Best Built Drywall

Patched wall, replaced sheetrock on entire dining room ceiling (leak in upstairs bathroom). Removed and replaced several spots of loose plaster. Repaired several cracks. Put a nice stamped texture on all ceilings and a nice spray texture on all walls in the entire house. Painted the entire interior, including doors and trim.



This is a 2 story, 4 bedroom Victorian home my wife of 44 years (my hero) and I bought for 1 of our 5 sons. It is a great old home, but it had wallpaper on all the ceilings and walls in the entire house. The wallpaper was darkened with age. You could clearly see where pictures had hung on the walls in the same places for decades.



Just getting rid of that much wallpaper can be an expensive and tricky business. There are all sorts of tales about how to get it done. But, in an old house with shrinking wood plaster lath and loosening plaster, it can turn into a disaster. I was going to paint all the wallpaper and try to stay safe, even though the wallpaper joints would show.



I contacted Tom Connell, owner of Best Built Drywall, about repairing the water damage in the dining room because he does both drywall and painting (the painter can't blame the drywall guy for his own bad work). Tom came to the house and looked at the situation. I asked him about the repairs and told him I was going to paint over the wallpaper in the whole house.



Tom said he could remove and patch any loose plaster, patch any cracks, put a stamped texture on the ceilings, put a spray texture on the walls, paint everything, including the doors and trim and it would look like new. So, I asked him to give me a price.



I got prices from other contractors for this type of complete re-finish the year before. I had not planned to spend that much money on this house, but Tom's price was very reasonable. His price included all the drywall materials and I would supply the paint of my choice.



I worked in the construction material supply business, was a manager of a truss plant and a door plant and had a state certified contractor's license in Florida for 25 years (20 years ago). I have dealt with subcontractors from both the material sales side and the contractor side. You have a lot of whiners and excuse makers out there, but only a few kick-a** subcontractors in the industry.



I watched Tom as he took his notebook and moved rapidly and methodically through each room and wrote down the individual prices for each category of work to be done. His bid was complete in ten minutes, with the price for each task in each room clearly broken down.



I felt confidant enough in his integrity and ability to let him do the job. I am glad I did, the house looks absolutely beautiful. It wasn't easy, some of the wallpaper on the ceiling came loose in one room after Tom textured it. He knew it could happen, he said 95% of the wallpaper will usually stick.



Tom does not let the job command him, he commands the job. He worked extra hours applying new texture and kept to his schedule. Tom did not let setbacks keep him from making the amount of money he planned to make in the number of days he planned to make it.



A kick-a** construction contractor (or a construction material supplier, or a construction manufacturer supplier for that matter), does the best job, in the best time, at the best price, and still makes more profit than his competition. As I have done a few times while working in the construction industry, I put a "Mr." in front of Tom Connell's first name and always call him "MR. TOM."



I am a wheelchair bound disabled veteran and getting old. Mr. Tom also repaired the wood front porch and some of its stonework at good prices, because he knew I needed it done.