Joe's Painting

Where to start... The low bid that seemed too good to be true?... The escalating costs once they started the job because the original bid was too good to be true?... The "high quality" paints that they claim to use but aren't (we ended up having to extra for a particular paint because it was an "upgraded quality paint")?... The extra project that they said they could/would handle, but then renegged on?... Would neither hire them again nor recommend them to anyone

We hired Joe’s Painting in late May of 2021 to paint our home-- walls, ceilings, doors, crown molding, baseboards, trim, kitchen and bathroom cabinets. Although JP was initially the lowest of 4 quotes, the price would be greater if multiple coats were needed, as Joe only quotes one coat of paint, and adds additional fees if two coats are required. The other 3 painters we interviewed included two coats of paint in their quote upfront. Joe made sure to verbally assure us that in his 20 years of paint experience, he rarely needed to use two coats of paint because of the "high quality" paint he uses. *Upon speaking to multiple individuals that work at local Sherwin Williams', the Promar 200 paint used for the majority of our home is the lowest builder grade (primarily suitable for apartments, closets, etc.) and multiple coats are, effectively, expected. On the morning of Day 1of the job, the foreman and his crew of ~7 individuals arrived at our home. Although we moved many items to the center of our rooms, and removed all hanging items and blinds from the walls, as stated in the estimate to prepare for the paint job, the crew assisted moving much of the larger objects (e.g., couches, chairs, wall-mounted TVs, etc.). Early on, the foreman asked us if we knew they were starting today. He did not do so in a sarcastic manner, but we feel he felt we had not properly prepared the house. We had done exactly as was written in the estimate, and as Joe had casually told us by phone. In under an hour that first morning, we were able to move everything else in our home to the center of each room. The crew prepped the house, including covering the majority of our items & furniture with plastic coverings and tape. Joe came to our house that morning and visited with us while the crew was working. It was all friendly, casual conversation. He never once said anything about our readiness, the house, or anything negative at all. One of the biggest problems we have is that the crew removed the majority of the plastic coverings from all rooms on the 2nd & 3rd day of painting, before completing multiple coats on ceilings and walls, as well as before painting the cabinets, doors, and trim work. This resulted in “overspray” and paint drops on several of our things throughout the house. *It was very obvious once they began painting the ceilings that multiple coats would have to be painted, in turn increasing the total significantly. Needing multiple coats was highly influenced by the quality of the paint used. We were told “our walls” could be the problem. The foreman told us Thurs. morning that an additional day was going to be needed (Friday). He then painted the kitchen cabinets on this day as well. The cabinets were previously a red mahogany stain, and he used 2 coats of white paint, but did not paint most of the bottom edges of the cabinets, and there is still red that shows through the white on many sides. Painting ended up being completed on the evening of Day 4. We were asked to do the “walk through,” right then. We asked Christina Davenport if we could do it the next day, as we had not been living in our home and had not had the chance to walk through ourselves to see what needed to be touched up. She agreed and met us the next day. That evening we discovered several of our things had been damaged by the painting crew. We also saw numerous paint mess-ups, drips, overspray, missed spots, sloppy work, and paint that needed to be removed, as well as an entire room with a strange spotty sheen on all the walls. Along with the multiple “paint-related” issues, we pointed out a few big problems, like multiple scratches in the slate flooring in the middle of our kitchen (with clear attempts to buff/treat), a broken electrical outlet, paint drops on our son’s comforter (as opposed to the “mist” overspray, which was throughout our house), scratches on our newly built-in wooden media center (installed the day prior to the painting job), and multiple paint drops on our Peloton mat. Joe's Painting would not accept any responsibility and instead said we were to blame for the damages! We had mistakenly paid in full in good faith when asked how we were going to pay the balance, which ended up being $2k over the initial estimate. We never thought these people, who claim on their website they ensure complete approval from each client and that he is part of the process from beginning to end to make sure the customer is 100% satisfied, would cash our check the next day, and then deny all damages and begin threatening a lawsuit against us! We were never rude, loud, disrespectful, or unkind in any of our conversations, emails, or texts- yet Joe Davenport became extremely angry and unprofessional when he was challenged with a less than stellar job. Upon researching this business, we discovered that most of the reviews and recommendations for JP were personal friends of theirs. Lesson learned. Check the BBB and do your research before hiring!