hard to get any information out of him, and when he did finally give us details he had a condescending manner. He was somewhat passive aggressive. For instance, he would agree to do 5 things, but only do 2, requiring you to nag him about the other 3. Then he would do one of those 3 things, and you?d nag about the remaining items, but eventually cut your losses because you were so sick of nagging. After lots of nagging and phone calls, we thought we had a finished product. The stairs and landing looked reasonably good (with some exceptions), and he swore that the landing was as waterproof as a shower stall. A year and a half later, we had major flooding coming through the landing. During one of the snow storms in Seattle, snow was blowing up onto the landing and melting into a slushy mix and finding its way into our finished basement. Our carpet, walls, and ceiling were soaked. Water was pouring out of the light switch receptacle. We called Mr. Matthewson, and he came over immediately and took responsibility for the damage. He tarped off the area and had carpet people come in to dry out the carpet. After we returned from a vacation, we had our home inspector come by to help us pinpoint the source of the leak and to assess the damage. He confirmed that the drywall on two walls and the ceiling was wet and susceptible to mold. He recommended replacing that drywall, the insulation behind it, and wiping down all surfaces with anti-fungal agents. The inspector also confirmed that the landing was the most likely source of the leak. We had Mr. Matthewson remove the house siding on the walls surrounding the landing, and it was clear, that his ?shower stall? water proofing did not extend up the walls. We were shocked that he had found that acceptable. Of course the water just poured off the sides of the tiled landing and down into the living space below. At this point, Mr. Matthewson was still taking responsibility for the damage and he commenced work on the repairs in his typical non-communicative, slow, passive-aggressive approach. He did not come up with a written plan despite our numerous requests, and the work he did was just horrible. Here are some examples: 1. He eventually communicated a waterproofing plan after much nagging, but he did not read the manufacturer?s instructions for the materials and chose inappropriate materials and installed them incorrectly. We had to figure this out and make him redo it. 2. He showed up withou

Terrible, terrible, terrible.