Dream Works Painting

This was a very large undertaking, as there were multiple layers of wallpaper on most of the rooms and there was no way to tell the condition of the walls until the paper was off. There had been leaks in a couple of places that had caused previous surface damage, so we were unsure what degree of TLC certain walls and ceilings were going to need. Matt came out and evaluated the job first, and quoted a price for the painting plus a per-hour charge for the wallpaper removal, since there was no way to tell how long that would take. I considered that fair. When Matt and Pam came, they had a game plan on where to start and immediately dug in. I can't describe the amount of patience and effort it took to remove some of that wallpaper, but they persevered. Once done with that, they were able to patch and smooth all overly rough spots and successfully made what were some rough-looking walls in shape to accept primer and paint. Then they and their help painted the ceilings and walls, certain areas of trim, and a stairwell with some dark paneling that had not been painted previously. Considering the age of the house and everything it has endured, I am so pleased with the results. I can't say it went without a hitch, though; when I originally chose paint colors I made a poor choice in one of the rooms. They were more than willing to come out and repaint it a different color. Cost-wise, I ended up spending substantially more than I planned on when I originally contemplated having the work done, but I was in the house when they were doing the work so I saw the challenges and knew how much time was involved and feel the increased amount is justified. This was a job that needed to be done by an experienced professional, and Matt was all of that and then some so deserved to be paid accordingly. The only negative part of the experience was that they ended up having some people that paint for them do some of the basic painting in a couple of the back rooms. Two of them were pretty young and not all that professional in their demeanor; they also missed some spots. But Matt came back and took care of those, so I wouldn't view this as something that would prevent me from hiring them again. In summary, their efforts made tremendous improvements to this older home, and the patience and care they took in doing it shows.

Matt and the gang come out and painted our family room, kitchen, bathroom, mudroom, master bedroom and a guest room on their first visit. They did a very nice job. All the rooms look very good. They ended up having to do a fair amount of repair work in a couple of the rooms and they did a very good job with it. My only complaint with this was the amount of dust that covered about half of the house due to that wall repair. I would have liked to have seen it all cleaned up before they left the first day (they were here two days). They may have cleaned it all up at the end of the second day but I just couldn't leave it and I don't think it should have been left like that any way. I also would like to see them find a better way to do the work in order to cut down on this mess in the future (I know other companies that do) and it did make me hesitant to use them again for other rooms. However, when Matt called us with a discounted offer, we went ahead and had him come back to paint the living room and dining room which were part of our original quote. Again, the work was done very well and the rooms look very nice. However, I was put off by Matt's attitude toward me during the second job. The first time they were here, they painted over the cold air returns in two rooms and I asked them to be sure to do the same in a couple other rooms because I like how it blended all together on the wall (and at that point, they hadn't been painted over even though the rest of the wall had been). I got a little bit of push back but it was done without much hassle. When I asked Matt to please paint the cold air returns in the living room and dining room during the second job, I got much more push back and attitude about it. He stated that he didn't like to paint them because they were metal and the paint didn't stick well to it and could chip. He said that is gets calls from people that want him to come back out and "fix" it. I was perfectly fine with him telling me this in advance and I told him I understood but that I still wanted them painted. He kept arguing with me about it and I didn't appreciate it. I felt that I was the customer and that he should be providing me with what I wanted. Which he finally did. My second issue with the the latter job was that my husband and I both understood that painting the trim in each room was included in the quote. Especially since we had discussed the trim work with the woman that came out to help us pick colors and give us the quote. However, when Matt was here to paint, he said that it was not included so it cost us additional money. I shared these concerns with Matt at the end of the second job via email and I never heard anything back about it. Overall, the painting itself is done very well. However, because of the push back and attitude I received, I have gone with other painters for the last two jobs I needed done.