Do Not Hire - Unfinished Work and Unprofessional…read more
The bottom line: our signed contract was not fulfilled. The work was sloppy, unfinished, and the owner repeatedly failed to show up or take accountability. Unfortunately, the experience was extremely disappointing.
Their website provided on their contract is no longer active, which is also another red flag/concern.
---------------------------------------------
We signed a contract with A Touch of Paint (Justin) at the end of June to paint the walls (not ceilings) of our 600 sq. ft. cottage in the South Shore before we moved in.
Since we were living out of state at the time and couldn't view the work in person right away, Justin sent us photos when he said the job was "done." We pointed out to him that some of the photos clearly showed defined lines and streaks, and mentioned that it looked like he might need to return to finish the job. Justin was agreeable at the time and said it wouldn't be a problem to do so.
A week later, when we finally saw the space in person, it was clear the job was streaky and had inconsistent paint coverage.
We found:
-Entire sections of some walls not painted at all
-Streaky, uneven coverage (we went from a light tan to white and the patchiness was very obvious)
-Paint left on countertops and hardwood floors
-Painter's tape still on some of the trim
After communicating back and forth, we asked that he come back to complete the work and clean up, but he never ended up returning (see below). We had already paid the full amount by then (half up front, half upon "completion"), which we regret but we trusted the job would be done properly and Justin would honor the contract.
Issues we encountered:
-Failure to follow through: After we raised concerns about the poor quality and incomplete areas, he said he'd return in a day or two to finish the job. He didn't show up on either day. When we followed up, he told us he had just had a baby and had been in the hospital. We were understanding about the lack of communication given the circumstances. However, when we later asked again about returning, he gave us another date and once again, didn't show.
-Refusal to honor the contract: When he failed to show up again, we explained that the job needed to be completed before our move-in date or we would be requesting our deposit refunded (half of what we paid). The work was unfinished and clearly not professional. He refused, stating he wouldn't return unless he received additional money up front for more paint. He then tried to justify the streaky and incomplete work by saying it didn't matter because we had mentioned plans to eventually renovate the property. He even falsely claimed we just wanted to "slap on paint", an irrelevant and unprofessional excuse for failing to complete the job as agreed.
-Unexpected additional charges: After the contract was signed and work had already started, Justin requested an additional $170 via Venmo (and text) to cover paint costs, which we had assumed were included in the original agreement. We paid the additional money without pushing back, even though he never told us this would be the case and did not provide a receipt or proof of purchase. Notably, this request came after painting had already started. Later, a few days after he agreed to return to fix the streaky areas, he asked for more money for materials in advance, which was never discussed or agreed upon in the original terms.
We make a point to support local businesses and are happy to leave positive reviews when we have good experiences. However, in this case, we cannot recommend this service and strongly caution others against hiring this business.
To be transparent with the company, we let Justin know that we planned to write an honest review of our experience and hoped to resolve the issue either by having the job completed or receiving a partial refund for the unfinished work. He claimed this was a "threat" and reiterated that he would not be returning unless we paid more money, something that was never agreed upon in the contract or even discussed in advance.
We do not recommend Justin P. or his company, A Touch of Paint. Would not hire.