Executive Painting & Contracting LLC

Martin Blake came to our home in response to a query on Magic. We were looking only to do exterior rot repair. He appeared very polite, and professional in some ways. We discussed with him that we were also thinking about painting parts of the interior and about tiling in the kitchen and family room. He asked us what our budget was. After giving him our budget, he proceeded to write an estimate for all of the work we were planning at the time. He told us that we would need to purchase tile for about $1.25 per square foot to stay within that estimate and if we chose more expensive tile, the price would reflect that. He included $600 in his estimate for the tiles. I told Martin that I knew that tile is difficult to do, and that it had taken me a long time to be willing to tile the family room too. He assured us that his general manager Dave was a tile expert and would be the one doing the tile work and that it would be beautiful. Martin told us that the reason he could do it for less was that if we agreed to do all of the work at one time, his crew would not have to run back and forth to Lowes, wasting time and gas. He said his crew would be at our house, working both inside and outside at the same time, and that they could start at the beginning of the next week and be done within 10 days, as I was having family company coming then. The crew came over at the beginning of the next week. The two primary painters did a very good job. (They have both quit since because they were not being paid for most of the time they put in and were called to put in.) When they were done painting the family room and kitchen, Dave was supposed to begin the tile work. One of the painters, Victor, took up the carpet in the living room and informed us that the outside crew and Dave had been called away to do a big job in Pennsylvania, and that Dave and Martin had said that he, Victor, would be responsible for doing the tiling. VIctor was an excellent painter who had done a little tile work, for his own house and relatives. I tried to call Martin and Dave called me back telling me Victor would do an excellent job, not to worry. When Victor went to get the tiles, we were informed that we needed to pay for the tiles because Martin could not be reached immediately to pay for them. We paid the $600 to Lowes, and Victor discovered the tiles were all broken. The $600 went back into Martin's account instead of ours. We went back to Lowes to choose different tiles and chose a much more expensive, glazed porcelain tile. Both painters were at Lowes with us at the time. Because they did not have the tiles we chose at the particular Lowes, a Lowes employee called other Lowes stores and found 2 stores which together had enough tile. No one told us that the tiles could be significantly different from the two different stores. (A tile expert would have known about that.) Martin, the contractor has been totally unwilling to even answer a phone call from us. He ignored a letter from us. Dave attemped to help us to be happy with the work. He wanted to make Lowes responsible for the whole problem. We feel it is Executive Paint and Contracting who are responsible, for agreeing to do tile work they are not licensed to do, and clearly do not have the expertise to do large areas of large tile 18 x 18 which is what he told us to go with, in a diamond pattern. We are now getting the family room tile removed and having hardwood flooring put in. We are considering taking Martin Blake to small claims court. Dave tried to help us to feel better by giving us homemade pens. Martin Blake is totally unprofessional.

They made an absolute mess of my house. He was just terrible. The wall paint was on the trim. I had to pay someone else to come in and clean up his mess and paint correctly. I will not use him again in the future.

No quams. He was great. I would absolutely use them again.

They quoted us in September, they were supposed to start mid-October, they started early November, and they finished at the beginning of December. They gave us an excellent quote; I have no problem with the price. I think the quality went down and I have a complaint in with them right now to come fix some shoddy work that they did. I’m not happy with them and I wouldn’t recommend them. They told us that we could use any paint we wanted and that it was included in the price. We picked a paint that had primer in it but that isn’t what we got and we didn’t realize until after the painters started. The paint started peeling in May so obviously the primer was needed. Their communication needs to be improved because we should have known before they actually started that they bought a different paint. They said they would have it done in a week but it took over a month.

We are having quite a problem with them. Martin Blake is the owner of the company. They installed a dryer vent, but they ran it up so high that if there is a fire hazard, we can’t get to it to clean it. The electrical outlets that they put in do not fit in the wall and they are hanging out of the wall. The guy never came out to look at the work. We have been after him since Christmas to come and look at the work because we are not happy with it. We recently contacted an attorney and have taken pictures. We are in the process of seeing what we can do about getting it resolved. He doesn’t seem to get here to look at it or take care of anything. This has gone on and on; so we are at the end of the rope with him at this point. We could never get him to come out and look at the work. We couldn’t get a hold of him and couldn’t get him to return our calls. We still have not been able to get him to come out and look at the work. The work was not done correctly. They were supposed to carry away the materials, but the extra materials are still lying in the yard. The worst thing is the vent which is a fire hazard and we are trying to figure how we are going to get the money to get somebody to fix it right now. The guy who did the work was a bad service contractor. Within the past week or so we sent e-mails back and forth to Martin and made phone calls. He said Mr. Stanley is out of town and would be back on a certain day, but he was still out of town. Then the other day Martin gave us a number to call some man that he was sending out to look at it. That doesn’t do any good since I wanted him to come. I don’t know who that man is and I don’t know whether he would even know what he is looking at. However, he didn’t even show up and I didn’t call. So we gave up and left a message saying that we are going forward with our lawyer on it. I haven’t heard anything since then from him. That’s where it all stands now and I am not very happy. I will never call him again. Further Martin did not provide insulation according to code. I expected that he would do that. Somebody who is in business is supposed to be professional.

Great. On time, professional, good price and did a good job.

They were very professional and nice.

I paid $5500 on that work. They just always did what they said they were going to do, were very fair in the price and did a very nice job. They are coming back at the end of the week to give me another estimate.

It went great. Martin Blake (the owner) was very thorough and helpful. His staff was responsive and always available. The work came out beautiful. They were very clean and careful in my home. I would use them again for sure.

Martin (the owner) came out to do the initial estimate. He was on time and spent over an hour walking around the house with me answering all my questions. His crew started the job 3 days later. They were very clean cut, friendly and professional. They were on time everyday and did a really great job. All the rooms came out beautiful. They paid attention to all the details. I was very nervous having painters in my house as far as neatness but they covered everything really well and left my house clean. That was very important to me. I would definitely call them again to do more work for me and my friends.