We hired Level Up Painting to paint all of the ceilings in our house along with our foyer, stairway to our upstairs and our upstairs hallway. We had several estimates and Level Up's price was in the middle, but we loved the salesman who was professional and went above and beyond to explain their policies and what to expect if we chose them. My husband and I were impressed thus we signed the contract.
After a series of delays (none of which were communicated to us until I contacted the company myself), we were finally contacted and told our project would start 8am the next day. This was about 4 weeks later than what we were told in our original contract. I understand delays happen, but these must be communicated with the customer promptly so work schedules and "life" can be planned.
They arrived promptly and we quickly learned that our estimate that we once thought was reasonable, was growing considerably based on what was "left out" of the contract. Such as the kick plates of the stairs not being included, but the sides of the stairs were. Does this make any sense? I assumed that if we were having the sides of the stairs painted, the backs would be too. WRONG! Of course they were willing to paint them for an additional $250. What choice did we have at that point. If we wanted the backs to match the sides we had to pay it.
Also we were told that the job would be done to our satisfaction. This is true if you are willing spend additional money to pay extra for it. In one of our bedrooms, there was an obvious 4inch area around the entire perimeter of the room that was different from the rest of the ceiling. It was obvious that the brush marks were not blended into the rest of the ceiling that was rolled. Project manager Mark Tartaglia told us that it was because our ceilings hadn't been painted in a long time and that if we wanted it to be uniform and even, we would have to pay an additional $60 for a second coat. We have to pay for something that was done incorrectly? That infuriates me!
With the exception of Mark, the crew was pleasant and easy to work with. and communicated things with us. When I pointed things out eg. paint ripping off of our walls from the painter's tape, or drip marks, they were corrected. When I began questioning Mark about the additional charges, he rolled his eyes and became very defensive.
Mark had also stated Day 1 not to worry, because they would do a complete clean up and vacuum upon completion. This did not happen at all. They picked up all of their drop cloths and left, leaving all of the small paint chips that fell off the drop cloths behind. It may sound petty, but when you are spending this amount of money, you expect them to be professional - clean up included.
The ceilings, foyer, hallway and stairs look great. But the poor communication and lack of customer service, addition of unexpected (and ridiculous) costs, and the lack of professionalism leaves me very disappointed that we chose Level Up Painting and I would never choose them again. read more
