If Peter the Painter didn't put his son in charge of the painting and the crew, and actually did a thorough walk-through before the second coat of paint was applied, as well as after the project was completed, then maybe I'd give a far better rating.
Peter gave a competitive quote of $1,100, and at a reasonable time frame of 3 days, to paint an entry way, living room, family room, kitchen, dining room, and a hallway. We just bought our house, and the seller left us with 1 wall with peeling wallpaper, 1 wall with wood paneling, a small area with peeling paint due to previous water damage from a cracked skylight, and we had just removed the acoustic texture (popcorn ceiling) from the ceiling in the living room.
Peter guaranteed that the quote included any patching or repairing of the walls and ceilings, and that all surfaces and furniture will be fully protected. He explained why he preferred Vista Paint, and ensured that the end result would be flawless walls and ceilings, and clean and sharp paint lines. However, this definitely wasn't the case.
On day 1, Monday, March 30, 2015, instead of Peter arriving, it was his son and another crew member. His son was very unprofessional! He doesn't say anything, so we leave for the day to finish cleaning up our apartment. We come home at the end of the day to find that only the kitchen and dining room was fully painted, as they seemed to have spent majority of the time dealing with the wallpaper in the family room and repairing the ceiling in the living room. We were unhappy with the paint color, and wanted to go a shade darker, so we immediately called Peter. But upon further inspection of the kitchen and dining room, we were livid to find that they didn't care to protect our granite kitchen counter tops, wood cabinets, and especially our newly installed porcelain tiles that cost almost $20,000! When we hired Peter the Painter, we made it clear to him that the kitchen needed special protection, and most especially all the floors in the rooms to be painted. But there were paint splatters everywhere!
On day 2, the 2 crew members didn't receive any instructions from Peter or his son that we changed the paint color. After a long phone conversation, we were told that the price will go up, as they needed to repaint the kitchen and dining room and had to buy all new paint. I reminded them that they needed to cover up the kitchen counter tops, cabinets and the floor better, and showed them the paint drips. When the son came by, I told him about the paint splatters that we found all over our kitchen counter tops, the wood cabinets, and our floor. He didn't apologize at all! He just explained that the paint was water-based and can easily be cleaned up with soap and water. That's not what you tell customers if you hope to get rehired for a future project!
After the project was completed, I was deeply disappointed to have paid $1,410. I could have done an equally good job if not better than they did. If I didn't point out the nail holes or imperfections, it wouldn't have been taken care of. I expected them to smooth out the area of the walls closest to the floor, but they merely stated that I should just purchase baseboards that were wider to cover up. They spilled or tossed paint on the lawn of my backyard, and I'm still cleaning up paint splatter on the floors, wood cabinets, ceiling fans, and light fixtures. The transition of the wall color and the ceiling color is so amateur. I expected the sharpest of paint lines! Lastly, we believe they purchased the cheapest of paints. We're seeing oily-looking stains bleeding through, and not enough coverage in some areas, even after a second coat. I have to do my own retouching, which I shouldn't have to do!
I would never, ever recommend Peter the Painter. Next time, I'll do more research and get more quotes from other companies. I'll also ask that the company write up a very detailed quote, that's signed and dated, so that there's no hearsay. The only saving grace from this project is that we love the wall color we chose, and that we're happy we went a shade darker. read more