Fridholm Painting

all done as promised

Very well.

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The carpenters arrived on time and did a great job. The power wash made the deck look like new. It took them one and a half days to stain the deck. This is an old deck and needed a lot of work. John was the only contractor that was willing to do the work.

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FABULOUS! Fridholm subcontracted the entire project to Steve G who had done the original quote. We quoted the project with 3 other contractors, but came back to Fridholm because Steve's vision for the layout and willingness to listen to what we wanted won us over. Steve is a perfectionist and paid attention to every small detail. The project was targeted for about 6 weeks and he promised to leave at least one bath functioning at all times. He made good on the promise so we never had a day without a functioning shower! There was no punch list! We had 2 small items that didn't arrive before the end of the job (our fault not the contractor's) and when they came in, we contacted Steve and he promptly came over and completed them. The quality of Steve's work was exceptional from wiring to plumbing, painting to tiling. His layout for the tile was beyond our expectations. Both bathrooms and the master bedroom turned out better than we hoped. Doing a bath remodel is a very disruptive project and invades your personal space, but Steve made it bearable. In the final days to complete Steve and a helper worked through the weekend to get it all done. John and Jeanette visited the project along the way to be certain everything was on track and make sure it was meeting our expectations.

Contractor arrived on time and was polite, however the final quote was outrageous. Thousands of dollars higher than what is reasonable. I don't know if he just didn't want the job or I looked like a sucker.

Did a very good job.Worked quickly and cleaned up nicely.

We moved into our new construction home in December of 2013 and finally wanted to get it painted. In August, we solicited quotes and Fridholm Painting was both the lowest cost and was very responsive. The scope of the job was fairly straightforward: interior walls only and fix nail pops in a few spots. The work was performed by two different painters. The first painter was a bit late on the first day and wasn't overly friendly. However, he did a very thorough job -- he painted our kitchen, living room, and our open foyer. The second painter (who did the rest of the house) was very friendly but made many, many mistakes. I counted over twenty spots were paint had been dripped on the carpet, a few nail pops that weren't repaired, and several places where wall paint was very much impeding on the trim or dripped on light switches and other fixtures. At one point while painting he had accidentally dumped a large amount of paint onto the bottom of an indoor pet kennel. He was very, very apologetic and even tried to fix it by spray painting it. The "fix" was adequate but did slow him down for the day. The owner (John) did drop off a bottle of wine picking up some excess paint at the end of the job. It was a nice gesture nice but as time went on we found more and more mistakes here and there.

The group was very professional and polite. The job was done quickly and professionally. They even let my dog out for runs in the yard. He enjoyed the company.

John came & gave me the quote. We discussed removing the wallpaper the previous owners had put on the ceiling (to look like tin, but it was never painted), patching the ceiling where there had been a small water leak and then prepping the ceiling of my dining room so it was smooth & ready for me to paint. At no time did he tell me anyone else other than himself would be doing the work. I have a pretty good understanding of remodeling & he sounded like he knew what he was talking about. John said all the right things however the one thing that did concern me was the he charged by the hour not by the job. I am not used to paying that way because I don't like being held captive by a contractor who may be slow or inefficient. However, John assured me he was a very experienced professional & I could be rest assured that he worked effectively & efficiently. He gave me a fair price to patch the ceiling in a small area where there had been a water leak & to remove the ceiling paper & prep the ceiling for painting. Well, that's what I hired; what I got was something completely different! First, I did not get John as expected but some guy named Steve showed up. Found out he was here visiting & John gave him some work to do. That put my guard up & it wasn't long before I started to doubt the process. He put this nasty dirty throw down to cover my recently redone hardwood floors & started to work on removing the wallpaper on the ceiling. He made a mess!! Steve obviously had little to no experience at removing wallpaper even tho he said he had his own "special solution" to help remove it. Whatever he was using was dripping all over & getting on the walls , the ceiling beams & my new ceiling fan. After he was done, he removed the tarp off the floor then proceeded to wipe up my nice shiny hardwood floors with the dirty water from the pail he used for mopping up the mess from his wallpaper removal combination! I had left to go upstairs when he started this & when I came back down I was shocked to find all the shine gone off my hardwood floors! They looked terrible. He then proceeded to work on patching a small 5 x 5 area. He was supposed to remove & replace damaged sheetrock on ceiling, tape, mud, finish,sand & bring to prime ready condition the area damaged. When he was "done" the section was not remotely close to being ready for primer or painting. The edges were not finished & there were gaps between the wall and the ceiling. In addition, the compound he used was cracking and peeling off! The patch job was sub-par & you could clearly see the edges There was no way I could paint over it & not have it clearly visible. As far as the ceiling work went John (now Steve) was to: remove the paper, wash, spackle, sand & apply I coat of oil primer. When done, Steve assured me the ceiling would be "smooth as a baby's butt & ready for me to paint" What actually happened was that almost 80% of the ceiling was left in very rough condition, no sanding at all was done & although Steve assured me the ceiling would be so smooth it would only require minimal sanding it is not even close to that condition. Again, none of the edges were finished and the plastering job was peeling off in at least 2 sections. Steve let the dirty "special compound" from removing the wallpaper drip onto the ceiling beams , then never bothered to wash it up so now they are stained with sticky yellow residue. No primer was applied. After Steve left I called John to discuss the shoddy work & that Steve had used the dirty water from cleaning up the plaster to wash the dining room floor which stripped all the wax which had recently been applied. He made all sorts of excuses & tried to make it my fault but in the end agreed to come by & take a look. In the interim I had 3 other contractors come by to quote the job & get into the condition I had paid John to do. Because they now had to un-do his work before they could do the original job correctly it would cost me double to get it done right! All the other contractors commented that the job Steve had done was sub-par & one even noted it on his estimate to repair. When John finally came over to look at the job more of the ceiling spacklling was coming loose or falling off. He had all sorts of excuses & tried to downplay the poor quality of the job done by his friend. I held my ground & it took taking a firm stand, but John said he would come back & fix the job. I called him several times to set up a day for him to come back but he never responded. Finally I filed a claim against him in small claims court based on the estimates from the other 3 contractors. Shortly before the court date John offered to refund me in full vs going to court where he stood to lose more than twice that. I took the refund even tho I would have most likely gotten more based on my claim & supporting docs. My ceiling is now done. However I was not able to paint it smoothly as I had hoped. The job Steve did was so poor it left the ceiling uneven & bumpy. It would have made a mess to sand it down & then cost a lot to re-plaster. I ended up painting it myself using a faux technique with a thick compound that covers imperfections. Obviously I can't recommend this contractor - but if I have anything to pass along is to get it in writing who exactly will be doing the work. I expect that when I call someone for an estimate it is them that I am hiring. Not some guy who is visiting & needs to make a few bucks that I never get a chance to meet beforehand. And I don't think I will ever again pay by the hour either. Contractors should know their work & base their quotes accordingly. I also did not appreciate all the excuses about the job done. If John was truly a professional he would have acknowledged the problems & done whatever needed to make the job right. He further lowered his reputation by then not upholding the agreement he made. As a result I was forced to file a claim against him. That just tells he that John is not a man of his word & if your word isn't good then that speaks volumes as to what you can expect from that person.

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We were very happy with the work done. The quality was very good, it was done quickly, and the workman cleaned everything up. John Fridholm was a pleasure to work with. We would hire this company again.

I was very pleased with the work done. Those who worked John Fridholm were professional and helpful and friendly. At the end of each workday everything was cleaned up so that I could continue to the rooms. He contacted me at work and informed me about progress and any issues that would arise and was on sight daily to check progress. All drapery hardware was removed and put back perfectly. He was diligent in overseeing the work. I recommended him to a family member who is now having a family room built in the basement.

John was very prompt and took the time during his estimate to listen to what we wanted done and answer any concerns we had. His estimate was not only competitive with other companies but and actually stood out over many of their proposals. John's crew showed up on the designated date and time they said they would. They did not promise anything that they did not deliver and many suggestions were helpful during the painting process that we didn't think of. In addition, John?s crew was very professional and took extra care when protecting non painted areas. Even when we didn't like something or wanted to change our minds on an item, John didn't nickel and dime us but continued to do the job the way we wanted as well as expected. Finally, let me tell you that I am very anal and cautious when it comes to hiring home improvement companies but I would and have already recommended Fridholm Painting to other folks and would hire him in the future without hesitation!

Overall - I was happy with the outcome. My walls were a bit difficult to work with (that why I hired someone rather than do it myself). But to begin with, the guys showed up EXACTLY on time. They were very friendly and trustworthy. They began by laying down drop cloths from the front door to the paint sites. Did a VERY GOOD job on taping and edging (something I hate and notice immediately when I do the work). They fully understood what we wanted (my wife had some complex color designs). One thing I need to note is that the guys worked VERY hard. It was very hot that day and the ventilation on the second floor was very poor. They guys just worked and worked. Yeah, I spent $850(which to me is a lot of money - but Fridholm's price was very competitive - I checked several painters), but most importantly was that I could not have done as good a job as they did, plus I would have been an emotional wreck. $850? It was worth every penny (just ask my wife).

On a referral from another satisfied client, I hired Fridholm Painting and Remodeling to paint the entire interior of my 1250 sq foot townhouse. This included walls, ceilings, trim, closet and room doors, etc. They also removed "problem" wallpaper and repaired and painted the kitchen cabinets. Every aspect of the project was handled professionally and with great respect for my "holiday schedule" and availability. The house looks amazing! Everyone who worked in the house was punctual, friendly, professional, and very neat. The house was often cleaner when they left than when they arrived! I enthusiastically recommend Fridholm and intend to hire them again for a few smaller projects.

I DO NOT recommend this company. We hired them to powerwash our house and paint the trim. When we first met with the owner of the company, John, for the estimate he was professional and this seemed like a good fit. That was the last of our positive experiences. The worker who powerwashed our house also took it upon himself to powerwash/spray our front and back decks, taking off the paint, leaving grooves in the wood, and even knocking out a piece of our front deck railing. When we complained about this, John said that the decks were already in bad shape before they powerwashed and that our decks were old and rotting and it wasn?t his fault that pieces fell off. We had no proof of the condition of the decks prior to the pressure washing, so there was not much we could do. We now have to repaint our decks this season because of all the removed paint. There was no reason the powerwasher should have been anywhere near our decks. The painters were also very careless. They spilled paint in numerous places on the vinyl siding of our house, but when we complained to John he used the same excuse that the paint was already there before they painted the trim. It wasn?t. But, having just moved in a year ago, we again had no evidence that the paint wasn?t there. (We were also home the day they painted and are left wondering, ?Why wouldn?t they point the supposed pre-existing paint spills before starting if they were really there??) They also got paint drops on our roof. This time I could prove that it was their mess because our roof was put on before the trim on the house was painted. He finally agreed that he would come and cover up the spots with some black paint (not a great fix, but it was better than nothing). He never came. We called 4 times and actually spoke with him one of those times. He kept promising to come out and fix his mistake, but after almost two months, there are still paint drops on our roof. We have finally given up and will cover the spots ourselves and we are still unsure of how to get the drops of paint off of our siding. Bottom line: Excuses were given for every mistake, none of the mistakes were corrected, and we?re left cleaning up their mess.