Ricky Pearce Painting

Mr. Pearce was the worst case of over-promise and under-deliver I have ever seen. He was quick to show up to do a quote, quick to collect a substantial deposit, then the excuses immediately began. Day one, he HAD to go to Raleigh to appease a realtor who had a paining "emergency" and would provide him more business than our job. When he came to take the deposit, I walked him thru the house and showed him exactly what I wanted, showed him that the wallpaper stripping had left some gouges in the walls, and that I may not have time to complete it before he wanted to begin. ( He was trying to fit us into a 2 week window of time he had available before an out of town job on Bald Head Island. ) He sounded so capable, so eager to begin, so sure nothing I showed him would be a problem, and indicated he could finish everything in two weeks, even if his crew had to finish stripping wallpaper. He said he would cover everything, pull off all hardware, nails, etc., patch all holes and told me how glad I would be that we hired him. (if only that were the case). After our walk thru and discussion, he said the original quote he gave us was fine, so we gave him the deposit. He told us that stripping the paper at an hourly rate would be the only extra charge. As I mentioned, the job started with delays. Then there were all of a sudden these "necessities" that prompted him to call in his "buddies" who are carpenters, who deserve their own review. In hindsight I see this for the scam that it was, because it muddied the timeline and the expense of the job. Remember all of this was to be done in two weeks. Then there was the wallpaper ordeal. His helpers were no more skilled than me at getting the stuff off, and it took longer than we thought, and required a drywall contractor to come and fix it. (again, more "buddies", more expense, more time.) When I checked in on the job, there was paint everywhere. All over the hardwood floors, hinges, lightswitches, a radio I left there in case they wanted music while they worked. The line between the trim and walls was not crisp. In a word, sloppy. In many cases I could not tell what had just primer, or one coat or two coats. Then Mr. Pearce began to argue about what was and was not to be included in his price. He wanted a draw weekly to pay his help, and every week, the amount we owed grew. I reminded him that there were things he was now asking for that I had discussed with him and he chose at the time not to adjust the price. He complained constantly how this was a bigger job than he thought it would be. Although in the beginning he boasted about how many years of experience he had. Why would a seasoned painter worth his salt be so bad at estimating time and material cost? Plus the two weeks deal was out the window. And we waited a month for his return, wondering all the while if we actually WANTED him to return. At this point, without every detail in writing, we didnt have a leg to stand on. And there had been so many extras and it had gone on so long that the whole agreement had become unclear. While we contemplated this, I did my own calculations,and prepared my argument for why there was no way we would pay him any more to complete the job than we all ready had, and when presented with this, he chose not to return. My feeling was that while I would have preferred him NOT to come back, I would give him the benefit of the doubt that he could tidy things up and we would still get an adequate job in the end. I figured if he had any professionalism at all, he would choose to finish what he started, and not leave us feeling cheated. The quality of Mr Pearce's painting leave much to be desired. He is not neat or respectful of the jobsite. He can not cut a line, he painted over hardware, switches and receptacles. He sloppily taped off doorknobs and got paint all over those. There were drips, runs, nails not removed, trim not patched where nails were removed, edges not covered, the list goes on and on. Bottom line, we had to hire another painter to come in and basically re-do the job for about the price we had just spent. Naturally it is more expensive for a painter to come in behind someone that to start from scratch. The new painter said that when they took the trim paint to the paint store to have it matched, the salesperson said the paint was so thinned he was amazed it was sticking to the trim at all. True, we had noticed, you barely have to touch the trim and the new paint would flake off. He probably never even primed it properly, but who knows. In any event, most of it had to be redone. I accept responsibility for not properly checking references, and I decided to post a review to assist others who may be trying to research this company. I would NOT recommend this painter.