Christian Painting Co

In the fall of 2009, I hired Robert Nester, owner of Christian Painting, to paint the interior of our family home. The house was full of packed boxes and possessions from my late sister?s home as I was going through them and preparing things to take to the thrift store of a no-kill shelter. Among the boxes was a small, white tourister suitcase filled with sliver dollars saved by my sister throughout her life from childhood to be donated to an animal foundation at her death. One of the bedrooms was to be painted ?Priscilla Pink?, a light medium pink shade. The color used instead was the color of pepto bismol. I had to pay an additional $100 to get Mr. Nester to change the color , and I still never got the color I had specified. I had a paint card and a pint of the actual color I bough from the paint store to help Mr. Nester and he still never approached the color I requested. A shelf was removed from the wall of one bedroom during the painting. Huge holes were made where the screws had been. The repair was never made. The holes were left. In early winter of 2010, I hired Mr. Nester to come back and paint the exterior of our white frame 2-story home. We had always used water-base paint which is what I requested, but Mr. Nester took the liberty to use oil-based paint. I had requested the concrete bird bath be painted. Mr. Nester painted it and the polyresin bird bath and I had to pay for both of them. I asked that the bottom of the concrete porch be painted white. The white paint had several brown steaks running down. I asked Mr. Nester to paint over the brown streaks but he never did. Because I own 4 properties and had requested work on them, I gave Mr. Nester keys to all 4 of the properties. He told me he could do home repairs as well as paint. One of my properties had a leak in the metal roof. I called a contractor, J.W. Barton, who told me his fee would be between $4,000 and $5,000, depending on how much rotten wood he found once he got into the work. Mr. Nester said he could fix the repair and do it immediately, so I gave him the job to him. I explained I wanted a thorough, complete job. When he finished the job, I asked him if he fixed everything. He told me, ?yes.? I paid him $1,500 on June 24, 2010, and $2,500 on July 6, 2010, for the roof. Because our house was very full of my late sister?s belongings, I did not realize until much later that the suitcase of silver dollars was missing. Mr. Nester had said he found my door unlocked. I was suspicious of him telling me that because I knew I had never left the door unlocked. I even made the comment that maybe the rough teenager across the street had taken the suitcase to see if he would make a response, but he said nothing. In the summer of 2011, the metal roof had rain water gushing through. The contractor I had originally contacted for the repair, J. W. Barton, said no rotten wood had been replaced. Everything had not been fixed. It was not a thorough, complete job. Mr. Barton says the damage is now so extensive that the repair fee is now $6,000. I found Mr. Nester?s company, Christian Painting, in the yellow pages. He ad said, ?No Drugs, No Alcohol.? When 2 of his men came to see me, they told me he bought huge quantities of crack which I had begun to suspect because of his speech, attitude, and behavior. The men also told me he went through everything in my house. My vacuum cleaner was damaged during the painting. Mr. Nester said he aid insurance, but never had my vacuum repaired. Mr. Nester has no state license. He has an ?F? rating with the Better Business Bureau and a record of not responding to complaints. I have no contact with Mr. Nester. I have asked for the keys to my 4 properties, but he will not return them. He said he would call and arrange to meet with me, but never did. It is my hope that this information will save someone else from making the poor choice I did in choosing a painting contractor who says he can also do repair jobs, is a Christian who purchases crack, doesn?t answer or return calls, and keeps the keys to the properties he works on.