CertaPro Painters® of Antioch

Horrible experience! Didn't paint the entire house, took months for Maria to send someone else back to finish the work. They got overspray on all of our light fixtures and awnings. We paid to have wood on the back side of the house replaced, they messed up our roof on one section and then decided to use bondo on the rest instead of replacing the wood. Less than a year after they finished the job, all the paint is peeling off the sections where the bondo was used. Took months to get ahold of someone. Apparently Maria no longer works there. Another lady called me back after I called corporate. She was very apologetic and promised me that someone would be out in a few weeks to do warranty work. That was almost 3 months ago. No one came and she hasn't called back.

I wanted to use Paul Turner, owner of the Danville/San Ramon franchise, because of their good reviews and they had the certification required to work in homes built before 1978 in case there is any lead paint present.  I called the number for this company but the owner of the Pleasanton franchise, Ed Gutierrez,  returned my call.   I explained I needed a company with the "Renovation, Repair, and Painting" certification  to work on a home built prior to 1978.   I was referred back to Paul Turner of the Danville/San Ramon franchise.  Paul was great and very accommodating.  He agreed to the details of my project and repeatedly assured me the crew would protect hardware etc. from over spray/paint splatter -- it's also specified in the contract. 
Jackie Damon is the assistant who scheduled the work and assured me that the crew, Felix and Ulysses, were their best painters.   I was quoted 4 days to do the work, the work was finished in less than 2 days. 
On the first day Felix and Ulysses plus 2 others arrived earlier than the scheduled time, they promptly started to lay down plastic.  I thought this was a good sign.  I was surprised when they told me the next day that they'd finished the work. While most of the paint job is ok, there are several areas missed or damage.  There are areas of peeling paint, rust spots showing on the iron railing they were to have primed and painted, paint over spray on almost everything including items that were clearly marked "Do Not Paint", paint chip debris through out the home, there are areas that they missed even though they had been clearly marked for re texturing and repainting.  There was dried dark liquid (coke?) spilled on the dryer.  They discarded their paint waste on my newly paved asphalt.  They responded quickly to the reported problems, but it was Ed Gutierrez who showed up.  Ed claimed to be the "project manager".  They only fixed some things and cause more damage when removing the paint -- they stripped the brass off a light fixture, dented an air vent; left a flat finish on spot repairs of walls painted with satin finish paint, left white powder substance on the carpet. Though they confirmed they would clean the unit per EPA's  guidelines on 10/10/15, to date they still have not finished the job nor shown proof of certification as promised.  The pictures speak for themselves.  My experience is consistent with the negative reviews posted for the Pleasanton franchise at the time of my research.  Most of those reviews have since been removed from the free social media rating site.  Currently the Pleasanton franchise has zero reviews on that site.  As an aside, I'm not sure I'm even dealing with Paul as most of the email responses come from "Ed Gutierrez on behalf of Jackie Damon".

The work went very well.

We got a few quotes and chose them because they were reasonable and they were the only ones that said they could stain our staircase railing a darker color.  Others said it couldn?t be stained and had to be painted.  They sent an interior designer to
our home to help us select colors.  She was great and help us select colors both my husband and I could agree on.
Talked to Ed about our tight schedule and they worked hard and got done.  Raul and his team did a great job painting
the interior of the house and staining the staircase railing and the hallway cabinet at the top of the stairs.  We did
need to change the color in the bedroom as it turned out to be too dark.  We has to pay extra but they were very accommodating.  They did damage a couple of the blinds which they paid to repair and got some paint on our shutter, which is only noticeable
to us so far.  Overall, we are very happy with how it all turned out.
 

Really poor experience with Ed Gutierrez and his entire staff. 
Best described as over promise and under deliver. 
Biggest issues include:
- substantial lack of communication of the process (start dates and completion dates); workers show-up and the work gets done on their schedule. 
- Quote shows all the work outlined but when it comes time to perform all the work they sort of decided what they want to do and what is excluded. Sort of leaves you in a bad spot because I get it is customary to put a lien on the house until you pay.
- His team came back to fix the issues I viewed as open but still refused to do certain items that were included (obviously Ed didn't show-up to be a part of this conversation so language barriers complicated the issue).
Put it this way, this company has 3 reviews on Yelp, 2 of which are 1 star ratings, I would avoid CertaPro and find another company with positive ratings. Ratings are earned and the community does not fabricate these experiences. 
Also, do not feel that the CertaPro parent company will do anything to assist. The franchises are independently owned and CertaPro as parent literally can do nothing to resolve issues.

My experience with CertaPro of Painters of East County/Antioch/Danville (they
go by many names), the owner is Ed Gutierrez has been extremely frustrating and
I would not recommend any one use them. 
Below is the account of my experience and over a month after they started
the work I am still dealing with them.
 
They began work Sept 30 removing the popcorn from our
ceiling and painting the upstairs of our home (about 2100 sqft).  I was told the job would take 4-5 days.  The crew was nice and pleasant to deal with
for the most part but they paid little attention to detail.  They would go back and fix areas I would
point out but didn’t take any initiative to inspect their own work.  For example they didn’t’ remove any of the
outlet face plates, simply taped around then, which is good painting 101.  When removing the popcorn they didn’t bother
pulling down the light fixtures so it look really messy all around.  We also found areas where taping mud from the
ceiling had dropped on to the walls.  Not
to mention all the chunks of popcorn that they painted on to the wall.  The paint crew did not leave until that
Saturday. Since then we have had to have someone come back three different
times to do touch up work, because they keep coming unprepared to do all the
work or under time constraints.  They
also caused damage to three pieces of furniture a couch, a coffee table and a
desk.  They were working on re-staining a
piece of the desk, but have had it for over two weeks and I can’t get the owner
to respond to me about when it will be returned. 
 
I have asked the owner to come over three separate times and
he has yet to step foot in my home.  No
one has ever called after they have sent the guys to do touch up work to make
sure we are happy with the work.  Instead
I have to keep calling them to say the work was not completed. 

They did very shoddy work, they used cheap and inferior work materials such as paint and charming (sealing material) in general it was a very bad experience. In the end I just wanted them off. Of my property!

Ed came out on time for initial consultation / estimate.  We had a good idea of the color we wanted, but he painted four samples of similar colors on the wall so we could confirm which we were able to do within 24 hours.  (My wife was EASILY able to envision the final color because the samples were so BIG).
He said the guys were going to be out there Wednesday morning and they were - not too early but around 8:30.  Next morning it was 7:50'ish.  They were very polite and my wife felt very comfortable giving them direction.  They in turn provided helpful suggestions and feedback.  English was obviously not their first language but there were NO problems communicating.  
We were gone for the bulk of the painting and when we cam back, WOW - the house looked BRAND new.  Ed's guys painted our gutters and garage door and they look GREAT.  He also put a clear coat on our front door (it is natural wood) - it now looks brand new (it is actually about 23 years old).  (again, Ed suggested this - hadn't even thought about it) and I am very glad we had him do this).
Finally, the paint.  We live in a 45 year old home with stucco that  has some hairline cracking.  I know enough about stucco to know repairs can be involved and expensive.  Ed's solution was to use a better quality paint (elastomaric?)  and don't try to repair the hairlines which I agreed to.  (We had other stucco repair that he did quickly and well - matching the texture perfectly).  
Pro's:  Smooth process, polite employee's, EXCELLENT final product, finish on time.  FAIR price (bid was in the middle range but Ed gave me the confidence to spend a bit more and I am very glad I did).  
Cons:  A bit more mess than expected - first time I had the house painted and I wasn't ready for all the debris that was produced (easily cleaned up).  Garage door was stuck initially do to a LITTLE over paint on the sides but that was fixed quickly. 
Our house now stands out on the street because it looks so nice.  But - hey - we live in Pleasanton and our neighbors won't wait long to catch up.  And when they ask who did my house, I will have NO problem referring Ed @ Certa Pro / Antioch.