I contacted Mill Creek Painters in early May for a quote to paint the interior and exterior of my home before listing it for sale. I made the timeline very clear: painting needed to be completed by June 18 because window cleaners, cleaners, staging, and listing were all scheduled immediately afterward.
The estimate process with Rowen went well, but once the work started everything became disorganized.
The painter who arrived had not been properly briefed on the scope of work. He wasn't aware of parts of the interior project, said the exterior wasn't his responsibility, and told me he had never even met Rowen. From that point on, communication became a constant chain of me calling Rowen, who contacted Brad, who contacted Bruce. This happened almost daily.
Throughout the week I repeatedly asked whether the exterior work was on schedule. I was assured it was, yet the exterior crew never arrived. I had to continually follow up, and even then I often didn't receive responses. At one point I was told roof work couldn't be completed because it was impossible to scrape, only to find it had actually been completed the next day.
Weather caused some delays, which I completely understand. My issue wasn't the rain--it was that I had to chase updates all week instead of being proactively informed. Promises that prep work would happen on Friday also weren't kept.
When the exterior work finally resumed, the painter again wasn't aware that windows were included in the scope, requiring yet another discussion with management before the work could continue.
To Bruce's credit, he did excellent work. He was professional and the finished product looked great. My frustration is entirely with the project management and communication.
Unfortunately, the experience ended even worse.
I received the invoice on Friday while dealing with an extremely busy weekend: my baby was in the hospital, we had just sold our house, were packing for a trip, and I was handling a tenant emergency involving a sewage backup. I missed one voicemail from the owner.
By Monday afternoon--essentially one business day after sending the invoice--the owner had emailed me twice, contacted my realtor, and threatened to place a lien on my property if payment wasn't made immediately. My realtor told me he had never seen a contractor threaten a lien that quickly.
The explanation was that because my house had conditionally sold, it was company policy to collect immediately. Regardless, threatening legal action after one missed call and one business day is unreasonable and left a terrible impression.
The quality of the painting was good, but the poor communication, lack of coordination, and aggressive approach to payment mean I cannot recommend Mill Creek Painters. read more