I chose Sinclair Painting based on their Yelp! rating and reviews. I was able to get four estimates and chose Sinclair, even though they submitted the second highest quote, because the owner, Mark Sinclair, made the most professional-sounding presentation. I wanted only the back and one side of my relatively small house painted, which involved replacing an unknown amount of dry rot. Unfortunately, my experience was thoroughly unpleasant, and I would never use him again:
1. Once I accepted Sinclair's bid he said he had to start immediately and that he would be finished "in one week, maybe two." Although I had arranged with a friendly neighbor a couple of weeks in advance to let the painters use her driveway to access the back of my house, another unfriendly neighbor, who was renting her driveway for his car, refused to move it because I didn't personally give him two weeks' notice as well. Sinclair's "one week, maybe two" turned out to be EIGHT WEEKS! His men didn't show up at all some weeks or worked only a few hours other weeks. Sinclair said from the start that he had accepted five to eight other jobs while working on mine. If he knew he was going to be that busy he should not have bid on my job. He showed up briefly three or four times during the two months, primarily to collect my payments.
2. The initial estimate for pressure-washing, surface prepping, and painting a primer and two topcoats on the back and side of the house was $11,500 plus the cost of replacing the dry rot, which Sinclair estimated at $3,000. There was also a provision to pay part of the cost up front and the balance upon completion. However, when I received the first invoice for the painting only, it was for $12,000, the entire amount to be paid immediately. I then received one more invoice and two verbal requests (no estimates or invoices) for dry rot replacement, totaling $6,850, PLUS another verbal request for $1,100 for unrelated concrete work I did not want or approve, PLUS another invoice for $2,000 for unrelated roofing work that I later discovered was unnecessary. Sinclair wanted all these added costs paid immediately, which I did. So the initial estimate of $14,500 shot up to $24,950! What's the point of estimating anything?
3. I have a small section of peaked roof that is hard to see from the ground but which faced the back and needed to be painted and which was included in the initial estimate. After the pressure-washing and painting of the rest of the house had been completed, the peaked roof was still untouched. I had to remind and urge Sinclair several times to paint that area, which his workers finally did. They would otherwise have overlooked it.
4. After the Sinclair painters had prepped the side and back of the house, one of them was about to prep the front, but I stopped him. Sinclair then asked me if I wanted the front painted, even though I had made it clear from the start that I didn't. I told him no again. To this day, I don't know if his original estimate actually included painting the front, so that I payed for more than I got.
5. About halfway through this money pit project Sinclair added up what he thought I had paid him and said I still owed him "a remaining balance of $3,000," but he would give me a discount of $300. (How generous!) When I listed what I had actually paid and said that, if anything he owed ME a refund, he said he'd "have to look at the numbers." Whether he did or not, he didn't bring the issue up again.
6. At my request, one of Sinclair's carpenters covered a large hole in one wall by gluing and nailing a sheet of plywood over it. I supplied the plywood. The carpenter did not apply sealant around the panel or in the scratches and nail holes and spattered drops of glue all over my rear landing, which required the landing to be sanded and repainted. Also, when the painters first painted the landing, the brown paint dripped through between the boards and ruined the fresh white paint underneath. These mistakes would not have been corrected had I not asked Sinclair and his workers to do so. I had also repeatedly asked Sinclair for a walkthrough with me, which he ignored.
7. I had to constantly text Sinclair to remind him of work still to be done, to explain what his workers had done wrong, or to ask when anyone might be showing up again. Most of the time he either didn't respond or responded but didn't follow up, so many of my requests were ignored. If you don't owe Sinclair money, communication is spotty.
On the plus side, there is precious little to say other than Sinclair remained civil throughout this ordeal, and his painters and carpenters did a good job, despite his lack of supervision. It was just such a painful and expensive slog getting there. Let the buyer beware. read more