CertaPro Painters® of Akron

The company is under new management so I was not sure if old ratings would still apply. I went ahead with another company I worked with before.

A work done to (A) catagory satisfaction.

They were supposed to begin painting on June 8. They were late due to the weather, they said they were behind because of rain. I said fine they started a little over a week late, I didn't keep track of days from the beginning because I trusted them and didn't realize the problem this would be. They finally began and started on the inside, the first day went great! I was surprised how quickly they removed the amounts of wall paper that did on that first day. They did the entire downstairs, except for the family room. The next day they didn't show up--- I was upset, but the job supervisor said he thought someone had called me and appologized, saying they had to finish up an exterior. I said ok, they seemed sincere and anyone can make a mistake. Then they came back with a whole bunch of people, instead of the 4 person crew. There were so many people that you couldn't walk down a hallway. I saw people running into each other, people painting areas that weren't taped off yet, etc. I spoke to the job super a couple of times about problems and he finally admitted that he had too many people in the house at one time, although he did say it was because I wanted the job done quickly. I soon found out that this is the pattern --- appologize and then make it your fault. I got tired of hearing excuses for things everyday. There were days that the original job super did not show up, and some one else (who had never been there before) was the super for that day. I felt like I was the acting job super as I was constantly telling them what needed painted and what color. I mentioned that to the job super on the phone one day, and he said would like to talk to my district manager, I could have him call you- I said yes. I still haven't heard from him (if one exists) We used 3 different colors for the interior. Sometime during the first couple of days they put plastic on the exterior windows and bushes, so they could paint the white areas --soffit, doors, porch. This was left on the windows for approx 2 weeks. (The entire job was only to take 1 week). The owner came to check out a bush that they had killed by leaving the plastic on too long and removed the plastic from the windows at this time, after my husband told him the house better be finished on Monday, or he would put all their stuff on the curb for the trash. This was after the owner took it upon himself to trim the bush partially and then asked to use our clippers to finish trimming it. It kept dying out, and when we had some landscaping done we had them pull the bush and and replace it. We requested $60.00 ($40.00 we paid for new one, $20.00 to removed old one) He agreed to pay that along with $10.00 to replace handles on the laundry/storeage doors. He subtracted this from the exterior portion. They finally finished spraying the exterior of the house on Monday the 13th of July. We were not happy with the interior at all. They used flat paint --- at one point I asked the job super about flat because I heard one of the painters say something about flat. He said "oh no only the primer where wall paper was removed and the ceilings". The master bedroom and masterbath which we were using were left a mess from the sanding of the walls after wall paperremoval. There were paint drops all over. We could not used the other full bath as they had the tup full of things - we had to use that bathroom some though, because there was no mirror in the masterbath. So we were constantly going back and forth. They were only supposed to tear up one bathroom at a time. They didn't, we overlooked it. I told them about the mess, waited a day and told them again, waited 2 days and then cleaned it up and moved furniture myself. We did a walk through and I told him how unhappy we were. I came up with a 2 page list of items that needed fixed or touched up. This was a issue constantly I would mention something not being right and they would say "don't worry, we will fix anything that is wrong and make sure you are happy!" After the walk through the super told me I had to pay for the interior before they could continue on the exterior. I was uncomfortable it was just he and I in the house and I wrote him a check for $4,597.00 on July 7. He assured me that they would fix all of the problems on the interior and finish the exterior by the end of the week. The interior was barely addressed and he did the front of the exterior, but when he was working on the exterior he left to go to another job on Thurs or Fri (I'm not sure) and fell off a ladder and broke his foot. Some of the items were paint on the wood beams in the family room, repairs from wall paper removal in the family not completed, flashing in family room (flashing is where paint looks funny cause it was added later) I mentioned the flat paint and was told this is better because of touchups (I don't want to touch it up I want to wash the walls). The upstairs has a flat piece on the 1/2 wall (don't know what you call it) they painted it with a roller and flat paint - it looked terrible - they have repainted it with a satin finish, and a brush looks better, but still looks bad. There were two doors in the downstairs hall, one is were laundry falls from shoot, and lower door a storage place. They painted these in flat paint, opposite of the grain and painted over hinges and pulls. Repainted over it with satin and following grain, but can still be seen looks bad. Switch covers were not replaced, furniture not moved back, flashing on walls going up stairs, dining room wall near trim, not close enough left a line. (poor job cutting in). Left bathroom fixtures down, also got paint on them - I cleaned paint off of them. Got paint on family room couch - not much, but still. We have since sold the couch so can't prove it, I never took a picture. On the exterior, there is what looks like flashing on the rear of the house below a bedroom window. They did not paint (at all) a middle section on each of the top rails on both sides of the deck. They put numerous dents in the siding. Told me this happens when you paint siding. Of course never mentioned it before they painted it. The owner came and did a wall through, since we had so much problems and I didn't want to talk to the job super again. The owner also tried to convince me that flat paint was better because of touch ups. The contract called for cashmere flat or low sheen eggshell I thought I was getting eggshell. He send a different painter to do repairs and touch ups. The second painter came and he fixed some of the interior problems but not all, he found some things we hadn't noticed. The biggest being in the masterbathroom, the entire area above the door had not been painted at all. Can't believe we didn't notice, but there was so much wrong. Late in the day that the painter was fixing problems on the interior I was made aware that the flat paint being used was not cashmere flat but some other kind of Sherwin-Willimas flat. The owner called minutes after that painter left and I asked him if there was a difference he said no, I told him I was going to Sherwin-Williams the next morning and find out from them. (the owner had told me they only use SW paint-- which was great by us). He called back and told me that Sherwin Williams mixed up the paint order. He called again --- I let the answering machine get it he said he had found out what had happened and it had nothing to do with me, but he wanted to explain it to me. I went to S-W the next morning - July 30th. They told me that a different paint was used than was stated in my contract and yes it was a lesser quality paint. They also told me that flat paint is not washable, the owner denies this and says he has washablity studies that show it is and that the people in the S-W stores don't know about the studies. The owner called shortly after I got home and stated and I quote, ?decided to let sleeping dogs lie? and intentionally not inform us about the mix up in the paint. He said he thought that the job super had told us and we were ok with it. He realized shortly before they finished that we had not been told. He then came into our house and continued to mislead me during the walk through and when he remade the invoice and said I owed him $69.00 for the interior, but he would let it slide --- he knew he had intentionally billed us for a higher quality paint than was used. We have been arguing with him ever since. He sent an "expert" in siding to look at the dents. She told me "yes, these dents were done by jumping the laddar and could have been avoided". She said she is often hired by insurance companies to determine how dents were made, especially after hail storms. She told me siding comes in full squares only and it would take at least 1 and probably part of a 2nd square to fix the dents. However, our siding is no longer manufacured so there is no replacement siding to be had. The owner came to our house for a meeting we told him we would pay for the wallpaper removal and small repairs made to the walls, and his materials on the exterior of the house and that would be a done deal. We have been told by a contractor that the walls need entirely repainted and that it is just like they had never been painted, because when you put on another finish it is no different than another color. Besides the using the wrong paint we still have flashing issues. and it just doesn't look like a professional job. The owner has told me he wishes I would have told him before he had the other painter come and fix things that we weren't happy ------ I did, however at that time I did not know that the paint had been switched on us. We still have flashing on walls, there is not bath paint in the bathrooms. We have to have everything repainted. The owner offered us his "cost for 1 coat" as compensation. We can't get anyone to repaint all the walls for his cost. He offered to have his painter in to repaint - but we really don't want them back in our house. We have since had some new carpets and floors installed and don't trust them around the new stuff. We told him to get back to us with his best offer, he knew ours and see where we are at. Instead - he sends another person to look at the siding. This guy told me that he might be able to repair the siding, but he can't be sure. Obviously, we are scared to even try. The suggestion was made to us that they could take siding off one side of the house and fix the dented peices and then replace the siding on the end of the house with something close. At this point my father said he didn't want us going through this grief anymore and told us to call a lawyer. We did to stop phone calls asking when they could try and fix our siding and when they could start to paint. Truthfully, I just could not talk to the owner anymore, it was like he refused to hear what we were saying. We hired a lawyer to handle the negotiations - we did not sue him. He promptly put a lein on our house. That is where we stand now. We have also filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I am not a member of Angie's list, but I am filling a report here as the owner used an award from Angie's list in order to prove to us how good and dependable he is.

The job went very welll. they did encounter some problems with the wallpaper and drywall but all work was beautiful after necessary repairs were made. The wallpaper removal and repair is done by the hour and not included n the painting estimate.

Entire process was professional and very punctual. Quote was competitive Experience, materials used and professional operation closed the deal. Cleaning, masking, painting and job clean-up was top notch. Not 100% perfect, I would say 98% which I am completely satisfied considering price and timing.

Rich was very responsive, answered calls promptly. Workers were polite, knowledgeable and good workers. There was some mis-communication as to what was covered in the estimate, as number of windows, doors, was not specified, but all was worked out equitably. Workers needed some reminders to clean up paint/scraping debris, had to come back to add second coat to porch they forgot about, but did so timely and in a friendly manner.

They did an excellent job. They came when they said they would and did what they said they would do. They were very professional and the job came out extremely well.

The quality of the job was excellent. It went exactly as Rich described it. He was excellent at communicating how the job would be completed and the timeline for completion. I would definitely use again.

CertaPro was the most expensive of the three estimates that I got. However, of the three, Rich was the only one to ask me questions and walk around the house with me to determine what I really wanted. He also spent the most time with me covering exactly what his painters would do - and was the only one that would scrape after power-washing and then put on the sticky barrier stuff *and* brush on the primer instead of just spraying it. All of that meant quality to me, so I was willing to pay the extra price (I feel a little bad rating them a B in price, because I think they did that amount of work, and I got my money's worth, but they were still considerably more expensive than the other estimates, so I felt I should at least make note of that). Once the job started, the painters were very kind and professional, they showed me what they were doing every step of the way, and cleaned up after themselves at the end of the job. They even went above and beyond by hanging up a gutter that had fallen off the house, taking the flower box holders off of the house that I couldn't remove, and painting the PVC pipe from my radon removal system to match the color of the house. I was very pleased.

We met Rich Fein of CertaPro at the Akron Home Show. He came out promptly to give an estimate for the work to be done. He advised that we could essentially get free color consultation from Sherwin-Williams, so long as we used Sherwin-Williams paint (which, I understand, is CertaPro's "default" paint selection). A date was set within the time window of the Home Show discount. Scott, the painter, called ahead to set the start time the first day, arrived on the dot and set to work. He was able to complete the work in just over three days, with absolute minimum disruption to our lives. Scott is a true pro who did absolutely flawless work for us. Each day he set the start time for the next and, true to his word, arrived promptly "on the dot" to begin work. We would use CertaPro in a heartbeat to do any further paining work that we do. I know what it takes to do a good painting job; CertaPro, through Scott, exceeded my most optimistic expectations. Highly recommended!

We got a superior estimate from another contractor.

Very responsive and professional. All the workers were diligent and polite. We are very pleased with the results, our house looks great.

The guys are really great to work with.

It went very well. Rich spent as much time as it took to go over the house thoroughly to make his estimate and then to answer all of my questions (from which I learned a lot). The work was done very efficiently and professionally, they answered all my questions and made sure I was completely satisfied with the work before they finished. They did all the work in a couple of days (and within a couple of weeks of the estimate). They cleaned up thoroughly, they were very careful about my plantings around the house, and so on. I was very satisfied with the work and would definitely hire them again.

They did a nice job painting, they could have done a little bit better with not stepping on the plants. Besides that it was great, they are professional, and easy to do business with.

Rich and his Certapro Painters franchise couldn't make it beyond the quote phase for us. Normally I don't write reports about bad quoting experiences, but I'll make an exception here. Last spring/summer (2007) we had Rich come out and provide a quote for painting an exterior window trim, door frames, etc. The quote then came in around $1500, including the removal, painting, and rehanging of shudders. For various reasons we decided to put that project off until this year (2008). Skip ahead to winter 2008 - we see Rich at his Certapro booth at the Akron Home & Garden show and said we'd like him to review the original quote and see if it would still be valid. He advised he would stop by the house again and double check everything, and if anything the quote may go up a "little" due to higher paint prices, etc. Fair enough, I said. So he comes out and proceeds to hand us a revised quote for $1900!! That was quite a bit more than a "little" higher! He claimed in his original quote that he neglected to include the very large second story bay/entryway window that sits prominently above our front door. Yea, right. How in the heck can someone miss that?!?! I mean, if I'm in the business of quoting an exterior window paint job you think that would be one of the FIRST windows I see when approaching the house! Either Rich did actually miss the window, or he was miffed we didn't hire him a year ago. Regardless, we're not wasting our time any more. Meanwhile I have 2 other quotes both in the $1400-$1500 range, and these guys actually saw the largest window on the house. That just goes to show he was out of line all along.

Several of the ceilings were "cathedral" type which necessitated extension ladders. Rich did a good job of estimating time, availability, etc. He brought paint swatches, so we could match colors the same day. Jeremiah and his brother were the paint team. They did a great job and cleaned up nicely. There were still some water stains that peeked through when we did the final inspection. Jeremiah said that he had gone over these spots twice but gladly brought all equipment back and redid the section to my satisfaction.

The quality was good but the clean up wasn't as good as I expected.

Went very well. Rich was professional, personable, answered calls quickly, gave good information. Was able to provide extra mildecide that we requested for the powerwashing. Jerimiah, the paint foreman, was present every day with the crew, paid good attention to detail. First coat was hand painted. Worked well with contractor who was replacing rotted and worn boards. Needed to call to have him come back to replace large planter on front porch, but this was done within 2 days. Our house took about a weeks worth of work; looks great!

I was very pleased with all aspects of the experience. Rich was on time and conducted a thorough evaluation of what was needed. He then gave a complete proposal. The 3 painters arrived on time each day, were very polite (they even put up with my 2 Chocolate Labs), cleaned up completely and did high quality work.

They were very professional and a pleasure to work with. I would strongly recommend them to anyone.

We were very pleased with the quality of the painting done by the CertaPro team. The customer service and attention to detail was exceptional. Rich Fein actually brought in a paint consultant from Sherwin Williams to help us select a paint color for the house trim. We were working against the timeline of mother nature with winter and the guys worked efficiently to get the job done before the first frost. The crew was polite and courteous and had a good sense of humor.

OVERALL EXPERIENCE WAS FAIR. RICH FEIN CAME OUT AND GAVE THE ORIGINAL QUOTE AT THE END OF JUNE 2005. HE DID NOT UNDERSTAND WHEN WE TOLD HIM WE WANTED A QUALITY JOB DONE. WE WANTED ROTTED WOOD REPLACED NOT JUST FILLED IN WITH WOOD PUTTY. WE WANTED ALL THE WOOD SCRAPED, SANDED AND PRIMED NOT JUST THE WORST SPOTS. WE ALSO TOLD HIM DURING THE QUOTE THAT WE WOULD BE WILLING TO PAY EXTRA FOR QUALITY WORKMANSHIP. WE STATED THAT WE DID NOT JUST WANT A TOUCH UP JOB. WE WANTED A JOB THAT WOULD LAST. WE HAD TO MANAGE THE SUBCONTRACTORS AND TALK TO RICH SEVERAL TIMES TO GET THE RESULTS WE WANTED. AT ONE POINT WE HAD TO HAVE HIM REDO WORK. THE CAULKING WAS A MESS AND WE HAD HIM CALL OUT A CARPENTER TO REPLACE ROTTEN BOARDS THAT THEY HAD INITIALLY JUST FILLED WITH WOOD PUTTY. IN THE END THE JOB WAS DONE TO OUR SATISFACTION BUT WE HAD TO MANAGE THE WORK AND REPEAT OUR REQUESTS MORE THAN WE FELT WAS NECESSARY.

THIS WAS AN OUTSTANDING EXPERIENCE. RICH CAME TO HOUSE, DISCUSSED OUR NEEDS, AND PROVIDED A WRITTEN ESTIMATE ON THE SPOT THE COST ESTIMATE WAS VERY REASONABLE CONSIDERING THE WORK TO BE DONE ON THE NEW DECKS. FRANK, BRIAN AND RICK? (THE PAINTING TEAM) WERE VERY PROFESSIONAL, VERY PROMPT, AND VERY COURTEOUS. THEY PATIENTLY ANSWERED ALL MY QUESTIONS. RICH FEIN ALSO PROMPTLY RETURNED MY CALLS. THE WORK WAS PERFORMED ON TIME AND LITTLE INTERFERENCE FROM THE WEATHER. AND, THEY EVEN PAINTED MY WORK SHED TO MATCH THE HOUSE (NOT CONTRACTED FOR). THEY DID A GREAT JOB!!!

WONDERFUL!!!!!! SANDED ALL THE EXTERIOR OF THE HOUSE AND PRIMED AND PAINTED. I WOULD RECOMMEND THEM TO ANYONE THEY WERE 1000 LESS THAN THE NEXT LOWEST BID.