We waited 25 years to get a professional paint job. The house was starting to look shabby, and there were bits of trim on the windows that were decaying. No way could we do this ourselves; our house is tall, located on a slope, with very narrow side yards. Neither of us is steady on a ladder anymore. We decided to bite the bullet and have it done, and so I came to Yelp to find a painter near us with excellent reviews. I called the one at the top of the list, but I was too late; they had a full schedule. I asked if there was anyone they'd recommend, and the guy said yes. There's a guy that had done work for their company and they just loved him; one of their top guys. But then he formed his own company. He gave me the name and the number.
I called a couple other guys for a quote, too, like everyone says you should. The others weren't at the top of the reviews; those guys must've been out on jobs, cause I couldn't reach them. The ones that came offered estimates similar to Michael's, but they weren't as polite, and they had a whole string of things that were excluded in their estimates, one of which was rotted wood--read further for that one. Ultimately, the money looked about the same, but the others appeared to believe they were doing us a favor, whereas Michael appeared to want the job and for us to be happy.
As of this writing, this company is a one-man operation, and that worked really well for us. The same guy that gave us the quote and spoke to us knowledgeably would be the same guy that worked on our house. I realized that painting would mean having to move or cut down a lot of established landscaping, so I wanted to do it in September, after I'd brought in the last of the tomatoes and cut down the roses. When I asked when in September we should be ready, Michael countered with, "What week would you like me to paint?"
EVERYTHING was like that! I have never seen anyone so customer service oriented. He found out what time we are up and moving around, and that's when he came. I am not civilized till about 10, but that's awfully late for work of this nature, and was fully prepared for him to pull up at 7 AM anyway. Nope! He came at 10 and then sent me a text to let me know he was out there working. When he left for the day, which was generally dusk, he sent me another one. He didn't play a radio or make any other sound besides the necessary noises of ladder and occasional machinery. Even when he had to work right beside a window, he made sure never to actually look in at us. That's gotta be an art! I never closed a curtain to safeguard our privacy, because I never had to. I took the dog out in the yard when he had to go, and there was never a word of complaint. He always closed the gate behind him, which means a lot to us, because we live on a secondary arterial in Seattle, and our dog is utterly clueless about traffic. For even the tiniest change, he consulted me, always with a text rather than banging on the door. The one time we asked him to come through the house, he took off his shoes without being asked. I got a text when he had to put plastic over the front door, even though it was only for about 30 minutes.
There was a patch of bad siding on the North end of the house, some old LP siding that was outside of the recall (in the '90s) by something like 3 months, so we never had it replaced. I was somewhat afraid that he'd see that and refuse to work till it was fixed. Nope. Instead, he showed up with a giant piece of plywood and showed me the bad siding. He said, "I would like to replace that." My jaw dropped. So did my husband's, when I told him. Michael did not charge us a penny extra for this, and when he was done, you couldn't tell the old from the new. He must have used something to texture it, because it doesn't look at all like plywood.
The job began on a Monday, and ended on a Saturday. We had great weather, and he never took a day off. I am still amazed at his organization, skill, professionalism, and exquisite courtesy. He has the whole customer service aspect down perfectly! And our house looks beautiful. I used to try not to look at it; now I can't see it enough.
As I write this, it's too dark to get a photograph, but I'll be back to add one the first chance I get. read more