Straight Line Painting & Construction

He said he could do everything and I gave him a down payment. He said my plumbing was incorrectly done, with many other things. It added up to becoming a lot of money and trouble. They were replace an old window in my bathroom, and he did not know how to properly do it. I had to instruct him how. They were supposed to replace my insulation properly, but they did not do that right either. The inspector agreed with me in saying that it was not done right. After I had spent a lot of money with this company, he stopped showing up to do the work. He continuously did not show up, and his workers did not work without him. I lost a lot of money because of this issue.

Service was never performed and deposit has not been returned as of this date. But still hoping.

Michael Panico of Straight Line Painting & Construction returned to our home on September 16, 2013 to complete all the work agreed upon. He told me and The Department of Consumer Affairs he would complete all work by September 23, 2013. He did not and the work done was not of a quality we had expected. Straight Painting & Construction has failed to complete all work at our home. I have called Michael Panico numerous times and he does not answer my calls or return voice messages. I reached out to Consumer Affairs of Union County in New Jersey where I had filed a complaint against Michael Panico and Straight Painting & Construction. Straight Line Painting & Construction started the job at my home on June 10, 2013 and as of October 25, 2013 the job is not complete and he refuses to answer my phone calls or respond to my text messages.

The overall quality of the job was acceptable. However, it was a struggle from start to finish. Some examples.The house was supposed to be power washed with solution. A kid showed up, alone, with no solution. He could not contactf Mike or Nick so we had to reschedule. Dates and promises came and went. They constantly promise and promise and I had to urge them to show up. Once started, the work went well and the overall quality was good. There were a number of normal follow up issues and that was when the real fun began, At one time, after numerous calls and promises, Mike showed up wearing flip flops and without a paint brush. I lent him a paint brush, he worked an hour and said he would return the next day. Never saw him again. They failed to paint the trim on one window. Again, promises to do it, never happened. I ended up finishing the small things myself. Mike and Nick are very personable but they do not act like mature businessmen. Mike's excuses for not showing up were often that he was on vacation or away for some social occasion. I would not recommend this company to others.

I did not keep detailed records at this time as I never thought it would be necessary. I might have heard from them prior to a short trip to CA but no work was done in the month of April. At one point early on, I did cancel with them via e-mail (May 7th) as it seemed they were not too organized and twice they talked me into continuing with them. They are quite personable and were always polite. According to some notes I started taking, when I realized this was not going well (or at all), they finally power washed the deck on June 3rd. In spite of many sunny days and phone calls, they did not return to do the stain remover process until June 24th. I also never saw a piece of sandpaper touch my deck. Again, many phone calls, poor communication and in general, no further work, caused me to not care if they ever came back as I had only paid them the $256 deposit and could probably get the rest of the job done for less than the $800 I still had to pay upon completion. The two students who were doing the staining showed up on Monday July 12th with no prior appointment or call. Since I was away and wanted to be present when any work was done, my husband told them they couldn?t do it. I returned on Tuesday and contacted EPS and set up the staining for Friday July 16th. Unfortunately, I didn?t return before they finished and my husband paid them the remaining $800. The deck looked awful?complete boards were missed on the outside structure, many other spots were just skipped over but the worst was that the roller did not stain the edges of each board. It looked like a striped deck. I subsequently sent Mike Panico some photos of the deck (July 21st) and he agreed to come and fix it. When he did come (Mon July 26th), he said it was too dirty to restain and they rewashed it. In retrospect I wonder why it wasn?t dirty after it sat for more than three weeks after they used the stain remover. ???? Anyway, there followed daily e-mails as to when they would come and actually address the problem. Excuse followed excuse and they (Mike and his partner Nick) came on Saturday morning (July 31st) and said the deck was dirtier now than before they?d washed it. Well, after six days with three dogs and a bad rainstorm, what did they expect??? In spite of these comments, they started to restain the deck while I went and got two brooms to sweep it off. The operative word here is ?two? but neither of them picked one up, just kept rolling the stain on. And as before, it did not fill in the spaces. They then said they needed a brush which they didn?t have with them. I offered to pay for one just so they could finish and they said their brush was attached to a pole and made the task easier. Wonder why they didn?t bring it when they knew what the problem was?? They did the deck floor and stained the boards I had attached Post-its to but did not address the cracks, They also simply dropped the Post-its on the grass which I thought was rather sloppy and snotty. They said they?d be back Monday Aug 2nd to complete the job but by 3PM, I figured it was going to be more delays and aggravation so I sent the final e-mail requesting they call in an order for another gallon of stain so I could finish it myself. I never heard back from them and when I went to Sherwin Williams Tuesday morning, they hadn?t called in the order. It took a long time for my husband and I to finish it (I?m 70 and he?s 76 with a chronic illness) but at least it was done by Wed and the deck furniture put back for the umpteenth time. I?ve called this ?the project from h***? and will be VERY careful whom I hire in the future.