Avoid CertaPro Painters of SW Metro (Eden Prairie). We spent over $10k on popcorn ceiling removal…read moreand interior painting, and the experience was disorganized, rushed, and disappointing to say the least. We are honestly stunned by how this was handled.
From the start, the project was underestimated (told 4.5 days, took 8+), communication was poor despite promises of daily updates. There were too many conflicting voices- owner Sara, project manager Mike Gold, and lead painter Wilder -with no clear accountability. Wilder was rarely on site; most all of the work was done by subcontractors who didn't speak English. The entire job felt rushed so they could move on to other projects.
At the walkthrough, multiple areas of the downstairs walls clearly showed the old paint color, what other painters later identified as "flashing/picture framing", meaning the walls were not properly finished. Mike, Wilder, my husband, and I all agreed it needed to be fixed, and Wilder said he would paint it. He blamed humidity for the appearance but at no point did anyone explain or propose that a third coat would be required at our expense.
Then he didn't come back.
We didn't immediately follow up because we had just moved in, it was the middle of winter, and we were juggling other major projects. When we later had trim painters in, every single one independently pointed out the same issue: the walls were unfinished, had many dings, and needed full, corner to corner repainting (not spot fixes) to achieve a uniform result.
When we reached back out to Sara, we were reasonable. We even offered to pay for a gallon of paint since they clearly didn't finish the job and used up all of our Alabaster paint by mistakenly painting our upstairs bathroom with it (which was to be a different color forcing a last-minute repaint at 9pm).
Finally, when Wilder did return to fix the issue, it got worse. Sara ignored my messages about splitting the cost of two gallons and he and his painter showed up without any paint. Then they ended up painting a coat using the wrong product - Hirshfield's Reserve Matte instead of the Sherwin-Williams Duration we originally paid more for. Wilder admitted on-site that was his mistake and offered to pay for Duration and apply another coat to make it right. Sara, later on the phone, shut that down and told him not to proceed.
Instead, she claimed she's "been doing this for decades" and that Duration and Reserve are the same in quality and performance - which directly contradicts both what we were sold by her and easily verifiable differences (Duration is more expensive, durable and scrubbable). She claimed Reserve was chosen for better coverage even though earlier Wilder said he bought the wrong product. At this point, they started insisting we had "declined a third coat" at the walkthrough which is completely false and makes zero sense as no one spends this kind of money to accept visibly unfinished walls. They are supposed to be the professionals; it was their responsibility to clearly specify what was required for proper result.
When we called it out, Sara doubled down, dismissed concerns, instructed Wilder not to do another coat then abruptly hung up. Wilder and the painter came back to pack up and leave again without correcting the wrong paint issue. Did not ask if we were satisfied with the result and ignored our question on why he told Sara we "declined a third coat" which never happened. We have text messages and photos to the contrary.
This should have been an easy fix that any professional company would take ownership of. Instead, it turned into excuses, contradictions, and a complete lack of accountability.
We paid for SW Duration Alabaster walls with a professional result. What we got was subcontracted labor, poor oversight, unprofessionalism, and Reserve walls, doesn't match the hallway. It will cost $1k+ to fix.
Save yourself the time, money, and frustration and hire a detail-oriented painter who actually stands behind their work. Look at Reitmeier Painting or Prestige WallWorx.
