MICHAEL CARLIN PAINTING INC

I called Michael for a bid on an exterior paint job on April 1st, and he didn't return my call until the 12th. That's a lousy response time. I did tell him I usually don't do business with someone who takes that long to respond, as I loose confidence in their professionalism and ability with follow through. He told me he was quite busy and apologized, and said "thank you for being honest about that." I told him that I had 3 bids since I left him a message 11 days ago, but wouldn't mind to get another, since I still wasn't sure the bids I got were good. He told me that since I had three bids, that should be good enough and that's the standard of what people normally do. Well, if I want to get more than 3 bids on a job, that is my choice as a consumer. He seemed as though he didn't want to bother to do the bid and I actually told him that, but he assured me that wasn't the case. He asked me questions like what other companies did I get quotes from, and what price range they gave me. When I mentioned one of the companies, he gave me a " heads up" that he is doing an interior job for someone who wasn't satisfied with one of the companies I mentioned. So, he already "bashed" a competitor. He also asked who built my house, which I didn't see the relevance of that question. My husbands thought was if it was a high end builder it would be worth his time, otherwise it wouldn't be. He gave me a rough price range on the job based on what I thought the condition of my house is. It seemed like a fair bid, so I wanted to proceed with him coming out. We made an appointment for today, and he called me one hour before he was supposed to come and said "I've been thinking about this, and I really don't think I have the time to give you the ATTENTION you need for your house." It was the WAY it was said, I took very personally. To me the translation was " I don't want to deal with YOU because you wouldn't be satisfied." A normal conversation would be" I'm too busy to take on more jobs." I asked him what that meant and what the real reason was, because it didn't make sense to me that the night before he had time, and today he didn't. I told him it was the most amusing phone call I've ever received from a contractor. Perhaps it's because it's a Saturday and he didn't want to waste his time (or maybe because there is a golf tournament.) I did tell him if he was that busy, he shouldn't have made an appointment with me because he is too busy doing other jobs. I rearranged my schedule in order to fit our appointment in. I did tell him I would post a report on Angie's List and he asked me why I would do that. Really? Come on! So, after this very long story, my advice is to use someone else with better customer service skills, who returns calls in a timely fashion and doesn't waste your time and cancel one hour prior to an appointment. Very unprofessional.

They did it on schedule and on budget. I like the job the did.

Mike came out to give us an estimate and was very friendly and knowledgeable. We then faxed in the signed contract to begin work. Unfortunately communication was poor from this point on in the project; a voicemail or e-mail would go unanswered for days. This communication problem is my only problem with MC Painting. Once the painting began, the initial work was very quick and the quality of the painted areas was excellent. Unfortunately there were some drips on the siding and windows, and these weren't removed until 3 weeks later. But in the end these drips were removed and we are happy with the result. I would consider using MC Painting again, but I would first look for a more responsive painter.

The job went easily and extremely quickly! We have a beautiful new paint job on our house!

There was a miscommunication as to what they were supposed to paint. My side of the story is that they were supposed to paint the front porch and the back deck, except for the deck itself. They were also supposed to paint the house and trim. The controversy was about whether or not they were supposed to paint the trim on the front porch. The original contract said that they weren't going to paint the deck. To me, a front porch is not a deck. They didn't paint the front porch. I had the owner come out. They did a crummy job of painting the railings on the deck and also the front porch. We agreed on an amount to take off the original contract. The original contract was not completely adhered to. The owner came out and explained that he had problems with his foreman. There were good workers, and the owner himself was pretty good, but the man working for him was not that good. Would I have him paint for us again? Probably not. They did a pretty good job painting the house itself. The price was good as well.

We were very pleased. The craftsmen are very professional, have a great attitude and the pride in doing the job correctly. All three of them worked very hard. We have a number of plants and garden furniture, none of which was damaged. They took extreme care when masking to assure that no over spray would get on anything. At the end of both painting days they carefully collected all of the debris, repositioned our furniture and secured the gates.

Excellent. Great people, great value, high quality; like working with family.

OVERALL EXPERIENCE WITH MICHAEL CARLIN PAINTING WAS EXCEPTIONAL. WE WANTED TO PUT A NEW ROOF, GUTTERS AND PAINT THE HOUSE AND HE COORDINATED ALL OF IT. THE WORK WAS COMPLETED DURING THE WINTER MONTHS WHERE WEATHER WAS A FACTOR AT TIMES, BUT IT WAS ALL COMPLETED IN A TIMELY MANNER. MICHAEL TAKES PRIDE IN HIS WORK AND IT SHOWS. VERY HAPPY WITH WORKMANSHIP.