Copper Mountain Painting

We hired Copper Mountain painting to stain our log cabin, sand fascia and damaged wood areas, sand and stain 2 decks, paint window trim and paint bathroom, bedroom and hallway. We were provided with a contract and required to put 50% down payment up front. This company came highly recommended by a reputable log home builder and their website and handful of reviews looked good.

The owner arrived with 2 helpers, one of which the owner admitted had only worked 2 months with him. I caught the owner cutting corners on several occasions by not preparing the areas properly for stain and paint. He painted over dirt, debris and pine needles on our deck instead of taking 5 minutes to sweep it first. He painted over piles of dirt on our other deck which I pointed out to him. The owner made excuses and became defensive. I expressed to him that I was concerned that areas were not being prepped and that the stain and paint would not last if not done correctly. I had to ask him to sand window sills and trim before painting. His inexperienced crew left green window trim paint slopped all over the exterior of our log home including 2 green hand prints in different areas. His crew got stain all over every window and despite washing them, were unable to remove the stain from the windows. Several areas were missed on the decks and the fascia and damaged areas were never sanded as per our contract. I began taking photos at the end of the job and one of the crew witnessed this and proceeded to gouge the green paint drips out of our wooden logs in numerous places, damaging them and exposing the wood to the elements. I brought my concerns to the owner about missed areas, fascia not sanded, sloppy work and damaged logs and windows. The owner continued to make excuses and be defensive. His response to my concerns was, It’s always something with you isnt it? He said he would fix all the mistakes but I was losing faith in his work ethic and abilities. He said he would finish up inside the following day and come another time to fix mistakes on exterior. I inspected his interior paint that night and noticed he was unable to cut in next to any kind of baseboard without using tape. That was fine except for the fact his tape job left a quarter inch gap which exposed the old paint between the new paint and trim. I sent photos to a journeyman painter that night who explained what Copper Mountain had done incorrectly and how he needed to fix it. At this point every single thing Copper Mountain had touched required fixing. The next day I expressed my concerns to the owner. His body language was dismissive and angry. I asked him why he was angry at me. The owner told me he was angry at me for taking up his time with my concerns. I explained that I would not have to even talk to him if he just did the job correctly in the first place. He conceded that there were errors on this job but continued to speak to me in a condescending and demeaning manner. I told him I felt he would not speak to my husband this way and that his misogynistic behaviour was not welcome. I asked him to leave my property immediately. We are out $4000 and now have to hire someone else to fix the issues. I did confirm with ITA BC that he has a journeyman ticket. This leads me to believe that it’s not the owner’s inexperience but lack of attention to detail and work ethic that left us in this mess. Have tried to resolve with owner directly but he is not responding to us.