Two Men And A Brush

The painter was unprofessional and broke my furniture and used items in my home for personal use. Some of the furniture was repaired and received an estimate for payment for the remainder but it seems the company does not want to pay me for what the painter broke.

Initially, we contracted our job with Sevin, of Two Men and a Brush. She seemed professional, genuine, and assured us that the paint job would be "no problem." Once the actual work began, there were plenty of problems. So many problems, that the first crew was let go from TM&AB. And sadly, the second crew, being new to painting, offered very little improvement. Overall, the paint job was just bad. The new paint was peeling off of the trim, in spots, due to poor prep. Body coverage was so thinly applied, in areas, that the original color shown through. In many areas, the underside of the siding/eaves/gutters hadn't even been touched by the paint-sprayer. Especially the undersides of siding, lower to ground. And yes, we did point all of the above-mentioned issues out to Colleen, TM&AB's Project Manager. Her response was that she would only repair what was on "Her List." Apparently, if we wanted all of the above-mentioned issues addressed, Colleen informed us that we would need to pay for an additional, second "Whole-house, exterior painting?" Sadly, in the end, it seems that TM&AB is more interested in their bottom-line, than in the integrity of their work. We felt that there was a definite disconnect, between the "sales-pitch" offered to us by Sevin, which convinced us to contract with TM&AB, and the end-result of the work provided by this company.

Terrible. They say they do a double coat of paint but they do not. They also have sub-contractors do the work and the guy and wife who painted our house were really sub-par. We had the warranty person come out and even he was not responsive.

I did run into a couple of bumps during the process and some communication problems but all my issues were resolved and I was satisfied in the end.

painters were professional and new their trade

The painters and the sales person exceeded our expectations. They replaced a rotten board without being asked. The painters backrolled all of the walls after spraying. Very good protection from one color to another. Taping off our house and kept it really clean. The sales person really took time to help with colors.

unknown

I have an older home (1974) that hasn't been painted in about 15 years. I got motivated to paint a couple of the small bathrooms myself but didn't want to tackle the inside since it had vaulted ceilings and a really open concept. After due diligence and checking on Angie's List I decided to go with Two Men and A Brush due to the good reviews, A+ rating on BBB etc. They weren't the cheapest but not the most expensive either and I really liked the salesman Kevin (who I later found out is the owner). The price quoted was for 2800 sq ft interior excluding the vaulted ceilings and of course my 2 bathrooms. Kevin said that it would take approximately 2 days. Day 1 would entail masking off and preparing the paint areas for painting. I liked this because that's exactly what I did to my bathrooms (which turned out awesome). Paint colors were selected and the painters were to show up at 8am on a Tuesday. The work crew was very pleasant and showed up at 10am and then had to go out and get the paint. I think they started the job close to noon and immediately started painting the walls. No masking off, no removing light switch covers, and I had to chase them around the house to tell them the areas that needed extra caulking, texture and other pre-paint treatment. My red flag went up when they didn't mask off any of my 70's dark wood trim and beams. I had picked a really nice neutral so there were paint drips and specks everywhere. The job was completed by day 2 and I spent the next few days walking around and putting tape where things were missed. A lot of the correction was having to stain over the neutral paint which was on the dark wood. They could have saved themselves a lot of time by masking off like I was told they would. A few days later I called the office and wanted my salesman Kevin to come to the house and see the work. Personally, I think he should have called me to do a walkthrough of the work. After I showed him all that was needing attention including a lot of missed spots, he had his crew (the same one that did the original paint job) fix everything. They were there 3 hours doing touch up. Overall the paint job still looks good but the attention to detail, which is what I was sold on, just didn't happen. Kevin never did a follow up call to see if I was satisfied with the work after the fixes were done. In the meantime I am set with touch up stain pens and a straight razor to fix things as I see them.

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The three man crew arrived on time on Tuesday morning and completed the job at 7 PM the next day. They were professional and courteous.  The cost of just under $3000 was $500 and $900 respectively less than two competitive bids.  The only "hiccup" was when they started painting the wrong color on the shutters but was promptly corrected when I pointed it out.

The estimator provided us a reasonable quote and scheduled our job. The gave us a color consultation which helped us decide which direction to go. That helped alot. Our painters were really nice and clean. We bribed them pizza to paint our dog house too and they were extremely polite. Thanks again!

Terrific customer service, on time, quality paint, and professional painters.  No complaints but I do have tons of compliments.
Thank you Kevin, Kerri, and Joe for all your expertise and courtesy.  Can't wait to recommend you to my friends and neighbors.
Steve

They underestimated the length of time it was going to take to do the job. Instead of two days it took eight.

unknown

We got three estimates, and we ended going with this company.  They were very good!  Jeff told us who would come and he was here for an hour and a half because we were talking.  A week from Saturday, he said that they would be up, and they were!  In thirty days, they had it done, and it was a very nice job!  In addition, their price was just right in the middle.  I thought, it was a good estimate.  The funny thing was there was a couple of things that weren't on list, but his painters did it anyway.  When it comes to punctuality, they were up here right away.  They came up like 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and talked quite a bit about the paint.  Actually, we had woodpecker holes on our house, and they sealed it with a special thing and we didn't have any issue.  They did an excellent job!  They even sent us email to know if we were happy with their service.  They were professional all the way.

Kevin the estimator was 1/2 hr early and professional. He explained the next
step was his office would call me and schedule.  This did not happen. 
Instead I was contacted by, I assume, the crew chief that he would be at
the house in 20 minutes to power wash it.  They
painted my shed the same colors for $50.  They also painted the
electrical box and conduit without being asked.  In fact, if there is
something you don't want painted I'd make sure to state that.     Additionally they were
supposed to paint the front door and forgot.  I called and left a
message and they immediately took care of it before the final
inspection scheduled the following day.  Everything was done in 3 -4 days.  I was satisfied with the
paint job and did not see any missed spots.  I would use them again. 
They are a good value for the money.

Fast,  easy estimate.  Best price.  Showed up on schedule and completed the work very quickly.  Workmanship was good and the painters were polite.

sloppy, unprofessional work, language barrier, damged personal property, paint every and owner reneged on promise to replace and/or repair items damaged.  The owner, Murdock does a lot of fast talking by lying about events that transpired as he was never present, lies about and slanders the customer's character, which is one big "red herring" attempt to distract from the real issue:  the company does sloppy, unprofessional work, their crews damage (as in break)  and/or get paint all over your personal property (even though they used plastic tarps) the owners promise to make restitution to replace or repair items damaged, then reinege.  This is the recurring theme of the negative reviews and complaints on websites such as BBB, Dexknows and Angie's List to name a few. They go out of their way to block customer's from filing complaints and have been involved with serveral civil suits (one in Denver county and a few in El Paso County).  They claim to have an eximpliary reputation throughout the community all the while trying to assassinate the customer's character.  They also claim that they have A+ credit with the BBB (this part is true) but have never had any complaints until mine (this is not true and obviously the owner hasn't looked at BBB's website (nor Angie's List) recently or he'd know there are 4 complaints against them with the earliest dating back to approximately March of 2011 and as recently as December 2011.

Update 10/11/12 (Response to Company's Comments):

"Regarding Mrs. Sartin’s specific complaints, Mrs. Sartin has stopped work on the project. After demanding that we paint her interior in a specific manner – not out typical, professional manner; stopping production and demanding it be done differently and altogether interfering from the very beginning, it was impossible to wrap this project up in a timely manner. As for the very minor damages, 95% of them could have been cleaned up while we were there. However, through interference, we were unable."

GRS: If the individual is going to make (false) allegations, he needs to provide documentation to substantiate his claims. Aside from it being a lie and a blanket statement, I never demanded anything, and have no clue what is meant by “paint the interior in a specific manner”. The only person(s) preventing the job being performed in a timely manner were the crew themselves. Alan alone, spend more time on his cell phone conducting personal business, the second day of painting, Angel, had supposedly called in sick according to Alan. Rather than a day and a half, per Allen as the amount of time it would take to paint the master bath and bedroom, it took three days and after pointing out the same areas that needed to be corrected multiple times, they still didn’t fixed properly. This is why the project was not completed in a timely manner, that and the fact they were rushed, were sloppy and damaging my personal property in the process. Again the owner continues to downplay the amount of damages when a) he’s never set foot in my home in order to properly access the damage and b) he nor his crew have the skill set to repair the personal items his crew damaged. More over, if had I “interfered” as the owner claimed, my personal property would not have been the extent that it was. I request the owner provide supporting documentation supporting the allegations being made against. Conjecture does not count. Again, the owner was NEVER present during any of the conversations with any of his personnel.

"After Mrs. Sartin kicked our 1st crew off her job, another was sent. The leader spoke exemplary English, however communicated with his brother (also part of the crew) in Spanish. Mrs. Sartin let our painters know that “It is unacceptable to speak Spanish in her home at all” and insulted our crew. At that point, they quit the project. The office let her know it would take at least a week to get another crew out to finish up. At this point, we were fired. Unfortunately we cannot fix any problems after being prohibited access to the property."

GRS: I did not “kick” the first crew out. The last day they were in my home and when they determined they were finished for the day, they left on their own accord. The “leader” as you refer to her does NOT speak “exemplary” English. Had you bothered to meet her in person, you or anyone could tell, while she does speak English, it was with a detectible Spanish. While I’ve not doubt you’ve personally met her, this is all a mute point as the facts remain, she was over an hour late and since she claims her brother doesn’t speak English why would she send him to my door as I obviously cannot understand nor speak Spanish. How did you expect to communicate with what was obviously a language barrier. And they’re “insulted” because I can’t speak Spanish? Ms. Murdock did NOT state, “It would take at least a week to get another crew out to finish up. At this point, we were fired. What she did say, was that the second people she sent out were her “best” crew and that if they “hired whites, (her words not mine) they would have to pay more.” My immediate concern is for them to make restitution, which did not re access to my property in order to make restitution for the items that need to be replaced or repaired due to damage done by your crew. As I’ve communicated before, I can provide written estimates and work orders.

"Randy is trained to tell all customers that our crew sizes vary from 2 – 4. It sounds like Mrs. Sartin picked up on the 4 only. As far as time to complete the job; once again crew size as well as customer interference plays a huge roll. Example: It is not common for a customer to go run an errand and require our painters to wait outside for their return. I would like to go into more detail; however Mrs. Sartin has threatened my insurance carrier, insurance agent and Two Men and A Brush with a Prejudice Lawsuit"

GRS: First regardless of what you train Randy to say, the reality is that he DID say “4 people in 4 days.” And the owner’s comment, “sounds like Mrs. Sartin picked up on the 4 only.” Is incredulous considering the FACTS that a, he was never present when all the conversations with all of his employee transpired and he is NOT a mind reader and therefore, not qualified to speak on my behalf as to what I thought nor the exact words I heard with my own two ears. Again, not being present at the jobsite not witness to any communications between my self and his crew, his statements are unsubstantiated and merely third and fourth and information. The following are the turn of the events as they actually transpired: Angel and his part stated they would break for lunch (as they have done so prior). He stated that they would be gone approximately 30 minutes. I mentioned that while they were on lunch I would run to the King Soopers located in back of my home, which is less than five minutes and would probably be back before they would. I DID NOT kicked them out to run an errand and since I’m not a mind reader, I don’t and didn’t have the ability to know they decided to come back earlier than what they told me. More over, (and I’m sure they left this part out) they would arrive late at the start of each day and on one lunch break (according to them) were gone approximately 1 hour and a half. The owner states, “I would like to go into more detail; however Ms. Sartin has threatened my insurance carrier, insurance agent and Two Men and A Brush with a “Prejudice Lawsuit.” Since he continues these personal attacks and slanders my character, he DOES need to go into more details and provide supporting documentation. In addition, I never threatened to sue anyone and everyone that knows me knows that that particular phrase “Prejudice Suit” has not now nor ever been a part of my vernacular nor vocabulary. I request you produce details and documentations to substantiate your allegations. The only person that ever referenced litigation was your wife (alias Regan) who stated, “I’ve been in and out of court so I know how it works.” {CIVIL SUITS: Case #’s 08C24319 (Denver County), 2012 S 00620, 2010 C 027295, 2009 CV 005033, 2009 S 000721 and 2006 CV 004991 (El Paso County)} “So does this mean you’re going to win”, I replied? In Colorado Springs, CO, Two Men and A Brush has an A+ rating. We paint over 1000 homes per year with very few problems. Also, after operating out of Denver for over three years, this is our first complaint. We value our relationship with our communities as well as with the BBB. Unfortunately, it has been our experience that there are a few people (very few) in this world that have very specific ways of doing things and this often directly disturbs the process or, as in this case, the process and outcome. The owner claims mine is their first complaint but there were 4 complaints closed with BBB in last 3 years | 1 closed in last 12 months. Approximately in the earlier part of last year, 2011, I searched the BBB database looking for “accredited” businesses. This company was one of three I chose to obtain estimates as the website shows zero complaints. However, after engaging this company, I went back to BBB’s website to obtain contact information in an attempt to discuss with the problems with the painters and to my surprise there were 4 complaints filed against this company the earliest was March of 2011 an

The experience far exceeded our expectations.  Just because their home office is in Colorado Springs, don't keep that from calling no matter where you might live in Colorado.  They do accept Visa, MasterCard and Discover.

They were really good and I liked them. They offer VA. They are reasonably priced and I could bargain with them a little. They were courteous and professional.

The two man crew we were assigned could not communicate with us due to a language barrier.   The job was supposed to be complete in a few days.  Due to the crew not showing up until late in the day, using OUR leftover paint in our basement (no permission granted to even go down there) and never buying their own, they ran out of paint on the weekend and promised to have it done on Monday.  Because they were very slow, and didn't work full days it just kept taking longer and longer...well over a week in the end.  They were dishonest in their time estimates, they entered our pantry the first day to open up snacks and help themselves (I offered them drinks, not snacks).  I can overlook some of these offenses, but it just kept getting worse and worse.  When they were "finished" we were left with 2 damaged light fixtures, scraped up (very badly) rounded corners from the scaffolding, DRIP marks on all of our walls from their work on the ceiling that they attempted to cover up with our wall paint but never scraped them off first,  a scratched up sink (from their tools we are assuming), and sadly, a very poor job on the scraping and painting of our ceiling (the actual job).   There were streak marks all over the ceiling from their rollers, they didn't use enough paint on the ceiling,  the popcorn was still left in some areas at the top of the vault, you could see streak marks dug out in the texture, and the texture was uneven...very heavy in some places, not at all in others.  We had timely responses from the manager who wanted to make things right.  Unfortunately, she could not control the quality of her crew.  They actually ended up firing the crew they were so frustrated with them as well.  They sent us their "best" painter to fix the poor paint job on the ceiling and all of the walls they ruined...texture and paint drips.  His work was fast, but sloppy.  He didn't prep.  He left us with SCRATCHED up wood floors.  Floors that had been put in 6 months prior.   He also sprayed paint on everything...the wood floor, countertops, carpet.  It was incredibly frustrating.   They agreed to pay for the wood floors to be redone but wanted to be done with us at that point.  I appreciated the first efforts of discounting our job and paying to fix the floors but unfortunately they did far more damage than they were willing to fix or refund.  I made the mistake of paying them too early.  They don't stand behind their satisfaction guarantee.  I was impressed  at the beginning with Kevin Murdock the owner and original estimator.  However, in the end he did not stand behind his word and disappointed me very much.  He came to see the job.  He DENIED the obvious roller strokes that were STILL on our ceiling even after his "best painter" came to fix them.  He admitted to poor work in other areas (ceiling, drips on walls, etc) but said to me, "do you really want my guy coming back in here with scaffolding?" as if threatening for them to ruin more or our home that we JUST purchased.  He even told me in regards to the scratched wood floor and bathroom sink that I have a young son and in a few months it won't even bother me all of the scratches that were there.  Wow.  By the way,  3 other painters came out for estimates to fix the mistakes and they all agreed it was a terrible job.  We had re-texturizing performed, the entire vaulted ceiling was primed and re-painted,  it was also drywalled and re-texturized in some areas as well to fix mistakes.  We paid MORE to fix the issues that Two Men and A Brush caused, than we paid Two Men and  A Brush for the poor job.  The company we chose also had to scrape off all of the drip marks on our walls and re-paint as well as fix several areas that were damaged from the scaffolding ramming into it.  The company that we used to fix the issues used ladders, not scaffolding.
I wrote Two Men and A Brush a letter outlining all of what I just wrote above and requesting them to refund our payment as they were unable to fix the mistakes.  After 2 months of no response,  I contacted them again.  All I received was a short email from Kevin Murdock saying that he was sorry, he closed out our account after writing a check for to fix the hardwood floors.  He thought the situation was closed.  He said he was sorry but acted as though since he "closed it out" he could not refund our money.   Basically, it was a "case closed" to him.  It didn't matter that it was not to us.  Again, it is my fault for ever writing them a check.  I will know better next time.  Although thankfully, I did not have to go through this with the great job I received from the painters we used to fix the issues  And we just had our exterior done by an excellent, thorough company as well.  So bottom line...don't waste your time with a company like Two Men and A Brush when there are plenty of companies that provide excellent work.  It's not worth the headache or the hit to your wallet.
I'm sure I will now see a response from Kevin Murdock now that this is in a review and he will have a rebuttal as I have seen him have in other negative reviews.  I didn't want to do this initially, but when it felt like after I had paid them the case was closed, I felt that as a member of Angie's List it was important to report my experience.  I don't wish to be bitter or mad at them.  We are severely disappointed in their quality, the hit to our wallet, and the fact that they did not follow through on their guarantee...but I don't intend to lose any more sleep over it.  I just want to report our experience for others review so they can make an educated decision for their own painting needs.  Two Men and  A Brush might have some much better crews than we had.  Although their “best painter” did a lot of damage as well because he failed to prep appropriately (also what they advertise they are best at).  Just be aware that if things don't go right, it could be a long road...   Even after all of the money we have poured into this, the texture is still very uneven on our vaulted ceiling.  Paying someone to completely redo it was out of the question.  Yes, it's better than popcorn but it would have been nice for the job to have been done right.  I try not to look up too much!   All these reasons are why I requested a refund of the money we did pay them.  It would never cover the headaches we’ve endured and the things that can’t be fixed, but it certainly would have helped in the costs of repairing the damage they caused.

I had gotten a bid from Randy Steckman last year at a Home and Garden Show. We were not ready to paint at that time so when we were ready I contacted him again and asked if his quote was still good? He said yes but I wanted to get more quotes before I made a choice. The other two bids I got were much higher and when I joined Angie's list I also found out that they had  terrible reviews. At this point I had written them off but Randy was very persistent and kept calling me back. I decided to speak to him and just be honest about the things I read on Angie's list. Mainly so he would know and quit calling me. I went over all of  the negative comments and of course he reassured me that he could promise me that none of those things would happen if I would give them a chance. I also told him his bid was much lower and told him to come back out and take another look at my house to confirm he was ok with his bid. He came back out the next day and was in contact me right away sticking with his original bid. I decided to go ahead and try them: 
  The crew I had consisted of three men two of the three spoke very little english but were very professional and hard workers, this was one of my concerns, I didn't want a crew at my house that I could not talk to. Rudy and his crew were excellent... the  job was done very well their clean up was great and they were in and out within three dyas.. I don't know about any of the other crews that Two Men and  Brush hire but as far as Rudy's and his crew I highly recommend you ask for them if you this company. I am very happy with the out come of their service. My house is beautiful!

Initially, the contract was signed on 3/22/11. Due to the cool weather I requested the job not begin until I was satisfied that the weather was consistently warm enough to paint. Sample paint as place don the house prior to my notification. Eventually the house was painted on the date stated. There was extensive time spent on color choice, the paint company admitted having difficulty with with their mixer. Upon completion I expressed concerns as to the neatness and the difference of the painting of the downspouts, two were a solid color and two were two colors. I requested to have these items corrected without success. After several letters to BBB and KKTV and several months of wasted time the corrections were done ONLY after KKTV was planning to publicize the complaint. Even after the job was completed, the owner, Kevin, did not return for a final inspection as he promised. The final work was satisfactory but I would not wish to repeat this experience. Neither would I advise a friend to use this company either.