Our house is a corner row house from 1820, the outside is entirely covered in wood, and was not properly maintained prior to us purchasing the house so I knew this would be a large and expensive project. We received three estimates and selected Tech Painting Co. Tech Painting's estimate was not the cheapest but, for the reasons described below, we selected them and I would never use someone else now that the project is finished. I was nervous since unlike typical painting projects, if you are unhappy with the quality, the color, or services, it is not cheap or easy to start over. You have already bought the paint, you probably don't have the tools to do touch ups yourself -- a giant ladder, etc, and it is an expensive project to fix. I wanted to work with a company that was responsive, specialized in painting so I could use their expertise, and reasonably priced. If you don't read any further, I highly recommend Tech Painting. You will get a great paint job AND you won't have to spend your time acting as an unpaid foreman on the project monitoring the quality of the work - which sadly happens in renovation projects. At least get an estimate from them. If you do select Tech Painting, use the free paint color expert (Linda) and request Mario - who was the lead person on our project!
(1) Armando came out to our house seven months before the project to give us an estimate. He came out again to address some questions I had and was very responsive and informative via email. I liked that the contract covered everything since I wasn't sure with other companies if their estimates didn't cover some of the specifics Tech Painting covered. I wanted to get the contract so far in advance so I could know how much it would cost and could budget in advance. If you want to move faster, I am sure it is no problem. He was clear about what I should expect the wood to look like after repairs (for example, some of the solutions I had seen in our neighborhood and was interested in turned out to be great short term but would show within a year), when work would need to be performed to ensure the right weather, and clear about the costs. I would say that Tech Painting was only 2% or 3% higher than the other estimates and it typically took those companies three or four weeks to get back to me via phone or email. There were no hidden fees so I am curious how much higher the cost would seem compared to other companies in the end but I don't know.
(2) The color consultant came out to our house for two hours. Within that time, we selected all the paints (trim, doors, shutters, house, gates, etc). My plan had been to paint colors on our house to see which we liked. I am so happy we used her. The paint looks so different when it is on the house (and not next to our existing paint). She had us consider the color of the bricks around our house, how much light we received, and the colors our neighbors use. She saved us a ton of time and we avoided selecting colors we like on other houses that probably would not have felt or looked the same on ours. We told Linda in advance that we were interested in grey so she came prepared to focus on the grey. If you don't know what color you want, I doubt it is an issue but I liked that we were able to hit the ground running. Linda also sent us a package recording all the paints we selected.
(3) Scheduling the painting is more of an art than a science. The projects before yours may take more time than expected and Tech Painting didn't rush the prior projects or ours to meet some deadline. Don't be thrown off if your start date is changed, it is worth it but good knowing going into the project in case you are planning to go on vacation for a month.
(4) Mario and his crew were clean, communicative, performed excellent work, and had clearly communicated with Armando because I didn't feel like to needed to remind them about anything in our contract. Working with Mario was a real departure for me, because I left each day for work knowing the house was in good hands. He checked in with me in the mornings or via text if there were any issues. Our neighbors praised their work, letting us know that the crew worked hard everyday, cleaned up every evening, blocked off the sidewalk, etc. These are small details that I hadn't even thought about. I really can't say enough good things about him. I essentially at the end asked if Tech Painting would consider expanding the type of work they perform because everything was so easy.
(5) Tech Painting found about 30 feet of rotted wood on the back of our house and it was attached to the frame of our house without any protection meaning it could rot the frame of our house. Tech Painting gave me a few solutions and let me know the pricing to fix this issue. It was great knowing I had options and how much each would cost (rather than receiving a surprise bill at the end).
Many thanks to Tech Painting and Linda. read more