The Paint Guru

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I interviewed David to paint the interior of my new house. I spoke to 3 other painting contractors before hiring him. He had painted 4 or 5 other homes in my neighborhood. He painted the entire interior of a 3900 sq ft home including walls, baseboards and doors. We are extremely happy with his work. The crew was very pleasant and showed up early everyday. The paint crew clearly got along well and always had a smile. David is very responsive and quick to answer any questions/concerns. We are very happy with the results and highly recommend him.

Never started the work.

I was planning to do some renovations (new carpet, blinds, couch, etc.) and needed new paint too. Unfortunately after I began work, my timetable for completion got significantly compressed by the unexpected announcement of out-of-town friends saying they were going to be visiting in a mere 6 weeks. David gave me an immediate estimate (within 48 hours of contact) and scheduled my 4-5 day job only one week out. There was no additional charge for having him use oil-based enamel in the kitchen and wood trim throughout the project, and he gave me some tips on how to make the walls seem like having a more intense color without using a darker color. David also arranged a complimentary meeting with a color specialist to help me pick out colors (although already having a general idea in mind of what I wanted, she gave the impression of wondering why I bothered taking the appointment.) The crew came every morning of the job on time and the work was completed in 4 days. There were some minor issues with missed spots and paint drops on flooring and items that were supposed to be covered, but these were resolved with morning verbal communications with the crew, and taken care of the same day they were noted. Several days after the job was complete my daughter noticed two spots that needed touch up. David came out to see the areas and has already said he'll have someone take care of it. Overall, I was very satisfied and am planning to have them do some exterior work for me later this summer.

The GOOD: David is a very nice person, presented a detailed proposal, and was easy to contact. The painters were very nice, arrived on time and were hard workers. They did a pretty good job on the wallpaper. They primed over it and then textured and painted. They tried removing some but I think it was taking too much time. They did a pretty good job applying the paint, not too many goofs. The DISPUTED: I was not happy with the texture that was applied to the ceilings. I had looked at 10 to 15 pictures of "Skip Trowel" texture on the internet and assumed it was a standard within some variation like an "Orange Peel" texture is standard within some variation. This finish was smooth with straight trowel lines. You could also see drywall tape lines and the outline of some of the drywall sheets. David said that this was the "Skip Trowel" finish they always use and there is no standard. He also said they could try and cover some of the tape lines but the way the drywall was put on there wasn't anything that could be done about the outlines. I will accept some of the responsibility for assuming what the "Skip Trowel" texture looked like. David said this is the "Skip Trowel" texture they use all the time and people like the smoother look. I think the problem is the smooth look doesn't hide the ceiling imperfections. They also didn't match the wall texture very well. The new texture is much rougher than the existing walls. This isn't that big a deal because it's not very noticeable. The BAD: They didn't remove any kitchen or bathroom light fixtures prior to painting. I offered to remove all the fixtures but David said they did all that and it is even specified in the contract. I am replacing all the fixtures and now have to paint where the old fixtures were. This includes having to texture the vanity light area. They also didn't remove one of the wall mirrors in the powder room so I had to paint that also. I guess I understand because they didn't have any lights with them and if they removed the lights they couldn't see to paint. Not the best planning. They spray painted the ceilings trying to use the same plastic they put up for the popcorn removal. It had been move, ripped and pulled away from the walls by the time they sprayed the ceilings. There was overspray on everything, light switches and outlets, kitchen counters, windows and window tracks. Luckily most of it is on hard surfaces and can be cleaned off with some effort. It's funny because later they removed all the switch and outlet covers before painting the walls. I had told David I was going to replace all the flooring so they didn't need to paint the baseboards. This must have translated to don't worry about spilling paint on the floors because there is paint everywhere on the floors. They painted the baseboards and a lot of the carpet next to the baseboards. It's true I'm going to replace the flooring so it's not a big deal it just shows a lack of professionalism and care. Since the painting I have been replacing bathroom fixtures, light fixtures, light switches and outlets and have come to the conclusion many areas were not primed even though the contract called for all walls and ceilings to be primed using Zinseer Cover Stain. It is very noticable where the wallpaper was covered that the primer was used but not in other areas. I just hope they spot primed the water stained areas. This is probably the thing that upsets me the most. The cleanup was terrible. On Thursday evening the painters said they were finished with the job and David would come and get the trash and equipment.. I asked who was going to clean up but they didn't seem to know. I called David and asked what was going on. He said they knew they had to clean up so he called them. They stayed for about an hour trying to clean with one shop vaccume and no cleaning supplies. I stopped them from using turpentine on the carpet and floor. My girlfriend and I spent about 7 hours the next day, Friday, cleaning just so I could start moving everything back in. David came on Saturday, 6/19/2010, to view the job and get paid. He offered to repaint the one closet and try and fix one area of the ceiling where the drywall tape showed but he said they would be sanding and it would create a lot of dust. When I asked about the lack of cleaning he said removing the popcorn and sanding drywall created a lot of mess and it was always like that and no one ever complained. CONCLUSION: I don't know if David got backed up on jobs or what but I saw very little attention to detail or quality and an extreme push to get done quickly. I didn't expect a perfect paint job but I did expect a professional journeyman effort which I don't think I received. I cannot recommend David Aguirre's 1-800-PAINT-JOB.