SouthEnd Painting and Roofing Contractors

There were two projects proposed: interior painting and exterior painting. The first project undertaken was the interior painting. After my experience with SouthEnd Painting, I have learned some important lessons to avoid on future projects. The cost of these lessons was a $599 penalty for cancellation of the second project. - Never agree to more than one project at a time regardless of any financial incentive. - Use the first project as a contingency for subsequent contracts. - Do not allow work to begin if the sales person fails to respond to requests to add on work to contract even with 5 days advanced notice. - If one does not have a clear estimate of the cost or scope of the work, damage can be occur which might prohibit restoration of the damaged area to its original condition. - Compare vendor?s estimates very carefully. If one estimate contains a significant amount of legal stipulations that other vendors do not include, be leery. Personal experience is that companies who have had the threat of legal actions against them will include clauses in their contracts from their own lessons learned. (This was the 17th contractor I hired for work on my house in 17 years. This is the only contractor I fired. This was the only contractor with cancellation penalties. The cancellation policy was a 25% of the estimated work. NOTE: I have since had three contractors from Angie?s List. None of them had cancellation causes either. And, who would need one, they were exceptional. - If the contract has small print, be certain to read it and get outside advice. Be certain to note any conditions under which a contract can be nullified by the homeowner and any costs associated. - Always check all resources for the reputation of a company. An ?A? rating on Angie?s List does not assure that a company will have satisfactory ratings with other services such as the BBB. - Check that the company under consideration is a member of the BBB. Be leery if they are not. - Remember that when one hires a contractor, one should judge the contractor worthy of the contract only after one has determined that the management team of the contractor meets one?s expectations for mature and professional behavior. - While the painters on this job were adequate, thus the D, the reason for cancelling the project lies solely on the management of this company, thus the F.

First I want to mention that, I hope the owners will take my review as constructive criticism to improve the company. Being a graphic designer I pay attention to ever little detail. With one of the owners of this company coming from the silk screening business, I hope he understands. Craftsmanship plays a huge role in both industries. The men that were out working on this project worked very hard and were polite. The Construction industry is a very hard job especially in the hot sun and heat. My wife and I see this and understand it. My experience with initially started pretty good when I met with one of their salesmen. The salesman was on time and polite. Business card ready to ID himself and he had a packet ready with all needed insurance, references, certificates, etc. We walked around the house to examine what was needed. He reviewed the process of what was going to happen with the job. They would power wash, scrap old paint and caulk, gutters removed and painted behind and then paint, etc, etc. Any minor wood repair would be repaired with bondo. Any major wood or siding that would need replacing, they would contact me before doing so to review the cost. The salesman wrapped up by talking another walk-through. Few days later, he emailed my the quote. I noticed that it was quoted with one coat of paint. We requested for a change of 2 coats and a few other things, the salesman was happy to adjust the work order. When asked how long the job should take... it was mentioned 4-5 days. We decided to go with Southend due to the pricing and reviews on Angie's List. After the decision was made, Southend called to schedule a day for the powerwashing. We scheduled a day and I wrote down a estimated time from what I was given. They were suppose to come out around 9-10am from what the estimated time that was mentioned on the phone. My wife took a half-day to over see the work. They were a no show at the appointed time. I decided to give Southend a call to make sure there wasn't any miscommunication on the appointment. I was told during the call, that they would come out there ANY time during that day. Well, they did come... I returned home from work around 5 to find a letter that stated that powerwashing was going to happen the next day. Already this was an issue to me since we already wasted a day and no call. My wife decided to take the rest of the week off to over see the whole project. They showed up around 830-9 the next day to start powerwashing. Issues that she had was, they showed up with unmarked cars, no ID or official "uniforms" with the business name. I come home for lunch to introduce myself and meet the 2 man crew. No issue with the powerwashing. Wednesday comes around with prepping and to begin with some rotted wood and siding on the detached garage. Once they removed the siding they saw termite damaged and termites. They asked my wife to run out and purchase some termite spray to kill the termites. She did... They worked pretty diligently on the issue and repair. When asked how much the repair would cost, the crew leader said probably $100 bucks. Issue here... Probably wasn't good to answer and I knew it would be more expensive considering the amount of siding and wooden panels that had to be taken off. This should have been communicated back to whoever was in charge of the job, preferably the owners or salesman. They should have taken a look and assess the damages before a price was given. Needless to say, that $100 bucks became a few hundred bucks at the end. But we needed to get it fixed, so we moved on. At the end of the day I walked around the work area and there were nails and trash everywhere. Cleanliness was not one of their strong points. Moving on to the next day (Thursday), scrapping and caulking continued. Other parts of the main house was being fixed for minor wood rot and siding. The only issue that we had this day and the rest of project was the cleanliness of their work. At the end of the day, some things were cleaned up. But you still had Piles of siding, trash, nails, bottles and wood was laid out, with the company's sign next to it, for the whole neighborhood to see. Moving on to Friday. This is when it began to get good... On this day, only one worker came out to work and it wasn't the crew leader. I guess he was instructed to work on sizing up, cut and mount the new siding on the detached garage. Let me ask you... how does one man hang a 15 foot, pieces of siding alone? How does one man cut 15 foot or any size pieces of siding with a hand saw, straight? Please see photos and you'll get your answer. Needless to say, we had enough with the craftsmanship and cleanliness of the work, and decided to reach out with our concerns. Email was written with photos to provide accurate feedback. Saturday rolls around. Door rings at 8:30 am... I open it and saw 2 men at the door with no ID or anything. They were there to work on the house. I didn't know they were working over the weekend. Again, i wish this was communicated. The original crew leader was no where to be found... I guess our email on Friday lit a fire and they were there to fix, the "fixed" siding and to continue the work. I think these guys were dropped off with very little info on the work order. I was out there trying to communicate what needed to be done. I was the crew leader for the day. Luckily one of the guys spoke perfect English and understood what needed to be done and did it. When I said these guys were dropped off, they were literally dropped off. So if they need to run and grab something to eat, drink or materials they couldn't. My wife and I understand that this industry isn't the easiest. We provided the 2 guys with lunch and a container of Gatorade. There is no reason why anyone should be working outside in 90+ degree weather without proper fluids. This should always be provide by the company. Anyways... so one of the guys started to fix the fixed siding and begin cutting siding with a handsaw again. I stop the gentleman and brought out MY miter saw and tools. Again, a company that assessed the job, should assess what equipment is needed and should properly equip their men with the right materials and equipment. At the end of this day, Caulking was being finished up. Cleanliness still not great. Sunday comes around. Painting starts and the crew leader was out. He started painting and I let him do his thing while the 2 men that arrived on Saturday did their thing. Painting was almost completed on the main house and i thought it was a little odd that painting moved so quickly. So I went out to talk to the crew leader and said... " did you put 2 coats on the house"... he said no it's only one coat. I pulled out the revised work order and showed him. I couple of items that we mentioned to the salesman wasn't fixed either. Again communication is a huge issue here... There was no communication from HQ to the men on the field. While this was happening the other 2 men were working on painting the trim. No gutters were removed to paint behind it. I had to say something... Again... communication was the issue. I knew a of couple of spots that needed to be bondo. I walked to those spots and stuck my finger into them... filled with caulk. These were holes that should have been bondo, but they were filled with a ton of caulk. Cleanliness was out of control on this day. Paint on plants, grass, on our deck, on our sidewalk, puddles of painter water... uh. To remove the paint on the deck they decided to sand the deck. Yeah, our deck is old, but what if it wasn't? At the end of the day, i did a walk around and noticed some old paint wasn't scraped off and was just painted over. Issue... Monday rolls around and they're finalizing the work on the siding on the detached garage. One of the owners rolled up when i was home for lunch and we discussed some of the issues that were having. He saw the paint on the deck, trash, siding issues and etc. It seemed like he was interested with our concerns... End of day Monday, majority of the painting was done. Touch up was done Tuesday and finalized Wednesday with a walk through. Overall, my wife and i want to give a higher rating, but it was just so hard. Yea things got fixed after it was fixed. It should have been done correctly the first time. We're ok with the job, not completely satisfy... There is still paint on our deck, paint on shingles and i'm still finding nails. Small part of our chimney is peeling after only a month of paint. Overall C: things got "fixed" but craftsmanship, cleanliness and other issues dropped my overall rating and how i felt about the job. Getting there took a lot of work on my wife and i part. It shouldn't have. Price A: they gave the best price Quality B-C: House looks better. They did use quality paint. But prepping, craftsmanship was below average. Cleaniness C-D Punctuality B: they arrived around 8:30-9 everyday and worked late. Professionalism B: This can be looked at many ways from attitude, quality of work to communication between their workers. Things I wanted as a customer: ? Communication between the management to workers ? Communication between the management to customer ? Communication between the workers to customers ? management onsite at all times ? better cleanliness ? better craftsmanship ? equipment provided to the workers for the job ? better training for the employees ? pride in their work ? better customer service You do get want you pay for, but paying around 5500 should have gotten us a lot of the things listed and less problems. Money is money, but everyone works hard to earn it. I'm sure the owners will comment on my review, but the way I see it... the customer should always be right. Especially for a customer to write a review this long and photos to stand by the review.

Overall all was very good. Prompt, reasonable price.

It was a very pleasant experience. Alex and his crew arrived on time and were exemplary in completing the work.

Poorly, they did damage to our gutters and then denied doing it. These are new, expensive leaf guard gutters and were in perfect condition before Southend came here to work. They wouldn't show up when they said they would and didn't bother to call. We also had to stay on them to get the work done properly. They did damage to the driveway with their ladders and tracked caulking on the driveway. The truck that delivered the siding also damaged the driveway. Our yard was also damaged with one of their trucks. They left old siding laying in the yard after we were told they would take it away. They did knock out the dents in the gutters and painted over the spot. All other damage was left. We were disappointed with their communication and would not use them again and would not recommend them.

Very professional, courteous. Did excellent work. Great attention to detail.

I am very happy - they were very professional, reliable and very fast. They completed the job in less then a day!

Very consciencious and professional Worked quickly and efficiently. Excellent job!

Todd's quote help us in making our remodeling decision.

Painters were on time.. They cover all the floor and furniture with drop clothes They did a neat job They cleaned up before they left and put everything back in its place

Very well. Hard working enjoyable crew. Willie and Misael, polite and professional.

After some initial disagreement about final appearance and quality, it went very well. Owners (father/son) go out of their way to get it done right.

They did a great job, did it quickly and they were clean. They had great service, prompt, clean and pretty. The price was good.

Very well Mr. Rodriguez was very and helpful. He did a very good job!.

prompt to call back and schedule time for estimate, Estimate knowledgeable, on time and were very professional. did everything that was contracted very pleased.

Professional painters, all the floor area as well as stairway were covered . Very neat paint job not one inch of ceiling pain on any wall Moved furniture back and cleaned up.

Carlos and Adonis were totally professional, efficient, courteous, talented and fun! Carlos' new nick name is "Dean of Carlos University" because he want above and beyond and out of his way to teach his great advice in many different areas along the way! They both exceeded our expectations!

SouthEnd worked very hard to earn our business. Looking forward to seeing the work they do.

Overall we are ex-trimly pleased with the made and also the employees. From start to finish everyone was professional, efficient, friendly and accommodating. Job well done!

Painters punctual, thorough, attentive to detail. During estimate discussion, unclear communication on work to do on garage door.

Crew was prompt and great to work with. We feel like we got a quality job for a fair price.

I was out of town. But everything seemed to have gone smoothly and looks great.

Great job on time high quality painting will recommend.

Gustavo and crew did an incredible job. They worked until 2 a.m. on night in order for my house to be in order when I moved in 2 days later.

Language problems w/ crew. Finish detail poor, had to mark "re-do's" for them. Had disagreement about quality of paint. We ended up buying paint for them ourselves.