We were so fortunate to find this gem of a painter in Lance Cole of LC Painting. My cousin recommended him as he has painted houses in her neighborhood (San Tomas & Hamilton). But we also found out that he's painted 3 other houses on our street in Sunnyvale! We got some bids from corporate paint company and a sole proprietor owned company, but Lance's company stood out. First he was easy to talk to, a good listener and could make suggestions to make it even better. His price came in the most reasonable compared to the other 2 bids, and he accurately estimated the # of cans of paint. We thought, too good to be true! One of the other bids from the other companies had estimated 2x the amount of paint than Lance did. What I liked about Lance is that he had a crew of always 1-2 other people, plus himself. He finished our exterior and 3 areas inside the house (2 bathrooms and living ceiling) in a shorter time than we had expected! He also brings his own portable potty for the crew.
Second, you can tell right away that he has the experience (he worked for the largest painting company in CA decades ago, and now has his own business). He's been painting for 30 years, so he must be doing something right. As we walked through, he could would tell us what would be prepped, what finishes he recommended. He was the only one that talked about our revitalizing our deck (which was greying wood). He could do something which would bring it back to life. Wow, he really brought the deck back to life. It looks like our redwood when we first installed it. He even pointed out an issue with the garage door, which would be a problem down the road. He caulked where there were gaps in the eaves, sanded and smooth wood, patched areas of the stucco that had broken off or cracked with excellent workmanship. They primed and primed more, to use up what we had. They ensured the exterior paint covered everything and it looked nice and thick. He and the team were so fast to paint the exterior, that they started the interior a day earlier.
Third, he really bends over backwards to get you what you want. I had given him the wrong color for the living room ceiling. They were painting the interior on the last day in the last 3 hours of their time that day. They were almost done, but I just put a kink in their schedule. My husband and I didn't think we could live with the wrong color. Lance didn't fret, he was cool. So he told Jose to stop, and cut out a square so he could do a color match at Sherman Williams. Lance drove to the store and came back an hour later with 2 cans of paint to match the living room ceiling. It was so perfect. And Jose did a great job at patching the seams that were showing and smoothing out all the bumps on our ceiling. Also, I was obsessing over our dryer exhaust vent which was cracked, and he kept assuring me that he will do his best to fix it. He certainly did. We got a replacement installed and it got painted with the exterior paint. Lance came back the next day to do any touchups that we asked.
Fourth, his crew is professional and polite. I provided them some snacks and each one came up to me to thank me. They worked in unfortunate heat, but yet they painted with such detail and quality. Lance is also one to work with the crew. He can delegate tasks to ensure everyone keeps busy and going forward. One of his crew members, Jose, helped with fixing up things outside of painting such as replacing our dryer vent exhaust hood which was cracked due to age and sun; added screens to our foundation vents to cover up a hole; and putting up our new floating house numbers. The crew put all the things away at the end of the day. Thomas and Mario were excellent as well. They both worked efficiently and did nice clean work!
I would 100% recommend Lance for your painting needs. He will get it done at a very reasonable and fair price AND with amazing quality. But first and foremost, he was so easy to work with. He's such a great person. You have to be flexible with the dates. He'll put you in a queue for an approximate time. He may call you up and ask if you are ready. Just say "Yes". Get some ideas of paint colors ahead of time is helpful. He can put samples up for you to decide before he starts. We are so pleased with how the house looks. I'm sure there's more stories I wanted to relay, but hope you get the idea. Thank you Lance and crew! You guys are the best! read more