Masterpiece Finishes

Description of Work: Nothing, after several calls he never bothered to take a minute to respond and say he could not do the painting for whatever reason.

Description of Work: Gary did a great job! After four years of snow ans storms the deck was looking hit. Gary showed up, gave an estimate and followed up by emails. Very responsive and attentive. Showed up every time as he agreed and in a matter of a weeks time the job was completed. I must say we are extremely happy with his work. Highly recommended. The deck looks better than when i was built. He also advised us on what color seemed best as we were undecided. Great person to work with.

Description of Work: Over the past 15 years, we’ve done all the work to restore and upgrade our 1897 home, except to put in a new furnace. Then we realized that we just couldn’t do it all. So we started to look for someone to power wash the exterior and paint the exterior trim, lots of exterior trim. We have metal siding. We found references at a local paint store and started looking on Angie’s list. We wanted someone who was licensed and insured. We preferred someone with a crew so the job wouldn’t take all summer. We needed to keep within a tight budget. Mostly we wanted someone who would be honest with us, do good work and get the job done. We had a fear of paying for trouble. We called over a dozen painters and six came over to view the job and give us estimates. We could have worked with several of them, but Gary Clark of Masterpiece Finishes offered everything we wanted, and best of all he came through with it all. It started with a very good evaluation of the work and what he would do to clean the siding and restore the trim. The trim was in several stages of repair, but mostly, it was dry peeling paint and cracked wood. Gary then provided us with a detailed estimate within our price range. He also provided proof of insurance and licensing. We asked to be placed as an Additional Insured on his liability insurance policy for $1,000,000. This is recommended by http://www.massrealestatelawblog.com/, our primary source of information for working with a home improvement contractor. We also read Chapter 142A, Section 2 of the Massachusetts’s law governing agreements for residential contracting services. Gary readily agreed to add us to his policy. When I asked him if it seemed odd that we’d ask this, he said “No, it sounds like you are informed customers.” We signed Gary’s estimate in the fall with the plan that he would start the work in April with the weather taken into consideration. He came over in early April and power washed the house himself with one crew member. Our metal siding is old and stained in places, so they went over parts of it several times. They also removed lots of the flaking trim paint with the power wash. Washing the house himself provided Gary with a close look at the job, and he did such a good job, our neighbors on both sides came over to find out who we had hired. Every day, Gary gave us an update and improved his service as he saw the need. He upgraded to a faster drying paint, because the weather was still damp. He had already chosen premium paint and perfectly matched the colors we had been using. He even glazed and painted several windows that we thought we’d do ourselves to save money. Every evening throughout the job, we came home to a completely clean work area. No paint debris in the gardens that surround the house and no damage to the plants. After the power wash, a crew of 3-4 sanded the trim and applied 55-year latex caulking to all the cracks and open seams. Then they applied an exterior oil base primer and two coats of premium exterior latex finish paint. The sanding and caulking helped to make the wood look like new. Though they had to paint next to metal siding and windows and over a new porch deck we haven’t found any misplaced paint. Prior to the job starting, we decided that we’d remove the gutters ourselves, so the trim underneath could be restored and painted. Gary adjusted for this, while painting the gutters was in the original estimate, they restored and painted the additional exposed trim at no extra cost. During the work, we decided that we wanted our porch ceiling painted also. Gary included this at a reasonable increase in cost. The ceiling ended up needing lots more caulking than anticipated. Gary informed us of this extra cost and the upgrade to a more expensive paint. Then, he made it very clear that since these extra costs weren’t in the original estimate, we were not obligated to pay. Even with our tight budget, we gladly paid along with a tip for a job well done. Though there was a delay of a few days for rain, Gary anticipated the weather and adjusted the work accordingly to take advantage of painting on the drier days. Within about a week, the job was complete from start to finish. We now have a house with beautifully restored and painted trim and bright clean siding. This gives us such a boost emotionally and energizes us to keep working on the house and maybe even find other good contractors to help with the larger projects. Thank you Gary and crew! Hire them, you won't be sorry. Thank you Angie's List for helping us to find Masterpiece Finishes.

Description of Work: I had a hole in ceiling patched.

Description of Work: We were very impressed with Gary and the quality of his work from start to finish. We had 4 rooms painted and 3 ceilings done. Right from the beginning,his estimate broke down exactly what would be done and the individual charge for each process. It was very detailed and we felt comfortable that he was on the same page as our expectations. The ceilings came beautifully as did the painting of the walls. We are very happy with Masterpiece Finishes quality of work and would recommend them to anyone.