We hired Drago from Orbit stairs to install a new railing for us with Wrought Iron Balusters. What an awful experience from beginning to end.
Our hardwood floors as well as stairs had recently been refinished and both coats of sealant were already applied. Drago knew this was going to be the case before he came and was reminded the morning of install that we wanted the floors protected. When the job was done, I came to inspect the work. The first thing that I noticed was the floor and stairs were both scratched. Not just small scratches but large gouges as well. There was also wood filler smeared all over the floors and applied sloppily around gaps. I mentioned this to him and he dismissed it saying that it could be wiped off with a damp cloth.
When I had a closer look after I got home from work, it went from bad to worse. We noticed that under the railing there were holes drilled and screws missing. There was a crack in the rail that the balusters were screwed into and he left the wood hanging out. One baluster wasnt screwed into the railing. Three of the balusters were so out of plumb that you could see them with the naked eye, while a couple others were slightly out of plumb when checking with a level. The miter cuts were abysmal with large gaps between them and not level with one another. To remedy all of his poor cuts, he applied wood filler in the manner that a child would apply paint when finger painting. It was an embarrassment. On top of all of this there was sawdust all over the house. No attempt was made to clean or limit the dust.
I emailed him immediately upon seeing all of this and took photos as proof. He emailed back saying he could come back to fix the issues on a day that was convenient for him. He offered no explanation or apology for any of the issues. When he returned to fix the problems things got even worse!
When taking off the handrail to fix the balusters, he needed to drill out a wood plug. Rather than do this carefully to avoid damaging the current hole that the plug sits in, he drills into it and rotates his drill haphazardly on a 45 degree angle to get the plug out. This obviously chews up the sides of the crisp hole. With the plug out its now time to remove the screw. And he strips it. He decides to bend the handrail up at this point and simply break it. Rather than remove the stripped screw, he cuts it off and now we have a screw imbedded in our new post where a future screw is going to need to go.
While he is unscrewing the wrought iron balusters, he ends letting one slip through the hole he drilled in the stringer and it falls down between our walls. Its gone. Zero apology. Him and his wife laugh at this. Once all of the balusters are installed, he is about to put the handrail back on. I stop him and tell him that they still look completely crooked. He takes out his level to check and sure enough, they are WAY out of plumb. He has to start all over.
I finally mention the fact that I wasnt happy with the miter cuts as they were not suitable for staining. I say this needs to be fixed. This bothers Drago a lot and now he starts to get nasty but telling us that our flooring contractor did a bad job on our floors and begins to insult the work. The truth is the floors are immaculate. This was clearly a hit to Dragos ego. At this time, Drago begins to speak to his wife in another language and laugh. They had all been speaking to one another in English for the entirely of their visit.
At this point Drago is slowly making things worse. I told him I would be happy to fix the mitre cuts and the trim that wasnt sitting flush if he just provided us the wood.
During his time with us, no apology was given. No discount either. After he left, we noticed 1 balusters was loose and he installed the balusters not using a symmetrical pattern (see photo). Also, the wood trim we picked up was cut incorrectly and I had to recut it myself when I got home.
What a disaster. Awful contractor. Awful person. Do not hire this amateur. Zero attention to detail, no common courtesy and an awful human being.
