[Klangpga]

Can be frustrating but worth the wait! Her artwork is amazing!

[Dee Smith]

A deposit may be the norm. I did with premier surfaces of central Florida. Has anyone worked with them? They may also be able to help you.

[NoMoSno]

Originally Posted by Heyitsrick

I find comments like yours quite curious. What makes a consumer reputable, vs. a contractor being reputable? Why should I - as a contractor - put up potentially thousands of dollars in materials needed for a job in the hopes that my "reputable" customer is going to come through at job's end with the agreed upon costs of the job? Some consumers might just be well-versed in the fine art of being a b@llbuster, finding nit-picky reasons to decline paying for a contractor's job just to get a cheaper price in the end. Ah, just the costs of doing business, right?

I'm not a contractor, by the way. But where I come from, everyone's got to have skin in the game. That means you (and I) put up money in advance for, say, half of the job's cost, and the contractor doesn't get paid in full until the job is completed in an agreed upon manner.

There are risks on both ends of the deal, not just on one side. That's fair. What are the consequences of a contractor not following through? There are legal and social media repercussions. Does anyone think "Trish" is going to benefit from the OP's post here on what happened? I don't. Can the OP also file legal complaints? Absolutely.

As far as the customer is concerned, due diligence is a must. Sure, anyone can have a bad experience even when local reviews/ratings on a contractor's work are great. But for the most part, these reviews should normally be prologue on what to expect in the end. Don't use a contractor for personality reasons. Find out in advance who they've done work for, and see if you can contact the people who had the work done.

We are discussing a driveway paint job, not a home remodel.
Materials are only paint. Half down deposit for this job is rediculous.
A reputable painting contractor will have 30 day credit with their supplier. Get the job done on time, everyone gets paid.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by Heyitsrick

I find comments like yours quite curious. What makes a consumer reputable, vs. a contractor being reputable? Why should I - as a contractor - put up potentially thousands of dollars in materials needed for a job in the hopes that my "reputable" customer is going to come through at job's end with the agreed upon costs of the job? Some consumers might just be well-versed in the fine art of being a b@llbuster, finding nit-picky reasons to decline paying for a contractor's job just to get a cheaper price in the end. Ah, just the costs of doing business, right?

I'm not a contractor, by the way. But where I come from, everyone's got to have skin in the game. That means you (and I) put up money in advance for, say, half of the job's cost, and the contractor doesn't get paid in full until the job is completed in an agreed upon manner.

There are risks on both ends of the deal, not just on one side. That's fair. What are the consequences of a contractor not following through? There are legal and social media repercussions. Does anyone think "Trish" is going to benefit from the OP's post here on what happened? I don't. Can the OP also file legal complaints? Absolutely.

As far as the customer is concerned, due diligence is a must. Sure, anyone can have a bad experience even when local reviews/ratings on a contractor's work are great. But for the most part, these reviews should normally be prologue on what to expect in the end. Don't use a contractor for personality reasons. Find out in advance who they've done work for, and see if you can contact the people who had the work done.

I would just mention a few things. When doing work on a house, the contractor can file a lien against the house for non-payment. The homeowner cannot put a lien against the contractor. The contractor can also sue the homeowner because he knows who they are and where they live. The homeowner usually only knows they did business with a guy in a truck, and may not be able to sue anyone. But, more importantly, there are many contractors who will perform work before being paid, so why hire a contractor who won't? Why take the risk? One way to handle payments is to agree to make progress payments for work completed. But, paying a contractor when he hasn't done any work is a bad idea. Also, the contractor is in business to make a profit, and therefore, should expect to assume some risk. The homeowner and the contractor are not partners. My opinion.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by Dee Smith

A deposit may be the norm. I did with premier surfaces of central Florida. Has anyone worked with them? They may also be able to help you.

A deposit is definitely not the norm.

[gbs317]

Originally Posted by Pegamyheart

Yes, I did pay her a deposit of half to pay for materials. She would not start without it. My mistake I guess. Does anyone repair and complete drives?

Edison Concreations
Excellent work, does grinding and painting and pay when job is complete. I have been using him for painting driveway, garage, patio, etc… for three years now and have no complaints. +1 (352) 406-8775

[riley2011]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

Did you pay any money? If not, she probably would have completed the work and much faster.

Don’t pay until the work is complete.

[wiltma]

Originally Posted by Pegamyheart

Heads up to those having driveway work done. We hired Trish Karz and crew at Cost Less Driveway Designs out of Summerfield. We were taken by her personality and artwork. After a day, the crew of 1 disappeared. Trish, known for her artwork showed up only for a couple hours a day, when she showed. Always had a meaningful excuse. Project


dragged on for weeks before we cut our losses. Along the way, she also complained about other angry and frustrated clients. She clearly has many troubles. Presents well, but is not to be believed. I see now her good references ended in 2019. We will have to grind down and start over I think unless we can find someone to repair and finish.

Sorry to hear that you also were taken by cost less driveways and Trish. We waited over a year for her to come back and redo our side yard concrete work. She never showed and we finally sold the house so we obviously are done waiting. Do not wait on her, she is notorious for saying she’ll come but doesn’t and doesn’t even call. Suggest you put in a bad rating from her wherever you can as wIll we. I thought she was out of business, so I’m sorry to hear she is still screwing people around.

[THUNDERCHIEF]

That makes no sense at all- when the job is done you pay the bill

[Rodneysblue]

Do you have pictures of what was done? Can you share them with us?

[davefin]

Had my driveway done several years ago by the owner of the business Trish Karz bought the business from. Trish was the artist for specialty art work. I was VERY satisfied with the finished product. Unfortunately the artwork deteriorated badly and Trish was available to touch it up. Since then, Trish took over ownership of the whole driveway painting business and was very unreliable in responding to my many, many communications to her that I needed another touch up as the artwork fell apart badly. Trish is by far one of the best artists I have come across, but, very unreliable. In my opinion, she is way over her head with the driveway business. After more than 18 months of trying to get this touchup done, I finally gave up. It really looks bad on my driveway. BUT, all in all, if she came by today to touch this up I would pay her to do it without hesitation. But, I would not hold my breath. Sorry Trish!

[HORNET]

Edison did our driveway and was fantastic

[kathy1516]

Originally Posted by Pegamyheart

Heads up to those having driveway work done. We hired Trish Karz and crew at Cost Less Driveway Designs out of Summerfield. We were taken by her personality and artwork. After a day, the crew of 1 disappeared. Trish, known for her artwork showed up only for a couple hours a day, when she showed. Always had a meaningful excuse. Project dragged on for weeks before we cut our losses. Along the way, she also complained about other angry and frustrated clients. She clearly has many troubles. Presents well, but is not to be believed. I see now her good references ended in 2019. We will have to grind down and start over I think unless we can find someone to repair and finish.

Absolutely file a complaint with Seniors vs Crime. They helped me to get these crooks I hired to finish the paver job I hired them to do. Seniors vs Crime keeps a file on these crooks and they don’t like it. There are many crooks here and many of us have had issues with them. You’re not alone.

[Hifred]

Might want to report her to seniors against crimes.

[Pegamyheart]

I do not know how to upload photos to here from my Samsung Android. How do I do that?