Mark Bellingham Painting

The owner told a good story and i agreed to time and materials. big mistake. The crew stood around a lot and left the job early.  they made multiple trips to the pain store instead of taking a inventory up front.  they pressure washed out all the sand on my bricks.  The owner asked me to of over the problems with his foreman, who clearly didn't care.  The quality of the work was very low for the high p3is2.  Three months later the pain is pea;omg/  My home is in a fog zone in Oakland.  You can't paint when its went.  I worked with a lot of contractors getting my home ready to sell--these guys were the worst.

Mark Bellingham Painting does phenomenal work and my husband and I consider  ourselves fortunate that they left a flyer on
our door while we were actively researching local painters to redo the exterior of our house in Moraga. From beginning to end the experience was positive, even a pleasure, and our house looks as good as new. It is actually better than new since the original builder skimped in some critical areas.
Mark gave us a written estimate up front. It specified the dollar amount per man hour, plus 20% overhead, plus materials. There was a maximum set for man hours and the job actually came in under that. The only surprise for us was that the charge for materials was more than we were expecting, because we really had had no idea what materials would cost or indeed what materials would be needed. In addition to top quality paints and tinted primer, there was a great deal of caulk and compressible foam as well that went into weatherproofing our 2,900 sq ft house. There was a lot of protective paper and tape, and sandpaper, too. When faced with the final bill we had no regrets and felt that the cost of the entire project was very reasonable. Mark
Bellingham?s company took a house that hadn?t been painted in 14 years, was blistering, cracking, and rotting, and got it into prime condition for weathering winter storms and blistering heat for years to come. We heartily recommend Mark Bellingham Painting for any job that falls within their purview.
Read on if you would like a lot more detail about our experience and the various projects they did for us.
The company is properly licensed and bonded, and all employees are covered by Workers? Compensation; I verified this for myself, via the CA Licensing Board?s website. It matters to me that Mark Bellingham cares to protect homeowners and employees alike. Indeed, the company culture is clearly one of mutual respect at every level and of pride in the work. Everyone who came to our property was introduced to me and was always personable and considerate, toward my household, my property, and each other.
They took on three distinct projects for us: (1) they tore down and took away all evidence of a large pergola that was too close to the house and falling apart; (2) they refinished a much-abused, moss-covered, cracked hardwood swing; and (3) they redid the entire exterior of our single-level, wood-framed house.
The Pergola:  We were very grateful that they took on the task of removing our pergola prior to painting the house. It was outside their normal scope, but they did it graciously and for a very reasonable cost. It was a huge help since it would have interfered with their painting. It demonstrated, too, the thoroughness with which they clean up after themselves, for there wasn?t a single nail left behind.
The Swing:  They totally restored our Jarrah wood swing, cleaning it completely, sanding it with increasingly fine sandpaper, filling in a  distressing crack, and guiding me through choosing a new stain. Then, when rain began to fall, our foreman, Tito, covered the swing with a giant tent and tied it down so thoroughly that it withstood a major storm, giving the swing the protection it needed to dry completely. Eventually he took away all evidence of that project as well, leaving us a beautifully restored
piece of furniture returned to its spot in our garden.
The House:  It is inadequate to say that they ?painted? our house, because they did so much more than hose down the house and apply new paint. Their website goes into a lot of detail about the process and I highly recommend reading it. I can vouch that they did everything articulated there. We have had our house ?painted? before, but not at all like this.
They meticulously scraped, caulked, cleaned, and repaired every inch of the house. Wherever hardware could be removed (door handles, flag pole, brass numbers), they took it off so as to paint underneath it. With a razor blade, they removed old glue and paint from the small glass panes in a door, prior to painting the wood framing that surrounded them. They painted the
sides of our ?French Cut? trim, something the previous painter had neglected to do, probably because it was time consuming and required a deft touch. It looks amazing. Where they used a sprayer to apply paint, they would follow it up with brushes. The newly painted wood looks positively luxurious.
Where repair work was minimal they cleaned, protected, filled, and finished it so it looked new. When they found severe rot, as in the wood framing surrounding one of our chimneys, they recommended complete rebuilding, offered their carpenter, and carried out our wishes. We were grateful we took their advice, for, in addition to being rotted, the old wood showed early signs of termite infestation. The original builders of our house hadn?t bothered to prime the inside of the chimneys. Mark?s carpenter did beautiful work and charged the same rate as the painters. (His was the only name I never caught actually, because he arrived at our house and went straight up onto the roof to get to work).
When they discovered our gutters were full of leaves they showed us a photo and, with our permission, cleaned them for us. The cost was comparable to what we usually pay. The timing, too, couldn?t have been better, for it rained that night. It is worth mentioning that this work all took place in December. I had been very worried about rain compromising the paint job, but
they worked around any moisture very sensibly. For example, one morning Tito arrived, on schedule as usual, to let me know that they would be starting late that day in order to give the sun time to finish drying the house.
Tito always kept me abreast of what was going on. He was an absolute pleasure to work with. I can?t sing his praises enough. He has excellent communication skills, is very personable, and answered every question with thoroughness and respect. Every couple days he took me for a walk-around to demonstrate and discuss everything that was happening. Every member of the
crew (Jonathan, Cruz, and Mike) was cheerful, detail-oriented, and industrious.
Mark was always involved, too, even if from afar. He was there at the start to introduce everyone and discuss the projects with them. He was on site a from time to time to see how things were progressing and bring me up to date. He followed up with me at the end to ensure that everything was cleaned up--which it was--, that the touch-up paint had been left behind--which
it had been--, and that we were pleased with the work--which we are! And I know he was in close contact with Tito throughout. My husband and I liked Mark from the start and we couldn?t be more pleased that we chose him in the end. He?ll be our first choice in the future, for projects large and small, and we?ll hope to see Tito and his team again as well.

Mark advised during the bidding process that he'd likely not be the cheapest provider, but that he and his crew would provide superior service using only the best products.
  He delivered exactly as promised.  Although his schedule delayed our project some time, when he could start our job, his crew arrived as expected and wasted no time getting to the job .
  His workers were diligent, professional, accommodating, and knew their trades well.  Mark came by several times during the process to do "job walks" and insure that things were progressing to his expectations.
  The crews arrived early, worked late, and always cleaned up after themselves.  When the weather threatened to turn humid (read "rainy") one afternoon, they left the job site well before it turned, as a professional team would.
  Our house looks better than it ever did, and I give credit to Mark and his crew for that appearance.  
  Perhaps Mark Bellingham Painting wasn't the cheapest game in town, but I'm very glad I hired him and I believe I got fair value for the money.
   I highly recommend his firm to anyone in need of paint work and plan to hire him in the future for some interior work I need done.

unknown

He did a good job. He hired someone to do a good job. The man that did the work was very professional. They were expensive. The quality was good.

It went smoothly and quickly! We would definitely hire Mark again.
Mark called me back within 24 hours of my sending him an email. We set up an appt to take a look at the job within the next couple of days. He called when he was on the way and was early. His estimate came the next day. It was on the lower end of the three estimates we got, and included the cost of all materials. He could schedule us in before our move-in date.
He and his crew showed up on time and finished well within the time frame he had given me (2 days). When I asked for an additional room, he gave us a modified total prior to starting. We also had the ceilings redone by another contractor after he had come by for the estimate, and it needed some caulking at the edges, as well as some primer. This added to the total and was well within reason.
Everything was nicely done, clean, and ready for move in. The crew left us well-marked paint cans for touch-ups.

Mark and his crew are the best. They just finished painting the exterior of our house and I cannot say enough good things about them. From the time Mark gave the most detailed quote we received--which described exactly what types of products he would be using and how the work would be done--we knew the quality of his work would be high. The quote was not the lowest, but we felt it was the most comprehensive and realistic for the type of job we needed done.  My husband and I were both impressed with the level of craftsmanship by his crew--they did superb carpentry repairs where needed and the paint job is perfect. The men were all punctual, professional, friendly, accommodating and had great suggestions along the way. Also, they kept a super-clean workspace which I believe is an extension of the quality of work one does. We were so happy with their work, we have hired them to do several interior rooms, as well. He is also going to stain some outdoor stairs to our backyard. As other reviewers said, if you hire Mark Bellingham painting, you will be glad you did.

It was fantastic. They were very clean and did a great job.

unknown

It went quite well.  Tito showed up when promised, cleaned off the old, flaking paint, prepped with an elastomeric base and put on two coats of high quality paint.  I now have stairs and a landing which can withstand whatever Mother Nature throws at them.

Mark, the owner, is most professional from beginning to end.  He appointed Tito to do the work, who took great pride in it, he arrived on time each day and kept me up to date on his progress, and offered sensible suggestions as he went along.  He too was experienced at his trade and, my I add, respectful of my concerns about not letting my cat escape through the gate and tidied up each day before he left.  I would certainly use him again, and most certainly recommend him to others, even the Queen of England if she needed her palace painted.  Signed M V.

I think his prices are very fair and he wants to make sure that everything is done right. He is reliable and the people that work with him have been with him for 10 or 20 years. The painting job itself was excellent as well as they did a great job with clean up every day and protecting the carpets. He and his crew are very responsive and very friendly as well!

Had my 5 unit apartment building in the Richmond District painted by Mark Bellingham in Nov and I'm very happy. I appreciated Mark's attention to detail, his availability and his commitment to making me a satisfied customer. His crew was neat, happy and helpful. Mark was patient as I chose my colors and he added some great advice, such as staying away from dark brown for the trim so the paint would last longer. This is my second time using Mark Bellingham Painting because he offers great value and he does what he says he'll do. You can tell that he has been doing this for 20+ years. I look forward to working with him again.