MZA Custom Painting Contractor

Update on this review: Beware of this contractor Mike Z Acosta, also dba MZA Custom Painting. Mr. Acosta promised to refund us the money we paid him for the work he didn’t do. He gave us several dates when he would deliver it but he never showed up. We had no choice but to file a complaint with Small Claims court against this contractor. In February 2023 we received a judgment against him for the amount owed. As of this day we have not received our refund from him. At the time we entered into this contract, he was the SOLE owner and had several workers working for him. We DO NOT recommend this contractor. Review: 4/20/23 Beware of this Contractor, Mike Z Acosta, also dba MZA Custom Painting Contractor. He came to us as we were looking into having work done in our house. Ceiling and floor. He did work for our neighbors and we trusted him. We paid him over $4,000.00 to start the job. $3,500 that he required to hold the wood he told us he had for the flooring (he brought us a sample of the wood). And $580.00 for tape for the ceiling. After many delays he did work on the ceiling but the quality of the job was poor. We will have to hire someone to fix all the problems. He did not complete the job as per the signed contract. Our house was in disarray for several months and he kept giving us the runaround. He never delivered the wood for the flooring or the tape for the ceiling. We asked him to show us where he kept the wood but he never did. After several months of calling him and him not showing up, he agreed and signed a letter of agreement to refund us the amount we paid him. Time and time again he kept telling us he had our refund and would deliver it but that never happened. We were patient and tried working with him to no avail. My wife and I are seniors and on fixed incomes. We had no choice but to take legal action. We DO NOT recommend this contractor. Description of Work: Worked on ceiling, did not work on the floor

Mike and Robert did terrific work repairing my brick fence, fixing and repairing my gutters, replacing kitchen light fixtures and replacing close to 30 wall plugs. When I mentioned the negative postings Mike advise me that was because of a previous partner. Having had dishonest employees myself I took him at his word and he followed through on everything. They do quality work at reasonable prices. I definitely got what I paid for and more. I had got another offers but the others did not seem to have the knowledge and expertise that Mike and his crews have. I recommend him highly!!!

Beware of this Contractor, Mike Z Acosta, also dba MZA Custom Painting Contractor. He came to us as we were looking into having work done in our house. Ceiling and floor. He did work for our neighbors and we trusted him. We paid him over $4,000.00 to start the job. $3,500 that he required to hold the wood he told us he had for the flooring (he brought us a sample of the wood). And $580.00 for tape for the ceiling. After many delays he did work on the ceiling but the quality of the job was poor. We will have to hire someone to fix all the problems. He did not complete the job as per the signed contract. Our house was in disarray for several months and he kept giving us the runaround. He never delivered the wood for the flooring or the tape for the ceiling. We asked him to show us where he kept the wood but he never did. After several months of calling him and him not showing up, he agreed and signed a letter of agreement to refund us the amount we paid him. Time and time again he kept telling us he had our refund and would deliver it but that never happened. We were patient and tried working with him to no avail. My wife and I are seniors and on fixed incomes. We had no choice but to take legal action. We DO NOT recommend this contractor.

DO NOT HIRE. Do yourself a massive favor and do not allow them touch your home. If you decide to take a gamble, do not give him money up front and wait until he actually finishes the job and you get the opportunity for a walk through. Beware of a hostage trap where more money is requested to finish the job. I'm willing to bet up front money from new customers helps finance the completion of other jobs in some cases. Don't be fooled by the friendly smooth talk. Don't believe any start and completion time provided and add 300% if not more. Workers are unsupervised a vast majority of the time, lack experience, lack attention to detail and are careless. Mike didn't know the name of one of his crew members. Take everything he says with a grain of salt because you're likely being fed lies. I can go on.... Too many issues and complaints to list.

Talked with Mike Acosta contractor about kitchen remodel, found him while talking to a new where he was working. He came to our house and said he needed 1500 up front. I asked for a business card. He didn't have 1.. he talked us into painting. He brought samples of counter tops. Never did it. He received 5 checks and hadn't brought anything. I asked him what the money was for and he said supplies. He finally bought 4 base boards! His crew would come at 10 and leave by 2, 1st week. He would come by and then leave. We paid for a PREHUNG DOOR and 4 wks later. Still waiting on it. When asked about it he would say he was going to get it. He brought a DOOR on wk 6 and we still can't close it properly. He said he would fix it. I finally got him to the house and he admitted that he had overcharged us and owes us 4140 refund. He called and said he was bringing us the cash. Now he won't answer the phone or text messages. Mike Acosta is the same as MZA. DO NOT HIRE HIM.

Contractor from h***!!!! Too many epic fails and wrongs to list.  I hired this person due to referral from neighbor across street that had work done but not completely finished so i did not bother to look up individuals work history on internet or with better business. BIG Mistake that I wont repeat.  Neighbor still has work unfinished and has had to threaten on multiple occasions.
Every day of the 38 days there was a problem, excuse, and mainly lies as to why the painting work was not getting done or why no one would show up at the house to work.  Took me weeks to get a written work order from him after I had paid him and when finally cornered with husband here at the house i received a vague work order that was not written as to how the jobs were quoted.   When i asked him to add items left off and clarify some of the work he did not mention he came up with excuses as to the form was to full already, did not have his notes on him as to exact pricing on each job, and that we don't have to write it on here because ill make sure it gets done and not to worry.  He is a smooth talker (how his workers describe him as well that kept leaving my job due to him not paying them).  I heard stories after stories from the first set of 4 workers that started painting at my house a week and one day later than originally was scheduled.  Those 4 workers came for 2 days and only prepped to paint then went off to another job except for one worker that came back to house a couple of times but said he could not work or do anything because Mike did not provide him with paint or sand paper so he would just leave after being hear a short while .  Did not get  different set of workers until a month and one day later and they came with there own additional horror stories to tell of Mike Acosta not paying them and how he had done other customers wrong by starting work and not finishing there job by pulling them off that location and sending them elsewhere to start a new job.  Was told Mike was operating like this to keep the customers deposit (he tried to get as much of the money from me in cash as he could) then refuse to pay his workers due to them not finishing the job as well.    At one point, his first set of workers confiscated his ladders and sold them due to Mike having not paid him.  All these stories took place while my one job of painting was going on.  Additional lies i heard were the following: Wife was in a terrible car accident, forgotten dentist appt and then had to go home from the pain,  all of his workers had contracted the flu and could not work,  another forgotten appointment, worker came but u were not there so let me call him and ill get him back out on the job....of couse i never heard back from Mike until 2 days later.  There was no job supervision from Mike and  returned phone calls were a rarity.  Days and weeks would go by before  he returned a call with an excuse.  All work was agreed to be completed by December 13th (not just painting) and my painting is still not completed  to this day and he will not answer his  phone or return any messages.  None of the other work is completed as well and its been almost 2 months since i gave him $1000.00 cash and $1,690 on credit card.  It took Mike one month and one day to supposibly put two coats of paint on the ceiling in those two rooms.   I had to take down the tape on the ceiling registers and put the can light covers  back on as well after last set of workers left to try and find him (Mike) for payment  Will also have to apply the second coat to ceiling due to several areas still showing previous white paint.  Stairwell was never finished...only stripped but not painted, stained, or varnished. While last 2 workers where here painting i was approached several times/days  by them saying Mike told them that i was to be paying them some money up front.  Basically they were being told by Mike that he had not collected the deposit from me and that i would be giving it to them.  I did not bust Mike out on this or say anything to him because it was very difficult to get  a return call from him or have him send workers to my house so i was above and beyond courteous and nice to Mike and acted like i belived all of his excuses as to why work was not getting done as agreed upon.  My neighbor told me he used some of the same excuses on him  a month before....wife in car wreck, etc... There are other complaints or things that went wrong as well such as paint, materials and labor was to be included in pricing except for what i told him i would provide and he did not supply all paint but out of desperation to not have workers stop coming to house to paint i provided primer and additional paint.   
 Moral of the story...run as fast as you can from this contractor!!!!  and do not give him money up front for anything!!!! I will file a complaint with better business bureau, dispute charge with credit card company, and try to see if he has a contractors license to report him to city.  When asked for proof of insurance insurance and bonding info he would not provide it to me earlier on....  Was given an excuse

Painted over a nail punch and when I called them on it they stated, "Oh, that's just the first coat, we will repair that for the second coat". Each blue tape piece is an area missed. Mike said he would make an adjustment fort us having to repaint this cupboard, but he did not. Three times I asked a crew member to paint his door frame. Each refused. On one of the rare days when Mike showed up, he did paint this. This was "standard quality work". Areas missed, paint drips on the floor and furniture. They refused to remove hardware causing paint transfer and marring of the newly painted surface. This is how they covered our floors--using packing paper from our garage.

I cannot recommend this contractor.  The crew (2-3) painters did not keep any regular schedule, sometimes arriving as late as 10:30 am and leaving as early as 3:00 pm.  Regardless of arrival time they usually kept a full lunch hour.  Mike Acosta, the contractor was rarely on site (except when personally retexturing a bathroom) and several times pulled one of the workers off my job to do work somewhere else.

Despite my constant reminders to cover everything, they only covered "most" of the furniture and took little to no care to protect carpet, tile, counter tops etc. from paint spatters and other damage. After almost three weeks I am still finding and cleaning specks and drops of paint from carpets, furniture, and bathroom wall tiles.   The bathroom counter tops (cultured marble) were routinely used as unprotected work surfaces and were even stood upon.  During their several days work in the bathrooms they caused more wear and tear (abrasions and scratches, some quite bad) to the counter tops than my family did in 19 years.

The job took longer than necessary due to poor quality work having to be redone.  Although all walls and ceilings were painted two coats some were so thin or paint poorly applied that they had to be painted a third coat.  The ceiling in the main living area still shows roller lines after three coats of paint.  One of the painters spent considerable time touching up thin spots and painting over  spattered ceiling paint on the walls.  He used the wrong shade of paint and it all had to be redone.

Mr Acosta claims to do "special effects in textures and faux finishes."  In my opinion, his work was quite poor.  Many areas had to be retextured and there are still small areas that were completely missed.  The protective glaze was badly applied resulting in a hodgepodge of high gloss and satin finishes on the same wall.  One area that was retextured was left totally unglazed.  He failed to fit all the electrical wall plates while the texture was still soft.  As a result, all plates are poorly fitted.  The overall appearance is fair but the details and finish are poor.

 Mr Acosta said that he would have a cabinet contractor with whom he works check and repair the damage to my bathroom cabinet tops.  This should have happened the week of 13 June.  It is now 2 July.  I have heard from no one on this problem.  

Two bright spots.  A separate crew painted the outside trim on the house.  They did a commendable job. Also the painter who did the enameled interior trim also did a commendable job