They talk a good talk when you meet for the initial estimate but as the work progresses you hear a lot of "my guys wouldn't do that" when something is damaged followed up later by "my guys did do it" in one instance.
The estimate meeting talked about how extensive the prep would be, especially the stucco areas and deck beams. Lets just say what we were told and what we received were not the same thing. The deck now has narrow groves where water will build up. Even after I pointed this out they re-caulked and repainted a few areas but the gaps remain.
The paint was applied unevenly. For the first coat, they used both spraying and rolling methods, but for the second coat, they only sprayed the paint, resulting in a sloppy appearance.
I am not even sure if they actually applied a second coat on the first section of the home. If they did, I question whether they allowed enough time for the first coat to dry properly. They claimed it only took an hour to 90 minutes to dry, but this seems unlikely based on the time they spent at the house, which was about six hours on the first day. According to the Sherwin Williams website, paint requires 3-4 hours to dry, and other painters have advised me that it usually takes 2-3 hours between coats.
They elected to go ahead and spray paint on days with wind gusts of 25-30 mph. The problem of overspray on every window was the obvious result because they opted to cut the plastic covering the windows in half, which exposed the bottom half of the window.
They attempted to clean the windows but it was obvious they were painters not window cleaners. It wasn't worth the battle of "my guys wouldn't do that" and this time it was "my boys took care of it days ago".
If you want to test the effect wind has on sprayed paint, fill a spray bottle with water and squirt a fine mist into the air while the wind is blowing 30 mph or more and see where the water ends up. I ended up using fine steel wool to remove a significant amount of fine mist paint spots from the windows. In fairness the owner offered to address the windows but after seeing the results of their blotched first attempt I opted to do it myself.
They also stripped the bolts on the deck railing and screwed the bolts in only partially because they were inserted crooked rather than flush. Not mentioning this to us. But again, they would likely claim that the bolts were that way when they took them out, which they were not.
Window stripping at the bottom of a door was broken off and not repaired or mentioned to us.
Our newer front door trim was taped over and when the tape was removed the stain came off with it. The owner did work hard in matching the stain and fixing this issue after originally denying that his crew had anything to do with it. However, he also removed the weather-stripping that seals the door from water.
This crew also dripped stain or paint on our flagstone entry and it was not removed or fixed.
The prep crew tossed a can of primer into the lot next to ours which we disposed of after the neighbor let us know.
Two of our outdoor GFCI plugs were broken by the painting crew and not reported to us.
Areas of landscape rock were disrupted and not returned to the condition they were in prior to the painting. There was more dirt on top than rocks. I had to screen the rocks and dirt to restore the area to its original condition.
Two vents were taped over but the outer edges were not painted, and the previous paint was stripped off when they removed the tape. I will have to paint those areas.
The crew worked hard and most of the issues were from quality control and not having someone inspect the final product and remedy issues. When a crew works on a house for four weeks they likely will miss what a fresh set of eyes would see.
If you decide to go with Manning's Cobalt, I would suggest taking before and after photos or a video of your entire house so you can counter any claims they make that the problem existed prior to the job being performed. You should also plan to be the job manager to ensure you are getting everything you are paying for and that adequate drying time guidelines have been followed.
In summary, Over Promised Under Delivered. If you used Manning's before the previous owner's passing, you are not getting the same quality of work under the Manning's Cobalt rebranding. read more