Mares Painting & Handymen

Project went exactly as promised! We are very pleased with Carlos and his team. We are waiting on two additional bids for two other painting projects.

They did an excellent job. Carlos was pleasant, on time, and explained the procedures well. They finished the job as promised and cleaned up well afterward. We are very happy with our experience.

Carlos Mares is about as nice a man as you will ever meet. He always has a smile on his face and is very polite. But equally important he does EXACTLY what he says he will do EXACTLY when he says he will do it. The property was in bad repair and I asked Carlos and his crew to handle a couple of things like trash removal that is not in the scope of his work. He did it as always with a smile on his face and a great attitude to match. He also introduced me to a friend of his who handles carpet and I was equally impressed with him as well. If you are thinking of painting you simply must call Carlos, he is a rare breed indeed. A reasonable price, excellent quality and a great attitude. He is the best.

job involved stripping and repair of trim, glazing many windows, requiring several days of work. Carlos was always on the job himself, ensuring a high level of quality control.

Bravo to Mares Painting! Carlos Mares and his team are thoughtful professionals. They were always punctual -- arriving around 7:30 am ish from Long Beach. I had coffee and granola bars waiting for them. They got to work and finished the job quickly. They were neat. They covered all my cabinets, furniture and carpets with plastic and masking tape. They had a good eye for detail, carefully painting in the corners and around the trim. My husband and I would certainly use Mares Painting again. Thank you Carlos for a job well done!

He came out and spent a lot of time looking things over. He called a few days later with the estimate. They were more expensive than other estimates that I got and use less people, which means it will take longer. They are also located farther away than another company that I looked into, so I think it would be more convenient to use the other company.

I think he was a very kind man and he really really tried. Now that it's a couple of months later I am seeing places where it is already flaking on the metal part, but not the wood. I'm wondering if he didn't do proper prep work for the particular paint he used. I am very anal and want the work done in a certain way so I don't know if I can rate him fairly. He was a very kind man, he would come back and redo anything. He pressure washed the whole thing. It wasn't like he did a bad job, but for a painter I just want them to a little bit more. For a normal person he would be excellent, I am just very anal. I would hire him back if it were straight wood I wanted painted.

Carlos and his crew were very easy to work with. They were friendly, prompt, and spoke with us each day of the project to paint the outside of our house and a few rooms on the inside mentioning what they would be doing and anything we should look out for or be around to OK. The color and workmanship was excellent. My father would have been pleased with their work since he was a paint contractor many years ago and appreciated attention to detail and making sure the customer was happy.

Mr. Mares visited the property and two days later provided a thorough, detailed estimate for the work. Mr. Mares is punctual, thorough, and professional.

They were especially helpful and very thorough. I ended up not going with them and I went with the company I had used before. There was a difference of just $10 with the company I used before.

I was satisfied and pleased with their job. They were very thorough in their preparation. They had to mask the work area including sidewalk to prevent things from falling. They did a very good cleanup later. They found some termite activity in the wood and I called my termite company to treat it. They had to remove some boards to treat the termites. Mares Painting prepared some additional boards at a reasonable additional cost and installed them.

They were very professional, responsive and punctual. Their quote was fair.

I contacted Mares Painting by phone and we set up a time for him to do an estimate. He arrived promptly and gave me a verbal estimate that was on the lower end of quotes I had gotten from others. We settled on a date for the work and once again he and his assistant arrived promptly. He completed the work faster than we had anticipated, and I wasn't there when he finished, so I mailed him a check for the agreed upon amount. The quality was good and everything was neatly replaced. One note: I have not yet received the invoice as he had promised me.

Overall, Carlos and his crew did a good job in a short amount of time. Carlos was very professional in setting everything up, preferring to meet in person to talk about the estimate and how he planned to do different aspects of the job. When the original estimate was too high for our budget, he was flexible in scaling it back by excluding the interior ceilings and trim, which didn't really need to be painted. Carlos does not just drop his crew off and then leave; rather he is present and actively working on everything alongside the other painters. The prep work they did was very thorough. The power wash included not only the exterior they were going to paint, but the red roof tiles as well. He patched the stucco carefully in a number of areas around the house and garage before starting to paint. The crew worked on the exterior and interior simultaneously in order to finish more efficiently. They painted all of the kitchen cabinets inside and out, and also painted the exteriors of several newly installed cabinets in other parts of the house (which we hadn't anticipated would need paint). For some reason the paint they used on these new cabinets is a little sticky; I'm not sure if they used the wrong kind or didn't prep it quite right or what. One thing to note is that Carlos likes to use a "low sheen" paint for interior walls, etc. This paint is easier to clean, but it had a slightly shinier/ glossier look to it than how how he described it. The only part of the job that seemed sort of rushed was the very end. There were a few areas of touch up that Carlos said he would do that never got done (including removing all the paint residue from the kitchen sink). He said he would come back to haul away all the trash from the job (rather than leaving it in the trash bins in the alley), do something about a couple spots on the lawn that had paint spillage, etc and these details never got taken care of. I think they probably felt some pressure to finish everything up quickly because we were on a tight timeline and had other work to get done in and around the house before moving in about a week later. Overall, these were minor concerns and in the big picture, Carlos did a good job and I would recommend him as someone who takes pride in his work and is easy to work with. We felt like the price was fair and very comparable to another estimate we received from another highly rated painting company on the area.

It was a fabulous experience. They were reasonable, showed up on time, worked hard, and did a fabulous job. It's one year later, and the work that they did has held up beautifully.

It went very well. Carlos arrived on time, he and his crew did a fine job and cleaned up after themselves. He had come out two weeks before and given me an estimate and although his price was higher than some of the other estimates I'd received he seemed familiar with the process and enthusiastic about the job which was the reason that I chose him. My only suggestion would be that he make arrangements to respond to customers when he is out of town. I had sent him and email and left him a phone message last week and was becoming concerned when I didn't hear back. He explained that he had been on vacation and didn't receive the message.

Mares Painting was professional and held to the bid given. Painting quality and plastering was good.

We were very happy with the job done by Carlos and his crew. The repair work came out better than I expected. They applied multiple coats of primer/paint with great care and expertise. They carefully taped off windows and lighting. Carlos and his crew were very professional and we feel they did a very good job. Our home looks great. We will not hesitate to use them again.

Showed up late and was then not responsive

He came out and was very nice. He gave me a quote for some painting. He was going to paint a 2 bedroom apartment for about $4,000+. He was going to do my kitchen for $1,700. I was very surprised for how expensive it was. He broke up the estimate into two parts instead of one rate. I ended up going with someone else who was much cheaper.

Carlos and crew did a fantastic job. On time, on budget and tidy. Would highly recommend their services!

Mares Painting did a great job. They started and finished the job when they said they would. Their prep work included sanding all of the old paint down to the wood and taping plastic around areas that were not going to be painted. They used two coats of primer and two coats of paint we were very pleased with the prep work that they did. They also did a good job of cleaning up the mess. Their plaster work was excellent. You cannot notice that we ever had a leak in our ceiling. They matched the paint well. We are extremely pleased with their work. They did a beautiful job. Our home looks great and we are confident that the paint job will last for many years to come.

They arrived on time and worked steadily until the job was done. They were polite and went to great lengths to protect the floors and other areas where they worked. They were attentive to our concerns and flexible about changes. If something didn't meet our expectations, they cheerfully fixed the problem. Something about trust and honesty: We had them do the job in two phases, a month apart, with the bedroom in the second phase so we would have a place to sleep free of smell. We paid them the full amount at the end of the first phase, but my wife forgot to deduct the $600 deposit. Carlos Mares called us that night to tell us about our mistake and wanted to drive over to get another check. We just told him to consider it an advance on the next phase.

They did a very good job. They were very clean. They were very careful in covering the floors while they were working. They cleaned up after themselves everyday. They did their best, when they were done for the day we could walk through the room at night. They were very punctual. They told us when they would arrive and how long they would work.

Carlos did an excellent job! He and his staff arrived on time each day and worked the entire day. They completed the job in less time than anticipated and were very open to changes and suggestions. Both my wife and I were very pleased with the finished project.