Sloppy Terrible DO NOT HIRE
I hired Kent and his son Kern for a paint job in 2023. The work was absolutely sloppy but because I was on a time schedule and needed to move a tenant in to a short term rental ASAP and they are a minority owned small business, I tried to give them the benefit of doubt. The paint job was absolutely horrible. There were visible roller marks everywhere indicating to me that this job was not professionally done. I didn’t complain or make them come back to correct the roller marks due to the time constraints so I decided to allow my tenant to paint. She never did. Fast forward a year later, I hired Kent and his son Kern again after my tenant moved out. I asked for the same paint color hoping the terrible job they did the first time would correct itself with a fresh coat of paint. That assumption was a mistake. They showed up with used paint that was a completely different white so all the mistake of the past and present were totally visible. I also hired them to change the cylinder locks on my front door, paint and patch the balcony floor and fix a bedroom window that needed new tracks or balancers and would not stay up and open on its own without falling down. This job was quoted to be two days at $2000 which Kent claimed was a special price due to me being a repeat customer.
The first day they showed up three men worked on the apartment, one on the locks and one painting the house with Kent observing and walking around chatting. Kent did not stay to supervise his men and they stayed from 9am to about 6pm with nothing complete. The next day was supposed to be the final work day and only one man and Kent showed up. Kent continued to work on the locks that were incomplete from the day before while the other man continued to paint with a hand held roller. I insisted that he use the extension stick to evenly distribute the paint and so no roller marks would be visible. The painter refused and said that he would go over the spots that I was complaining about, which was the entire job and never did. On the second day the men worked from 10am to about 7pm and the job still was not complete. Kent worked on the locks and drilled and cut and sawed, I have no clue what he was doing. The man painting the apartment still had not completed the 2nd bathroom, the closets, the doors or the ceiling. The entire house literally looks like it was only primed quickly. The paint job is awful. The balcony had not been painted the window was still not fixed and Kent dropped the lock inside the door and had to buy a completely new lock twice after I complained about what he purchased versus what he originally sold me on which was a single key for both locks. I’m selling my apartment and had to delay potential buyers because the work was still not complete on the third day. Day 3 they returned almost noon when he said he’d arrive by 11am and still struggled with completing the locks. He left the job with screws still missing and tried to randomly find screws he tried to fit in the door which widen the hole and messed up the threads. I wish he would have just said he didn’t know what he was doing but he kept trying to fix the lock drilling and sawing and reconstructing which in the end destroyed my door. It doesn’t sit flush but it does lock and their a visibly missing screws on the outside of the door facing the hallway. Even though the keys turn, finally, the door knobs a shaky and loose and feel like the door can be pushed in with only the bottom lock locked. They left after day 3 with work still undone. This job was only supposed to take 2 days. By day four I was so tired of dealing with these men that I told them bring me the paint so I can paint over what was done, myself. The window is still not fixed and at this point I don’t trust him or his team to perform another task in my 2 bedroom 1.5 bath apartment. I made the mistake of continuing to hire this company because they were minority owned and not that they were competent. The red flags where their but I ignored them because Kent is an elder and he is a minority own business. That was my fault. A mistake I won’t ever make again selecting contractors based on identity politics and not quality and references. Day four the paint job remained finished, my door looks like Swiss cheese, the balcony was only patched with two small cement patches and no paint at all, there are roller-marks throughout the entire apartment and the window still slams shut. There is paint all over my parquet floors and I’m left now having to pursue small claims to recoup money for work that was never completed after 4 days of a 2 day job. Never again. Do not hire this company. Sloppy and inefficient is an understatement.
