The owner’s response to the OP is on Yelp:

https://www.yelp.com/biz/sureshine-care-and-restoration-services-los-angeles-huntington-beach-2?sort_by=date_desc

Reading OPs other reviews on yelp is a real trip

"If you run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. If you run into assholes all day, you're the asshole." -Raylan Givens

Quote from: Cares on August 19, 2021, 09:43:09 AM

HELOC is slightly more lax. Many banks like BofA require you to keep a HELOC open for 3 years and they will waive all the closing costs.

Just be aware if you get a HELOC, it makes it more difficult to refinance in the future. Lenders will require your HELOC bank to subordinate which costs time and money and it results in you getting a higher interest rate because of the subordination and CLTV.

What if you have the HELOC but dont use it? Does it take same amount of time and hassle to refi?

Yes you still have to either subordinate or close the HELOC.

That response is replete with misrepresentations and outright lies. But this is par for the course with people, like this company, who refuse to conduct themselves responsibly and with integrity.

Sureshine Care and Restoration Services (“Sureshine”) basically provides services for all types of interior and exterior stone surfaces. We engaged them to (1) strip, clean, refinish, polish and seal a two-tier marble kitchen island top; and (2) clean and seal outdoor travertine that is used throughout the exterior of our home.

When we seek out contractors, we search all possible sources of information and inquire with friends. We then first look at all available “public” information, e.g., Yelp, Angi, Houzz, etc. – any information that comes from people who have engaged the contractor that would provide some sort of basic barometer reading on the quality of the work and the overall behavior of the contractor, e.g., whether they show up on time, do the work for which they were engaged, behave in a professional manner and behave like reasonable adults; any hint that something is off in any of the categories gets someone eliminated from consideration. Truthfully, this initial process eliminates the majority of people we may consider.

We then make sure that the contractor is licensed, the license is current and that they have insurance. You can look up any contractor here at the CA Contractors State License Board [https://www.cslb.ca.gov/]. Again, anything that is missing or wrong at this stage eliminates any consideration of engagement.

We then go the CA Secretary of State Business Search feature [https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/]. We check to see that the company is properly set up according to the laws of the State of CA and that their registration is current. We also check to see “where” their business is set up which you can do by checking their latest Statement of Information; you also get the name of any officers and their location by checking this document. Any companies that are operating out of the home of the owner or officer – in other words, any company that looks dodgy and isn’t set up as a formal, credible business and has an acceptable presence – is eliminated from consideration.

If we are looking at a contractor located in Orange County, we then go to the Orange County Superior Court website and use the Case Access feature to see if the business or the owner or owners of the business have had any legal entanglements [https://www.occourts.org/online-services/case-access/].

You can immediately see if (1) the company has been sued for any civil matter (breach of contract, failure to perform, construction defect issues, etc., etc.) or if (2) the owners themselves have been sued for these actions or, and also important, if the owner or owners have personal financial issues, e.g., bankruptcies, actions for failure to pay subcontractors, tax liens, or any other financial issues that would affect their personal and/or business performance. Any company, or owners of companies, that have ANY issues here are eliminated immediately. I think most people would be amazed at how many companies or owners of companies have these issues on either a corporate or personal level.

However, you can do all of the above and STILL get burned. There are plenty of people out there who go through life harming or taking advantage of other people and who are never held accountable; contractors are no different – it is entirely possible that people can slip through the cracks or that people who got burned refuse to do the work to hold people accountable for their actions and behavior. It is time consuming and tedious to have to go through the formal channels to hold a contractor liable – and get a positive legal resolution – and most people simply give up in the face of the work involved.

With Sureshine, we did all of the above, and there were no red flags that would have caused us to eliminate them. They also seems to spend a considerable amount of money on advertising and on having a "dynamic" market presence, e.g., their website and other advertising materials give the impression of a larger and more sophisticated operation. Their "performance" reviews indicate a reputable company. However, you can buy all of this: a sophisticated website and advertising materials are not that expensive and reviews can be arranged or paid for.

Where it really matters is when it gets to actual on-the-job performance, and this is where the earth craters. And this is the problem with any contractor: sometimes you don’t know until you actually engage them and spend time, energy and money to find out that the contractor has burned you and wasted your time. You then have to decide whether it’s worth it to go after the reprehensible parties to hold them accountable.