Somerset Painting & Professional Improvements

I would definitely recommend Somerset Painting and Professional Improvements to anyone.

He called the day of our appointment and asked if he could come earlier, which was perfect for me. Very professional, personable, and a pleasure to deal with. He asked our time frame and advised that, if we could wait, in the colder weather the prices went down a bit. We are in no hurry, so it was perfect for us (gives me more time to pick out colors). There was no pressure to use their services, and he provided a ballpark quote before leaving. He later followed up with a written quote by e-mail. We are going to be using their services later this year (Oct/Nov) to paint our entire first floor and some of our second floor. So, I'll keep you updated on progress and the quality of the work.

Rick's crew painted the outside of our home last May (2013). The front and bottom half are brickface, the rest is old aluminum siding - original to the house. The south side of the house takes a beating from the sun. Several weeks ago I began to notice a handful of spots where the paint was bubbling or peeling. I finally got around to contacting Rick today. He said there are spots on the old siding that just cannot be cleaned all the way down to the metal and that this was going to happen. Still, he came right over, grabbed our touch up paint and a ladder and fixed it on the spot. Can't say that about too many contractors these days. Rick has my painting and masonry business!!! ( As an aside, his mason is excellent!)

They didn't give me a quote until I called them several times. They were very unresponsive. They eventually said that my email was not operational and perhaps I had plenty of junk mail. Their price was reasonable.

Executive summary: You can TRUST that Eric will make sure you are ecstatic with the final project results. Isn?t that what really matters? Eric is candid, conscientious, and values his customers. In today?s world, it is rare to find a service provider of this caliber. Thank you for everything, Eric!

Rick at Somerset did an excellent job coordinating all of the different jobs excellent work would certainly use their services again

Somerset responded very timely to my initial call for an estimate. Eric was very professional and transparent about the extra charges for drywall repair. Although Somerset was $3,000.00 more than the other bid I received, the quality of work was worth the price. Our walls were in rough shape after removing wallpaper and Somerset ended up having to skim the entire dining room. One bedroom was also in horrible shape after wallpaper removal and I was worried that the room would need new drywall. However, with a lot of elbow grease and talent, the room looks brand new. Our master bedroom also looks amazing. During the work Somerset broke one of our stone steps on the front porch. I was a little frustrated that they did not tell me about it and I had to bring to their attention, but once I did the issue was resolved and their mason came out and replaced the step (this guy was awesome by the way). I will be using Somerset for any masonry work I need in the future. Our steps are 16 years old and you can't even tell which one he replaced. I have also hired Somerset to paint the exterior of another home and stain the deck. I will continue to use Somerset for future work and would recommend them to anyone. You get what you pay for and I have no reservations on spending the extra money for the results that were delivered. The only other opportunity we encountered was cleanliness. When we came home after the work was finished the amount of dust left behind was excessive in one room. I know that skimming and sanding is very messy and expected to do some dusting but this was disappointing. When I did contact Neil about the issue he did offer to personally come to my house that night and clean it. My wife had already taken care of so Neil did not need to come.

Somerset responded very timely to my initial call for an estimate. Eric was very professional and transparent about the extra charges for drywall repair. Although Somerset was $3,000.00 more than the other bid I received, the quality of work was worth the price. Our walls were in rough shape after removing wallpaper and Somerset ended up having to skim the entire dining room. One bedroom was also in horrible shape after wallpaper removal and I was worried that the room would need new drywall. However, with a lot of elbow grease and talent, the room looks brand new. Our master bedroom also looks amazing. During the work Somerset broke one of our stone steps on the front porch. I was a little frustrated that they did not tell me about it and I had to bring to their attention, but once I did the issue was resolved and their mason came out and replaced the step (this guy was awesome by the way). I will be using Somerset for any masonry work I need in the future. Our steps are 16 years old and you can't even tell which one he replaced. I have also hired Somerset to paint the exterior of another home and stain the deck. I will continue to use Somerset for future work and would recommend them to anyone. You get what you pay for and I have no reservations on spending the extra money for the results that were delivered. The only other opportunity we encountered was cleanliness. When we came home after the work was finished the amount of dust left behind was excessive in one room. I know that skimming and sanding is very messy and expected to do some dusting but this was disappointing. When I did contact Neil about the issue he did offer to personally come to my house that night and clean it. My wife had already taken care of so Neil did not need to come.

Somerset Painting and Professional Home Improvements has been to my home several times over the years for painting contracts. I have been very pleased with their work on each and every project. I highly recommend them as the staff is professional, well mannered and attentive to concerns. Special thanks to Scott and Eric. I also wanted to take a moment and speak about the owner of the company Rick Hartsell. I had entered into a contract with him last year for a large painting project. I had to abruptly cancel the project due to an unforeseen health problem that arose. Rick did not charge me a cancellation fee or say anything regarding the short notice. He was understanding and wished me well. When I came back this year to have the project completed after the health crisis had been resolved, Mr. Hartsell did not raise the price from the quote given last year and asked about my health. You can find professional painters out there but it is nice to know that the owner of the company you are dealing with is honest, professional, has integrity and genuine concern for his clients. Thank you again to Rick and his team.

Eric and his staff did a great job

Let me preface this review by stating that I've had a LOT of various home projects done on my house over the past several years, and I've learned a lot about how to make sure expectations are clear and standards are consistent with the cost of the job. Basically, what I've learned is that 1) you often get what you pay for 2) you need to be really specific about expectations when it comes to details 3) You need to get EVERYTHING in writing, including details (never rely on verbal conversations) 4) you need to monitor progress and 5) you need to speak up early when you see something that is amiss. So, this is the mindset that I had when I dove into this project. I had 6 bids to paint my house, garage, porches, and fence - 1 student painting company ($4500), 1 friend of a friend of a friend type of situation ($6500), 1 company that primarily does home remodeling (so painting isn't their niche, but something they do) ($6500), and 3 were from companies that I found on Angie's list that had A ratings and focused on painting (i.e. painting was their area of expertise). 1 of those companies never got back to me with a quote and the other 2 companies (Somerset and another large company) had comparable quotes (around $11500). Even though it was really very expensive for us, I chose Somerset because I really wanted the paint job to look as outstanding as it did when I moved in, and I was willing to pay the extra money for SKILLED labor. Eric assured me that his guys were painters with several years' experience and I really liked that the quote included a very detailed checklist of prep work. I also liked that payment was due upon completion and not up front. In addition, the quote included a range in his estimate for materials that included "best case" and "worst case" scenario for materials costs ($300-$500 for wood replacement and $700-$1400 for paint) along with a clause that he would cover any materials costs that went over his worst case estimate. This clause was particularly important to me, because I've experienced companies that do the bait-and-switch where they give you a price and then jack it up later. Here is a breakdown of the good and the bad: The paint job itself looks fantastic (nice clean lines around the trim, smooth and even coverage on everything), and Scott and Jeremy are in fact excellent, detail-oriented painters. The also did a very thorough job power-washing the fence and they were also very friendly, and didn't mind me watching them like a hawk and pointing out (or asking about) details that needed to be fixed. The wood replacement was not as stellar in my opinion, and I would have gone with a different company that specializes in carpentry for that. In addition, there were small things like having to remind them to take the address numbers and mailbox off (which is the first thing they specified in their list of details in the quote), and they accidentally used a combination of water-based stain and oil-based stain on the fence (Sherwin Williams messed that up and they did not catch it). No big deal to me, but something to consider. We had a miscommunication regarding the cost of some additional work that had to be done that was not in the original quote that initially left me less than satisfied. In short, they had done work without telling me in advance how much it would cost, and then after they finished it, gave me a price that was much more than I had expected. When I let Eric know of my displeasure with the situation, he agreed to refund me some of the $ so that it was more in line with what I had expected, and also stated that his company would probably begin making use of change orders so as to prevent similar miscommunications from occurring. Overall, I am extremely pleased with the quality of the work, and can say with confidence that I would use them again.

I had been concerned that because the job was so small (smooth--and re-spackle where necessary--the holes and paint 3 walls) that I'd have trouble finding someone to do the job. But I phoned Somerset Painting and the rep came right out and gave me an estimate and his crew came out the following week and did the work. (Had to wait for the first rainy day because their schedule was full for out-of-doors work.) The workers were tidy, professional in their behavior, and they cleaned up after themselves; they were in and out in less than a day and the rooms look lovely.

They were here for like nine days when they painted and three months later, the cracks were back. I thought they were expensive for what we got because we weren't happy with the paint job either. The owner said we could call them back out if we weren't happy. He knew when he came by to get the check that we weren't happy. They said we could call them back out but we figured if they can't get it right the first time. why call them back.

They were very thorough and knowledgeable. Our house is a mixture of composite siding and wood with filigree and decorative work. They quoted us for the full house in a three color scheme along with a detached two car garage and a single hobby car garage. For all the work involved, it was a fair price. Although we aren't able to complete the work now, we would certainly contact them in the future.

I contacted Rick in the Fall and explained that we would be having all new windows installed in the Spring of 2014 and that we wanted to first on his list to have our house painted. Fast forward, new windows are in, called Rick and this project is started. The crew of James and Jeremy powerwashed the deck & house. They did a great job of taping so very little paint got on the windows, which if any was scraped off. We errored and picked an awful color for the entry door...When James started to paint this, he took a photo a sent it to me to make sure this is what a wanted. Great move on his part! He suggested a beautiful denim blue color (one that I wouldn't have thought of) What a Elegant look!!! They were at the house by 8am, took their time, were professional. We are very happy with the workmanship.

He seemed very nice. However, their prices were much higher than the other quotes we obtained. While giving us the quote, he noted he had done work for the neighbor across the street. After he left we checked with the neighbor. Their paint was already peeling off the house. They stated the people were nice, and they were happy with their work at the time. My husband and I felt the paint should not be peeling off after only one year. We went with a different contractor.

Somerset Painting was Initially very responsive and visited the same day to review the job and gather information. They immediately provided license and insurance via e-mail. The initial contact was favorable and the "sales pitch" was good. The quote was provided a few days later but did not break out the elements of the job as I had specifically requested. The quote also specifically excluded the cost of materials. Since I requested no special materials, it is unclear why the quote would not include the paint and prep materials. This required follow-up on my part to clarify the quote and obtain an estimate for materials. The quote also included multiple attachments detailing their "superior" practices. While it is beneficial to explain your service and how it compares to others, the tone was off-putting. While the quote (after clarification) was competitive with others, they did not leave me with the best overall impression and I had the work completed by another company.

We have other projects we are planning to do and will be calling Somerset. I highly recommend them based on our experience!

I don't think they wanted the job because it involved intricate details so they bid the job at twice the cost of the other three contractors that I had contacted. I got the job done for $2,400.00.

I didnt use him however I felt he was very friendly, open, and honest. Very qualified! A portion of his money goes back to missions, which I appreciate.

Somerset offered a variety of services through one contractor, so I contacted Rick to estimate exterior trim painting versus siding for my house and to perform significant tuck point repair on one garage wall and various areas around the home?s brick exterior. At Rick?s suggestion to eliminate a trip hazard, the masonry work included leveling an uneven concrete walkway around the garage. There was some miscommunication regarding Rick?s painting/siding estimate and to date neither of us has followed up on that aspect of the project. However, Rick put me in touch with his masonry guy, Nosh, for the tuck pointing and concrete work. Thus my ?A? rating reflects only my experience with Nosh for actual work performed. Nosh?s estimate was the best of several and offered good value (in my opinion). He was prompt following up, arrived on schedule to professionally complete the repairs we had discussed and actually did a bit more tuck pointing than I was expecting. Nosh was easy to work with, thorough and cleaned up after he was finished. I wouldn?t hesitate to hire him again.

He came to do an estimate. We told him we just wanted him to repair the windows as inexpensively as possible since we are on a fixed income and selling the home. He didn't listen to what we asked for and gave us an estimate of painting and other repairs. When I asked him to redo the estimate he was very rude and left.

Somerset's mason did a great job repairing my porch, steps and wrought iron railing. He showed up as appointed, worked efficiently and left the work area clean. For masonry work, I would definitely hire them again.

It was great. We had contacted another provider and waited about 6 weeks. I called Rick (Somerset Painting) and talked to him in the morning. He got back to me within an hour, checked with his staff, had me send a photo of the damage. He gave me a quote, promised to do it that day. He had a great crew show up and as promised they stayed until done that night. But that isn't the best part. We expected good service, we got great service. The crew was not only very professional (you could tell by the quality of the work, the care and pride they took. They had to remove siding to the peak of the house (about 25 ft tall). After they reset each piece, they wiped it clean so the house would look nice when done. It was little details like that that really set these guys aside. I was hesitant to trust them because of past experience with others, Rick let me hold all the card, provided better than I expected and I will always call him first if I need a job done. This is a man (and company) you can trust. THANK YOU and the guys.

I would definitely use Somerset again. Eric and Neal were both professional, courteous and knowledgeable. The work was completed quickly, with excellent quality. I appreciated that the company was able to work within my tight time frame!