Richard T. Winkler, Inc Painting and Decorating

Very smoothly

We were very pleased with the Winkler Decorating team's recent work both inside and outside of our home, where they took a lot of care and attention to detail to help us preserve 150 + yr old clapboard siding. Rich Winkler spent a lot of time with us reviewing the job beforehand as well as during, and his team was excellent - all very professional, punctual, and attentive to every detail I asked about. They were also very kind to my neighbor, whose property they had to access for the job. A+!

His work is superior in quality. He has expert attention to detail.

I contacted Winkler because I had seen the vans around Old Town, and that the projects they were working on seemed to be of great quality. They very responsive and provided a better price than anywhere else, which was surprising because often the contractors that work on the older houses in Old Town come at a premium. I had some minor carpentry work to be done before the painting, which they recommended a carpenter for. The painters were great, and were patient with me when I decided to change the color on them once I saw some of it go up. Will probably use them again when I get the interior done soon.

He did a really good job. He was prompt and the men that worked for him were terrific. It was just an overall good experience.

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Not too well.

I highly recommend him. He does a good job. He is expensive but he does a good job.

Crews are always on time. They call if they are not coming (for rain). They do exactly what they say they will do. They clean up at the end of each day. Polite and professional.

They did well. They repainted the bathroom when I hated the color and used the "green" paint I requested. All in all they were pleasant, neat, and did a fine job. I have had drips appear on the two sides of a single wall, which I attribute to the paint and perhaps to the ventilation duct that runs through the wall at that point. Richard said they would look at it, but no one ever did. I found that the quality of the work was best when they started and deteriorated slightly when they rushed at the end. Still, they were far superior to other painters I have used.

They were great. They were very professional, the work came in right at the estimate they gave us, and they did a really good job with the work itself. They seemed to care an awful lot about whether we were pleased and that the new plaster matched the old plaster perfectly. We are very happy with them and we are going to use them again in the near future. Their price is a little higher than others.

excellent. no problems, no reservations.

Everything this company did, they did a good job on. Any detail I pointed out to them they did right. I didn't think my windows could be rescued without a total stripping and reglazing, but Hector managed somehow to make them look great in a day. The paint finish on the paneling on the walls and ceilings of the room I had them paint from scratch is smooth and free of flaws. The paneled room I had them correct after a sloppy first paint job doesn't look quite as perfect as the room they painted from scratch, but it looks much better than it did before. Overall, this company is pricey, but they do good work. These are the people to call if you want a job done once, and done right.

Richard Winkler claims over 30 years of experience and emphasizes his quality work and attention to detail. He claims that their quality work lasts several years unlike the work other painters who do inadequate preparation of surfaces before painting [which lasts a few years]. However, the estimating and actual work is done by others. He came to the property when there was a problem with the quality of the work. Wilbert evaluated the job and drew up the estimate. He was prompt, courteous, and explained the extent of the work that would be done. Wilbert's brother, William, was in charge of the work and he worked on our home with a second painter, Antonio. Richard sent a different contractor to do the wood repair. That subcontractor was not licensed. At my request, Richard allowed the work to be performed under his license. The subcontractor did a good job. The job started out well. They stripped the old paint down to clean wood in most areas. But by the second day, William informed me that the job had been under bid and he needed to increase the price. I complained to Richard, who assured me he would honor the written contract. I?m not sure how William calculated his hours, as he charged for several more hours than he and Antonio spent on our property [the time from when they stepped out of their truck to the time they were driving down the street]. I also observed William spending increasing amounts of time just standing around drinking or talking on the phone - not working. The last several days on the job, William was constantly on the phone even when he painted. At times William left the property for half a day or more leaving Antonio to work alone. The only break I saw Antonio take was his lunch breaks. William took 12 days spread over 3 months to do the work. Some of the delays were due to time for the window glazing to cure before painting, William's injury, and my availability. They initially used the wrong shade of paint. I felt Richard initially blamed me. Fortunately, it was clearly stated in the contract that the color would match. When this was shown to Richard, he assured me it would be corrected. There were several places on almost every window that had been missed, the window glazing had irregular edges and I felt there was excessive glazing on the windows [see pictures. The gray lines along the panes are glazing that you see as you look out the window]. I was charged $150 for pressure washing even though William did not use a pressure washer. Richard reported William claimed he took 4 ? 5 hours to hand wash the wall. However, I witnessed and confirmed with William that he had hand wash the wall in 2 hours. I showed the problems to Richard and Wilbert. They agreed to correct the problems and sent out Armando and a different painter. Armando fixed the glazing and repainted one coat on all the windows and siding in 1 and ? days. He did come back 3 times to touch up the spots he missed, but he spent less than an hour each time. Although I had marked the areas with tape, at the last visit I had to point out each missed spot personally to be sure he painted everything. The last visit could have been completed in under 20 minutes but he kept stopping to chat to the other painter so they were there for an hour. William also claimed it took 6 hours to patch and paint a portion of ceiling. Yet we watched William and Antonio do the job. The total time including preparing the area was timed under 2 hours. See attached picture. The dark areas were spots where I tried to match paint. The grey area was primer. My husband and I put up the blue tape and corresponding plastic on the windows and around the chandelier. William put up the plastic on the walls held up by white tape. The tape is 2 inches wide. William painted the ceiling between the plastic covered wall and the blue tape in the middle of the ceiling. He charged 6 hours for painting that section and patching the 2 ? 3 spots in the ceiling. My final bill was ~$1,000 higher than the cap on my estimate. I pointed out that there was a cap and informed Richard about the discrepancy in hours. His wife, Cristina, informed me I owed the higher amount. She insisted that the higher amount did not include additional hours that they had not charged. She did state that if I did not agree I should pay what I felt I owed. I paid the cap of the agreed upon amount. I believe it should have actually been less but other than the times I recorded, there was no way to prove that the hours had been over stated. The end result is a decent job, but for the cost I paid I expected a professional experience. I greatly appreciated that Richard did not argue fulfilling the terms of his contract. I would not use William again, but I might consider Richard and Armando.

He gets people who will do a good job. I find him easy to get along with. Everyone that has come out has cleaned up after themselves very well. They do a very good job the first time.

They sanded and prepared the wall, including some plaster repairs that were very well done. The primer they used seemed a bit strong, as it left a significant odor, although it did go away. Overall, though, I liked their service. They were very friendly and willing to do whatever I asked of them. The work seemed to take longer than it should have.