Mr. Sandless JUST PLAIN BAD Elkton, Maryland

The worst contractor experience ever!  They made my house unlivable for 2 months.  I contracted this company in late 2009 to refinish my wood floors.  Jesse Brown was the listed owner at that time, with Justin Johanssen working as office manager.  I called and was given a phone estimate - I described very acurately the work that I wanted - sandless refinishing of 2 BR, 1 hallway, & LR/DR areas with some board replacement and wood trim.  I was assured that they had qualified workers that could perform all work, including the carpentry.

The first set of workers arrived as scheduled, looked at the floor, and told my husband that they didn't think their process would work on the floors, that the floors required sanding.  They called Justin and he advised that they could do a dustless sanding, trapping the majority of dust in bags; he provided an adjusted estimated.  I agreed, and the work was rescheduled. Meantime, all our furnishings and clothing were "temporarily" stored in the garage and downstairs rec room in preparation for the work.  After a couple of delays (broken truck, sick worker), they finally arrived to do the work, with the stated plan to complete all required sanding and carpentry work first, then to seal the floors.

The workers arrived without even the basic tools or materials to do proper job; I believe they had to rent a sander no working shop vac, nail gun not working.  They had to borrow our hand drill/bits to pre-drill,  finishing nails, wet-dry vac. These employees of  Mr. Sandless worked with total disregard for us, our property, and also for their employer.  Their remarks about their employer were very disrespectful and unprofessional.  Their work ethics were shoddy (sleeping in truck, arriving late, poor workmanship).

On day 3, without advising us or asking permission, the workers sanded without capturing dust; my husband discovered this when he went upstairs to investigate the smoke alarm going off they stated they "didnt have the bag for the sander today". The entire house was satured with sanding dust, floor to ceiling,on clothing, in cabinets, on dishes, in kitchen floor grout, all appliances including ceiling fans, ACs, dehumidifiers, TVs, computers, etc. basically throughout entire house, attic to basement. 

The workers actually put sealant on the floor with all this dust airborne and the entire floor felt like sandpaper.  Also, it was evident that they had NO carpentry experience - it looked like a bad joke.  They actually wanted us to pay the balance, with a promise that they'd be back to clean up and install the trim, and became very hostile when I refused to pay.  When I requested the contact info for their insurer, Mr. Johansen was very evasive - it took many emails, phone calls, and threats of legal action to get this info - Jesse Brown was conveniently "out of town".

It took $18,000 and a disaster clean-up company to clean up this mess - Thank God for insurance!   We had to hir another floor refinisher to do the floors & they did it without a speck of dust & even gave us a price break because they felt so sorry for the mess we were living in.  We lived in this unhealthy mess for over 2 months without even an apology from Mr. Sandless in Elkton, and they made no effort to negotiate a satisfactory resolution. 

On a brighter note, it appears that this franchise or territory has since been taken over by Mr. Praz, CEO of Mr. Sandless.  I'm hopeful for my fellow consumers that Mr. Praz will service his customers in a more reputable fashion - but, I would tread VERY carefully!