HERNANZ PAINTING CO

They were wonderful, and we are delighted with the work they did. The owner, Eric, came out to do an estimate. He is a kind, good natured guy, clearly competent and gave me good ideas on how to improve the exterior of the house. He provided a quote that was less than expected and scheduled us promptly. He called earlier than the scheduled date and offered to come a week sooner -- we accepted. His staff were great. Professional, hard working, but friendly and pleasant. They were just wonderful --- there is no other way to describe it. I can't say enough good things about this company. The house looks 100% better, and they are pleasant to work with. If this company did other types of home improvements, I'd use them exclusively. A+++ I found them by referral from a friend, and she found them the same way. I believe they work almost exclusively by referral, which is not a surprise. They are great.

Hernanz painted our exterior in 2004. At the time we chose to pay the extra money and have two coats of paint applied for a 5 year warranty, rather than a standard, shorter warranty (2 or 3 years; I can't recall.) The 5 year warranty ended up lasting more than 7 years, and we finally had our house repainted in anticipation of putting the house on the market. Both times my contact with Eric Hernanz, owner of the company, was excellent. He was courteous and professional, and provided a competitive bid. His crews both times were also courteous and professional. We are now moving out of the area, so I will no longer be able to hire Eric and crew for future jobs, but I would not hesitate to hire him again in the future if I could; and I enthusiastically recommend Hernanz to others needing interior or exterior painting performed.

Came back with extras after the fact without discussing them before doing the work. They also used the wrong paint finish and only did half the caulking agreed upon.

Final bill exceeded estimate by 75%, after numerous inquiries on time. Found after interviewing staff on painting portion that we were overcharged by more than 50%. Do not use this company.

We regret very much to have to submit our first negative report to Angie's List but, the final bill for our painting project exceeded the estimate, without warning or explanation, by 30%. The company that sold us the windows recommended Hernanz as an experienced painter of the type of windows we bought. With this expertise, we figured the estimate we received in August - 30 to 35 hours of labor at $50 per hour - would be pretty much on the mark. The president of Hernanz, who gave us the estimate, said that the job might end up going over some, but a 30% bump on the final invoice, to 45.5 hours, an extra $525, with no warning during the course of the work seemed extreme. During the estimate, the president indicated that extra hours would apply if we ordered additional work, e.g., painting adjacent window sills or demanding a more thorough job sanding and smoothing. During the course of the job, we made sure none of these extras were done, and none were. Before the work was to begin, I asked the president if there was prep work I could do to make the job go easier, and he told me that there was none. The job took three days in September, and at the end of each day, we asked the head of the work crew if they had come across any unexpected tasks that required additional time. Each day we were told "no." Everything had gone as expected, we were assured. On the positive side, the quality of the work was good. The crew was punctual and accommodated the not-quite-on-a-schedule sleep habits of our 7-month-old daughter. The first we learned that the work had gone well over the estimate was when we received a final invoice from Hernanz in October. We were shocked, and wrote to the company expressing our surprise, hoping to get an additional explanation. We never heard back from the company president. In retrospect, we should have gotten an ironclad signed estimate that did not allow for extra charges without approval. Going over by 5% or 10% is one thing. But 30% without any warning whatsoever seems to us to be extreme. We have learned to beware and be careful. We will not use this company again, and will not recommend them to friends and family.

They were very prompt and kept us informed as to the times they would arrive. The work was very professional and they stood by their bid, even though it took more paint than originally thought. Our home looks beautiful and I strongly recommend this company.