Be extremely careful with the type job you have Jake perform. I recently hired him to do a list of…read moreprojects for me. He started with lowering a vent line for my kitchen sink which he said he was qualified to do. He cut through a king stud on a bearing wall and was under the impression it wouldn't affect anything. I've had several general contractors tell me the workmanship Jake performed is amateur. If you look at my pictures you'll see he didn't glue one of the PVC fittings and you can clearly see that he notched versus drilling through a structural piece of lumber. This is my text to Jake after I confirmed his work caused damage to a structural wall... "I got some bad news today. I started thinking and realized that the King stud you cut is in fact a bearing wall. The floor joists run perpendicular to the wall and as you can see in the picture they lap over the top plate of that wall. It's being recommended that the base cabinets, the one upper cabinet, the counter and sink needs to be removed and that King stud replaced and then the vent rerouted through a drilled hole not a notched 2 x 4." This is his response... "Your out of line!! Do what you have too!! I knew what you were up to from day one!! See you in court!! Ive contacted my insurance as well as sent them all texts between us!! You could have handled this professionally !!" I had emailed him yesterday but he told me today he doesn't use emails, he does everything through text. Not sure why he would have an email address on his business card? I was not overly impressed with his painting skills either. I was a painter 40 years ago and I learned that 90% of your job is prep. Jake seemed more interested in getting paint on the wall then doing the proper patching. His mudding and drywall skills are lacking too. He leaves a mess behind him and he caulks right over the dirt. I asked him if he was going to clean any of the woodwork and he said he can sand off the dirt. You can't sand off grime, it only clogs up your sandpaper. I took it upon myself to remove all the light fixtures, ceiling vents for the furnace, door knobs, wall plates and I even started cleaning the woodwork myself, with a product called TSP, which is a heavy-duty cleaner every painter that is qualified to do work knows about. I have hired a different company to perform the services that Jake is not qualified to perform. Please feel free to message me if you have any other questions. His prices are extremely low and I thought I had found a diamond in the rough. Not only was he going to do some plumbing work, but I was going to have Jake paint my entire townhome, as well as install hardwood flooring on the entire first floor. I had told myself if he screwed up the PVC, I wouldn't let him go forward. He assured me to trust him, that the work that he did was safe. He did perform an okay job on the ceilings, but there are multiple areas that still need attention. Jake got paint on my Skylight, all over the vent over the stairway that I was not able to remove myself. He got paint on my bathtub and the vanity in my bathroom and didn't even bother to clean it off. He also left a dirty bathtub from him cleaning his rollers in it. And he scratched up my three-month-old sink when he was cleaning out his trough and knives, for the drywall work that he performed. Jake swiped 2 of my towels in my garage to clean up some paint he got on my carpeting. He left the wet towels on my chair afterwards. He used another one of my towels as his caulk rag. I also moved all my furniture to the center of each room. He didn't bother putting plastic over my furniture and I covered my own furniture and moved most of it to the garage. I hope this is a wake-up call for him and he stops taking on jobs that he's not qualified to do. Hopefully too he'll take this to Heart and realize that he's screwed up and will make good on the damages he caused me. I have contacted his insurance company and I gather I'll be hearing from his attorney on these matters as well. Wish me luck! Edit: I just learned the certificate of insurance he provided me isn't valid for the date he performed my work and he threatened me that my review is slander. I have pictures and text that state otherwise.

Short version - Poor communication…read more- Does not always show up on the days agreed to. - Rushes team through job - Does not complete all work Long version My entire job was estimated to take 5 days. Agreed start date was Monday Mar 16th. Monday: only Nate arrived. Answer to question: "where is Jake" was "Finishing another job, will be here tomorrow". Tuesday: only Nate arrived. No Jake. Wednesday: No-one arrives. After calling Jake, he put it down to miscommunication with Nate. Thursday: only Nate arrived. No Jake. Friday: only Nate arrived. No Jake. So out of 5 days, only 1 guy shows up for 4 days work. That Friday (5/20) Gov. Pritzker issued a "stay at home order". Job was not close to being completed. 6 weeks later (end of April) I contact Jake to continue job. Earliest start was in another 2 weeks, so Monday 5/18. No problem. Sunday (5/17) I text to confirm and I'm told he will be there on Wed 5/20. Just as well I followed up. On Monday, I get a text to say he will be there tomorrow (Tuesday 5/19). Whatever works for his schedule, I guess. Tuesday the team arrives: Jake, Nate and 3 young guys. Nate pulls them aside, gives them a speech that this job is costing him money and they should finish painting in a day. Then he leaves... has plumbing job to finish somewhere else. Team is now in a huge rush to get paint on the walls and do very little prep. Some examples of what that meant: - Painted around a free hanging oval mirror in a bathroom.Removed it myself to have the entire wall painted. - Did not patch all damage from wall paper removal even though I highlighted the damage. - Patched some damage AFTER wall was painted - because new color was linen and I guess they thought it would be hidden enough? Nope. Looking at the obvious discolored patch on the wall while writing this. - Damage that was patched was done poorly. - Started painting incorrect color on an accent wall and in other living areas. - Did not cover furniture to protect from paint or drywall sanding dust - Dripped paint on carpet in lounge and on stairs - Walked paint over hardwood floor - Left paint on lamp stand - Left paint on leather couch - Kept fan blowing directly on wall while sanding it. Dust was blowing everywhere. - Left paint on the faucet in my laundry sink after cleaning rollers. - Left dirty water splashes on laundry room wall Jake arrived back that afternoon and starts fitting light switch covers back onto the wall. I point out that there is only one coat of paint on the wall. He repeatedly tells me there is 2. I can literally see the original paint color showing through next to the light cover he was putting back on the wall. I head over to ask Nate and he gives a non-committal answer to simple yes/no question of "did you put 2 coats of paint on the wall?". Nate was the one rolling the wall and he should know how many coats of paint he applied. I was home all day so know it was only one - without even looking at the obvious evidence on the wall itself. Jake calls Nate over and they head outside to have a conversation. They then head back in and Jake says they will be back the next day to apply the second coat of paint. Then proceeds to complete the accent walls by applying 2 coats of paint, with only 20 minutes between first and second coat. Jake and 2 of the young guys arrive back the next day and finish painting the railings and second coat of paint on the walls. Done by noon and then says he and team are leaving. Will be back following week Tue (5/26) to finish TV room. Ok, I guess my job is going to take even longer? Come Tue, no Jake no team. I text him and no response. I track him down via my neighbor as it come up they were painting his daughters house. Jake says he is on another job and he can't get hold of Nate. Wed, no Jake or Nate. I text him and no response. Followed up with text to say I'm not satisfied with completed work and there is still work to be done. Jake replies that Nate fell off a ladder and he could only get hold of him now. Says Nate will be back onsite on Monday 6/1. Today is Monday 6/1. Neither Jake nor Nate have arrived and no communication from either of them. Outstanding work is: - Paint kitchen ceiling - because paint from cabinets and wall went on to the ceiling - Complete touch-up of base cabinets. Removal of tape removed some paint on the bottom trim, resulting in white showing through. - Finish walls in TV room to a point where they are ready to be painted. Jake has been paid in full except for $100 (for painting of TV room walls - which are in no condition to be painted). Now I fully admit I should not have paid until the work was complete. However these are not ordinary times. With COVID-19 impacting everything, I felt it would be the right thing to do, i.e. help a small operation ensure they have cash to pay the team completing work. I did this in good faith, expecting the work to be done. At this point, I'm not sure this will be the case and have little recourse available.