TLDR: They oversold a job, lied about the nature of their crew, and from what I could see are essentially amateur DIY folks who spend all their money on trucks instead of the right tools and training. I would not recommend them for anything related to carpentry or flooring. In the rest of the review I will honestly detail my experience with 702 Services.
I hired Isaac to add trim to my stairs and repair/caulk/paint my trim. The trim was not in ideal condition and did require repair in some areas. He didn't seemed deterred and made it seem like he had seen this type of job many times before. Isaac was confident that he could get it done in 3 days with a team that he had worked with for years. Including himself, his partner Paz, a stair guy, and a paint guy. The quote was a bit higher than I was expecting but Isaac seemed like a professional who knew what he was doing and I wanted the job done right so I agreed. That was the last I saw Isaac.
The day the job was to start the first person to arrive was the painter. Instead of a painter that had worked with Isaac for years, he was someone who was hired on OfferUp two days prior (luckily he turned out to be the only professional in the bunch and I kept him on after I cancelled the job). He was not told he was a subcontractor, was not accurately informed on the nature of the job, and rightfully suspicious of the whole gig. After the painter arrived Isaac's partner Paz showed up. He primarily spent the first day supervising the painter by sitting in my kitchen on his phone. Immediately it was clear that the job I was sold on was not the one I was getting. I was told the first day was going to be prep and repair with caulking and painting starting the second day. The painter started painting right away instead of repairing the trim and filling in nail holes, when I told Paz he agreed to pay the painter more for the full package (which was included in my original deal with Isaac). Isaac couldn't show up because of a family emergency and the stair guy was going to come the second day. Paz started sizing stair trim and was clearly out of his element. I offered to let him use my chop saw and other tools but instead decided on using my finishing saw (the only tools he brought himself were a caulk gun and a tape measure; which seems odd considering the nature of the job required precisely sizing and cutting trim). The pieces were not uniform or cut neatly, but I was assured the stair guy was coming tomorrow to clean it up. They also didn't seem to be aware that stair trim (or any trim) shouldn't be stacked but cut at adjoining 45 degree angles so there's no gap. When I told Paz I didn't want my trim to be stacked on top of each other (they looked like Lincoln Logs) he assured me that the stair guy would know what to do. When I called Isaac he told me he was coming himself the next day and would make sure everything was going well.
The next day it was just the paint guy and Paz again. Isaac never showed up (only saw him for the quote) and Paz told me he had not planned on Isaac being there (despite me being told directly by Isaac otherwise) and that the stair guy wasn't coming because it was a simple job that Paz could do himself (it was not and he clearly could not do it himself). As I was processing this, Paz had to leave for a family emergency (which is totally understandable and I hope all is well with his wife). At that point I realized the job was not being done at the level of quality or professionalism that I was sold on and that I was being overcharged for the amateur DIY quality of work. I called Isaac and cancelled the job. Isaac became very defensive, insisted that he did not oversell his work, literally compared his company to WalMart that needs to charge a significant mark-up to be competitive (so neither a quality contractor or good businessman it seems), and then hung up with a huff.
The only saving grace is that a couple hours later Paz came back, apologized for the confusion, sympathized with how the job wasn't going as planned, and returned my deposit (minus the amount they paid the painter). Which was a very pleasant surprise that I was honestly shocked by. I get the feeling Paz is just as much a victim of Isaac's grift as I am. All in all, Paz seemed like a great guy who was just in over his head doing a job that he was not experienced in doing. Isaac gave the impression of a conman, or one of the amateur house flippers who got their training watching TLC, only good at selling folks on jobs and then cutting as many corners as they can.
Maybe they are better at plumbing, maybe I really just got them all on a very bad week, maybe they are good at small out of the box jobs when you just need a helping pair of hands. Regardless they are not skilled craftsmen and I would not recommend hiring them.
