ADVANCED EXTERIORS

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***UPDATE*** The day after my review of this business went live on AL and Yelp, the owner of the business, Martin Montoya, came to my house and my place of business and threatened me with a lawsuit if I didn't take down my honest review. I myself am in the service business, and I was absolutely blown away. Because my disappointment in their company was based upon the discrepancy between their price/promise and the actual process itself (which was very underwhelming), I told him there was nothing they could do 5 months later to fix that problem. As a result, and after 30 minutes of discussion, Mr. Montoya became agitated and began to claim that he had already spoken with lawyers and would "win in court" because he can "prove" that they fulfilled their contractural obligation and were indeed worth $12,000. This man literally trespassed into my place of work, yelled profanity at me, and threatened to sue me.......ALL BECAUSE OF A BAD REVIEW ONLINE. I am beginning to wonder how many other bad reviews have been removed after this man bullied his way out of it. I literally had to kick him out of my office and lock the door, and I have witnesses. My review has gone from a C to an F, and if I was really a vindictive person, I could have his license revoked. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY! ***ORIGINAL REVIEW BELOW - UNEDITED*** The following is a candid and honest evaluation of my poor experience with a company who claims to have a 100% customer satisfaction rating and "zero" negative reviews. That is a bold statement, and given my experience, I have to doubt whether their claims are true. The basis of most of my dissatisfaction could be refuted as excessive expectations, however, my high expectations were a direct result of the lengthy sales pitch and lofty exclamations made during the bid process by the owner of the company, Martin Montoya. This company requires both homeowners (husband and wife in most cases) to be present for the bid. They (in my case the owner of the company, Martin) show you a DVD while spending 10 minutes measuring the home. They then sit down with you for almost an hour with a giant binder filled with bad reviews of other painters, and go over their multi-step prep process and all of the scientific benefits to their product and the consumer benefits of their excellent customer service. I was told that they only do one job at a time (thus a 5-month wait list), and that a crew would spend at least 2 weeks at my home. I was promised that they have never had a complaint, and that I would be blown away with the process and the final result. I was told (as verified by claims on their website), that the owner, Martin, would personally oversee our project. I was told a lot of wonderful things before they gave me a quote of $15,000. Keep in mind my house is a small, 1200 sf, simple, single-story, stucco home with no landscaping. Martin quickly threw a bunch of discounts at us and came up with a final price of just under $12,000. I tried to argue that recent repairs on my home would leave them with all new wood, thus simplifying the prep process, but I was told that was taken into account already. Reluctantly, I signed the contract, believing that the astronomical price would be worth never having to paint again, and believing that I would truly be blown away. Reality: 5 months later, after having to reschedule twice due to them being behind, I received a random phone call from the office that Mario was available to start hydro-blasting my house, literally right now. No one was home but we were already several weeks behind schedule, so I told them to go ahead. Unfortunately, windows were open and I came home to find water and dirt splatter in my bathroom from their pressure washing an open window. Not the end of the world, yet. The next day it rained so nobody came. On Wednesday Mario came by himself. On Thursday one other guy, Carlos, joined him. They both worked again on Friday, and told me they were done with prep and would be spraying primer on Monday. Wait a minute, there was one and a half guys working for 3 and a half days, and they are almost done? For $12,000????? I inspected the house and found a host of areas they had missed, or where the prep work was either incomplete or subpar. I expressed my concern to Martin and he came out (reluctantly) to inspect. Every area of concern I pointed out, he had an excuse for. It became apparent that Martin lacks basic painting and construction knowledge, and is simply a salesman. For instance, the crew had not caulked the top or sides of the brand new eave blocking, which left unsightly gaps. When I asked why they hadn't done that, Martin looked me in the face and said they leave the gaps so that air will ventilate the attic and prevent mildew. I stared at him with a blank face. I work in the mold business, and was actually wearing my uniform. I told him bluntly he was mistaken, that was what the eave vents are for, and that the only thing getting into the gaps they wanted to leave would be termites. He said they would caulk them, but that "they don't normally do that, but are happy to go above and beyond for me". After being assured all of my concerns would be addressed, the crew notified me the next day that they were done. I came home, inspected, and found they had ignored half of my requests. I sent an urgent email with actual photos of the poor work, and instead of Martin coming back out, he sent a different inspector, who acknowledged my concerns, albeit with a host of excuses. One of the major issues was that the first guy who hydroblasted the house had actually completely missed the top of a bay window popout, and there was dirt, chunks of wood, and old construction debris left behind. I was shocked to find that they had actually sprayed a clear primer coat over this debris, instead of at least sweeping it off. Clearly they thought I would not climb a small ladder to inspect their work in hard-to reach places. Other issues included: damage caused to my brand new garage door trim that they denied, poor bondo work, poor or incomplete caulk work, fungus not removed from stucco, etc. Finally, after a couple more days of finishing the prep work, they were ready to prime, and I considered the remedies to my concerns adequate, although not stellar. The house was masked and primed, and they gave me a color book to choose our colors. I chose 5 options, and Mario put 1'x1' squares on one wall. We had a very difficult time making a decision, and I actually ended up buying more samples and putting additional paint on multiple walls in different lighting conditions. Their office kept asking me if I had made a color decision yet. I finally went with one color, and came home to find they had started putting it up in large areas and it was too light. This is the only instance where I felt like I was well taken care of. I spoke to Martin and told him the color was too light, and he worked with me to get Mario to take the buckets down and have the paint darkened to the right color. The final color was perfect, and I was appreciative that they did that. At the end of the day, my house looks great from the street. Up close, it looks fine, however the finish detail and quality is only OK, and not representative of a $12,000 paint job. Also, their work van (unmarked and very dirty), dripped oil all over my driveway. I notified them, and they cleaned it up. I found later a bunch of trash, paint cans, brushes, and masking tape thrown away in my personal recycle bin, which I had to transfer to my trash can. This is wholly unprofessional. Early on the process, when I asked Martin why he told me that the company only does one job at a time, and yet there were only 2 guys at my house, he said "Oh, the individual crews only do one job at a time". This not at all what I was led to believe. Also, upon the day of completion, the office harassed me for 3 straight days for the final payment. They even called my wife, rather than simply sending an invoice and waiting the normal few days to receive payment. Most companies will give you 30 days to pay. As someone who manages a similar small business in the construction industry (although not in direct competition), I believe that this company preys on the Trade Show crowd, advertising their 25 year warranty, and overselling the customer on what turns out to be a very standard paint process, not remotely worth the exorbitant amount of money they charge for the service. Time will tell whether the warranty is worth it, but regardless, their failure to accept responsibility for their very clear shortfalls concerns me that they don't actually take pride in their work. I believe that they simply bank on customers not knowing any better, and being wowed by the fact that their house is a new color, and understandably looks better. Considering I could have had similar stucco and paint work done for less than $5,000, I feel completely ripped off, to the tune of $12,000. Even with acceptable final results, their service was not at all an accurate portrayal of their cost or big sales pitch, and for that I am highly regretful for falling into their trap.

The workers were extremely nice, left everything really clean, and did a really nice job. The cost made us delay a little bit to get it all done. We had to pay extra for a part that we thought was included. We were quoted $14,000 but ended up paying $2,900 more than that.Verbally we were told it was all included but then the contract didn't reflect the inclusion of some stone work so we had to pay extra which made us feel a little ripped off. I would encourage everyone to read their contract carefully before signing. I'm really unhappy with the owner but very happy with the workers.

The entire crew was awesome, this process takes approx. 3 weeks from start to finish as they are restoring your house to a newer than new look with a 25 Year warranty on the Rhino Shield Product and their Labor. The Workers are all pleasant and show up on time, work hard all day and get the Job done right, they are meticulous when it comes to the work they are doing, from sanding and filling of the trim to trenching and treating the Concrete foundation. They are extremely clean and make sure the Sidewalks and other components around the house are not disturbed, An example is they recoated the garage door at the end because there was a slight variation in color, to be honest when they showed it to me I could not see the color Variation but they wanted everything perfect., Our job crew leader worked tirelessly to make sure every little detail was Handled, they even worked with the Rain gutter Contractor and the Gate builder so as to make sure all the time lines flowed together, I would recommend their services to all of my friends and colleges if you want your home to look better than New!

They did not solicit me, I solicited them because of a friend referral who was very pleased with their work. My crew leader Mario and David were very professional, respectful, and so hardworking. I was impressed with how hard they worked. My house looks beautiful. I would say it was probably one of the hardest situations they have ever had to deal with because I live on a hillside where they needed at least four stories of scaffolding. I would definitely recommend this company.

I've had my house painted many times before, but no one has ever done the extensive prep work that Advanced Exteriors did. Now I understand and feel justified why I paid more for 25 year warranty with Rhino Shield. My house looks more elegant with rhino shields then paint ever did. My neighbors chose advanced exteriors based on the work and results they did on my house. I believe I got the benefit of their 50 years of experience. Based on their record I should not have any problems in the future.

I had my house coated 7 years ago. Recently got a call from advanced exteriors and asked me to inspect the exterior of my house. I was shocked that any company would call me after 7 years to see if the product was still performing. They said they randomly call past customers to make sure everything is as promised. I did an inspection as requested and my house still looks like they had just finished. There were some minor scratches and one small 1 inch bubble. They offered to fix the small bubble and that there would be a small charge for the scratches. I told him there was no need but if I found: further problems down the road I would let them know, my house looks great. I did a lot of research before I picked advanced exteriors rhino shield. I had about five contractors work on my house prior for different improvements. Advanced exteriors was the first company to finish on time with no surprises. I refer them to two friends and they both used advanced exteriors and are just as happy as I am. My friend Tammy said exceeded their expectations. Thank you advanced exteriors keep up the good work

They came right away to give the quote. We are still getting quotes so we haven't decided to use them yet. I think the quote was around $500. I wasn't there but a family member was and they said he was good.

Everything was fine until they re-installed the lights on the outside of our garage. The painter said , after examining the situation that there was a problem with the wiring. I hired an electrician (for $75 and hour) and he found that the light bulbs were no good) Now, i contacted them on the 8th of June and it took them 2 weeks to respond. They said it would take awhile to schedule and didn't offer how long it would take, then I noticed a small defect in the finish and contacted them about that, they said it might be a few weeks before they could schedule a man to come out to repair that as they were in the middle of couple of jobs and would contact me as soon as there was an opening. After 5 weeks I finally called them a insisted they do the repair ASAP and after another week they finally had a man come and do the repair. The man was very polite and took genuine interested in my concern and completed the repair that day. I was satisfied very with the work. Mr Montoya, the owner contacted me personally, apologized and informed me that the person responsible for the scheduling was fairly new, unfamiliar with their responsibilities and would receive additional training so that this occurrence should not happen again. He also reimbursed for the electricians fee. As a result I have re-evaluated my assessment of his services and yes, I would hire him again.

When I called the office they said they didn't come out because I was not sure I could have my husband there. I knew my husband wouldn't be there, they just chose not to show up. The president of the company did give me a call back and he said it was a policy of the factory not to do bids without both home homers present because their paint presentation took 60-90 minutes and a lot of times the wife (or husband) was not able to properly communicate the process and technology of their paint and they would have to go out twice. This is a hardship on the company since their estimates are free. Guess what? Most estimates are free. Part of the business to get business. Plus telling someone their process is potentially confusing and not worth their time to answer questions speaks volumes for the respect they have for their clientale. I have mentioned this practice to a lot of my friends and we are all disgusted by it. I for one will not hire any business that asks if my husband can be available for the bid. Just curious if Advance Exteriors requires the partners of the businesses asking for quotes to have all partners and owners present for the bid / estimate. I am guessing they don't.

OK

Our house looks better than new! The house required a significant amount of preparation work before the ceramic coating could be applied. Advanced Exteriors demonstrated professionalism, high quality and a strong customer orientation throughout the entire process as the enthusiastic team worked well together to complete the project on schedule.

Be careful and do your research! I did and chose Advanced Exteriors Rhino Shield. I?d like to share why I didn?t chose other companies. Some salespeople misrepresent or outright lie to you, and it?s only true if you chose to believe it. A little research can save you a lot of grief. I?ve hired and talked to painting and stucco companies in the past like Pacific Home Remodeling. They told me all kinds of things to make themselves look really impressive. But when I did my research, I found out they were revoked off the Better Business Bureau in 2010 because of numerous complaints from advertising/sales practices to problems with product/services! Thank God I didn?t hire them! And you should see how bad Pacific Home Remodeling Yelp reviews are! A lot of companies use a product called Texcote. When I did the research on Texcote, I found that its product name had been changed over the years to ToughGuard, Platinum, Genuine, Classic, Smart Coat, SuperCote, and now it?s called FlexOn/Cool Wall. So I wondered why the name was being changed every so often. I found out that when they got enough complaints, they?d change the name so it makes it harder to do research on past performance! How?s that for ethics! Did you know, through my research at County Court records and Internet, that there?s been at least 15 texcote companies that?s sold texcote under various names for 1 to 5 years, then went out of business leaving their customers? without warranty service? Look at how many I found! American Home Craft which later changed its name to Sungate Energy Solutions, First Choice Home Improvements, Best Windows and Doors, Five Star Builders, Green House Builders, Gold Coast Renovations as well as Gold Coast Painting which now is Gold Coast Design, Mission Home Builders which reopened under another name, NuCote Exteriors/Far Star, San Diego Window and Door, and Thermoview which reopened as San Diego Door & Window. Some of these companies like This Old Fashioned Home Improvement doesn?t even have a license or address on their internet site! And I saw on the internet that NuCote won ?Dealer of the Year in CA? in 2010 and 2011 for Texcote. At the same time, the Better Business Bureau revoked them in 2010. Now they?re out of business! Without research I would have been one of their victims. Because their marketing materials and sales people are very good. These companies using Texcote seem to have a shaky past and I couldn?t find any independent testing other than the Department of Energy. But that?s only dealing with heat. What about the rest of the product? Nothing! Look at all these companies that have changed company names, flipped licenses or don?t even show you their license at all. Certapro/Armortek which was opened by its former owners of Artistic Design as well as F & V Painting that went under, Colors of Europe (a subsidiary of Superior Stucco & Stone), Classic Home Improvements which goes under Distinctive Home Improvements, Design Rite Construction which opened after Qualitus Corp. was revoked by the CSLB, Makeover Max which opened after Paoga Construction. The last time I had my house painted, the contractor gave me a 10 year warranty. When it began peeling and blistering a year or two later, I had to fight with the contractor to come out and see the problem let alone fix it! He told me that it wasn?t his fault and that the paint failed. He also mentioned that the federal government through EPA has changed the paints because of environmental reasons and they don?t last like they use to. So then I asked him about the 10 year warranty. He told me that the 10 year warranty was the warranty on the can of paint and that I need to call the paint manufacturer. When I called the paint manufacturer, after a bit of a struggle, they came out and looked at my house and said that their paint didn?t fail but it was the painter who didn?t apply it properly! They also told me that the painter didn?t apply the paint thick enough. So it wasn?t their problem and told me to call the painter. Oh my God! So now I?m stuck between not getting what I thought I was promised or having to file a lawsuit against my painter. Do you know how much it costs to hire a lawyer and go to court. let alone the time and headache? So what did I learn? That what some salesman says and what actually happens can be two different things. That?s what! This time, I decided to do a lot more research before I called out the painting company. I found Advanced Exteriors and Jerry?s been around since 1959. Jerry?s been painting in San Diego and he?s still on the job. I got to meet him when he supervised the crew working on my house. Then I researched and found out they don?t have any complaints with the Contractors State License Board and the Better Business Bureau from customers who?ve had work done in the last 50 years. The record was far superior to other companies that I had researched. I did find 1 complaint on the Better Business Bureau, so I called up the BBB and asked them about it. They told me it wasn?t from a contractual customer. Instead this was from a person that had the company?s canvasser come to their door that scratched their door. Then I researched Rhino Shield which is Advanced Exterior?s product. The thing that impressed me the most and made me feel very comfortable is that their product was independently tested by BASF. I couldn?t find any other coating that had this kind of independant testing. It does make you wonder why all these other companies don?t have this kind of testing, yet make similar claims about their products. And I like the big difference that Rhino Shield uses high grade materials like 3M ceramics and their warranty is backed by the factory. The difference between what I experienced before is that Advanced Exteriors is the only distributor for Rhino Shield in San Diego, so I only have to go to one place if I have a problem. They were also able to prove to me that they used only employees and not subcontractors. That?s huge! My friend hired a painter and they told her they didn?t use subcontractors, but when the workers showed up, they weren?t employees of the company after all! She asked one of the workers, and he told her he wasn?t an employee but a subcontractor. She?d been had! I felt bad for her. Advanced Exteriors put it in writing that they don?t use subcontractors and advertise it. They actually do use employees and when they came to my home, I asked the workers and they told me they were indeed employees. The company and the employees are all EPA lead-certified which was important to me. I also talked to two of Advanced Exteriors customers that had Rhino Shield on their home for over 5 years. They told me they very very pleased with how their house still looks like new, and how professional the crew and office staff was to them. When Advanced Exterior?s crew showed up at my home, they explained what they were going to do and kept me informed throughout the process as to what would be happening. They were extremely detail orientated. It took about 10 days longer than my last painter because they did so much more preparation and detailed work. They covered all my property and left it in great condition. They also cleaned up after themselves and didn?t need to come in my house at all. I also felt safe around them, especially being a widow, living alone. When they left, they took all the debris with them and my home looked like brand new. Rhino Shield may be more of an investment at first, but you get what you pay for. Been there; done that! A couple days after the crew left, I saw that one of my lights wasn?t working, so I called their office. They sent one of the workers back out and fixed it right away. I highly recommend Advanced Exteriors and Rhino Shield to anyone who?s worked hard for their money, deserves the best company with a proven warranty, wants to be treated right, and knows this is the last time I will have to repaint the exterior of my home.

Advanced Exteriors isn?t just any painting or coating company. They are VERY detail orientated and their crew went through a long preparation process (12 steps) before even applying Rhino Shield. They first came out and dug a trench all around the house so that the coating could be applied all the way down to the foundation. Then they sanded all the wood and the walls. They made sure that the walls were smoothed out and then any cracks repaired before painting. They then applied the "Rhino Shield" coating made with 3M ceramics. The coating itself is impressive in that it is breathable (so no mold or mildew) and waterproof. Not only that, but because of the ceramics in the material, it lowers my heating and cooling costs. After putting on the coating, they then applied the colored coat. Most impressive was the fact that they caulked all the boards together in the eves. This produced a total finished look. The work was meticulous and neat. After the crew was done they made sure to clean up any mess made from the job, leaving my home looking like the prize of the block. I was so impressed that I have referred two more people that have had their house coated with Rhino Shield. And they, too, are completely satisfied. And Advanced Exteriors even sent me a $250 referral gift. The work was so good that I referred them to our church that had a chapel that was 150 years old and needed restoration badly. The pastor was completely surprised when they were just about finished with the job when the owner of the company, Martin Montoya, was doing an inspection and decided to redo the church a second time without any request or charge from the church. They did such an amazing job restoring the church with Rhino Shield that everyone stopped to see our new chapel!! This building has a "historical" rating and therefore had to be restored to its original design. Lead paint had been applied years before and you can only have an EPA certified licensed painter to remove it. Advanced Exteriors is a licensed company with experience with historical homes and made sure to safely remove the lead. It was a long and tedious job but the result was fantastic. We are now again the pride of our community. The chapel is located in Poway, between Hilleary and Community Roads. Various members of our church want to use them for their own homes.

Work to be done fall 2013. I will provide an updated evaluation with photos when completed.

This company was GREAT! We have been interested in this type of product for a number of years and had received a number of quotes. Most of the quotes involved a sales presentation that ended with an outrageous price.....but "after all, you never have to paint again!" Since our house was in need of painting, this promise was very enticing. As I researched it more, there are products and companies to stay away from, and those that claim they have the best product. After research, we decided to go with this company and product BEFORE we approached them for pricing. We talked to them at the Del Mar Fair and had them come over for an estimate. The estimate was fair--be aware that this IS NOT just a paint job. It is, at least, a three step coating that, even in close inspection/appearance, is much different than paint. It is easy to see that it truly seals your home. We saw a reduction in both our cooling and heating bills afterwards. They trenched around our home, carefully trimmed back bushes, and repaired walls before the first coat. At each step of the way they were very courteous, mindful of our needs--like not starting work too early in the am (both of us are late-risers).After all was done they walked us thru an inspection, and carefully explained the warranty. About six months after completion we knocked a "chip" of a painted area off of the house. After a phone call, they were out the next day to repair, re-paint and reseal the area. Great service! We've met the owner of the company and find him to truly care for his employees and the quality of work that is done. It is not inexpensive, but worth every penny. We've recommended a number of others to Advanced Exteriors.

We ended up not using them because we didn't have the money to go through with it. They were fantastic and they worked at the price. They did everything they could but it wasn't the right time because we didn't have the money to put into it.

One of the partners came to our house to explain the product and procedures that it would undertake. Very thorough and professional. There was no pressure on their part. A team of husband and wife arrived on site and began a detailed preparation. Power washing. Sealing of any cracks. Stucco repair. They were very hard workers from day 1.Jerry, one of the owners came each day to make sure all was going right and to help answer any questions. He was a big help in color selection making sure we were happy. The clean up at the end was perfect. Our house looks like new!