MARK SWEETMAN PAINTING

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Mark came in person to sell us on our services. He was charming. Then his crew came. Although they were very nice and polite, they were not good painters and were slobs. They used OUR fans without asking and got paint all over them. ONce, my husband found one of them holding up a very expensive lamp of ours to to illuminate the area he was painting. In a half bath, they painted a radiator the color of the trim and I said, and quot;I wanted that to be the color of the wall,and quot; and received the reply from Mark, and quot;Well, it's done now.and quot; Mark was very curt and snappish once he had our business and we were disgusted. Whenever we see one of his signs up, we think, that poor family was suckered in. I am happy to finally have a forum in which to tell people, stay away. My husband and I have our own business and know the value of quality work and responsiveness. We would never badmouth anyone who didn't deserve it. Mark did nothing to show that he wanted us to be pleased with his work, use him again, or recommend him.

Mark came out right away and gave me a quote for the work to be done. His quote was very reasonable and his team started the project the very next day. They did a wonderful job painting the living room and dining room, and protecting the hardwood floors that I just had re-finished. I was very happy with the work they did and would most certainly use them again.

Not so good. I am writing this review a few years out from the start. The work is not quality. Mark is extremely helpful at the start and works with you to figure what works best including picking colors. After the job starts you never see him. He leaves everything to his crew which would be fine if they did a good job. His crew is very nice, but it seems that they are not sure of the specifics of what is supposed to be performed at the job. After the job was finished? I had to call them back to fix a few things which was a little difficult but they did come back. Unfortunatley I did not closely inspect the job with more detail. After only 2 years while I was cleaning the gutters I noticed that paint was peeling in quite a few spots most likely due to improper prep work. I also noticed that higher up on the house there where areas that you could see the old house color throught the new paint. The job that was paid for was to included prep of scrapping and sanding ,1 coat of primer and 2 coats of top coat. There is no way that if was applied you would see the old color. The job was obviously short changed in spots. I even found a large area on one side of the house under the gutter where it not only was not painted. It was not scraped or primed either! Lousy work! There are other job specifics that Mark and I agreed on at the start that were to be performed that also were not completed. For a $14k job this kind of poor work should not happen.

Detailed written quote followed extensive, patient discussions to work out some special features. Project proceeded smoothly, only delay being due to wretched weather. Appropriate crew worked (hard) every day. All work was done with great care and high quality materials, on time and on budget. All his people are great -- professional, pleasant, and obliging -- but his carpenters deserve special note. The exterior work required some intricate, difficult, un-obvious carpentry, which was all beautifully executed. This latest job is typical of our experience. We rely on Mr. Sweetman for top quality, good taste, and responsiveness. He has made several suggestions for small touches that have had a big aesthetic impact. He stands behind his work: the few inevitable call-backs for minor things (touchups, etc) are handled instantly. Price is probably a little higher than average, but well worth the quality and value added... and no overruns. (Once, and only once in Philadelphia, we used another painter whose lower bid led to a truly bad job; his response when asked to fix a few of the most obvious defects was and quot;so sue me.and quot; Returned, chastened, to Sweetman.).

Mark is an easy going person who completed the work as promised. He was very helpful in color consultation to help choose colors. He emailed frequently during the work to make sure details were worked out. His two painters were courteous, on time, and cleaned up properly. They even stayed late on several days to make sure the work was completed on time. Mark is not cheap, but his painting is worth it. Our house looks great!

Mark was professional and helpful when we first met him and he made many promises before beginning the job. After starting the job (3 weeks after placing an obnoxiously large sign on our lawn) Mark lost track of important details of the job and my wife and I had to do a lot of checking up to be sure the job was done according to our specifications. Mark quickly became defensive and passive aggressive when we called him to task on his word. The one thing we were happy with is the color choices that Mark helped us make. Our house looks beautiful now but we have had a hard time getting Mark to make good on his promise to touch up the many areas that are now peeling (starting peeling only months after completion due to inadequate/rushed prep. work).

He is very professional. They were very friendly and courteous. The workers showed up on time everyday, they did it quickly and very efficiently. They did an excellent job.

They glued the sub-floor directly to the cement. The whole thing rotted in less than a year. They did not install 2x4's to raise the sub-floor. I had to pay to rip out the less than a year old linoleum floor, which was perfect. I have tried to have Mark come back out and fix it. I told him to fix the whole thing, or him refund me the cost of the sub-floor. He never responded, and I had to end up going with a different company to take the rotted wood out and install a new type of flooring.

Owner of the company provided an estimate. Estimate was not the lowest but seemed fairly complete. The contract was complicated with small print and legalese. Workers scratched HW floors, took far too many smoke, coffee, lunch, PM etc breaks. Many mistakes were made and needed to be re-done (wrong colors and paint finish were applied in some locations and not always corrected). As the homeowner we were forced to micro-manage the job to ensure it was correct. Only a few months after the job, ceilings and walls were peeling. Overall quality of paint coverage on walls was decent but the attention to detail on the trim was very, very poor. Owner responded to our concerns but there were far too many examples of NO communication between owner and his foreman and workers. We were forced to talk to owner twice a day to ensure everything was correct. Overall we think owner is a decent guy who THINKS his company is great, but his workers are below average. Far too many headaches!!

BEYOND EXPECTATIONS. ON TIME, COURTEOUS, AND QUITE TALENTED. OUR LIVING ROOM IS VERY DETAILED. CARLOS, THE ONLY PAINTER WHO WORKED ON THE LIVING ROOM MADE MY COLOR CHOICES LOOK PERFECT. HE DID AN AMAZING JOB, AND WORKED FOR TWO WEEKS STRAIGHT. HE ALSO PAINTED THE SPINDLES ON MY GRAND STAIR CASE A FLAT BLACK LATEX. IT LOOKS BEAUTIFUL. ALL THE WORK DONE IS EXCELLENT. IT WAS DONE AS PROMISED WITHIN THE AMOUNT OF TIME PROMISED. IN ADDITION, MARK SWEETMAN WAS FLEXIBLE, HONORED THE CONTRACT AND WAS ON TOP OF THE PROJECT THROUGHOUT. OF COURSE HE WAS TIMELY IN HIS BILLING, AND GIVEN THE FACT THAT HIS COMPANY HONORED EVERY FACET OF THE CONTRACT, HE WAS RIGHT IN HIS REQUESTS FOR PAYMENTS. AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE.