Benchmark Painting & Carpentry of Kensington, LLC

We had three painters provide estimates, and Benchmark was the low bid. We were moving in, so we needed the work done quickly. Despite the holiday week, Benchmark met our time schedule. In fact, the came out the day after we contacted them. The work took less time then they budgeted, but was still a great quality job. I would use Benchmark again in a heartbeat (and we plan to in the very near future, if possible)

Very please about the amoount of work performed. The original order was for 40 hours of painting. the painters needed an extra 8 hours to finish the job (there was a lot to do!). For the extra $320, it was well worth it. They painted our living room, dining room, family room and lower hallway, and they did a good deal of prep work in addition. They were very careful with our furniture and other possessions.

Benchmark Painting and Carpentry did an outstanding job preparing, repairing, removing old wallpaper, painting two complete rooms, and a full set of plantation shutters. They arrived on-time, were polite, quiet, and worked very hard to complete the job. The work they performed was of excellent quality. Both rooms look beautiful. In addition, they left both rooms very clean. Also, they went out of their way to ensure that all my questions were answered. The painters' attention to detail was wonderful. I would definitely hire Benchmark again.

They ordered another spoke and stained it to match our 20 year old banister. They also reinforced the base so it no longer would wobble. They did a great job.

I purchased one Angie's List Big Deal for a painter for a week. I had a list of things that I needed to have done including 2 interior rooms that needed to be painted and the exterior trim on the house. When I called to schedule I was informed that for the Big Deal they normally sent 2 painters for 2 1/2 days and that I needed to plan my projects with this schedule in mind which was fine. I think it went well overall as far as what was done. The work they did was good, and I was pleased with the results of what was done. I think they did a fine job but did not go "above and beyond". In general I was not super impressed with the experience getting it done through the Big Deal mechanism and I think that's the primary issue. I paid for 40 hours and with the cost of that expected to get 40 actual hours of work. I had a list and was told at the outset by them what they would attempt to do of that. When they finished those tasks and had time left over (and other tasks that could be done) they did not offer to do any of them but instead spent an extremely long time cleaning up and then left early. By my estimate (not including the extended time they spent washing their brushes and packing up equipment) they left about 4 manhours of work on the table which isn't a big deal but left me with the nagging feeling that I wasn't getting what I paid for. By my estimates there was time to at least start the final task even budgeting for them to do all their cleanup within the time allotted. I think it is difficult to pay for painting on an hourly type basis - the expectation isn't that the task is complete but did you get all the time you paid for. When presented with their timesheet they had already packed their truck and I didn't feel like I could do anything other than sign. I would consider using them again, but would get an estimate for the tasks I needed done go about it that way.

What they have done so far has been top notch. They are diligent, precise and work rapidly with great results. They are coming back in the spring to finish the deal.

EXCELLENT PAINTING, WALLPAPERING & CARPENTRY SERVICE; EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE; FAIR PRICE

I purchased a big deal offer ($999 for 40 hours of painting). It was a good price, and I saved money, but I do feel the quality and experience matched a low cost. I first contacted the companywhen I was considering purchasing the deal, but wasn't sure how much it would cover of what I needed. I asked them to come out and give an estimate to see if I may need additional house beyond what the deal covered, and how much it might cost. There was a lot of confusion over what I was looking for, and the estimator and I went back and forth several times over email, and I never ended up getting a final estimate. However, he told me that he believed the hours should cover what I needed. So I purchased the deal. The first day of the job, the foreman told me that I may need another entire day of service, at the cost of about $600. I was very concerned about this and contacted their office. I had saved all the emails from the estimator and forwarded it to them, to show them that the estimator thought the offer would cover most of it. I think due to my concern, the workers ended up working very fast. Some of the details were sloppy (e.g. around the edges). They also did only one coat. I also do not believe I got a full 40 hours worth of work, as I saw the workers using their phones during breaks, at the end of the day, etc. Also, they finished up a few hours early on the last day. Overall, I got what I needed done. The quality matched the low cost. if I had paid the full amount, I would not have been happy, but since it was at a discount, I believe I got what I paid for.

The person in the office, Jacques, was very responsive to our needs and scheduled us a few weeks early because we had interior work and it was raining. The work was very good. They did a good job cleaning up. They noticed that we had the wrong paint for the type of room they were painting so they recommended we get another. Turned out the paint company mixed the wrong type. There was a miscommunication with the day after during Hurricane Sandy so when the office said they'd be there, they didn't show up. They apologized for the mistake and the workers were there the next day. The price was very good because I bought an angies list Big Deal.

Andres came to do the estimate and was wonderful to work with. He assured me that nail pops and other blemishes would be included in the cost as well as adding an access panel for one bathroom and fixing the panel for another. I had the estimate in less than 48 hours but I took the time to get competing estimates from two other companies. Benchmark's was slightly lower than one and way lower than the other. The price combined with the great rating here convinced me to try Benchmark. It took me over a month to call them back to start and I was worried they wouldn't honor the original estimate or would tell me they were booked up for months...but I need not have worried about a thing! From start to finish, the Benchmark crews were professional, courteous, pleasant to have around (they were in my house for two weeks!), and always always on time. They took the time to do everything right and redid a couple of minor things that needed touching up with no hesitation or argument. (My husband marked up a freshly painted wall while trying to move a picture and they fixed it in a flash the next day.) A couple of rooms ended up needing three coats so we did have to add a little bit of time and cost to the initial estimate--but that was really MY fault because I changed paint colors between the time that Andres came and his crews arrived. Because Superstorm Sandy hit right as we were supposed to start, we actually missed a couple of days but Benchmark showed up with double crews the next day and worked one Saturday so we stayed right on schedule. I can't say enough nice things about the level of finish and attention to detail. They did an EXCELLENT job. My house looks beautiful. I have worked with other painters in the past and Benchmark is by far the best I've encountered. And they were sooo nice! After coming in and out of my very sticky front door (which you had to slam to close), Fernando very gently suggested that they could fix that for me. Now it opens and closes with a whisper. Thank you!

After initial negotiations to put me on their calendar for this year, everthyting went well. The estimator showed up on time, the estimate was reasonable, the crew showed up on schedule and acoomodated me on a few things that were not included in the contract with a fair negotiation of additinal charges, the work was done professionally and quickly, and the cleanup was pretty good. Overall it was a very good experience and I would recommend Benchmark Painting to others.

They came on time, and worked hard. They were neat and professional . I was disappointed that they did not paint my cupola, as promised, because they said they did not bring the correct size ladder. They were here two and a half days and knew what size ladder they needed from the beginning. They had even promised to provide a small amout of white paint (theirs) to trim the cupola. The cupola never got touched.

They worked quickly and the quality of the work was good, but it was difficult to get an estimate so we could budget appropriately.

Scheduling was the biggest problem. The person taking our service order noted it was an outside paint job, when it was an inside job, which delayed by 2 days (weather) of the scheduled appointment necessitating our rejuggling of schedules. Once here, the painters were excellent. I suggest when Benchmark enters into another Big Deal in the future that they better prepare to take the services calls.

Larry of Benchmark arrived on time for the estimate. After getting several estimates from Angie's listed painters and several emails back and fourth with Larry we went with Benchmark. The job ended up taking just over 2..5 days. The crew, led by Grodbin, arrived on time, every time. They were simply fantastic. The quality of the work was THE BEST that we've ever had from any painters - and we've had a lot of them. The attention to detail and the quality of the work were simply amazing. My wife and I are very attentive to detail with respect to contractors and are not easy to please. The quality of the work, work ethic, professionalism and customer service of the crew were, by far, the best that we've ever seen from any painters. The answer to all or our requests was always "no problem." We asked a lot of questions. They were always happily answered. The weather forecast changed often and quickly during the time of the job. I was very impressed by Larry's flexibility. I made it clear that I wanted to only paint when no rain was called for within 24 hours. Instead of push-back because he had a schedule to keep (which I'm sure that he did) each and every time he re-scheduled to the nice weather days without any complaint at all. We REALLY appreciated that. At the conclusion of each day's work the guys cleaned up well. At the conclusion of the job the clean up was very through. The walk through and touch up of small details was as well. The only issue that left me a bit miffed was the price. It was explained that the goal was to quote a job at $40 man-hour. This was not the lowest rate but it seemed reasonable and Larry struck me as someone who would deliver a good job. At the conclusion of the job I calculated the rate which I actually paid per man hour. It was $53 not including materials. The materials - even at retail - should have been less than $400 with the contractor price being substantially less. Even at $50/man hour I ended up paying a fuil 20% more than the targeted rate. On the whole, looking at what was involved in the work and the time that it took I did feel that I overpaid a bit. I think that even at $45/hour I would have felt fine, but the $53/hour was high, esp. given the $40/hour target. Larry explained that the $40/hr was an average price and that some crews are faster than others, etc. I understand that to a point. Even so, $53/hour was high no matter how you slice it. In summary, I would highly - very highly in fact - recommend Benchmark in terms for quality. Even being as detail oriented as my wife and I are we were simply blown away by the quality of the job and the quality of the crew. Grodbin and his crew were incredible. If all of Benchmark's crews are as good you won't be disappointed by the quality no matter how demanding that you are. In fact, I think that no matter how high your expectations are in terms of quality and service I think that they will be exceeded. The price was high - higher than I expected on an hourly basis which, as I said, was the only thing that didn't totally sit right with me. That said, given the quality and service I'd higher them again but likely on an hourly basis. If you want the job done right with no problems I am certain that you'll love Benchmark. They do a FANTASTIC job!

I have used Benchmark two or three times in the past. Although they are more expensive than other painting companies that I've consulted with, we hired them because of the quality of their work. In this most recent job, however, the quality most certainly did not match up with the price. The painters were sloppy which was surprising. They did not "cut" neatly where the walls met the ceiling, they spilled paint on my (brand new silk!) curtains but did not tell me, they even were sloppy when they painted the light switch covers. The bedroom walls that they were hired to re-paint were a medium shade of blue. Despite that color, they didn't use a primer but merely painted the new color, which was a bright orange/yellow, over the blue. Afterward, the project manager informed me that the blue is too intense of a color to paint over with much success. Even he agreed that the blue hue was evident through the yellow/orange paint when they finished. Because the new color was awful (my fault), I decided to re-paint the walls myself. I went to Sherman -Williams and purchased their gray primer and successfully re-painted the walls white using just two coats because of the type of primer that I used. I was shocked that such a reputable company not only did not use a proper primer before painting the walls but, also, they did not inform me of this prior to doing the work and, thus, the lack of success that that they would have painting over the blue. Although they call the company "painting and carpentry", and although every painting company we have used in the past for exterior painting has included removing the rotten wood before painting an area, these guys just painted over the rotten wood! When I brought that to the attention of the gentleman who was assigned to oversee our job (which, in this case, he merely gave us an estimate and sent a crew over, never inspecting their work), he informed me that replacing the rotten wood would be an additional $1,800!

There was one issue. The price was average. We would use them again.

Initial experience was less than desirable. The crew was very quick in removing wallpaper and then putting on 2 coats of paint. I called Andres (owner) to explain the situation and he told me that it was his fault the work was done so fast but would send another team to remedy the situation. The second crew arrived the following week and did an amazing job. They went over and beyond to remedy the situation and I couldn't be happier. The basement looks great and I'm very happy that I decided to go with Benchmark. They stand by their work and make sure the customer is completely (100%) satisfied.

Overall, the experience was exactly as expected. Benchmark responded quickly, gave me an accurate fair quote, scheduled and completed the work very quickly and did another amazing job. I couldn't be happier. With Benchmark, I know I have found a carpenter and painter for life.

We just bought a new house and needed to paint one complete room (including the ceiling), a bathroom, a single accent wall, install an interior door, and our deck. I contacted several other companies to get estimates and while other places were slightly cheaper, I found Benchmark to be very professional in their estimation process. It was very easy to get a hold of them, to add or delete services, and they answered questions completely and in a timely manner. All these factors contributed to us going with Benchmark. Once we decided on them, they were able to start within a week of us putting deposit. On the first day, they arrived on time and with the full crew. We went through the entire job and double checked all the details (colors, which way the door should swing, etc). For the deck color, they even said they would put down a sample color to make sure we liked it before they painted the entire. This turned out to be crucial, as we hated the original color and ended up picking a new color. I checked in a few times during the painting and they were very clean and professional. They had taped everything, removed switch and outlet covers, and put tarps down everywhere. All in all, they did an excellent job. The painting was (inside and deck) was excellent and the new door is great; it works perfectly! I would highly recommend them.

Although Benchmark gave us the highest estimate of the three companies we had come by, we chose them because they showed up 10 min early for both the estimate appointment as well as the painting day. We are expecting and wanted to get the future babies room ready and it desperately needed drywall fixing (large cracks in the corners), the trim and ceiling painted and the walls painted. The original estimate called for 1.5 to 2 days of work with a cost of $990 for Trim, ceiling, Wall repair, painting of room with one color, and painting of the closet and of the doors in room (closet doors included). The appraisal went very well and Larry arrived early and was very informative and answered all of my questions. By noon of that day, he had emailed me an estimate. They sent us a reminder email earlier in the week before the painting day, with the time of arrival and the name of the team lead. On the day of the painting, Grodbin and his team arrived on time and were very professional. They prepped the room, picked up the paint and finished that same day (they arrived at 8am and were cleaned up and out by 4:00). They did an excellent job. It was a great experience, and well worth the extra money. We will definitely be using the Benchmark team in the future. Thanks!

Terry came by to give me an estimate on the work. She is very professional, conscientious, personable, and easy to work with. The estimate was competitive. Benchmark did a great job and I would definitely hire them again.

It was an outstanding encounter, and that doesn't happen all the time.

Bummer! After all these great reviews, I was looking forward to getting their quote and hopefully using them, but the office manager (Terry?) says they just rewrote their policies and no longer work in Arlington, McLean or Falls Church. Oh well ... still looking.

They were prefect. They did a great job. They are properly licensed and insured. I specifically requested two and they came out every time. they were wonderful. There are no problems with the work they have done.