Merriam Park Painting

n The painting looks good and the workers were very polite and efficient. I was under the impression the owner of the company actually spent time on the job painting and supervising his crew. Not the case. His carpenter was not as experienced in gutter/ soffiet repair as I was led to believe. We had to stop the job and hire someone else to make the repairs and then just have Merriam Park do the painting. It was a complicated job w/ 3rd floor eaves, so not for the faint of heart. Ed was responsive, and we worked it out in the end. It was just a long summer with a very large project in the end. But it's done and looks great now. If you have a painting job, yes hire him. But don't count on him for the carpentery work- very expensive.

Overall, the process went very well. They spent about two weeks scraping and then priming and painting the exterior trim on my house, the back door, and the entire exterior of the garage. They were very professional, lining the interior of windows with plastic to prevent lead paint dust from entering my house, reglazing old windows, and carefully repainting the house trim and the garage. They were very courteous and punctual - I felt comfortable with them around my house and my dog while I was gone. I gave them a B for professionalism only because I felt they did not do an adequate job painting my back door. It's a steel door, and the paint seems to chip and scrape off too easily - as though it was not primed correctly. They did come back and repaint some scrapes, but did not address the overall problem that the paint seems to scrape right off. So now, the back door does not look newly painted at all. I would hire them again because I think overall they did a good job - the house looks 100 times better!

It was fine! They were very reliable and good!

We hired Merriam Park painting to paint the exterior of our house and shed. We have cedar shakes and vinyl on the house. Our house was built in 1957 and we have been owners for four years. We are unaware when the house was last painted. Our house was starting to peel and was in need of a thorough repainting. We met with Ed Gross for an estimate. He sent out a written estimate to us and then came back to go over questions I had and changes to be made with the estimate. He then came out and met with me and the painter that was performing the work to do a walk through and clarify what work that was going to be done. The painter came back that day to start scrapping. The work began and continued until it was finished. Nick Vasko was the painter that performed all the work on our house. The job was done beautifully. I could tell that Nick took pride in is work and it showed in the exceptional job that was done. We couldn't be happier with the end result. Working with Merriam Park painting was a very positive experience. It was comforting to not have any stress with the process. I would recommend them to anyone.

They were fine. They were relatively thorough but not as thorough as some of the others that we got estimates from. The letter they sent to us was really good. We would probably recommend them to look at for an estimate. We got an estimate from someone else who we knew other people that had used them and the price was the same so we used them. That was the only difference.

We contacted Merriam Park after neighbors had used them. Ed Gross is the owner and gives the estimate but he has others do the actual work. We found Ed easy to work with. His estimate was prompt and it was very fair. (We had another bid that was about double the price.) The young man who did the work (Mike?) was extremely courteous and very detailed oriented. He did an excellent job with prepping the surfaces. He worked mostly alone (occasionally had a helper) so it probably took longer than having a whole crew there but we were in no hurry and he did excellent work.

Prompt, reliable, communicative and thorough. Positive all-around.

Fine. They cam when expected, did the job, cleaned up after themselves. When a section of third floor storm window fell out the following spring, they came and re-installed it at no cost.

The painters and carpenter did everything that was asked came and left on time. They cleaned up very well. The work was done to perfection. If something wasn’t done right, they would always fix it. The bid I received from Mr. Gross was a very fair mid bid.

We did not go with them because we ended up working with the person our window person liked, but I liked the Merriam Park. He seemed very knowledgeable. The price was comparable to the other quotes we had.

Their work is impeccable. The owner is great and they were prompt and they finished when they said they would. I think the pricing system works well. They ask for 5% to set up the date and then 50% when the work starts and then the remaining balance at the project when you are completely satisfied.

Ed and his team did an outstanding job!!! We couldn't be happier. They were on time, very courterous, and communicated with us very well. We feel like we got our money's worth and then some. They clearly knew how to work on a historic home and had many helpful suggestions throughout the project. We are planning to hire them again for additional painting projects.

Our 80+ year old home has all natural dark woodwork and when our new door arrived it had been stained a light oak shade. We called Merriam Park Painting and arranged for an estimate. Ed (the owner) was on time and talked to us for quite a while about our door and discussed our options. He answered all our questions and followed up with a very detailed proposal. We appreciated knowing exactly what he planned to do to restore our door to the correct color. He obviously understood how worried we were and how important it was for the door to match the trim and the 2 other doors in our very small entry hall. Ed emphasized that they would not varnish the door until I was completely happy with the stain color. We needed to postpone the work because of some family issues and he was very willing to accommodate us. When it was time to do the work Ed and John came together and Ed talked through the job with me and John to be sure that we both agreed on the process. Ed and John removed the lock hardware and took the door to their shop to be stripped. They were so careful with that heavy oak door! They had covered truck with a very thick bed of cloth padding to cushion the door during the trip to and from the shop. They brought the door back and re-hung it before staining so John could get the stain color just right. John had an oak board with some stain samples, but I didn't feel they were right, I suggested another product and John was very willing to try that product. It became obvious that the door would need 3 or 4 coats to get the proper color depth; and that is what John did, came over each day and carefully applied another coat, discussed the results with me and returned the next day to do it again. He seemed to enjoy the challenge of getting the match just perfect. Once the stain was done John applied a varnish whose sheen perfectly matched our trim. This was a wonderful experience, Ed was thorough and precise and professional in his communications with us and John was smart, patient and approached our job as a true craftsman. It is impossible to tell our new door from our old woodwork!

They did very quality work. They refinished some doors for us and one of which kind of came apart in the process, so they replaced the door free of charge. One of the workers could've cleaned up a little better in an area, as lead paint is a potential issue in our home, but overall they did a good job.

I am really picky when it comes to painting prep, and did a lot of it myself. What prep work they did i held to a very high standard and they did a good job. They did a fine job on the topcoat and are reasonably priced.

Ed, Norm and company painted our house 10 years ago and did a great job. No different this time with Josh heading things up. They did an excellent job on the house including clean trim lines between colors, cleaned up everyday and were pleasant to have around.

They did a great job. Ed offered really good advice and the house looks fantastic.

Beware of their bait and switch on pricing. They bid the job at a good price, but once the work started we found out about several little details (like painting radiator pipes running up the wall) that would be ''extra.'' The work was OK, but they were not entirely upfront and honest about their pricing.

Excellent job. Crew leader, Josh, was friendly, courteous, and responsive. He and his two assistants were diligent workers; there was no time wasted. They were careful around the foundation plantings. They cleaned up at the end of each day and stored all supplies and equipment out of the way either in my garage or in my backyard. On the last day, Josh was super careful to take care of all loose ends such as touching up areas where trim paint had gotten on the wall paint. The owner, Ed Gross, took time to meet w/me to discuss the final bill which came in under his initial bid.

Very professional and conscientious. Bid was pretty high, so I'm going to have do much of this myself.

ED GROSS WAS PATIENT, DOING AT LEAST 3 SEPARATE BIDS AS I FIGURED OUT JUST WHAT I WANTED. MERRIAM PARK WAS ONE OF THE FEW PAINTERS I CONTACTED THAT HAD STAFF TRAINED TO TAKE SPECIAL STEPS TO PREVENT LEAD DUST CONTAMINATION, FOR WHICH THEY CHARGED AN EXTRA $1200, OR SO. THEY ESTIMATED THE JOB WOULD TAKE ABOUT 7 DAYS; IT TOOK CLOSE TO THREE WEEKS. THERE WERE SOME DAYS WHEN THERE WAS ONLY ONE PAINTER, BUT THEY ACCOMMODATED MY SCHEDULE AND PUT ME IN THE MIDDLE OF THEIR BUSIEST PERIOD. IF YOU WANT A BID FOR WORK TO BE DONE, I'D HIGHLY RECOMMEND AN EARLY SPRING BID FOR WORK IN THE SUMMER OR FALL. I WASN'T THE EASIEST CUSTOMER, AND THEY WERE VERY PROFESSIONAL.

MERRIAM PARK PAINTING DID AN EXCELLENT JOB PREPARING OUR HOME FOR RESALE. THEY DID A THOROUGH JOB WITH ALL THE PREPARATION AND PATCHING OF ALL CRACKS AND HOLES PRIOR TO PAINTING. THE CREW WAS TIMELY, PROFESSIONAL AND FRIENDLY. THEY DID A GOOD JOB WITH FINAL CLEAN-UP.

NORM GROSS WAS VERY RESPONSIVE AND HELPFUL DURING THE BID PROCESS. EVERYTHING WAS DONE LONG DISTANCE (WE WERE IN THE PROCESS OF MOVING ACROSS COUNTRY AND WANTED THE ROOMS PAINTED BEFORE WE ARRIVED) SO I WAS PARTICULARLY IMPRESSED WITH THE CARE HE TOOK IN MAKING SURE ALL DETAILS WERE CLEAR, GETTING THE BID FAXED, ETC. THE PAINTING JOB WAS OF VERY GOOD QUALITY, BUT THE COLOR IN TWO ROOMS HAD BEEN REVERSED. I CALLED NORM AND HE HAD SOMEONE OUT TO FIX THE PROBLEM THAT NIGHT AND THEY FINISHED THE JOB THE NEXT DAY. (THEY DID NOT RETAPE, HOWEVER, SO SOME EDGES BY THE BASEBOARDS ARE A BIT SLOPPY.) THEY ALSO LEFT A PAINT RING ON THE PORCH WHEN MOVING THEIR SUPPLIES OUT.

YOUR SYSTEM REQUIRES A RATING. I CAN'T RATE A SERVICE NOT PROVIDED HOWEVER I FILLED IN THE FORM SO IT WOULD PROCESS.

THE COMMUNICATION WITH THE COMPANY WAS EXCELLENT. EVERYONE KNEW WHAT WAS EXPECTED AND THERE WAS NO SURPRISES.