Michael O'Brien Painting

Well at first everything went ok, the owner didn't give me quote or invoice on a form but he seemed to be up front and honest. So, I check out some of his references and they said that he was good at what he does, however, he does have issues about finishing on time or you have to make him come back to finish up. So, I also call to make sure he was insured. So, felt like he was a good choice because no one could come close to his price and he had avg. references (no red flags).

So, I hired him. He came on time to my house and everything was going fine until we got into the middle of the job. He started making claims that this was a bigger job than he thought. Also, he started talking about how he losing money on this project because he has to come back. (He promise me that the job would only take one day). So, he came back the next day (he was late) and he started on the last part of the project. He seem like he was ok and that he got back on track. But, later on that afternoon he came to me and stated that his part was done and they his assistant would finish up and all I just need to do was just tell him what to do. So, he wanted his money.

So, I trusted him and paid him. When he left his assistant got off track and became interested in odd jobs around my house and he want to start on that immediately. Well, I told that I wanted to finish the big project first and then we could do the odd jobs. I became worry and started check the work that has been done and I was very upset to see that there was paint my floor, numerous miss spots on my wall (holidaying) and some of my blind holders and face plates were ever missing or damage. I told the assistant that this needed to fix and that I was upset. The assistant said that he would come back the next day and fix everything.

So, on the next day the assistant came back (he was late) and started talking about the odd jobs, I told him that I want the first project done, first. So, he started working but it was hard because kept getting off track. I called the owner and he promise me that everything would be ok. The assistant went out to find face plates and brackets that were damage at home depot (which was 15mins away) but it took him 5 hours to get back and he had no brackets or face plates. At this point I just told him not to worry about it and to just finish up.

When he got done, I called the owner and express to him what happen and that he should have been to onsite to supervise his crew person. The owner told me directly that I should happy of the amount of work that was done for the price he charge me and that I should not be mad. I told him that his price doesn't give him the right to not replacing missing or broken pieces, bad painting, or leaving paint on my carpet and tile floor. So, he told me he wanted to make me happy so just send him bill for those items and shouldn't be more than hundred dollars. I told ok, good day sir. I didn't send him a bill, I fix everything myself, except for the paint on the floor (some of it would not come out). instead I decided to write review.

Excellent experience! 
 Reasonably priced, honest and cleaned up after the work was done

He is excellent. He did a magnificent job. He used a pressure washer with a buffer. I haven't seen anyone clean like him.

When given estimate provider (Michael O'Brien Painting aka MP O'Brien Painting) repeatedly assured me that I would get a top quality job and he wouldn't leave until I was completely satisfied. Provider (Michael O'Brien) applied sealant (a sticky substance) before painting. I had told not to do anything to brand NEW garage door or to aluminum back porch. Failed to cover garage door and garage trim and got sealant on it which would not come off and is damaged and collects debris such as leaves and dirt. Painted steps with semi gloss trim paint rather than floor paint. Initially pressure washed house to remove dirt and loose peeling paint, but did not scrape peeling paint that did not wash off, thus when he spray painted, he sprayed right over big pieces of curled peeling paint on every side of house (pieces as large as 4-5"). Paint lines (i.e. where trim color meets base color) all uneven. Spray painted over brand new door knob on front door because he "thought" it looked better. Spray painted over light fixtures. No drop cloths were put down and dripped paint on outdoor carpeting and chipped paint all over the place. Painted half the window sills base color and the other half trim color. Did not cover windows and sealant on windows which I was able to get off with elbow grease but couldn't get off the garage. He was told not to paint the back aluminum enclosed porch, but did paint on parts of it as he "thought" it looked better and blended in. Looks terrible. He came back a couple days later and replaced the door knob he painted over; attemped to straighten out the paint lines; scraped the curled peeling paint but did not reapply sealant, but simply painted over. I attempted to walk around the house with him to point out the many things that needed to be corrected but less than half way around the house he rushed away from me and said "I'll fix it", thus, he missed a lot of things and had to go back and fix those. During the entire time working on my house he was always rushing. When he scraped down to wood, he tried to paint over the bare wood with paint and I told him he needed to prime and or seal it. He insisted you don't have to as it's good paint he's using and seemed annoyed with me and argumentative. I called the local paint store that referred him and asked them if you could paint over bare wood and they said no, so I asked store owneer to speak to Mr. O'Brien and tell him that. Mr. O'Brien was annoyed but slapped on some sealant and stilll did not scrape the peeled paint properly and as I had initially requested. It still looks like chipped paint painted over. It was some time later that I noticed the problem with the garage collecting leaves and dirt and realized the sealant was on it. I called Mr. O'Brien and I politely told him we have a problem with the garage door and other problems. Mr. O'Brien then became very verbally abusive, told me what to do with myself, and hung up. Fortunately, Mr. O'Brien had liability insurance and his insurance company came out and documented damages to my property but does not cover poor workmanship. I still need to go out myself and scrape areas on the lower part of the house that have curled peeling paint that was not scraped, paint that was dripped around window, and somehow remove paint they got on aluminum window parts on numerous windows.