Jenny Hoops from Calgary

DJ Decor Painting is a poorly equipped, inexperienced, and poorly-run painting company in Calgary, Alberta. In January, 2014, I hired DJ Decor based on excellent work a co-owner (Dan) of the company had completed for me the summer before, with a different painting partner and through a student painting company. Dan Martin and Devon Covert (current owners of DJ Decor) were the painters this time, and they were to paint a newly-renovated 2nd floor, as well as 19 new interior doors and about 2000 feet of new baseboard, window casing and door casing. It quickly became apparent after they started work that Devon had very little to no experience painting, as I heard Dan instructing him on how to do the job ("OK, take the roller, dip it in the paint and roll it around to get paint all over it.") . Also, Devon actually asked another contractor in my house (a drywaller/tile installer) when he thought he, Devon, should remove his own painting tape (my other contractor said that he told Devon that he was the painter, he should know how to do his job). To paint the baseboard, casings and doors, they rented a sprayer, but not knowing how to use it they clogged it within the first hour and had to return it to the shop and get instructions. After the first day, they left with the doors leaning precariously on sawhorses, only for us to hear a loud crash as the doors fell like dominoes, marring the fresh paint on all of them. Their work on the baseboard and casing was no better: they dented and dinged the stairwell walls carrying the boards up to their paint-room setup, and then re-stacked the freshly painted boards too soon, so that most of the boards stuck to the next one and the whole stack had to be peeled apart, one by one, and sanded/touched up before we could install them. Dan and Devon were not careful workers, and I had to instruct Devon on proper use of ladders when I came upon him balancing on the top of a step stool (not the top step, but the aluminum tubing that forms the handle of the step stool), and I provided him with my own stepladder to use. It was then that Dan and Devon told me they had applied for but did not yet have their WCB coverage (even though their contract clearly states that they have "all licences and permits required"). Perhaps the most egregious thing was their dismal business knowledge and practices. Despite being told, repeatedly, that they were not licensed to take advance deposits for work in Calgary, Devon THREE TIMES presented me with invoices before the work was completed. This, despite the fact that their "Contract" provided a 30-day payment clause, and clearly stated their payment terms and conditions. I paid for materials before the job, and mid-way through the job I also voluntarily gave them a progress payment for work completed. Despite this, Devon and Dan finished their job on a Thursday evening, and then returned the next day (not 30 days later!) to demand payment. When I said that I would get them my payment as soon as I could, they proceeded to call, email and come to my door in person over the next three days, threatening to place a builder's lien on my house if they didn't receive a certified cheque "immediately". Remember, THEY gave ME the contract with the 30-day payment clause in it, and then proceeded to try to ignore their own contract and intimidate me into paying them early. I guess their intimidation worked, because I paid them for the job just to wash my hands of the pair and get rid of their intimidating presence. I will not use this pair of painters ever again, and I will not recommend them.