B & D Painting

Darrin provided me with a lower bid to do more than the other companies I got bids from.  He never let me forget what a good deal I got, either.
This was my first time working with a contractor, and I  I learned a lot.  First, Darrin agreed to $2200.  He wanted to be paid under the table, so we wouldn't have to pay taxes.  When he came on the first day, the price had gone up to $2400, so he "would do a better job."  Fine, it was still cheaper.  I insisted, however on a written bid so that the price wouldn't continue to climb.  He then insisted on a down payment and wanted me to rip up his invoice after the job was complete, since he wanted to be paid under the table.

I was sent to the store to buy supplies-- Sandpaper for the worker, since Darrin didn't buy the correct stuff-- and Window Glazing.

Much to my surprise, I found that my tools from my garage were taken without permission-- my orbital sander-- and on occasion, my ladder.  I put the sander back in the house to keep that from happening again.  Also, a few of my own personal painting tools went missing-- a scraper and a blade.

I never knew when Darrin and his crew were going to show up.  Sometimes it was 7:30, sometimes 9:30, sometimes 12:30.  Sometimes they quit at 3:30, sometimes 6, sometimes close to 9 pm.  It was inconvienient to say the least.

They weren't very careful about my property-- several of my plants were destroyed, a hose broken, and a pot cracked.  They left door mats on the lawn, and the lawn died underneath it.  They didn't leave drop cloths down, so there were paint chips every where.  There's paint spattered on my front porch, too.  Granted, I had already done significant scraping myself, and so there were some of  my paint chips, but they added significantly to the mess. 

As far as the painting goes, they weren't careful there either when it came to the small details-- They didn't fill in nail holes in the back, or caulk around the back,  there's paint on my front door, they painted OVER my doorbell, and quite a bit of   paint on the glass of windows.  I told them about it, but they claimed it was there before.  For some of it, yes, but not for a majority of it.  Also, the window glazing never happened, so that's another chore I need to deal with.

The house does look a lot better than it did. I hope it looks this good in a year, though.   I guess, though, you get what you pay for.  And my lesson-- get it in writing very specifically what the contractor agrees to do, what materials they are going to use, and don't work with someone under the table.

***Update:  One year later-- several LARGE areas of bubbling paint have appeared in several spots of the house.

After receiving 3 different labor estimates, we selected Darrin Schmidt's company (B & D Painting). He and his team were very professional, polite, most accommodating, and extremely trustworthy. Two of the estimates we received were provided by company owners who stated they send in a team to perform the work but that they didn't actually participate in the work. Not Darrin, he paints right alongside his team and provides them with excellent directions. He stands behind his name and his work. They were more than willing to fix or redo anything I wasn't happy with however that wasn't necessary because everything was absolutely perfect. We will definitely call on B & D Painting to take care of our future painting needs and we hope you will too. We just can't begin to express how highly we do recommend them.