Don Walker's Home Restoration Service LLC employs unqualified people, people on drugs, people who don't show up every day, who aren't supervised and who are uncaring of clients' property. DO NOT use Home Restoration Service!! Or at least do so at your own peril. I hired Don Walker and Home Restorations Service to power wash and stain my fence and a very small wooden deck. There were SO many problems. And it took FOUR months for it to be completed between Sept-Dec 2016!
The powerwash went okay except that it took some wood off with it, andit was never rinsed off from where it splattered onto the house and garage. Don Walker sent one man (Tony R.) to powerwash the fence and small deck, and it took him a day and a half. Tony noticed that a couple of boards on the deck were worn. He thought the other sides of the boards might be better. Rather than ask my permission or ask Don about it, Tony took it upon himself to try to take up those two boards and flip them over. When I went out to check on him, my deck was completely torn apart! There were no top boards on it anymore! He'd broken one of the ones he was going to turn over and the other side of the other board couldn't be used. And he was nowhere in sight! I frantically called Don Walker and told him to come right over. I made them repaiir the deck before anything else because I couldn't walk out my back door. Don didn't send anyone else to start the painting. It just got delayed. And the top of the deck was warped when Tony got done a few days later. Then Tony started staining, which was a COMPLETE disaster!
I made it very clear, both in the written agreement and verbally before and the day of the staining, that my plants and flowers along the fence were to be protected. Tony decided to spray the fence. When I went out to check on his progress, there was paint overspray on my garage, the brick wall behind the walkway by the fence, and he'd sprayed my monkey grass to the fence. I was livid! I called Don Walker and told him to come out immediately. He did and took Tony off the job. Don couldn't get any painters to my house until the next day. My monkey grass was plastered against the fence due to the force of the sprayer. I got the monkey grass off the fence, but I couldn't rinse the stain off - it was permanent. I was so worried about my plants. If I hadn't already given Don Walker a down payment for supplies, I would have fired him.
It's 2018 now, and I've tried to put this behind me because it was such a bad experience so I don't remember all the people's names. The next day Don brought out two guys and they started hand painting the fence, one with a roller and one with a brush. I've stained my own fences before, and I know I could have done it faster than these two. They took breaks all the time, they showed up whatever time they wanted to, sometimes not until nearly noon, and some days they didn't show up at all. When I'd check on their work, there were places where the roller and/or the brush hadn't touched the fence and it was bare. I told them to go back over that spot. Instead of just doing touch up, they'd redo the entire board or section of boards. I kept telling them that I wanted the fence to be stained accurately and completely. They had no idea what I was talking about. I had to show it to Don and explain it to him so he could explain it to them. Might I mention, Don didn't come out on his own to supervise or check on the progress.
Meanwhile, the warped deck Tony built was not cutting it. It'd give way in the middle when I walked on it. I told Don they were going to have to redo it, and I wasn't about to be charged for any of it because Tony had caused the problem. That took the two guys off painting. They weren't construction guys so they didn't know what they were doing. They couldn't figure out how to fix it so they had to have another guy on Don's crew come out to fix it, but he couldn't come out for a couple of days.
Both painters were finally using brushes. They were slow as hell. And it was fall now so there were some rainy days when they couldn't paint. The deck finally got rebuilt, but not without a redesign. It originally had two steps down and now only has one. The railing height doesn't match up with where the railing height was on the brick originally, but it works. I had to keep going out to remind them not to get paint on my plants. They thought it was an imposition that they had to put up plastic so my plants and flowers wouldn't get stain on them.
After working on my fence for over a couple months now, I'd gotten these guys' trust and their phone numbers. I told them, I just needed them to be up front with me and let me know what was going on. I asked them to call me if they weren't going to be coming because I like to keep my fence locked and I didn't want it unlocked if they weren't going to be there.
There was about a week when no one showed up at all. Don hadn't called me. I called one of the painters. He said he was having transportation problems but he'd be out the next day. When he showed up, I asked what happened. He said he and the other painter, who had no transportation but him, had been out riding around and got stopped by the police. The other guy had stuffed some drugs down by the seat of the car and the police saw it. They arrested them and impounded his car. The other guy admitted the drugs were his only and the other guy didn't know anything about it, and he was let go, but his car was still impounded, and now HE didn't have any transportation. This is about November. They started in September.
To finish the fence, he brought his girlfriend and his thee-year-old son along. Every once in a while there might be an extra guy. When they told me they'd finished the fence, I'd inspect it and find places where no stain had hit the wood, and they'd have to fix it. They completely forgot one side of a small divider. And then they tried to powerwash off the over spray that got on the brick. Some of it came off, but not all of it. It didn't come off the garage at all, so they had to color match the garage and paint it. All this stuff took more and more time. Finally in December, I agreed they had stained the entire fence accurately and completely.
Then Don brought over his invoice including copies of all his receipts, project materials and labor sheets. He wanted me to just write him a check, but I reviewed every single receipt. There were things on the receipts that weren't for my fence or deck. And he'd added refunds into the total instead of subtracting them. The price was very different by the time I finished looking at what he had given me.
I still didn't feel comfortable that I'd reviewed everything thoroughly so I took my time a couple of days later and went through everything. I found that he'd charged me twice for labor on one day, and I'd overpaid him $350. I tried calling him and that phone number wasn't working. I didn't have a physical address for him, only a PO box. I sent him a letter telling him that he'd overcharged me and I expected a refund of $350. I never heard from Don Walker again - until today. And that's why I'm now filing this complaint. He had the gall to send me an email on a distribution list!
DO NOT use Don Walker's Home Restoration Service LLC. He uses unreliable people.
Home Restoration Service Reviews
Don Walker's Home Restoration Service LLC employs unqualified people, people on drugs, people who don't show up every day, who aren't supervised and who are uncaring of clients' property. DO NOT use Home Restoration Service!! Or at least do so at your own peril. I hired Don Walker and Home Restorations Service to power wash and stain my fence and a very small wooden deck. There were SO many problems. And it took FOUR months for it to be completed between Sept-Dec 2016!
The powerwash went okay except that it took some wood off with it, andit was never rinsed off from where it splattered onto the house and garage. Don Walker sent one man (Tony R.) to powerwash the fence and small deck, and it took him a day and a half. Tony noticed that a couple of boards on the deck were worn. He thought the other sides of the boards might be better. Rather than ask my permission or ask Don about it, Tony took it upon himself to try to take up those two boards and flip them over. When I went out to check on him, my deck was completely torn apart! There were no top boards on it anymore! He'd broken one of the ones he was going to turn over and the other side of the other board couldn't be used. And he was nowhere in sight! I frantically called Don Walker and told him to come right over. I made them repaiir the deck before anything else because I couldn't walk out my back door. Don didn't send anyone else to start the painting. It just got delayed. And the top of the deck was warped when Tony got done a few days later. Then Tony started staining, which was a COMPLETE disaster!
I made it very clear, both in the written agreement and verbally before and the day of the staining, that my plants and flowers along the fence were to be protected. Tony decided to spray the fence. When I went out to check on his progress, there was paint overspray on my garage, the brick wall behind the walkway by the fence, and he'd sprayed my monkey grass to the fence. I was livid! I called Don Walker and told him to come out immediately. He did and took Tony off the job. Don couldn't get any painters to my house until the next day. My monkey grass was plastered against the fence due to the force of the sprayer. I got the monkey grass off the fence, but I couldn't rinse the stain off - it was permanent. I was so worried about my plants. If I hadn't already given Don Walker a down payment for supplies, I would have fired him.
It's 2018 now, and I've tried to put this behind me because it was such a bad experience so I don't remember all the people's names. The next day Don brought out two guys and they started hand painting the fence, one with a roller and one with a brush. I've stained my own fences before, and I know I could have done it faster than these two. They took breaks all the time, they showed up whatever time they wanted to, sometimes not until nearly noon, and some days they didn't show up at all. When I'd check on their work, there were places where the roller and/or the brush hadn't touched the fence and it was bare. I told them to go back over that spot. Instead of just doing touch up, they'd redo the entire board or section of boards. I kept telling them that I wanted the fence to be stained accurately and completely. They had no idea what I was talking about. I had to show it to Don and explain it to him so he could explain it to them. Might I mention, Don didn't come out on his own to supervise or check on the progress.
Meanwhile, the warped deck Tony built was not cutting it. It'd give way in the middle when I walked on it. I told Don they were going to have to redo it, and I wasn't about to be charged for any of it because Tony had caused the problem. That took the two guys off painting. They weren't construction guys so they didn't know what they were doing. They couldn't figure out how to fix it so they had to have another guy on Don's crew come out to fix it, but he couldn't come out for a couple of days.
Both painters were finally using brushes. They were slow as hell. And it was fall now so there were some rainy days when they couldn't paint. The deck finally got rebuilt, but not without a redesign. It originally had two steps down and now only has one. The railing height doesn't match up with where the railing height was on the brick originally, but it works. I had to keep going out to remind them not to get paint on my plants. They thought it was an imposition that they had to put up plastic so my plants and flowers wouldn't get stain on them.
After working on my fence for over a couple months now, I'd gotten these guys' trust and their phone numbers. I told them, I just needed them to be up front with me and let me know what was going on. I asked them to call me if they weren't going to be coming because I like to keep my fence locked and I didn't want it unlocked if they weren't going to be there.
There was about a week when no one showed up at all. Don hadn't called me. I called one of the painters. He said he was having transportation problems but he'd be out the next day. When he showed up, I asked what happened. He said he and the other painter, who had no transportation but him, had been out riding around and got stopped by the police. The other guy had stuffed some drugs down by the seat of the car and the police saw it. They arrested them and impounded his car. The other guy admitted the drugs were his only and the other guy didn't know anything about it, and he was let go, but his car was still impounded, and now HE didn't have any transportation. This is about November. They started in September.
To finish the fence, he brought his girlfriend and his thee-year-old son along. Every once in a while there might be an extra guy. When they told me they'd finished the fence, I'd inspect it and find places where no stain had hit the wood, and they'd have to fix it. They completely forgot one side of a small divider. And then they tried to powerwash off the over spray that got on the brick. Some of it came off, but not all of it. It didn't come off the garage at all, so they had to color match the garage and paint it. All this stuff took more and more time. Finally in December, I agreed they had stained the entire fence accurately and completely.
Then Don brought over his invoice including copies of all his receipts, project materials and labor sheets. He wanted me to just write him a check, but I reviewed every single receipt. There were things on the receipts that weren't for my fence or deck. And he'd added refunds into the total instead of subtracting them. The price was very different by the time I finished looking at what he had given me.
I still didn't feel comfortable that I'd reviewed everything thoroughly so I took my time a couple of days later and went through everything. I found that he'd charged me twice for labor on one day, and I'd overpaid him $350. I tried calling him and that phone number wasn't working. I didn't have a physical address for him, only a PO box. I sent him a letter telling him that he'd overcharged me and I expected a refund of $350. I never heard from Don Walker again - until today. And that's why I'm now filing this complaint. He had the gall to send me an email on a distribution list!
DO NOT use Don Walker's Home Restoration Service LLC. He uses unreliable people.