CertaPro Painters of Loudoun, VA

Levi and his crew have done it again. I have been a CertaPro (Loudoun) customer for many years because of this great team of professionals. They are meticulous in ensuring the work is done correctly, efficiently and with the utmost concern for my home. What I truly love about this team, is they CARE about customer satisfaction. They will do anything to ensure you are happy with the end product. I will always recommend CertaPro for our painting needs. Thank you again!

CertaPro was professional from the beginning through the completion of the job. They provided a thorough quote, and then reduced it based on a competing offer. Even though they ended up slightly higher in price than the other offer, I felt confident that they would do a great job. I was so right! The front door itself is a lot of work due to sun damage to the varnish, and it looks like brand new. Everything was done according to the needed schedule, communication was great, and they cleaned up after themselves. Beautiful work. Would definitely hire them again.

Hello! We recently had Miguel V, and Thomas spend a day at our home in Ashburn, VA to repair and paint many feet of cracked caulking on the crown molding throughout our 3000 sq ft home. They arrived early, were courteous and personable, very respectful of our property and performed the work efficiently and with great skill. Something that cannot be overlooked these days was that they were also trustworthy. They left our property in a condition where no clean up was even necessary after the job was completed. That is rare, indeed! Also noteworthy, our customer service contact, Ana O., was very pleasant, courteous and accommodating and the job estimator (Sales Assoc), Syed H. was outgoing, knowledgeable and informative. They both made sure that the job went smoothly and that customer needs were met. I'm sold on CertaPro Painters of Loudoun, VA and would not hire anyone but this team for any future house painting and caulk repair services. I would also highly recommend them to neighbors and friends.

The team working our home displayed EXCEPTIONAL attention to detail. Very exacting in everything they do as well as being friendly, responsive and professional – really focused on doing the job right. I was exceedingly impressed by CertaPro of Loudoun!

Crew was prompt and very thorough including the repainting of trim on the third story of the townhouse. You couldn't pay me enough to get me on a ladder that high on a hillside! I will certainly call them first for any future painting needs.

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The estimator was on time and that was about it. He promised an estimate in about a day. A week later, still no estimate. Since he didn't give me a business card, I had to go through the main office to follow up. When the estimate finally arrived, it was sadly lacking a lot of the things I needed done. There was no reference to the replacement materials they would use and only small part of the exterior work was included.

Excellent. Clear contract for work and superb communication on schedule. They showed up when they said they would and all their workers were professional. CertaPro did a great job. They paid attention to detail, showed care for carpet and furnishings, and provided an excellent value!

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The CertaPro painters of Loudoun did a wonderful job of painting the interior of my townhouse - all 3 levels.   I couldn't be happier!!  In fact, they even finished painting it ahead of schedule.  They originally estimated 3 - 4 days and it actually only took them 2 days.  The whole crew was very courteous and nice.  The job manger/lead kept in close communication with me throughout the 2 days.  At the end of the second day, I did a walk-through/inspection with the job manager and was amazed at how beautiful the colors were and the quality of the work.  It was like walking into a brand new house!!  Thank you CertaPro!!

They were punctual. They did a good job.

The estimate process was thorough and easy.
 I was disappointed that the pre-job information made a point about a job supervisor coming to discuss the job before it starts and verifying work and details of the job.  A supervisor did not contact me at all. I was also told that there would be 2-3 painters and there was one. This is what they include in the email for the job:
Job Start.
Please be prepared to do a pre-job walk through with the supervisor to review the color and space we are painting. The supervisor will provide you with a Customer Completion package, which contains a Customer Comment Card, Customer Appreciation form, Use and Care form, a copy of the contract and information on our warranty.
I had tried calling the job site supervisor but didn't get a return call that day.  I think it was late in the day when I got in touch with the office and they arranged for the supervisor to come by after the painter was gone for the day or the next morning (I can't remember which). We wanted to add on some additional painting work. They were happy to add on the additional work and sent a second person the next day.
They did a high quality job.  I found some spots on the ceiling that needed to be painted more thoroughly and they were happy to do it and I was happy with the result. We were very pleased with the repair work and painting of the complete job. The individuals we worked with throughout the process were courteous, professional and eager to please. Overall, I would have given them an A rating if I did not have the frustration with the missing supervisor.  I had planned to discuss some questions with him, including some about colors.

y The frames on both the front door and french doors receive the most abuse from snow and rain and approximately six inches at the bottom of all doors needed to be repaired due to moisture damage. Even though this would have been considered a small project by most companies, CertaPro had two workers on site . The men arrived on schedule and prepared the site for repairs and painting. Work was completed on schedule and to our satisfaction. 

I have previously used CertaPro for our home painting projects and know that they have a one year warranty on their work. I will be notified by the company before the warranty time is expired to inquire if I am still satisfied with the work or have any issues. This level of customer service is extremely rare today!

CertaPro listens, they are meticulous, professional, timely and will make certain that the job was completed to your satisfaction and they clean up too!

This was our third time using CertaPro, and they always deliver!  The crew was prompt, professional, and did impeccable work.

Great job!  I am a real estate agent and hired Gary Cobb and his company to paint a new listing from top to bottom!  They were professional, on time, competitive and did a first class job!  I highly recommend them and will use them again in the future!

For such a small room, it seems everything that could go wrong did.  First of all, the painters showed up the day before they were supposed to and looked at us like we were the ones wrong about the date until they looked at their work order and found
out we were right.  Since we were having the bathroom remodeled by another contractor, the timing was important and we had made that clear to the office staff when scheduling the day of the work.  The idea was that the painting would be done prior to the installation of the bathroom vanity, medicine cabinet, light, and toilet so that those walls would be painted entirely and not have gaps or risk paint getting on the new items.
Next, we were told to call the supervisor to provide the Benjamin Moore (Certapro?s recommended supplier) paint color we wanted in the bathroom.  We did this and selected neutral tone off-white to go with the new tile being installed on the floors and in the shower.  The painter showed up pretty much on time (around 9:15AM) and got to work taping and putting up protective
plastic and drop cloths.  We were having work done on the first floor in the kitchen at the same time so we tried to stay out of everyone?s way.  I looked a the paint can to verify the color code and, although there was no splotch of paint on the lid (or label I could see right away) as many paint stores do for color confirmation, I noted that the last 3 digits handwritten on the lid were
right so that seemed OK.  Unfortunately, this was not the case.  After about an hour and a half, the painter took a break so I wandered in to see how it was going.  To my shock and horror, the walls were now a bright orange color, not the neutral tone off-white we had requested.  On the positive side, the ceiling looked good (white).  I identified this to the painter and although we were having communication problems since English was not his primary language, we finally got the supervisor on the phone and I called the office administrator as well.  I was told to give the painter the color chip and number again and he would correct the problem and repaint in the correct color.
So, the painter went off to the Benjamin Moore store to get the correct color.  As an aside, it turns out that Benjamin Moore has 3 different colors which all end in the same 3 digits; this is a really bad practice.  About an hour and a half later, he returned and showed me the paint (as he should have done the first time around before starting) and I confirmed it was the correct color.
The repainting started around 12:15PM and the painter finally finished up the second coat (with liberal use of our hair dryer he
didn?t ask to use) and left around 6:00PM. Around 5:30PM we called the supervisor and let him know we had no intention of accepting the paint job until we could see it in full daylight to make sure the orange color was not showing through the off-white.  The supervisor agreed that this was OK and told us to call him in the morning to let him know if it was OK or if we wanted the room repainted.  We called the supervisor at 9:00AM the following day and told him we were going to accept the
paint job although we considered it far from perfect; especially in the corners and near the door frame where the orange color was still showing through.  We needed to get our bathroom contractor back in there to finish up for the plumbing inspection so we decided we?d do whatever touch up was needed ourselves. The supervisor said he would stop by after 12:00PM the same day to close out the package and get payment.  The afternoon and evening went by and no one showed up.  A week went by and we called the Certapro office but got only voicemail.  We left a message asking about closing out the job and requested a return call.  We received no call so we called again another week later and this time we got the office administrator.  We asked why we had not heard from either the supervisor or the office and we were first told that a call was made (we had no message on our home machine or any message or missed calls on our cell phones).  Next, we were told that the job supervisors don?t turn in the packages to the office until Fridays and this is how they get paid (they?re all subcontractors as it turns out).  Since two Fridays had passed since the job was done, we asked if Certapro intended to be paid for this less-than-perfect job or not.  The office administrator told us that she?d talk to the owner, Walter Music, and get back to us.  The office administrator also told us they tried to look up the Benjamin Moore orange color which was used incorrectly the first time, but they couldn?t find it. 
This is ridiculous as it can be found quite easily on the Benjamin Moore web site just by searching on the number.
We received no follow-up call <again> from the office administrator and heard nothing from Certapro for two weeks until the job
supervisor called out of the blue and said he wanted to ?stop by and close out the paint job?.   At this point, 4 weeks had passed since the work was done.  This time he did stop by and we signed the acceptance but noted on there that we had
to touch up the paint ourselves and we made it clear to him that this job was not of the quality we would expect and that the responsiveness of Certapro certainly leaves something to be desired. We had intended to consider having Certapro paint the first floor of our home but now have no intention of doing so and have started doing it ourselves.
So, based on this experience, here are some recommendations for Certapro:
1.  If you make a commitment to call or do something, do it.
2.  Just getting the order from the customer is not enough; you must deliver and be responsive if you expect to stay in business
and get positive recommendations.
3. Do not be transparent and blame things on your subcontractor.  Even if you?re just a paint contracting coordinator, you still have the obligation to make the job go correctly.  The customer has a contract with Certapro and does not need to know or care what your arrangement is with your subcontractors.
4. Painters should always show the customer (if they?re available) the paint to be used to reconfirm the color and type.

6/5/13 - Below is word-for-word what I wrote on the customer comment card when the job was completed:

I've used CertaPro in the past and have always been pleased with the results.  When it comes to my home, quality has always been more important than price.  I did not see that quality on this project.  Some of the issues included:

1.       Flagstone was not power washed.  Guy had to come back to complete.

2.       Wrong stain was applied. Had to be sanded which extended the duration of the project.

3.       A portion of the top of the fence was not stained.  Completed it myself.

4.       Stain dripped on patio and AC units under deck.

5.       Paint brush found in bushes

 

6/11/13 ? To my surprise, CertaPro never picked up the completion packet left under my front door mat.  Below is the e-mail that I sent Walter Music, owner if CertaPro of Loudoun:

On Wednesday, June 5th, I sent Guy a text letting him know that I would put the completion packet under the front door mat.  He acknowledged my text later that evening and said he would stop by to pick it up.  OnTuesday June 11th, to my surprise, I found that Guy had never picked up the completion packet and that it was still under my front door mat, soaking wet from all the rain.

This latest event is just one more example why I was so displeased and frustrated with CertaPro on this project.  The other issues I encountered are provided on the attached Customer Comment Card that should have been picked up by Guy.

One issue that I forgot to include on the comment card, but is worth mentioning, is that Guy brought his daughter to the work site one day to help him apply stain (which happened to be the wrong stain-selected by Guy without any input from me) to the deck.  I was not paying CertaPro to have a child work on my project.  I was paying CertaPro to have professionals work on my project. I?ve given CertaPro a lot of business over the past 6 years but not sure I?ll be able to continue to do that in the future. Attached is the Credit Card Authorization form that was also included in the completion packet.

Respectfully,

I never heard one word from Walter Music about this experience and he never charged my credit card for the work performed so I figured that he got the message.  Thinking that this was an anomaly, I decided to give him another chance and used him for another project on 10/24/13, which went much better.

Here is the shocker ? Walter Music had the nerve to send me an invoice on 3/27/14, almost a year later, requesting payment for this shoddy work.  And he never had the decency to call me to apologize for the shoddy work or that he neglected to invoice me for the work until almost a year later. No explanations, nothing.

This time I know for sure that I will never be using CertaPro of Loudoun for my painting needs.

We looked around a lot before we decided to paint our cabinets. We had hard wood cabinets in good shape and we wanted to update our 25 year old kitchen. From study on the internet we found that the biggest part of a successful project was the preparation. When we went out for bids it became clear that there were few companies well versed in painting kitchen cabinets. Working with Walter Music and Omar on site was really a great experience. The team showed up on time every day and worked full tilt throughout the day. We asked for additions to the original agreement and not only were they agreed too but executed to perfection. Our designer wanted us to add cupboard end and crown molding for a finished look. We also forgot that our new scheme called for hardware replacement since the brass color was not going to match the color scheme. Omar also recommended coordinating colors and was invaluable to the project. Things that we noticed as the project progressed were picked up before we even mentioned them and were taken care of. The finished product is stunning! We think we need to contract for other rooms in the house!

I would give the crew a strong 10 on the quality of their work, protection of plants, right down to the clean up.  A very courteous and professional group.  Exceeded expectations.

,Overall reasonable service for the price.  Estimate was done promptly, very professionally, and was very competitive compared to other quotes.  However, after accepting quote and signing contract, they failed to follow up and provide a schedule for doing work - I had to call them.
Good crew, and quality of work was generally good.  Some of the repair that was required should have been done more professionally - poor precision cutting and placing materials resulted in poor overall appearance.  While surface prep was adequate to ensure paint adhesion, the next time I have painting done I'll focus a bit more on sanding to a smooth surface so that the final finish looks  better.
Overall, I take some of the blame for not having a clearer understanding of quality standards on finished job - I essentially got what I paid for, which was a bit less than what I expected to get.