College Works Painting - Washington

I had a very positive experience interacting with the representative for College Works Painting through out the length of the project. The experience was much less stressful than I thought it would be and the end product was great!

Everything went great. Service was very responsive and made sure as work progressed that I was happy with each stage of completion. Very courteous and helpful in their suggestions for what might work best on my home.

The College works did an excellent job on painting the exterior of our house in Sammamish. They patiently worked with us in choosing the colors and showing us the samples. They showed up on time, completed the project on-time and did an excellent job keeping the job site clean.when you spend a good amount of money, you want to feel like you got your money's worth and we absolutely do. I recommend them 100%.

We were impressed with the entire process! From nailing down the contract, to choosing the paint color and through the completion of the job. The attention to detail was amazing and the communication I received on a daily basis made this a lot less stressful than other jobs I've hired for.

We hired College Works to paint the entire exterior of our house, including siding, eaves, and trim. Our point of contact was Nikolas Motheral, who managed the scheduling, color test, and the team of painters. He performed quality control and final touch up meticulously. Nikolas was flexible to meet our schedules and was a breeze to communicate with. The project was completed on time and we are completely satisfied with the final product. Would hire them again!

Jared was very Flexible on scheduling. I was able to make some final decisions on the house painting up until the day they began painting! Jared kept me up to date on all his timeframes and progress. I appreciated this very much, we had a lot of projects going on! I totally recommend this company and Jared for all their professionalism. My home looks Amazing, thank you Jared!

We were pleased with the work. They came out on a daily basis with specific things to do each day. They were organized and they worked diligently. The communication was good. When there were concerns, we had the opportunity to contact them through text to let them know what we wanted improved. Overall, things were good, but there were a few area's that needed to be touched up, and Lucero was responsive to our request.

Matt and his crew did a great job. Very professional result, excellent communication, and he and his crew were very respectful of our ask that they be careful around the plants in our garden. I'd be happy to contract with Matt and his crew again.

To whom it may concern. We absolutely recommend J.Rene Ortega Jr. with College Works Painting. Rene and his, were dependable and professional in an easy and enjoyable way. Rene is passionate about his work and easy to be around. He showed an excellent work ethic with professional skills. We were very comfortable in having Rene in our home. And of course, more than pleased with how our home turned out. Please feel free to contact us regarding any questions about his qualification and abilities. We would be pleased to expand on our recommendations. Sincerely, Michael and Marie Blaine WA E-mail odell@seanet.com

I was very happy with the end result; this crew was professional and hard-working and cost literally 1/3 less than other bids I had received for the exact same work. However, there were a few minor frustrations like some extra carpentry work I had requested not being accommodated which I would have like to know earlier so I could hire out the job to someone else. We did have to chase details like specific start dates that kept getting shifted due to other jobs taking longer than expected, and I had to project manage to ensure adequate cleanup since the crew was working over a brand new deck and brand new windows so I was not tolerant of any paint drips/spills. I am frankly a tough customer and the truth is that even though I had to chase a few of these details to get things to my satisfaction, in my experience I also have to do that with much more expensive contractors who charge more and don't hustle as hard to get a good result for you, so I'm very happy to pay less and feel more confident in the hiring choice I make, knowing that as a very picky homeowner I'm always going to have to chase a few final details in a job this big. I'm extremely satisfied with the outcome and specifically with the job manager Matt O'Brien in particular, and I expect to refer many neighbors and use this company again.

Amanda came out and have me a bid for painting my home. She helped with financing then completed the painting job as promised. Very professional and the house looks fabulous.

It was a big job but the guys were great. The house is beautiful! Rene and his team were professional and the quality is excellent! Would definitely recommend them again!

At first I was worried if I made the right choice in choosing College Works to paint my house. But as it turned out, I made the right decision. I was very impressed with Brandon's leadership and his attention to detail and getting the job done right. I've never seen such a harder working dedicated group of workers as they were. They showed true professionalism. Brandon not only saw that his workers and painters knew what their job was, he also pitched in and worked as hard. He always kept me informed as to what was happening. The prep work on the house was outstanding and a lot of hard work, The paint job on the house was just beautiful. All the painters did an excellent job. Sergio Rodriquez, Chasse Gunter, Teizell Jordan, Tim Lopez, and Jose Martinez. Thumbs up to all of them! I would recommend Brandon and crew to any home owner who wants their house painted. I owe you all a gracious thank you, thank you, for a job well done and an extra special thanks to Brandon for making this such a pleasant experience Frank Westman Mountlake Terrace, Wa 425-775-1071

All work, including the pre-paint inspections and pressure washing, was done in an efficient, courteous, and professional manner. They were able to accommodate my delays in scheduling, as well as overcome several weather delays. Great care was taken to ensure that only the intended surfaces were painted and that landscaping was protected. The results are outstanding, and I would definitely hire them again in the future.

It went great! Douglas, Chelsea did a great job. Would definitely recommend them.

They did great! I was concerned about price at first--I did get some other bids that were lower. I ended up going with these guys because they were much more communicative than the other contractors. They got the job done quickly and were very friendly. I pointed out a few spots that I thought looked off and they touched up without complaint. I am happy with this job!

The College Works team did a great job. They were professional, timely, and motivated. They did a color change on the exterior of my 2500 sq. ft. home. Tianna, the supervisor was excellent, she kept us informed of on what was happening, when it was happening and of any possible delays.

Great. Greg was great with customer service and took care of our needs

I received a call from college works painting painting and used their new online and phone estimating service. They had a written quote that they guaranteed SAME DAY I talked to them. This js huge for me because I am honestly too busy to wait around for hours on a weekend to see if a painter shows up on time. The price was fair, and the deposit low. They did not pressure me Into buying. I emailed them within about a week and they had a crew out within seven days. There were a couple small communication issues but they were quick to respond to everything. I will use them again!

They were amazing. Jason and Daniel were the friendliest gentlemen I have ever met. They communicated well with me about what they were going to do and told me exactly how everything was going to be done. They were on time which is a huge deal to me because I had appointments that I needed to get to. They did a wonderful job and I would recommend them for just about any kind of paint job!

My review of College Works Painting for a job done July 2015 in the Seattle area Timeliness/accountability Do you want someone to tell you they?ll come by tomorrow and then just not show up? Amra is your guy. Time and time again I was promised, ?I?ll come by tomorrow and take care of?? only to have that not happen. In some cases he?ll let you know late that night that he couldn?t make it; in others there is just a no-show. Fear not, there is never a call during, or ahead of time, to tell you that he won?t be able to make it. Excuses Oh the excuses. I couldn?t make it today because this other job had x happen. Our ladders won?t reach that part of your house. Your house is sucking up a lot of paint. My favorite, ?painting your house is really hard.? No kidding. That?s why I didn?t do this job myself. Poor quality After prep-work had occurred and paint had been applied it was clear that a spot was missed during prep work. (Paint was bubbling up). First solution, lightly scrape and repaint. Fail. Second solution, lightly sand and repaint. Fail. Apply more paint. Fail. The other prep work was done well, but for whatever reason, after realizing that they had missed a spot it was impossible to recreate that same level of prep. I finally elected to just do it myself. Sand it down a lot, apply some wood filler and paint. It now looks great and took less than 30 minutes to complete, but I had to do it myself. No documentation Let?s walk around the house to talk about what next steps need to be done. Note, you will mention maybe six things that need to be done, but since Amra doesn?t take any form of notes you?re left to only having whatever he happened to remember being fixed. In very general terms this will equal about half of the things you had agreed needed to be fixed. Also, often times he will send someone else out to fix whatever you?d had previously agreed upon, so even more details can get lost in the translation. It is a fantastic system indeed! Be prepared for numerous return trips where you?ll get to restate your wants. Bad estimate I leave the greatest for last. Colors were selected, an estimate was done, a deposit paid; we?re ready to go! ?Oh, that estimate will leave your trim looking crappy.? I kid you not; Amra said that our signed contract would leave my house looking ?crappy.? Fear not, there is a solution: Pay more money to have a second coat of paint applied to your trim. I talked to his manager, noting that you typically can?t feed someone a contact that will knowingly leave their house looking ?crappy,? but he wouldn?t budge. Oh, he offered to reduce the cost on the second coat, but any amount was still greater than our signed contract. After a total time of nearly two hours arguing with Amra, his boss Kali, and finally College Works corporate they agreed to paint the house to a non-?crappy? level at no additional cost. The Better Business Bureau will be hearing about this case of attempted consumer fraud. So in conclusion, if the above sounds good to you, by all means sign up with Amra, Kali and College Works Painting.

Alex, the intern, showed up at our house in May and asked if we want to have our house painted. We were thinking about it so we asked for an estimate. We had asked for hand washing the vinyl siding, pressure wash under the eaves and fascia boards, and paint the eaves and fascia. Alex did a hard sell and emphasized the use of College Works Painting will support college students. Since the bid was in line with other painting companies, and I had a soft spot for college students because I also supported myself though college by working, we signed the contract with Alex. After a few reschedules, the job started in late August. Alex showed up at 6PM and pressure washed under the eaves and fascia. It was dark by 8PM and he was done. I questioned him as to the effectiveness of his job because he did not use a ladder at all, even with the 3-story side of the house. Alex said the pressure is adequate even with the 25-foot roof. That was the first hint of many integrity issues that followed. Two days later, Alex returned with one of his employees and washed the vinyl siding. I provided the brushes and dish washing detergent. He added some Mold Avenger and the washing was done in one day. He would ask me if the washing was good enough whenever he ?finished? one side of the house. I told him ?no? because he skip the siding that were behind the bushes around the house. He was hoping that I would not notice since it was behind the bushed. I told him not to ask again until he finished doing a thorough job. During the painting, he was not using adequate drop cloth, resulting in drips and splatters of paint on our deck, driveway, patio and plants. Alex was not on site very much because he had to attend to personal business in Bellingham. Throughout the course of painting, whenever I mentioned missed spots under the eaves, Alex?s standard answer was ?that is a just a shadow effect?. I shined a 1 million foot candle spot light on the areas that the painters missed to prove to him that it was not just a shadow effect. He reluctantly told his painters to spray that area again. Don?t know how many home owners had fallen for the shadow effect excuse. On the last day, I noticed the 5-gallon of paint was water down so much that the colorant completely separated and floated to the surface. I told Alex about it and he just ignored me. He said that the paint after sitting overnight, just needed a stir. I noticed nobody stirred the paint so I took a picture of it. The painters finished the west side of the house and they left. I mentioned the paint issue to Alex again and he said that if there is water in the paint, it would drip after it was sprayed on. Since it was not dripping, there was no water in the paint. I contacted Alex?s manager and told him that I would not signed off the job because the paint was watered down and the solvent/wire brush to clean up the spill paint damaged our sheet vinyl deck. I e-mailed him the picture. Meanwhile, I showed the picture to the Sherwin Williams folks, they said that the paint had to be water down seriously for the colorant to completely separate like that, and what I got was an extremely thin coat that would not match to the color of rest of house. As for Alex?s claimed that the watered down paint would drip, Sherwin Williams said it is not true. Alex met with me the next day, still denied the water in the paint. I showed him the picture and told him what Sherwin Williams said. He called his painters and came back with the story that the water got into the paint bucket when they were washing down the spray gun. He came back the next day and repainted the west side of the house with good paint. Since I was not able to prove that the watered down paint did not happen prior to the last day, I had to settle for the repainting of the west side only. After talking with Alex?s manager again, I was adequately compensated for the damage to the decking material. Alex had to pressure washed the spilled paint from our patio and driveway. Safety on job is not on Alex?s mind, in spite of College Works Painting safety program. He allowed his employee to work on the roof without fall protection, and stood on the top rung of a 24-foot ladder while Alex held the ladder. On the last day, Alex put the tall ladder on the bed of his pickup truck Instead of tying it down, he had his two employees laid down flat on the bed of the pickup and held down the ladder while they drove to the next job. After Alex and crew left, I found the used paint roller and pads in my landscape, behind some bushed. The two painters were not college students so I was not helping college students except Alex. Oh well, I am glad this nightmare is over and I?ll be watching out for defects before the 5-year warrant is over.

The work began when an inexperienced college student sales rep measured and took detailed notes regarding the scope. Spent 20 minutes reviewing before giving me a bid proposal to accept. The price was acceptable and close to what I'd budgeted for so I signed the agreement without haggling. Signed with the understanding that there was a window of opportunity before we went on a long vacation that would promptly be followed by other work in the house (carpet laying). Didn't have any follow up response until the week before our vacation. The actual contractor who would do the work showed up who reviewed the scope with me and the college student sales rep. Afterward he asked to see the contract (neither of them had a copy!). I retrieved my copy and the contractor pointed out that the scope of work we reviewed was not detailed on the contract. The rep vouched for the accuracy of the scope we reviewed and that it was both our understanding that all of it would be included in the work. They left at that point after he promised to contact me to schedule the work the following Monday (counting down to 5 days before we leave). The next day I received a voicemail from a manager I didn't know informing me that they would refund my deposit, and that they would not do the work, explaining that their untrained rep had given me a bad price. When I protested that that was not my problem and that I expected them to honor our agreement the manager eventually agreed. Unfortunately the poor response time led to more delays and the work had to be postponed for 2 months for our trip and the other work already scheduled at our house. When work began, the same subcontractor reviewed the scope with me again (he had taken no notes before). During this review I agreed to delete a bathroom that was no longer ready (due to the other work under way) and the garage ceiling. In trade I asked them to repair and paint a portion of a wall in another room and he agreed (they ended up not doing that, so their scope was reduced). Next day he showed up with a non-English speaking crew, reviewed the scope in detail with them and left. The crew proceeded to mask off (prior to completing prep work (which seemed like the wrong order to me). This was followed by two fellows with caulk and some spackle who filled nail holes and blemishes. Tarps were also laid and painting began. It was a whirlwind. I left on business and when I returned I found the work progressed but unsatisfactory. I pointed out (to the 12 year old boy they brought as interpreter) spills and sloppily cut in paint, unfilled holes and the like ? and directed them to inspect and correct similar problems. At 6:30 I asked them what time they would be returning the next day to finish and they informed me they would finish that night! After pointing out numerous incomplete items on the scope of work they agreed that it was more reasonable to leave my household in peace that night. As they left they took up tarps to reveal that they had spilled paint directly on my brand new carpet and tracked it all over! (One section was uncleaned and ruined, costing $150 to patch). The next day much the same routine occurred, but I was away on business. They were gone when I returned. I inspected their work, and discovered even more missing scope, numerous runs, improperly prepped nail holes (gobs of caulk still clinging to most of them) even more holes that were not filled at all, more paint on adjacent surfaces, etc. I was appalled! I contacted the contractor and informed him the work was unacceptable, he came by to see for himself and agreed that it didn't meet his standards and that he would send his more skilled corrections crew to fix the next day. These fellows were English speakers but only marginally better painters. Like the first crew they had to borrow tools from me, didn't come with any proper painter's masking tape (they used the ordinary type which doesn't work properly). They corrected some of the original crew's mistakes and damage but created a host of new ones of their own. I showed the work to the contractor and declined to have them do any more work, preferring to settle up the bill (at which point he didn't offer any concessions). Now I face correcting the inferior terrible paint job myself (I have no budget left to hire someone else to fix it). As I progress I continue to find more serious avoidable flaws and damage, plus two windows and a door whose trim they didn't even paint (probably a good thing). I would not recommend this company (or the subcontractor, "The Third Arm Construction") to anyone.

A big con job. That's what we got. The job went horribly wrong. The paint was thinned out and did not cover very well. The guys that came to do the job had NO experience painting with a sprayer or a brush (they did not use a brush on the trim or house - it was sprayer or a pad). One of them almost fell off the roof. The other one lost control of the sprayer and damaged the neighbors fence, and tried to cover it up, and subsequently denied it. They got paint on the roof, the driveway and lawn and dumped a load of paint on the deck. The garage doors were sprayed but not opened and painted under the seal or in the articulated panels (the side door was sprayed too and the end of it not painted). There are spots all over the house where there is no paint coverage and the trim was not completely painted and thin and stringy where it was painted. The downspouts were not all painted. So, the "district manager" comes out to inspect my complaints. These are the excuses I got. 1. It's the wood's fault - it won't take the paint. 2. I picked the wrong color for the trim. This color does not cover very well. "How many houses have you painted?" he said to me. I obviously don't know anything about trim paint. And, if we wanted to PAY for a THIRD coat he would repaint the trim 3. The color is too close to the existing color, they could not see what was painted and what was not. 4. Regarding damage to the neighbor's fence. 1. I need to find a place that sells quarts - it only comes in gallons. 2. I need to know the correct color (he was given the label off the stain, and spoke directly to my neighbor twice). In the end the manager said he would touch up the areas where the spray was badly done, and the on some of the downspouts that did not get fully painted. But I had to pay to get the trim repainted. When I said I wanted the name of his supervisor because this was not a good outcome for us, he smirked and said, "This is it. I am higher than a district manager. There are no complaints that go higher than me. There is no one to take your complaint. If you don't like it you can take us to court. That's it." Which, other than his being higher than a district manager that was a bald face lie, he was right. The home office, the people that so deeply cared about our experience and quality of work, and giving opportunity to college kids, does not care about quality of work and teaches college kids how to be little con artists. They will take your hard earned money and faith in people and stomp on it and laugh in your face, and drive away in their fancy cars. And at night crawl under the rock which they came, lay their little thieving heads down upon their pillow and sleep happily knowing they got away with another person's money for doing very little. There moto should be, "You F'd up. You trusted us." At least it would be honest. They know pursuing them in court is an expensive proposition and very few probably do. They count on it in fact. But I can do this. I can warn everyone in the community. Do NOT hire these guys.

I had my house painted by College Works Painting and I was very pleased by their work. They did all the prep work as described, and I even received pictures of their progress as I was at work. Needless to say the communication was great, and I had an easy time working with this company, even though I was gone at work for most of the time. The work was completed in a very timely manner. Because there was so much scraping and sanding done on my home there were several chips of paint left over. I was very impressed about how they cleaned it up after I asked them to. Would definitely recommend College Works!