Benchmark Painting & Carpentry of Kensington, LLC

I sent an email to Benchmark about getting an estimate for painting the exterior of my 1911 Sears Kit House and received a phone call back with 1/2 hour. Appointment was made with Terry. She and Andres arrived on time. We discussed painting the exterior, pressure washing and staining the deck, rebuilding the bulkhead doors, and putting up picture molding in two rooms. Terry estimated carpentry, Andres the painting, after discussing details of work and materials. Caveats were made about the expected surface profile after painting, as there were many areas where paint layers had chipped or cracked over the years. I received an estimate in email the next day. Work was scheduled promptly. Crews arrived on time with Terry who introduced me to carpenters and painters and we then reviewed the work plan and color plan. The bulkhead and molding carpentry was done in one day. Exterior prep (pressure washing, sanding, resetting nails, caulking) took many days and was done very thoroughly. Work was cleaned up at the end of every day. Terry was by occasionally but the work was mostly managed by Ramsis. They let me know schedule, rescheduled due to rain, questions of what to paint in which color when it was not clear or was something we forgot to discuss (like the air conditioner supports, and basement door inside the bulkhead). Though not a radical color change, the primer was tinted to the new colors. Painting and deck staining was done meticulously: main color, trim, Accent 1 for doors, porch floor and stairs, Accent 2 for Porch ceiling. Door and porch work was scheduled so that we could leave doors open to dry, and the deck was finished before the porch was painted so we had no problems getting in and out of the house. Appropriate paint was chosen for the porch and stairs, different from that used on the doors, though they were the same color. There were no visible problems where different colors met, all lines were clean. The site was cleaned up very well when all work was completed.

The team was great to work with. Punctual for obtaining estimates. Coordinated with other contractors well and did an excellent quality job. Very clean when they left every night. Very responsive to comments on changes needed as the project went along (i.e. a 3rd coat when only two initially thought were needed). I would recommend them to others.

Very well. The firm are very good communicators. The team came on time and gave me a reasoanble quote. They did the work when they said they would, and left no mess behind. There was one small confusion over what was included in the quote and what was not - this was cleared up very quickly. A very good general contracting firm.

Very well. Luis Arraya completed the job over two days (it rained the afternoon of the first day). Luis was very professional and punctual.

Showed up when they said they would, easy to communicate with, did the job with no hassles, followed-up nicely. No trouble at all!

It went very well. Andres came for an early-morning estimate, and we walked around the house noting issues. We selected our colors on the Benjamin Moore website and emailed the color table. They started the work approximately two weeks after the estimate, and the work proceeded at a good pace in spite of some days of rain. The painters and the carpenter who did the work were excellent - they were courteous, efficient, careful, and they cleaned up the area well. Our only issue had to do with being able to visualize the colors: our efforts didn't get us quite the trim colors we wanted; we had talked with Benchmark about getting painted samples beforehand but we didn't get that done before the paint was bought. That small issue aside, we're very happy with the results.

An appointment was scheduled for 12:30 p.m. to get an estimate of the work I wanted done. I received a call at Noon on the day of the appointment saying that the scheduler booked the wrong person and they would not be able to keep the appointment. The person I spoke with then went through a series of questions/comments related to whether I was getting other bids, my work schedule and how busy they were. They ultimately told me the could scheule me the next day at 12:00/1:00 p.m. I indicated I would have to adjust an appointment and would call them back. After switching my appointment and calling them back rebook the appointment, I was told they could not confirm arrival for a 12:00/1:00 p.m. appointment and would have to just see how the timing went because they would be squeezing me in between other appointments. This was such a bad experience from the start and waste of time (that I didn't have to waste) off of my job that I thought it best not use them at all. They seemed more concerned about their time rather than the major inconvenience they caused a potential customer as a result of their mistake.

Painters were very punctual, conscientious & thorough. They did a great job caulking around all the joints, and making sure paint surfaces overlapped on the first coat, and then had clean lines between siding and trim on second coat. Overall, they were not the cheapest estimate I had gotten, but they were the best deal overall. Estimates were within a few hundred dollars of each other. Benchmark was not the most expensive, but not far off the most expensive, so ultimately I went with their reputation on Angie's List. When you're spending serious money having your house painted, it doesn't make sense to cut corners on paint or painters to save a few bucks. The paint's cheap relative to the labor, but it's not worth much if it's not put on correctly. These guys are pros - I feel great about the work they did.

Andres met with me and walked my property, giving me healthy feedback on the condition of surfaces to be painted. He discussed how prep would be done and what brand/type of paint would be used. Later the same day I received a professional, thorough proposal with estimate.

Fantastic! From estimate to end, the crew was punctual, courteous, and professional. Their estimate was considerably lower than the 4 other companies I got bids from. Their work ethic was amazing....here every day (even Saturday) from before 8 AM until after 6 PM. Each night before they left, they vacuumed up all the paint chips (outside) and put all their equipment in the shed. Spent a lot of time power washing, scraping, and prepping. The house looks beautiful!

Terry, the Project Coordinator, provided us a very thorough estimate in a very timely fashion. The charges for the job were exactly as they were proposed in the estimate and there were no surprises. On the day the job was to start, Terry arrived with the Painting Team Leader (Ramsis) and introduced me to him. Terry and Ramsis reviewed the entire job and color scheme with me before starting and verified everything was correct. Ramsis was very detail oriented and got everything correct. Terry touched base with me half way through the job to make sure everything was going to our satisfaction, and it was. Ramsis and his team were very neat and cleaned up their work area at the end of each day and made sure our house was secured before leaving. The staining job on the fence and deck was very good, and they applied a protective finish on the deck to make it water resistant. The deck looked like new! They also applied primer where it was needed and repaired any wood areas that showed signs of rotting before painting. We changed the colors of our trim, so they applied 2 coats of paint which covered over the old paint very nicely. They also were careful not to get paint on unwanted areas such as the brick. The job was completed in 4 1/2 days (we were lucky to have sunny weather) and they all worked steadily to complete it in a timely fashion.

She had to track Tom down to tell him he was at the wrong place. He showed up an hour late to our appointment. Within five minutes of Tom showing up we found out that they in fact do not reface cabinets. I told him all about the conversation I had with the girl who answers the phone. As long as there was an informed, knowledgeable person to deal with on the phone I would consider them in the future.

I chose them because they offered carpentry work on their website. The carpentry part of the contract was extremely high. I had a previous estimate for the carpentry work that was less than half of what they quoted. That is why I was shocked. They were very professional when they came out. The quote came quickly but it was high.

Our experience with Benchmark Painting was outstanding! We would definitely will consider hiring them again! Their estimator was always punctual and honest in discussing the job. Benchmark's price was not the lowest received but we believed they offered us the best value for what we wanted--a double coated trim job. The crew was very professional and finished the job in a timely manner despite the delays due to the torrential rains this May. We changed the scope of the work once the job had started and found it extremely easy to get what we wanted--our decks sanded and re-stained at a price that we could not afford to pass on. Overall Benchmark did exactly what we wanted. Now we are just sitting back and enjoy their results.

I think I received a good value for money spent. Luis listened to all my requests and tried to remedy any problems. Some of the painting is not perfect but this may have been due to the age of the woodwork/ walls rather than skill of workmen. Everything was left clean at the end of each day and all hardware and shelves were replaced before the job was called complete.

Benchmark (Theresa Wilson) provided a quote quickly and Luis finished the job itself quickly. No one could do anything about all the rain we had at the end of April/first part of May. That is what held up completion of a very satisfactory job.

The work was done professionally and on time.

Everything was great. We were very happy with them and we had no complaints. They showed up on time and completed the project on time. The supervisor who quoted the project came through and reviewed the work to make sure the quality was high. We did not compare prices, but they seemed reasonable. We were happy with their work.

Everything turned out well, and the work was well done.

They did a good job, from what I can remember. I have since redone the bathrooms, but I had no real complaints about their work. He did neglect to paint one bathroom exactly how I wanted and did not fix it, but I was not unhappy overall.

Everything went very well. Their level of professionalism and care were outstanding, and it is just a first class operation.

I called Benchmark last minute to come and paint the apartment my husband and I were moving out of. They promptly came out the weekend of our move and primed and painted our place. One of our walls was red, the others were yellow, green, and orange, but Lois did a fantastic job of covering up the colors with white, as my landlord required. He was extremely professional and polite. He worked diligently, and did a fantastic job. We moved into our new house and had planned on painting everything ourselves, but now are going to hire them to do much of the work. I would definitely recommend them to everyone.

BENCHMARK IS THE BEST! I have never met a company that took pride in their work the way Benchmark does. I actually was referred to Andres Molina at Benchmark through a friend. We had a bad experience (sloppy job) with the painter our general contractor uses, so I set out to find my own. Andres met me at my house and walked through every room to get a good understanding of what I wanted and of the size of the job. He gave us an estimate (which was about 20% lower than the GC's painter) and was able to schedule the painters to start when we needed them. His team (led by Fernando) was delightful. They were talented, professional, courteous, and cleaned up after themselves every day. They did a truly remarkable job. The finished product is gorgeous! Additionally, they accommodated me by going to a special vendor to have the paint colors I'd selected matched in the zero VOC paint brand that I wanted. They were in our house for just over a month and I never felt irritated by having the crew there. I have recommended Benchmark to 2 other friends and they've had experiences similar to mine. Thanks Andres and Fernando. P.S. They had to fix some errors made by my GC and their carpentry is outstanding, too!

Our house is 17 years old and this was our 2nd painting which included outside carpentry work replacing water logged wood areas around the base of the house. The work was done over a 5 day period and involved 4 to 5 painters. The house was first completely power washed a day to dry- followed by hand sanding 1st and 2nd stories. This was followed by caulking every outside vertical seam between the wood sidings for both levels. The painting involved applying two coats of premium Benjamin Moore paint. Two interior rooms were also painted involving 16 ft walls. The crew worked throughout the day came on time and cleaned the work area each day. The carpentry work took about 3 days to remove rotted segments and replace with new cedar siding all provided by the contractor - all done very well. Overall I consider this one of the best company we have contracted to provide home based work. We hardily recommend this company and would not hesitate to use then again.

The estimator arrived 2 1/2 hours late for the scheduled estimate, and even more annoyingly, at a time when another estimator had been scheduled. The estimate was far and away the highest of the estimates we received. The combination of the incredibly late arrival of the estimator and the out-of-the ballpark estimate made us discard this company from consideration almost immediately.