CertaPro Painters

September, 2014 I noticed some of the siding boards along the chimney chase were rotted. I received several quotes from different painting companies in the area. The quotes included painting the house and replacing all siding with dry rot, and any structural framing boards that showed dry rot. Every company made sure that I understood that there would be an additional charge for replacing rotted wood, and I agreed to pay the extra fee. I hired CertaPro Painting to replace the rotted boards and paint the house for roughly $4000. By November, 2014 they finished the project, they charged me for painting the house, and charged me extra for repairs made to the siding, I gladly paid for the peace of mind that would come when they assured me that my house was now rot free, and I would never have to worry about rotted siding again. I trusted that they did it correctly, but I was wrong. July, 2015 I noticed some rotted wood on the underside of the chimney chase. There was a hole at the bottom of the chimney chase the size of a softball, and the framing going up the side was rotting away. I called John Wutschel, president of CertaPro and told him about my concerns, after 3 weeks of going back and forth, he insisted that I have a leaky roof, even though the roof is relatively new. I hired a roofer to inspect the roof. He discovered that there is nothing wrong with the roof or the flashing, he discovered that some of the siding boards were rotted so badly that you can crumble the rotted wood away with your fingertip. These are the same boards that I paid CertaPro to replace. Here’s the problem: the siding board that rotted away and caused water to run down the inside of the chimney chase was behind the gutter, and that meant that you have to take down the gutter in order to replace the rotted board. CertaPro replaced some of the siding boards, but when they got to the board behind the gutter, they stopped. Instead of replacing the rotted board, they painted it and hoped nobody would notice, because removing the gutter is about a twenty minute job, and requires two or more men. Painting over a rotted board is the worst thing they could’ve done, because it allows water to rush in behind the paint, and visibly, there is no way to tell that the board is compromised. This is a deliberate act of fraud and deception, committed by a CertaPro employee. Finally, four weeks after my initial contact, CertaPro sent the same negligent crew to fix it. They arrived at 8:00 on a Thursday night and worked by cellphone light. By 9:00 they left, instead of removing the gutter and replacing the board, they patched it with a small piece of siding and several tubes of caulk. I told John Wutschel that this is totally unacceptable, I have a chimney chase full of rotted wood because of CertaPro’s negligence. To add insult to injury, he sent the same lazy and dishonest crew to replace the piece of plywood on the bottom of the chimney chase, and told me that the piece of plywood will cost me $400. In my opinion, and the roofer’s opinion as well, the rotted board along the gutter had been rotted for some time, there is no way that a painter could have painted it without knowing it was rotted, removing the gutter and replacing the rotted siding would have prevented the water damage and that it was laziness and dishonesty that kept a rotted piece of siding along the gutter in place from November, 2014 to September, 2015. That was one of our rainiest years, and between my initial contact in July, 2015, and the “repair” four weeks later, an additional four inches of rain had fallen. John Wutschel and CertaPro is the worst contractor I’ve ever dealt with. His lead man, Effron, and the entire crew are equally dishonest and lazy. All they had to do was remove the gutter and replace the rotted board, instead, they painted it and hoped that I wouldn’t notice. Ultimately, the president of the company is responsible for the work done by his employees. The painters never even scraped the old paint off, they pressure washed the outside, and painted the house without removing the gutters, had I known that this was their standard operating procedure, I never would have hired them. I’ve never met such an unprofessional man as John Wutschel, his default position was that I was wrong, when he agreed to meet, he was at least thirty minutes late each time. Totally unprofessional behavior. Needless to say, I am filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and suing CertaPro for the repairs to my house. I am not a wealthy man, I run a machine in a factory. I had to borrow the money to have my house painted. Rotted wood attracts insects, that’s how I discovered the rotted wood in the first place. I have a daughter and a granddaughter living in the house, and they are highly allergic to black ants. If they should get bitten and have an allergic reaction, I will have to sue for more than $1000. CertaPro took advantage of me and my family, took my money, and when I discovered their shoddy work, they kicked me to the curb and disregarded my complaints with extreme prejudice. Update: September, 2015, I filed a lawsuit in the Cobb County Magistrate because CertaPro’s letterhead has a N. Cobb Pwy address, they had since moved to Cherokee County, I still can’t get John Wutschel to confirm his address, so the sheriff couldn’t find him. October, 2015, I contacted Rob Petka, CertaPro’s regional manager. He arranged a meeting to discuss the repair. October 8, Rob, John Wutschel and myself, met at my house to discuss the repair, at this meeting, John agreed to send a different work crew the following Tuesday at 3:30, the crew would remove the gutter, take down the siding, and replace the damaged boards, both siding and structural boards, the repair that should have taken place in October, 2014 when the house was painted. In return, I would sign a disclosure stating that I will not file a lawsuit, I would not contact the Better Business Bureau, I would not contact the media, and I would not mention John Wutschel or CertaPro on any social media site. I agreed to all conditions, I just want the repair to be finished. The following Tuesday came and CertaPro had broken another promise, no work crew. I called John and he said no on Tuesday, even though I left work early, yet again in order to meet the work crew, Saturday instead. Saturday, October 17 John Wutschel arrived with a crew of one. One man with a ladder. No work crew would be needed because John did not intend to make the repair. The man with the ladder was there to carry the ladder, put it up against the house, and climb to the gutter, where he said that he didn’t see anything wrong. I told him that the gutter has to come down, and the siding has to come off in order to see the rotted wood. He removed the piece of plywood at the bottom of the chimney chase, the plywood that John wanted to charge me $400 to install. As I showed John the rotted wood, and black mold that is now accumulating on the rotted wood, as I flaked away black moldy chips from the wood that CertaPro was paid to replace, I did this right in front of John’s face, and he said that he doesn’t see anything wrong with the house, and he refused to make the repair. To add insult to injury, John Wutschell presented me with the disclosure statement mentioned above and asked me to sign it. He left saying that he would think about getting an independent contractor to assess the damage, the damage that he just told me doesn’t exist. Even though I’ve had three contractors from the Home Advisor website quote the job. Needless to say, I have no confidence in any of CertaPro’s promises, and after three months of stalling and wasting my time, we are right back where we started. At this point it is safe to say that John Wutschel will never fix the problem that he created.