Student Works Painting

I was hesitant about hiring the students, but the main part of the job was to clean and stain a deck. How badly could they mess that up? Well, it's badly damaged. The power washer used to clean it ripped chunks out of the wood, and damaged all surfaces. I was told the deck would be sanded, but the sanding --done with a folded piece of sandpaper in this person's hand -- was completely useless. The stain was applied unevenly. Some places were not touched at all while others had globs of stain on them. After each complaint, I was told by the manager that it was the other guy who did that part. When I pointed out that the hardware should not have stain on it, it was suggested that another coat be put on so it wouldn't look so bad. Then the person tried to remove the stain from the bolts with water. The deck will have to be done again, but this company will not be doing the work. They were also hired to paint a door. The painter had to use the laundry tubs to clean his brushes, and he left the paint can on the kitchen table. Thankfully, I noticed while the burgundy paint ring could still be scraped off the light-coloured wood table. I had to lend him a wrench so he could fix his equipment, and I just found it in my backyard. These are just some of the complaints. The list goes on and on. I called the head office, but got a call centre. I said I didn't want to talk to the area manager and was told I had to. The area manager explained that it was really more of a franchise. Beware! That means if you have a problem with the area manager, you have to take it up with the area manager.

As an update to the above review (it's about 8 months after the work was done), the stain was poorly applied and months after it was applied, bare wood is exposed. It's going to cost approximately $1500 to have the poorly applied and failed stain removed, the wood restored after being damaged by the the power washer, and to have the job Student Works Painting promised they would do redone properly.