I hired this company to paint the exterior of my home and they did a wonderful job. Vanessa and her husband Orvin were very likable people and they expressed their religious beliefs as their company's guiding principle to treat people correctly. How can anyone argue with that; I certainly couldn't. So I then asked Vanessa if they would provide me with a quote to paint my basement. Their first quote wasn't acceptable so we negotiated and came to an agreed upon price to both take care of some wall areas that needed some drywall and plaster repair and of course painting. We went over everything that I expected and Vanessa agreed that she would do a perfect job. I questioned her husband's calculation on the amount of paint that would be required for the painting everything with two coats of paint but they insisted on how many gallons of paint they would need so that's what I bought. Before the paint job began, I asked if she could install ceiling lights and she said yes. I told her that I'd supply the lights and I would be just pay for the labor and we then agreed on a price. So her electrician came and installed the lights and did a great job, but in the process of cutting holes in the drywall, it created a dusty white powder mess in the entirety of the basement. White drywall dust gets not only everything but it seeps into the cabinets as well so everything had a coat to dust on it. When I said something to Vanessa about it, she assured me that they always clean up after finishing their work, so I accepted her statement at face value. With that being said, it was now time for Vanessa to paint the basement so they began that job. About half way through the job, she said the grey paint that I had bought was not the same color as what was on the existing wall and she sent me photos showing where some plaster work had been done on the drywall, and then it was painted and the paint was a different color than the existing wall. My comment was, why does it matter if it's not the same color when you are painting the entire wall? It was then that I realized that she and her husband had only planned on painting over the areas where they would be doing drywall repair and buy a gallon of paint for that purpose alone. When I questioned her about her comment, she got defensive with me because I had exposed what they had planned to do. Vanessa attempted to make it appear as thought it was my responsibility for the paint not being the same color as the existing wall and that they would be taking more time than had been anticipated to paint the basement. I reiterated what we had agreed upon, i.e. that she was supposed to paint the entire basement with two coats of paints and not just areas where they were repairing drywall. She then changed her comment to, "we are going to need more paint." I said, of course you are, and if you remember, I told you that when we first discussed you painting the basement. She didn't really say anything other than to say that she would need to buy more paint and she wanted to make it clear that I was going to pay for the paint. I told her that I knew this was going to happen and that I'd be happy to paint for the paint. So she went to HD and bought 2 more gallons of paint.
Later on she called me about another issue regarding a light fixture that had been removed from the wall and asked me where the plate was to cover the electrical light box. I told her that I had no idea where it would be because it was her electrician who had removed the wall light and that she and I had discussed this as being drywalled over. She conveniently forgot this conversation and exclaimed that it was my responsibility to provide the plate. Vanessa was inventing things that were never discussed, nor agreed upon. We eventually ended the conversation with my not knowing what she was going to do but it was my assumption that the box would be drywalled over, but as it turned out, she just installed an electrical cover plate on the box, which I hadn't agreed to even though in the end I told her it was ok. When they finished the paint job, I went by the house the next day to review the job and I wrote her this message:
Hi Vanessa,
My wife and I just went by the apartment and there are some things that need to be taken care of for me to settle our account. I'm attaching 6 photos as well.
1. The closet floor trim wasn't painted. (Photos attached)
2. A part of the backyard door frame trim wasn't painted. (Photos attached)
3. There's a small area with a hole by the garbage disposal wall switch that wasn't filled in with plaster and painted. (Photo attached)
4. An area by one of the ceiling vents wasn't patched and you can see the cracks. (Photo attached)
5. The entire apartment was not cleaned of the plaster dust that Ferdinand created when he installed the lights. We discussed this a number of times and you said you always have someone clean up after you do work at someone's house. read more