JOSEPH MARTIN PAINTING

This is my Yelp review. Updated review. Joe reached out more than 5 days after my initial review, below. He did comeback, and I added some photos of how I feel the last visit went. Previous review. When I first met Joe, he seemingly promised the world. We also talked about my years of volunteering with at-risk youth, and I talked with his foreman about his kids and grandkids as I am expecting my first soon. Then the foreman mentioned twice about how he painted over the cracks and the cracks came back. You can see by the mess I have been left with as to why I believe this was due to poor, or no, prep work. While the foreman came back on two partial days, there was more major repairs and mistakes that you could see from three feet away than he could finish during that time. Plus, he add some more work as well. The picture with the "Joe M" was from the last such visit. I signed it for Joe as I got the sense that Joe was not taking ownership for such mistakes. While working with Joe, I saw another side of him beyond all the self promotion, it was the side that would ghost me and my pregnant wife and leave us in such a lurch.

We first hired Joe and his team to re-paint our home's interior when we originally bought the house. His work was absolutely superior. So much so that when it came time to re-paint the entire exterior, we called him again. And once again, exceptional work. Not only are they completely professional, but additionally, due to our special circumstances we needed the work done on an extremely abbreviated time schedule. Once again, all work was exceptional, and was completed on time and on budget as promised. We are extremely happy with the results. If you need painting done right and as promised, we give Joseph Martin Painting our highest recommendation!

The work was messy with paint on the glass of the door and some spatter. The caulking was not done properly for within a couple months it split open. The painter did no prep of any sort like roughing up the area to be painted with sand paper or using tape to assure paint did not get on places it didn't belong, like glass. Martin's crew speaks no English and he speaks no Spanish. Communication was a problem therefore.

Joe's crew were very neat and efficient. Cleaned up after themselves very well. He promptly got to work and had good suggestions on color and details. Overall I would be pleased to recommend his services.

It went VERY poorly. The first day the men stopped work on the master bathroom, despite Joe having assured me it would be finished first. His foreman told me "no paint" when I asked why they were not painting it. This was not true for I checked and there was plenty of paint. I had to call Joe who called the foreman. Finally the painting resumed, but the men behaved as if they resented my intrusion on their doing what they wanted with no one paying attention. The men managed to "find" enough paint to finish one coat in the bathroom and part of the first coat in the sink room. On the first day the men pulled out my stove to paint behind it. They did not put it back and acted like they couldn't. Joe was called again and he said he would fix it the next day. When he tried to get it back in to its normal spot, and couldn't he tried to persuade me that the stove's normal position was approx 7" further out than the side counters. RIDICULOUS! We had unpleasant discussion with him insisting he was correct. A male friend of mine came over another day and "supervised" the men into returning the stove to its proper location. The second day the men destroyed a valuable, fragile piece of art. This happened before Joe disappeared for the day. Joe commented that was how they always handled such objects and it had never been a problem before. A second piece (an East Indian painting on cloth) was balled up like a wet towel might be if you through it on the floor. I saved it before permanent damage was done, but it did suffer wrinkles and creases that have not come out. The four days the men were in my house they let my small dog out at least 10 times. They often went out leaving my front door open, which is dangerous to my possessions, as well as my dog, for I live in John's Landing in a mixed use area with heavy foot traffic, as well as heavy car and truck traffic. The sidewalk is 6 feet from my front door , while the street is 21 feet from the door. I believe the only reason my dog is not dead is my constant vigilance: I chased her as fast as I could each time. Joe never cared about the men's gross negligence and said it was "my problem." In regard to the painting I have found many spots where only one coat of paint was applied. In one skylight they did not paint to the top but stopped several inches short. The same with a high wall over the stairs. In one room the "cut ins" were clearly done after the rest of the paint had dried and obviously stand out. That room will have to be re-painted. In a bath with a pocket door the painter put it back in while wet and paint ripped off it when it was opened. These are just the main problems.Update: Joe Martin claims to have completed many jobs with no complaints and relies on the CCB and the Better Business Bureau to support his statement. In fact the Construction Contractor's Board maintains complaint records for only seven years, while the Better Business Bureau keeps their records for only five years. No information is available about Joe Martin beyond these time frames. He came from California to Oregon and CA keeps its complaints about contractors for an even shorter time. In addition, many people do not have the time and energy to report to regulating bodies. A representative of the CCB told me they constantly encounter people who do not even know they exist. Most importantly, many people are afraid to make waves when the person with whom they have a problem is threatening, abusive and does his best to be scary. I know from personal experience that Joe Martin tries hard to intimidate. I also know he does poor work, is grossly negligent in his supervision and is unwilling to negotiate or try to honestly address problems for which he is responsible. I am confident that I am not the only person unlucky enough to experience those aspects of him. The good reports about Joe Martin involve only outside work, which is very different to all that is necessary to painting inside the home. Those who liked his work are lucky; if you are considering using Joe Martin for your paint job, ask yourself if you feel lucky. All I have said about Joe Martin is completely accurate. His statement is full of lies. Which of us has the greater motivation to hope to deceive you, the potential customer. I wish I had known all I am telling you before I hired Joe Martin; now you have important facts available to you that he wishes to keep hidden. The stove was a big issue because Joe Martin's final statement about its position to me was that it was, at that time, where it was originally. He said he was positive about this because it stood so far away from the wall that he considered not moving it at all and just having the men stick their arms with rollers down behind it to paint. Can you imagine a small rowhouse kitchen with the stove standing 7" or 8" further out than the counters on each side of it? In our argument about this, I told Joe I could easily show him the kitchen of one of the five neighbors attached to me to see where the stove was; he did not want to see. Finally I told him the stove must returned to the proper position, and if he could not handle it, I would hire my handyman (who is known to Joe) to put it back, and subtract the payment for the handyman from Joe's final payment. At that, Joe made an angry noise and literally stormed out of my house. The stove was put back to its proper position by a male friend of mine who came over and "supervised" the men into returning the stove to where it belonged. Joe was not present when this happened and no piece of wood was involved in any way. The mobile that Joe Martin's crew threw on the floor was a very delicate piece of art. Joe told me he knew nothing about art, yet he has the gall to claim to have some idea of the object's value. In fact it cost more than ten times what he estimated. He was not even upstairs when I found the damaged art, no doors were closed and I never shook my dear possession in his face. This whole lie he writes is designed to hide his responsibility, suggest that I damaged my cherished piece and show that the loss was nothing anyway since the piece was worthless. A friend who came by saw all this, including the fact that we were not able to untangle the horrible mess. Joe said at the time that he accepted responsibility for the damage, and did assist for some small time in trying to untangle the mess. Joe Martin finally said "it was impossible" and it was going to have to be fixed by an expert. He refused, however, to try to help me find someone who could fix it, saying that was "my problem." While working on the piece, Joe let out a loud scream and said he was in excruciating pain. I suggested he get flat on the floor, which he did. He asked for ibuprofen which I gave him, after which he hobbled out of the house saying he had to go home to bed. After I finally found someone willing to try to fix the piece, she took it and has been working on it since. She has quoted a price of $200. for her work. We had no discussion about my dog at all before Joe Martin's men began letting her out. I was willing to put her on my small patio for brief periods if I knew the men were going to be opening the door. Long periods were out of the question because of the 95 degree weather and my dog's propensity to bark when she wants in. We have strict rules about animal behavior included in my homeowner responsibilities. The men refused to tell me when they planned to open the door, however, so the point was moot. The situation was made more maddening by the behavior of the men when they let Molly loose. Not one time did any of them attempt to stop her, catch her, call to her, or worst of all bother to tell me she was loose. I was a nervous wreck trying to watch the dog, the door, the men and all while frantically searching for someone to repair my damaged art. I knew this was time sensitive for I felt certain I would need to subtract the value of the art repair from Joe Martin's final payment. On the final day the men worked for me, George managed to slip out the front door without my knowing. My calls for Molly suggested that, as usual, he had let her loose. One of the other men standing in the living room did his usual shoulder shrug when I asked where she was. When I frantically ran outside yelling for her, George mildly looked at me. I screamed "donde esta mi perro." He pointed south and said "dog go." By the time I caught Molly she was almost to a busy cross street, and had already gotten by a busy alley access/driveway. This is what Joe Martin calls them doing more for the safety of my dog than I did. The amount of time Joe Martin spent at my house or supervising is as I reported. My dog was let out at least 10 times. I was very unhappy with Joe Martins' failure to direct and supervise his crew, and I had numerous complaints about the paint job. Never at any time did Joe ask for my approval of areas, walk through the house with me to check on the quality of the paint job, or the like. After George closed the pocket door of the downstairs bathroom, while wet, the door stuck and a hunk of paint came off when it was finally opened. When told about this Joe Martin said I probably caused the damage to the door with my fingernails. I cancelled the contract because of problems with the painting, destruction to my property, negligence in supervision, incompetence in doing the work, disregarding my instructions and requests, endangering my home and pet as well as inability to reasonably communicate with Joe Martin. I should have fired Joe sooner but I kept trying to make things work and just get through the miserable experience he created in my home and life.

Terrific. Couldn't be happier. We got several bids. His was in the middle price-wise, but that was not the primary consideration. Instead, we chose him because 1) we felt he was by far the most knowledgable about code requirements regarding siding maintenance (particularly caulking), and 2) he gave us some helpful ideas on color during his first visit (prior to submitting his proposal). Joseph's eye for color indeed was very sharp, in that he helped us complement the reddish brickwork on the front of the house. We went from a bland cream and light blue to bold greenish-browns. We have a snout-house, where a 3-car garage pops out from the house. So it used to look like a garage with a house attached. Now, the garage is much more muted, and the eye now focuses on the front door, which is a sandstone color. People are telling us the house looks like a million bucks. Our neighbors love it, and one of them (who is a do-it-yourself type who never contracts out anything) had Joseph re-paint his front door the following week. Apparently, Joseph has been in business since 1994; it showed through the professionalism both he and his painters displayed throughout the process. They were on time, on budget, and there were no hassles and no messes left behind. Joseph doesn't do the painting himself, but he did show up each day to check on progress and instruct his crew. We haven't had to ask them to come back to re-paint anything -- they were VERY thorough (we've been looking for missed things and imperfections, and we haven't found any). Also, they took GREAT care with the landscaping that was close to the house (veggie garden and a large Japanese maple), and there is no paint on our windows, brick siding, walkways, etc. VERY clean. I am really happy I hired Joseph and his crew.

Work was completed by a very competent three-man crew in about four days. The team was very meticulous in preparation, masking, clean-up and final finish work. Job was done ahead of schedule and within proposed costs.

Work was completed by a very competent three-man crew in about three days. The team was very meticulous in preparation, masking, clean-up and final finish work. Job was done on schedule and within proposed costs.

I THOUGHT IT WAS VERY GOOD. HIS ATTITUDE AND FRIENDLINESS. HE WAS ALSO PROFESSIONAL. THEY DIDN'T CHAT MUCH BECAUSE THEY WERE HISPANIC, BUT THAT WAS NO PROBLEM.