Overeducated Painters

"Wow - very impressive. Member was under a time crunch - she was moving in 3 days... she was not even going to have time to finish loading her PODS. I offered her the use of one of my painters at an hourly rate to help her with her packing for almost two days (12.5 total man hours). Because of being one man short we did not finish before she left. But did so afterwards. Without our help - she would not have moved on time. There was no - if you don't finish in 3 days time you do not get paid at all - in our agreement - or my contract. She has only paid $600 of her $2500 bill and is very close to having to be dealt with in a legal manner since we finished the work 5 months ago. The front porch being the wrong color is a correct statement - but out of context - Member set out the paint for my painters and they had it matched and painted it. Apparently with the move being so hectic - she put out the wrong paint. So yes technically we did paint it the wrong paint. We corrected this - at no extra labor charge to her - even though it cost us. She also said we lost her interior security window screws when we removed them. Things were very hectic during her move so she forgot that we did not remove them - her handyman did that."

"Unfortunately member had a very busy schedule and could not meet with me personally. Even though he and I had picked a time when he said he would be available. When I got there - I had to call him and talk with him on the phone while looking at the areas that needed work. Being there face to face is always important when you are needing to hire a contractor (or work for a client). Miscommunications are bound to happen. The work we were performing did not require any member of the family to be out of the house. They were supposed to be minor drywall repairs in just the kitchen/family room. We are used to working with people living in their homes. We take proper precautions (plastic to seal up the rooms, vacuuming while sanding, etc) so that there is minimal disturbance - so I would not have recommended them to be out of the home, there is no need. The member informed me on Wed after I told him we would definitely be starting Thursday, that his family was staying in a Hotel cause of the noise from the roofing work and they decided to stay while we were working on the family/kitchen room. I told him it was unnecessary. We have 3 painting teams (not 1) and all teams were busy on projects. His project was next in line for the 1st team to finish up, and we got over there as soon as possible. Unfortunately in the contracting business we can not can not always start or stop at an exact time, there are many unforeseen delays. Like with the member's roofing team. The work they did created more cracks in the ceiling as well as their framing that was done to fill in the holes of the skylights was not properly done - when the new piece of drywall was in place - it would not sit flush, the new piece stuck up on one corner so high it would have looked awful. We contacted him , told him the issue - as well as the new cracks that we noticed and he and I agreed on an extra $90 to cover the labor costs. These issues took two of my guys an extra half day labor to fix correctly so that our patchwork would look like it was never there. Things like this are what happens in contracting... these delays caused us to delay our next client. They are unfortunate... but happen and most clients understand. As for the not listing the paint - it was in writing on his estimate - as well as there was a column for paint costs that did not have anything listed in it. This was because he and I did not have a chance to discuss what type and cost level of paint he wanted since he was not there for the estimate. Paint costs vary greatly now. Some of my clients want cheap $25 a gallon Duron and others want $75 a gallon Farrow & Ball paint. He and I did not come to an agreement on paint till after his acceptance of the bid - in which I mentioned the various costs per gallon of the paint. In our conversation about the paint cost after he got the invoice - he told me that he chose me because I was some $200 less than the other lowest bid. When we added in the paint cost - we were much closer to the competition. Since we were not there to go over the estimate in person... he had just skimmed to the bottom line cost of all the estimates. Angie's List members I am warning you to not do that. When you are walking through showing your contractor what you want done... you might miss something showing one contractor something... that you showed the others, or they might miss something in the estimate even though you mentioned it. Always ask for a detailed estimate... so you can compare apples to apples. That is why we do our estimates on a spread sheet, we line list and cost each individual item in each room (trim, wall, repairs, crown, windows, doors, priming, paint cost etc..). That way you will know if your ceiling in the master bedroom is included (there is a price there)... or how much your paint costs. :)"