Halcyon Painting

On June 1st I (Marc S*** Managing Member ofthe LLC DBA Halcyon Painting) met withMr*** to look at and determine what he wanted painted on his home wewalked around the home to survey its’ condition, we then talked about what hewanted to have doneI told him the entire house needed
to be repainted andpointed out that the paint was failing virtually everywhere on the house He stated he only wanted the soffit areaspainted and that “we will take care of the rest” I then explained to himthere were a couple of ways we could approach the project; mask all the sidingand trim adjoining the soffit areas and keep them clean or if he was going topaint anyway just mask the windows and any fixtures in danger of over spray andget paint on the siding the cheaper of the two optionsHe said that he wantedto go with cheaper of the two options at which point I again’ we will get painton the siding” he replied “we’ll do that part” I wrote a proposal based on theinformation as I understood it and so there would be no confusion added a handwritten clause to the standard contract form “Soffit areas are to be paintedbefore owner paints the remaining areas of the house” My understanding was thatthe siding and trim areas were the remaining areas that would be painted by theowner. The owner was on thesite for to minutes when the project was more than half completed and he spokewith our people working on the job site about a motor cycle that was in the wayof the painting process but never mentioned the overspray on the siding areaswhich was apparent at that timeHad he voiced any concern we would haveaddressed it immediately but he did notWhen I called to do a walk throughwith the owner to inspect the work and pick up a checkHe said that hisex-wife said there was white paint on the siding, I said yes that is what weagreed to his response was “Somebody didn’t understand what was being painted” I replied “I was sure we hadn’t paintedanything we were not being paid to paint” he said he would have to look at it andwe scheduled the walk through. At thatpoint I thought the “someone who didn’t understandwhat was being painted” was his ex-wife as he had told me earlier that heworked nights and she days so he could stop by the job site from time to timewithout running into her, I assumed they weren’t talking much and that was whyshe didn’t know what was to be painted So when I receive a voicemail Friday7/24/2015evening after business hours from his wife telling me that we had gotten whitepaint on her house and that we would not be paid for our work until we fixedthe rest of the house! She also stated that she did not want to talk to anyoneand that we needed to talk with her “soon to be ex-husband”. I had already scheduled a walk through withhim for Tuesday 7/28/(the date he choose to fit his schedule), so believingthat there was not really a problem with our work but one of communicationbetween the owners I took no further action. When I arrived for the walk through I was greeted with “you got my wifemessage?”, I replied yesStill thinking he and I knew what we had agreed on andthat she had misunderstood how the painting was to proceed (we do our part hethen finishes the project)Obviously I was mistaken, he showed me areas wheresiding had be over sprayed I again told him that is what we agreed to do andthat I had told him we would get paint on the siding using this less expensiveapproach, he said he didn’t remember that I called his attention to thecontract clause “Soffit areas are to be painted before owner paints theremaining areas of the house” He statedhe never intended to paint the areas adjoining the soffits only the areas wherethere was chipping paintThough I don’t recall anything in our previousconversations that even implied that was his plan, I pointed out that there waschipping paint in the areas we had over sprayedHe said it wasn’t what heexpectedI stated that it would have taken another $in labor andmasking (the home is a hundred year old craftsman style home with soffit areasat 14ft.,25ft.,and 30ftfrom the ground so masking would be labor intensive)He said he would have been glad to have paid itI offered to touch up theareas of over spray for the $if he provided the paintHe turned andstarted to go inside I called to him wait a minute I just offered to touch up theareas of overspray he turned and told me the offer was unacceptable and went in.I will be sending him the same offer in writing in an effort to resolve theproblemI think it is worth noting that I have been managing Halcyon paintingsince and never had any misunderstanding on the scope of the work and veryfew complaints of any kind, none that were not resolvedNearly all ourcustomers are very pleased with our work, many volunteer to be referenceswithout any prompting on our part At no point did I say anything about collections, but whenhe said he was going to get an attorney, I told him he would be likely wouldnot win, if we went to court We didn’t use or pull any nails so I have noidea why he would think rusty nails are our responsibility and as for paintchips on the site, we did clean up before we left it’s possible we missed somebut there is paint chipping every on the house (except in the areas werepainted) so it is very possible the chips he mentions may have come fromareas we were not responsible forIf we have more cleto do we willgladly do itPotential issues (like clean- up) are the reason why I schedulewalk throughs with owners at the end ofeach project

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because:
I will answer some of MrS*** and Halcyon's claims below, but first off, I find it completely inappropriate that MrS*** has included suppositions and speculations of me and my ex-wife's relationship in his rebuttalThis is completely inappropriate and detracts from the specifics of his company's work and our complaint against his companyMy ex-wife and I are on very good terms and we have both been meticulously involved in the decision to choose Halcyon to paint our jointly shared property and in the reviewing of the contract
In MrS***'s rebuttal there are portions of dialouge that have been exaggerated or fabricated completelyMrS*** includes quotations from coversations that never took placeHe denies telling me that he will send my ex-wife and I to collections, but this was explicitly stated by MrS*** after I asked his company to fix their blundersOnly after I tried to extradite myself from our conversation did MrS*** offer to have his employees paint the portions of the home that they had painted in error but this would be at my ex-wife and I's expense for the paint and supplies needed for this jobMrS*** quoted this cost at $My ex-wife and I feel that based on the contract and on further points listed below that it is the duty and responsibility of Halcyon painting to correct their errorsAfter I told MrS*** that this was insufficent he told me "you're ripping me off," to which I replied that he was "ripping us off," and signaled once again, to all issues my ex-wife and I had with Halcyon's paint jobHere are our complaints:
In the contract it explicitly states that Halycon is responsible for "painting the suffots, owner responsible for painting the house." When MrS*** and I did our first site walk I only pointed to portions of the home where the paint was chipping and told him that I would be responsible for painting those portions on my own timeI did this because MrS*** was inquiring about them and I was using these portions as a reference point and to also reiterate that his team would just be responsible for the suffotsPaint is not 'falling off of the entire house' like MrS*** has claimed nor would or have I agreed that it would be okay to get excess paint all over the facade of the houseThis creates more back-work for me when I indicated to MrS*** that I would be spot-painting the home itself following his company's painting of the suffotsMore importantly though, all of MrS***'s verbal points are not in the contractHalcyon was responsible soley for painting the suffots per their contract and they got paint all over the house as wellThey did not adequately supply their team with the supplies necessary (plastic sheets, tape, etc.) to ensure that paint was kept on the suffots per our agreementThe conversation about window coverings occured the week that Halcyon showed up to begin painting, not on our initial walk
Halcyon also painted some of our gutters and re-painted a segment of gray trim whiteThis was also not in our contract
Halcyon did not properly clean up the worksite which is also explicitly stated in the contractBesides random splatters of paint on the roof, porches, and other surfaces there are discarded and scraped-off paint chips all over the site.
Some suffots on the higher levels of the home have not been painted to the same degree that the ones on the lower levels wereOverall, the paint job of the suffots is uneven with some bare wood showing through on a couple of the higher level suffots
All of this is supported by photographic evidence in before-and-after shots that my ex-wife and I can supply if we need to.
There is the issue of reliability too - Halcyon began painting the site later than they verbally stated and ended late too - but my ex-wife and I are more disappointed with the overall execution of the paint job that Halcyon provided and the lack of accountability from MrS***We feel that his company should bare the cost and labor to fix their mistakes as listed above. Sincerely,*** ***