Wallpaper, a Textured Ceiling and Crown Molding in Brookhaven, PA

The problem

The work itself was not the hard part. The homeowners were. Their last contractor, a much larger kitchen renovation company, had been unprofessional from beginning to end. They fired the company near the end of the job and Joe, who is handy, finished it himself. By the time we did the estimate they were genuinely nervous about letting another contractor into the house, and they told us straight out that communication and showing up when we said we would mattered more to them than anything else. On top of that, the house had two surfaces that punish shortcuts. The living room ceiling was heavily textured, and the stairwell and upstairs hallway were covered in dense floral wallpaper. Neither one can be painted over and left to look right.

What we did

We told them what we would do about the communication before we touched a wall: daily reports, and Daniella, our office coordinator, keeping them updated at every step rather than leaving them to wonder. Then the actual work. The living room ceiling was sanded down and skim coated flat before anything was painted, and crown molding went in once the surface was true. In the stairwell the wallpaper came off, then the walls were oiled, primed and skim coated before repainting, because wallpaper glue and bare drywall will telegraph through fresh paint otherwise. We painted the living room, the stairwell and upstairs. Midway through, the homeowners decided to add a closet. We finished the drywall for it, sheetrocking the inside and the outside. Then they decided that while we were there they would install a gas stove, framed it out, and we drywalled that section too. Both additions were billed hourly on top of the original proposal, which is how change orders should work: no renegotiating the whole job, no surprise number at the end.

How it turned out

The finished space has a flat ceiling, crown molding, and no trace of the wallpaper anywhere in the stairwell. What the homeowners talked about, though, was the crew. Our men showed up on time, worked steadily all day, took their break at the same time every day and got back to it. There was a lot to do here and it finished on schedule. They left us a video testimonial and a five-star Google review, and told us we would be coming back.

It was night and day. Last company, horrible. Your company was a breath of fresh air. We will never ever ever go with another company like that again. This was absolutely perfect.

Debbie W., Brookhaven, PA