CertaPro Painters® of Saint Paul

CertaPro was contracted to stain and seal seven of our windows in July. The first day they were on-site one of our windows was dented by a worker dropping a stain can on it. We had to argue with them that the dent was not pre-existing as the windows were newly installed and had to put their can in the dent to prove it had come from them. Their project manager came out to the site to assess the damage and failed to check the quality of their work while he was out. We then discovered one of the workers had put their boxes down on our dining table without a drop cloth and paint stripped it. We had to call him out again to point out that his workers had failed to open the windows to stain and seal any of the outer frame and exposed portions. We paid ~$920 as the deposit and they have done ~$960 of damage to our items. We have not seen any of our deposit returned nor the full amount of damages refunded despite being in communication with their consultants and project manager for nearly two months. I can only assume they intend to keep the deposit and are functionally scamming customers at this point.

All we can say is not to use this company. As summer approaches we are starting to hear their radio adds. Please don't believe what you hear, or at least do your research on BBB, googe search, YELP, and other social media before making a decision. Anyone (business,family memebers) can add false claims of how well it went. Yes they tried to fix the mistakes that should not have been done in the first place, but a job that should have been completed in 3 days took several months. We wanted it fixed right (not too much to ask) over a period. Long story and I will be glad to talk to anyone that would like to see our pictures or story. They forgot to paint a wall, did not fix dents and holes, used my drywall, and were sloppy. Although we ended taking them to small claims, the judge thought we were not wanting to pay or wanted money back... that is not the truth... we just did not want to pay 4000+ for a very bad job. The judge thought we were upset and emotional, inconvenienced, taking time off work, etc. We just did not want pay for the sloppy job that we had to fix.

We had a terrible experience with CertaPro. Although their bid on painting the trim to our house came in lower than other companies, the job was subpar. Specifically, we were promised one coat of primer and two top coats and with many areas, they simply used one top coat. In other areas, scraping was simply not done to prep the area. We were super frustrated with the process. Take your money elsewhere.

Look at the above survey.

Just a horrible experience. The painter painted the building the wrong color. We provided two paint samples and wrote on the paint samples where each color went. In addition, on the day of the painting we walked around the building and told them what was to be painted and what color was to be used on the building and on the columns. There were 5 columns that were to be a darker color and the main building the lighter color. The painter kept reassuring me that he understood English better than he spoke it. He told me he understood what I was saying. They did repaint the building, but did a horrible job on the last 1/3 of the area they re-painted as the coverage was uneven and blotchy. It appears that they either did not provide a second coat to the last 1/3 of building or did way too thin of a final coat. In addition, the painter made me dispose of all of the waste they left onsite. The painter painted items that we told him not to paint. I had to remove overspray on glass and metal trim. They used red caulk where I asked it to be grey. They cleaned the paint equipment out by downspouts that were removed for painting and got a paint slurry on the downspouts which I will need to repaint. Only had two large cracks in stucco that should have been caulked before painting, but weren't. The company was going to send an inspector out to look at quality, but I never heard back from company after they said this. I then sent them a letter on July 14th, 2017, with pictures outlining issues, but have not heard back from them.

There were some miscommunications (no blame assigned, just misunderstandings), and we needed them to come back a couple weeks after the work was completed to touch up some areas that were missed. The professionalism of the team was great, and they were very respectful of the property and of us as homeowners.

The project was done in one day and was great quality! The team was very nice and the office staff is extremely responsive. I would highly recommend.

We were very pleased with the service provided by Certapro. The estimate was provided quickly and professionally. The team worked quickly and were willing to adjust small changes that we made as the project unfolded. The house looks great, and we are happy with the service and outcome.

I had looked at, contacted, and received quotes from several contractors on Angie's List, but went with CertaPro in St. Paul. They seemed very professional and the quote was the lowest we received. I spoke with Christine, who set everything up and worked around our tight schedule and we had a lot of landscape plants that had just been planted, so the crew was very careful working around the new plants! They primed and gave the fence 2 coats of paint and cleaned everything up...and they did it all with smiles on their faces! We are now looking at having the interior of our home painted and I would definitely choose CertaPro again.

We LOVE the work you did painting our brick and the rest of our house! Every time we drive up to the house, we love it all over again. From the initial consultation to the finished product your entire team was professional, timely, and worked hard to meet our every request. You responded to our questions quickly and completed our project right on time.

he scheduling timeline was very short, so the project
was completed within the week of the estimate.  (Normally, I am accustomed
to waiting months to get on a painters calendar.)

Crew was timely and well informed about the project.

Crew was very hard working and finished a BIG job in a day and a half.

All staff (sales, administrative and painters) were polite and professional.

Quotation and arrangement of the job was excellent and very professional. They were very responsive and the crew arrived on time. The crew was polite and professional, and seemed to work hard. The job was quoted to be two days for this large area, with two coats of paint. However, they rushed to finish up all on one day, and admitted that they had run out of paint. At 8pm, they declared they were completely done, so we inspected as best we could (vacant house, with not a lot of lighting). Even under poor lighting conditions, we found some incredibly sloppy prep work and numerous spots where they had missed painting. The prep work appeared to not even have been sanded out, as it was terribly rough, and a couple spots were bigger than 6" in diameter. We refused to accept the job and asked that they return the next day with more paint, and finish up. They agreed. On the next day, they did what seemed to be a good job in finishing up. The major complaints we have about this crew is that they damaged our house and the company didn't want to take full responsibility for it. On the first day, they spilled a large amount of paint (probably a quart, maybe a gallon) in our Living Room, directly on the carpet, which they had failed to cover up (they told us they were going to cover up all floors, but didn't). This resulted in a large dark paint stain approx. 2 feet in diameter. That evening, they removed some plastic tarping they had taped down to the hardwood floor in the foyer, and we found that the tape had removed the finish (varnish and stain) on the floor in several areas. Upon complaining about the damage, the Office Manager was very responsive and willing to come out to resolve the issues. But she warned that it could take weeks to obtain estimates and get the issues resolved. The troublesome thing is that they all took an attitude that "the floors are old", and "you're going to replace the carpet anyway", so argued they should not be obligated to remedy the carpet (other than offering to use some chemical on it to clean it, after it had dried). Because we needed to finish up the work on the house so we could move in, we suggested a credit on the job to help cover hardwood floor refinishing and a small amount to account for us needing to replace carpeting sooner than we planned. In our minds, this was worth in excess of $1,000. We attempted to be extremely fair and asked for $400 credit. CertaPro stood firm and offered only $100. Rather than fight the battle, we accepted the $100 and advised that our ratings would reflect our discontent. We now have found several spots that did not get 2 coats of paint and require touchup. They left us with a pint of paint, and we will take care of those areas ourselves. Certa Pro didn't quite meet our expectations but, in the end, the house looks very nice. Their trimwork was excellent. If we ever were to consider using them again, we would most definitely supervise their work the entire time.

Overall, I am happy with the final product.  The house looks much better now that it has been painted.  The painting team did the masking and prep work in one day and the painting the next day.  For being on the low-end of the bids I received, they met expectations for quality, so no complaints there.  And yes, I would recommend them, but not enthusiastically.  There were a frustrating amount of communication problems.  I got a call from the painters saying they were coming to prep the house before I'd even picked the colors.  After meeting with the color consultants, we amended the job to include the painting of the front door and a little fence we keep around our garbage cans.  The painters were never informed of this and everything that was written up in their report I had to explain again,   Finally, my last complaint is that I've been cleaning cigarette butts from my lawn for a week now - my toddler seems to have a knack of finding the ones I miss...

unknown

perfectly it couldn't have been better

they took a chip and got the paint exactly.  Looks great.

wrong color for deck stain

Overall I am glad to have the project finished but there are some things I feel they could have done better.  The estimator gave me a quote within a day of having come out, he was not the lowest bid but the price was reasonable and I appreciated his timliness and responsiveness.  The scheduler was in touch with me promptly and was able to get me scheduled fairly soon due to my ability to be flexible with timing.  The invididual performing the work left me disappointed. He was a nice guy and he appeared to be trying his best, but he seemed overwhelmed.  He gave us 3 dates when he said he would be there but did not show or let us know he wasn't coming, and 3 estimated completion dates, two of which he missed.  We were trying to be flexible on timing, but the communication was poor.  The installer never seemed to grasp the scope of the project.  At one point when I asked for an updated cost estimate, the number he gave was more than double the original.  I had to call the scheduler for clarification and determined that the installer had no idea what was on the original estimate.  There was one point where I ended up just doing 4 hours of work myself due to unforseen complications that were causing unnecessary delays.  He also did not know he needed to paint the walls; he called to me he was finished, and I had to point out to him that the walls still needed to be painted.  The quality of the work was average.  The installer put plastic down before he started, yet still managed to leave my brand new garage floor covered with chunks of dried drywall mud.  I'm not even sure how that was possible.  I spent 2 hours scrubbing dried mud spots off the floor so that it was properly prepped for a seal coat.  It ultimately ended up costing 25% more than the original estimate, partially due to the original not including a dollar figure for drywall materials even though I think it would have been fairly easy to include them. 

Went great. Very happy with the work, fast response, and the great guys that painted for us.

Christine was my first contact with the company.  She was very professional and was able to answer all my questions.  She scheduled a time for Jake come out and do an estimate so we would know the costs of our job.  The estimate was established and the date for the painters was scheduled for Tuesday, March 4th.  On Monday, March 3rd the painters called me to confirm they would be arriving the next morning between 8:00am and 8:30am.  We were happy when they arrived during the time block they provided.  Two painters were assigned to the job and they did a fabulous job!  Not only did they prep and paint, they actually cleaned up when they were finished.  The painters were professional, and courteous!  We will be using them again when we finish our basement!

I called certa pro painters after contacting three other painting services.  The owner was responsive and scheduled an appointment with me quickly.  The estimate was very good (others quoted me $1000-$1500 more) and we corresponded multiple times over email to ensure all my demands were met.  Unfortunately, the team hired to do the job did not show up on the scheduled painting day.  Instead, I had to call the company to reschedule.  Once the painting crew did arrive, they did not know what they were assigned to paint.  I clarified this with the job leader and they painted the entire house (2 coats) in one day.
The following day, I examined the house and the paint job looked great.  There were a few spots that were not adequately covered (I was provided a can of paint to fill in areas they missed).  What was more disappointing was the garbage the left around my yard.  They used an old fire pit as a garbage can. 
Overall, I had a positive experience.  My house looks great from the curb and the few spots that were missed are barely visible (behind wire and a light fixture at the back of the house).  I wish the painting crew showed better professionalism, cleanliness, and punctuality.

What started out as a very frustrating & terrible experience turned into a very good experience. We were first given the crew from h***. They were neither reliable or particularly good painters. Once I contacted the office and requested a new crew we got Josh and his crew. We couldn't have asked for anyone better. Josh came with his people and did a fabulous job. They put in long hours and finished last night at 9 PM. They cleaned up the house after they finished and put all the furniture back in place. The rating of "A" is for Josh's crew only. I would highly recommend them to anyone. Just make sure if you aren't happy with the crew they send you to let the office know if you are not happy. 

Went great, it looks really good and we were happy with the project. They are coming back when the weather is nicer to paint outside of our home.

They only use Sherwin-Williams paint which is of great quality. The two guys who were here were so meticulous. They completed the job within two and a half days. They had great follow up with us are are very customer oriented. They are independently franchised and operated. They are younger and pretty agile, so they are pretty much able to do anything you could need them to do. They are conscious about time and hours, bring all of their own equipment, and clean up after themselves each and every day. They did a great job and we wouldn’t have gone with anyone else.

These guys first painted for us 2 years ago for our exterior. We had a very difficult project and they handled it great! We changed colors and they helped with the selection. ( i have a very picky husband) Then, this year we needed to paint our interior at our home as well as at our cabin about 30 minutes away. The crew was fast more importantly, friendly. I would and have already recommended this company to my friends.