1st Choice Painting and Carpentry

Excellent. John is great to work with.

Very well. John was timely, responsive, easy to work with, and professional. He was open to suggestions and also willing to make suggestions.

John Rabner works with one patiently to decide scope of work as well as with respect to selecting painting and staining colors and color combinations. He works with and supervises carefully his employees. The employees are hard-working, polite, clean, neat AND clean up after themselves in a thoughtful, careful way. John Rabner is considerate about scheduling and keeping you informed. He provides service with great integrity and pride. We think the quality of his work and his warrantee of it is in synch with his prices which are competitive but higher than the average. We have no intention of using anyone else.

The whole process was done exceptionally well and we are extremely happy with the results. John and the workers did exceptional work and it was all done within the designated 2.5 week work frame. The workers kept everything clean and neat. The workmanship was outstanding and the workers friendly and considerate. The contractor (John Rabner) showed up every day to check on progress and to discuss with us any questions we had or changes that we had to suggest. No rehab is ever fun, but this one was exceptional for the results, the professionalism of the contractor and workers, and the adherence to the schedule. I cannot over emphasize how happy my wife and I are about the work and results of the work of this contractor.

I have been using John Rabner for 5-6 years. He has provided many services for me including building a stackable washer/dryer area out of an unused closet, handicapped preventative solutions, landscaping, replacing wood soffit and fascia that had dry rot, setting up portable humidifier in my basement, and extensive painting. No job seems to be too big and the people he uses are well trained, reliable, and courteous. He has an honest concern about older people and helps out when they need it regarding household problems. It is very reassuring to have someone to call on when you need help with home maintenance.

It went very well. Two people came out and perform the work. It took several days. They are extremely professional, creative, responsive, and reasonably priced. I would tell a friend or family member to expect the best quality work available and very pleasant people to deal with.

The scope of work was carefully worked out in collaboration with us. We worked collaboratively on details such as materials, colors, and costs. A work schedule was also presented and approved by us. All work was done to our satisfaction and accordance to schedule. The clean-up after work was completed was excellent. We strongly recommend them for painting skills, timeliness, and honesty of approach.

It went very well. They did an excellent job. The owner was very responsive and provided detailed updates about the work. Kept contact on a regular basis, great communication!

It was okay. He really wanted to upsell me and I wasn't interested. As soon as he gets in here the very first thing he wants to do is sell me something and I only have one room I wanted to do.

It's very good and they did a good job. I like it because they were clean.

We've used John Rabner's 1st Choice for many jobs, large (kitchen, remodeling, bath remodeling along with a lot of other renovating) and small (replace a sliding glass door), and he's always done fabulous work on time, on budget. A few weeks ago he and his guys finished a complete bath remodel, a lot of painting and electrical work, and replacement of 40+ year old interior doors & frames. They did a fantastic job. Then on Thursday the faucet on the tub broke. He came over right away at dinner time, added shut off valves to the faucet, and put the faucet back together. Charge for parts & labor? Nada. Absolutely nothing. That's the kind service & support you get from John Rabner & 1st Choice. I cannot recommend them highly enough. Here's the way we've done business, and I recommend you do the same. Several years ago, I interviewed three contractors I found on the List, explained that I liked to settle on someone good, maintain a relationship, & use them on all my jobs. I've done that with my plumber (Coleman), my electrician (Arnie Hoffman), mechanic (Satellite), car dealer (Carmax Toyota), and landscaper (Kalyx Green), and the contractor, since retired, before I hired 1st Choice. I said I understood contracts, but what I wanted was a gentleman's agreement that we'd do right by each other: I'd pay for what he did, he'd make sure it was right. Here's the result of that approach: I've gotten fabulous work done on time, there's been no problem at my end paying for change orders (inevitable in renovating old houses) and getting things fixed when as will happen, something goes wrong, he's made a living, and we have remodeling my wife loves: new kitchen, gas fireplace & bookshelves in the living room, renovated baths, painting inside and out--virtually a new house. You cannot go wrong with John Rabner's 1st Choice.

I was pleased that Angie's List stood behind their "deal" and when I explained the situation they refunded my "deal" money.

See above. 1st Choice did a fantastic job. When we redo the baths, we'll bring them in again. In fact, already have a ballpark bid from them.

John is a consummate professional. Always on time. Courteous. Explains the work to be done and the cost. He is a perfectionist and a master craftsman. In addition, he comes up with creative solutions to problems that result in a finished product that is beyond my expectations. I also find him a pleasant person to deal with. I recommend him highly.

Excellent. Quick, efficient, professional. Worked around our boxes and furniture at move in. Many compliments on the paint job from visitors.

They did an excellent job, working with me on designing the mantel from pictures in a brochure and designing new cases in a tricky corner. They did this work in a timely manner, were quite responsive to all my concerns, and came in on budget--no easy task, given how much of the work was designed seat of the pants. They showed up on time, worked hard all day, cleaned up at the end of the day so that we could use the room, and finished on time. We plan to use them again in the spring to remodel our kitchen, which is now 27 years old. I cannot recommend them highly enough. As for basement remodeling, given my experience with them on various projects--interior painting, exterior painting, handy man stuff, replacing storm & sliding doors, replacing interior bi-fold doors--they'll do an excellent job. I'd hire them in a heartbeat.

The job went very well. As always, have a good understanding of what the contractor has estimated to do, and what not. Always expect that extra work will be required when working on exteriors. Water runs and rots where you cannot see until the painter puts his hand throught a soffit that is rotten! We started with 1st Choice from a special through Angie's list. It was for a special low cost for 8 hours of work, or something to that effect. This was not a scam, but by the time you have done $8,000.00 worth of work, you have no idea whether you got the deal or not. I believe st Choice did give us a discount based on our initial purchase.

We have previously used 1st Choice, John Rabner, for interior painting - which was an excellent experience, so we contacted 1st Choice when we needed some exterior work. John met with us and after reviewing the list of exterior work to be done, we walked the exterior of the house to review each area. John gave us a verbal estimate for labor which we thought was reasonable. This estimate excluded materials, as this was a handyman type project and would be accomplished on a time and material basis. The work was scheduled in just one week after receiving the estimate. 1st Choice arrived on time, worked hard, and completed all the work in two days. We received a detailed invoice for the work accomplished. The 1st Choice crew was professional, friendly, efficient and left the area spotless. We highly recommend 1st Choice.

John is great. He is meticulous very considerate, and makes sure that he understands what you want before he begins work. If there is a problem while he is working, he will stop, and make sure he discusses and resolves the issue before proceeding. He did an excellent job on our house. He completed the work in days. He and his crew were professional and friendly. He did the work he said he did, and did a good job - no cutting of short cuts. We have just met with John again recently (June 2012). He has completed an energy audit of our house, and we will be working with him to make improvements where needed to the house.

They were very professional and they did a decent job.

The painters arrived on time. I chose the color and 1st Choice provided the paint. They did an excellent job.

I bought a coupon deal, and had several projects in mind so when John came out we decided the bedroom / bathroom project was most likely to be the one day job the coupon allowed for. The crew was very timely and their work was really excellent. They patched the ceiling in the bathroom, painted the bathroom and adjoining bedroom in one day. The quality of the work was really good, and the painters did a nice job cleaning up when they were done.

This has been the most frustrating and unprofessional experience with a contractor in at least several decades. I had originally purchased a discounted contract to be applied toward painting from Angies List. When the owner of the companyt arrived, he examined the house and the work to be done and cited a fairly high price for the work. He assured me that the work would be top quality, hence the higher price. When the time came to do the work (repair woodwork generally around exterior and doors windows, followed by painting) I had to make repeated calls to bring his attention to what I considered to be work of far less than top quality. I pointed out things ranging from the fact the trim had not been painted behing downspouts at the corners of the house, and that repairs and putty had not been well sanded prior to painting so that joints and nailholes stood out and were clearly visible, etc. After several return visits to repair most such reitems, he abbruptly told me that the curved molding that he had ordered had never arrived, and that he would not come back to replace and paint this curved window molding. He announced that since I had paid all but the final $ 500 of the bill, we would be even. He did cash in the Angie's list coupon for nearly $ 500 and said that the estimate was for over and above the coupon. I would rate the work (after returning to attend to items I pointed out) as being of C+ quality. The costs, I considered to be far higher than they should have been, especially since the most complicated and expensive item (according to the initial estimate) was never completed. I would never allow 1st Choice Painting and Home Improvements to set foot on my property again.

I bought one of the Angie's List coupons for 2 painters for 8 hours. The owner of the company contacted me very quickly after the purchase. It took a little time going back and forth on the phone and over email (with some photos) until he came over to the house to actually look at the proposed project. The final scope of the project that I decided on took the cost well beyond the price of the coupon. However, he worked with me to get the most work done within my budget. This included making sure I didn't purchase too much paint, what I could get done with one coat, etc. He was also very helpful with the colors. He advised to cut the wall color to 25% for use on the ceiling and trim and it looked great. The painting crew was very professional. They moved the furniture, covered everything, and put it all back when they were finished. They were on time to start work, worked quickly and continuously, and were very friendly and courteous. The painting work was high quality. They were also very neat. The carpet was cleaner when they were done than when they started. It really looked like the carpets had been cleaned. They cleaned everything near where they were painting -- window sills, folding closet doors. The estimated time to complete the project was three days, but the owner brought in an additional painter and the work was completed in two days. Overall, this was an excellent contractor experience.

They came out on time, were punctual and professional. We decided not to use the service at the time because it turned out to be more expensive than we were willing to pay for at the moment.