Definition Painting Services, Inc.

Called Joel to set up meeting... Was very nice, accommodating of my schedule and on time. This seems to be a rarity in dc with traffic. We've had to wait up to two hours for a contractor to show up. We walked each room as he made notes and suggestions. Meeting was quick and to the point. Scheduled day for his crew to show up, they were on time, setup quickly and made sure all our furniture and carpets were protected. Performed the job as promised... Rooms look great, mildew problem has not come back (as it had with a previous contractor) and you wouldn't know we had ever had water damage, the wall around the window looks perfect.

They did a very good job and they were very meticulous and patient. They didn't just rush to put the second coat on, but rather they waited until it dried. The final product had very clean lines and it was well done. They're very good painters.

They did a great job. They were very respectful and responsive, they gave me good types on how to choose a paint, and they gave me their discount. They are a small, family company so it was very personal.

I plan to call them again to paint the remainder of the house. The owner, Joel Alvarado, came to our house to provide an estimate. We got in-home estimates from three companies. Definition's cost was the middle of the three (nearly $600 more than the lowest bid and $500 less than the highest bid). My husband and I liked Joel the best, so we went with Definition. The original estimate was for the entire house, but we decided to ratchet down the project to just the dining room and hallway because we needed the house to be ready for guests sooner than originally anticipated AND we didn't want to pay for the entire house all at once. I communicated with Joel via email -- which I deeply appreciated. He responded promptly and provided a new quote for the work. His crew of 4 guys started Dec. 7, about a week after we accepted his bid. They arrived 2 hours late -- they got lost. When they arrived, they got right to work and moved quickly. They finished the job the following day by early afternoon. It looks fantastic! They had to do a third coat of paint in the dining room (we selected a deep purple color), which cost $150 extra. They followed the instructions we had for the two paint colors we wanted to use in the hallway and executed perfectly. We are very pleased. One thing I learned -- cover everything with plastic or dropcloth! They had to fix the plaster, which requires chiseling and sanding. There was white dust on EVERYTHING that wasn't covered. They cleaned up well after themselves, so I'm not complaining, but that dust was everywhere.

Definition Painting was here for the last two days, basically painting the entire downstairs of my home except for a bit of the kitchen. They were prompt and friendly and did a FANTASTIC job!!!! I have a bit of a wonky house and really the difference is amazing, Wow! what a difference a nice fresh paint job can make! (the only issue now... a few of my color choices but that's neither here nor there....) I had bought one of the 'Big Deals' to have a specific amount of painting done and Joel came out for the estimate. He was prompt, enthusiastic and very professional. I asked to have more work done than what had been paid for already and found the additional price very fair, especially when I saw the quality of the work! I also had a bit of a freak out choosing colors and at almost the last moment needed to reschedule, Joel was great about it and scheduled me in for about two weeks later! To say the least, I would happily hire them again or recommend them to anyone!

This was a large job, and this contractor's quoted price was lowest of three that I received, by a good margin. Overall, the work performed was a good value considering the low price, but some tasks were done better than others, and there were several instances where professionalism was poor. The owner did a good job of looking at the house initially to provide a price estimate, but he apparently oversees several crews of workers, and he seemed to have very little involvement once the job was underway, which was disappointing because the workers needed more oversight. Some additional tasks were added after the job was started, and pricing for this was fair. In general, I'd recommend this contractor as a good value for painting and deck work, but would not recommend for other remodeling jobs such as floor replacement or ceramic tile work. The paint job performed (paint entire interior of townhouse) turned out well overall. Repairs to drywall were done reasonably well. Different colors were applied to walls and trim with straight lines and minimal overlap. But, even though floors were covered, I found several areas on carpet where paint drops fell, and were not cleaned up well. Several mounting brackets for window blinds were removed to make painting easier, but they were not re-installed. I had removed light fixtures from some rooms to be replaced after painting was done, and workers apparently had no worklights available to use while working in these unlit rooms. Workers rinsed out brushes and rollers using my garden hose in yard, leaving paint residue on grass. Deck repair and pressure wash was done very well overall. Several boards were replaced, and new boards were cut accurately. Ceramic tile work was generally poor quality. Spacing of tiles, caulk and grout replacement work was sloppy. Cleanup in this area was poor.

On the positive side, the work was mostly good, clean and was very cheap as an Angie's List Big Deal. But there were several negatives as follows: - More than 2 hours late with no phone call or even an apology or explanation - They did not have basic tools such as screw drivers, ladder, etc. - Despite clear notes (written and repeated verbally) about what holes/anchors to plaster and which to leave, they plastered over all holes. If the price would be as good and given how clean the actual painting was, I would still consider using them, but would watch them like a hawk.

What a wonderful experience! The paint is beautiful, the crew very professional and friendly, wonderful cleanup! Would hire again in a New York minute!

I called the company up to paint three rooms because they were offering to paint 3 rooms (up to 500 squ ft) for $450 as part of Angies Lists Big Deal. Joel, the owner, came to the house and gave me an estimate. He said that his company would paint the three rooms for $450 not including the base board. That was going to be an extra $80 which I thought was pretty expensive. However he let me buy the paint using his discount at the local store which was nice and saved me $60. He called up the night before he was scheduled to come to the house to paint to reschedule. He came to the house a few days later and finished the job in a day. Overall, it was a job well-done.

I contacted Joel to provide me with an estimate for painting the interior of my condo. His company was providing a Big Deal for 2 painters for 8 hours for $450 which seemed very attractive to me. He scheduled the estimate for 3:00pm on a Thursday afternoon 08/18/2011 but he failed to show up. I called him on his cell phone at 3:15pm and he picked up and I identified myself and then the line was disconnected. I left him a voicemail immediately inquiring where he was and asked him to call me back. He has not returned my call. His Big Deal has also been removed from Angie's List. I have two small kids and woke them up early from their naps to ensure he would be able to see their rooms for the estimate and then he did not call or show up at all.

Definition Painting Services did a fantastic job removing wallpaper from my kitchen, patching (extremely well) large & small areas, and of course, Painting 4 rooms and hallway. Joel Alvarado was very easy to work with, extremely thorough and very responsive to my questions. The painters who performed the job were couteous, very fast and kept my home neat as they moved furniture away from and back to the walls. Overall, I was very impressed with this company and I would use them again.

We were prompted to use their services because of the Special Deal and their Angie's List ratings. We were not disappointed. Joel was professional, knowledgeable and so easy to deal with. We wanted to have our living room painted as well as the tall foyer and the wall going up to the second floor. They did an excellent job. They covered all the furniture we could't remove, cleaned up afterwards (no dust, no drips) and we couldn't be happier with their work. They even finished about two hours sooner than quoted. If we could afford it right now, we would have the rest of the house painted by this company. I can not say enough good things about our experience.

Overall excellent experience. This was an Angie's List Big Deal, so the response was a bit slow. But the work was outstanding, workers were professional, and my house was left clean.

They were very, very pleasant people. The owner, Joel, was great. The workman who came out were very polite and friendly. They really cleaned up after themselves well. The work they did was very precise and looks beautiful. They were very, very professional. The price seemed very reasonable for all that they did.

The job went extremely well......from estimate to completed work. Joel arrived as promised to complete the estimate....and then his painter arrived as promised to complete the work.

Everything seemed to start off well. We contacted Joel and he came out to give us an estimate. We were looking to have the job done rather quickly and he felt that he would be able to get us on his schedule later that week. As it turned out, there was a significant amount of rain and Joel called late one evening and asked if he could move the job up two days because his other work was outside and our job was inside. Joel is very professional, but unfortunately he was not present for any of the work. We just bought the house and had removed all the wallpaper from every room and purchased the oil based primer and paint. There was numerous holes and nail pops that needed to be patched. The first day was spent applying the mud to all the areas on the walls and ceiling areas. The two workers were very conscientious and did a very nice job. They cleaned up everything and it was just a very pleasant experience. Things did not go good after that. At the end of the second day, the workers left behind their subway trash on the floor of my living room (currently just concrete while we are waiting for the flooring), but we are living in the house and we had a huge dumpster in our driveway. In addition to the trash, they left one of their rags on my front porch. Even though the original contract stated that it would be three days, they were trying to wrap it up in two days and were hoping to be done on the second day; however, the first coat was not dry enough to apply the second coat. On this evening, after we found the food wrappers left behind, I called Joel, but he never returned my call. Day three (I later found out from Joel that the painters needed to be at another job by 1:00 pm) left my home in utter mess. This was on a Friday and when I came home from work I found that my brand new carpeting in the bedrooms had paint and spackle in various areas. All the cords plugged into the walls (televisions, etc)., were coated with paint and spackle. The dust was everywhere, which I would expect, but the amount of residue left on my window sills, fireplace and furniture items was just ridiculous. On Saturday morning, after trying to clean up some of the mess, we found more food wrappers stuffed into a corner behind a containor. Since it had now been over 24 hours since I called about the original issues and I had not heard back from Joel, I stopped payment on my check and sent him an email telling him so. Amazingly, I received a telephone call within one hour and he said that he would come by and that he was so sorry and that he would make it right. Joel did come by around noon time and we walked through the house and he kept saying that he was not making excuses, but that he did fit me into his very busy schedule at the last minute and that he was very busy and sorry that he could not be on the job. He was unable to clean anything that day because he did not have his work truck, but stated that he would be by on Monday at noon to take care of everything. It was 4:30 pm on Monday when we were leaving the house, had not heard from Joel and he had not shown up and he pulls into my driveway (again stating that he was so busy)... The person that he brought with him was responsible for cleaning all the window sills while Joel worked on one area that had not been patched and sanded appropriately. So here I am now two weeks later and I am still finding lighting fixtures, carpet and furniture in my home where there is spackle globs and paint damage to my new carpet. All I can say is that if you hire this company, make sure to go over your home with a fine tooth comb afterwards, move things and make sure that everything is as it should be, otherwise you will be dealing with this for a long time. If things could not get worse, who would think that you should look underneath your bed after they have finished painting your walls. I guess I should have looked sooner, but tonight, now 12 days later my very expensive Ethan Allen poster bed has been compromised because the legs on which the bed stands had apparently been dragged across my carpet and not carried, thus instead of them being perpendicular, they were leaning, the planks bowed and the special anchors pulled from their posts. It is so late at night now and I need to get up for work by 5:00 am, so I will have to deal with this tomorrow.

They did all of the work in three days! Their price was very fair, and the quality of the work was excellent. They put a lot of attention on prep work, which makes a huge difference in painting. I plan to use them again.

I bought the Angie?s List coupon so I got $700 worth of painting for $399. They charge extra for trim but I had them do that too. They did a great job.

This company does flawless work. They repaired every crack, nail pop and scrape. The two guys who came to do the job worked so hard and we are thrilled with the results. They were very careful to put plastic up so that dust would not go through the house. We can't wait to have them come back and paint the rest of the house.

Painters did a very good job. They made sure that all furniture, etc. was covered with drop cloths and repaired cracks in walls before starting to paint. They worked efficiently and carefully cleaned up when finished. The painted walls look gorgeous and I am very happy with the completed job.

They arrived each day exactly when they said they would, cleaned up after themselves as well as they could (some sanding of the walls was required, so there was a lot of dust and they could not get it all), did a good job and were very pleasant. They also do "handyman" work and I am going to have them come back and do a few more things. I will also have them back to do more painting.

The owner, Joel, was very professional and responded to all my phone calls and emails very quickly and professionally. He was knowledgeable about what was needed on my older colonial home walls and adjusted the work accordingly. They were very efficient and overall did a really good job. They were a little sloppy in protecting the tile, sink, etc. from drops and I was left with several spots in both bathrooms but nothing too significant. They missed doing the trim in one bathroom, but came and fixed it on another day without any additional fee as it was in the original agreement. I would definitely hire them again and I am a picky customer!

Excellent. I don't know if the price was fair or not because I didn't get another estimate with which to compare. But I was very impressed by the professionalism of the company. My calls were either answered immediately or returned very promptly. They turned up exactly when promised, finished on time and I found no flaws in their work. They even touched up several areas I had not asked them to do - at no extra cost. I intend to use their services again.

Had a painting coupon from Angie's List which did not cover all the expenses, which was not clear from the coupon for the Big Deal. Otherwise, Definition Painting and Joel Alvarado were great. They came on time, did great work and I was very pleased with the finished product. I would recommend them to anyone looking for interior painting.

Joel's first estimate was approximately 35% - 40% more than at least 3 proposals I received, so told him I was going elsewhere. He reduced his price to be more in line, but it was still 15% higher than a couple of others I received.