College Works Painting - Washington

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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!

A college student up at University of Washington in Seattle named Sam Dodson and his crew of two other painters painted my two story house. There was three colors to paint; house, trim and door. I switched colors the day before and it wasn't a problem. The weather was very hot but they kept at it. Any adjustments and suggestions were dealt with politely and promptly. We did a walk around when finished and any minor adjustments were made, such as paint splatters on the cement and making sure the shutters were put back on straight. They also swept up the previous paint that was peeling and scraped off.

Due to conflicts with timing on other projects, promptness to the scheduled time was difficult. The original work was planned by a crew but only one painter was only available. However, the painter stayed late to complete on the scheduled date. Supplies and tools were not always complete. eg ladder, sander malfunctioned. These were provided to the worker to avoid unnessary time lost time to obtain them. Overall the quality of the work was excellent. The quality of the prep ie scraping and sanding was excellent. The quality of the paint was high quality. The application of the paint was smooth and neat. An excellent job.

It went great. It started out with the in home quote. A young man named Taylor Witman came to our home told us what services they provided, how long it would take and how much it would cost. We accepted the quote and he told us he would be the supervisor on the job. He was prompt, professional and a nice young man. our house came out wonderful. I know any house Taylor paints the customer will be happy.

The intern that initially approached me to ask about doing the work was Alex Bushman. Alex, myself and a colleague of his did a walk around to detail the work and the cost estimate. The initial contracting process was very professional. The subsequent scheduling went fine and the work was completed in a timely manner. Alex was great to work with. We had a couple of small issues with the guys that Alex had working for him. Alex came back and made everything right personally. His own work was excellent. Overall, I was very pleased with Alex and College Works and would hire Alex again.

It went really well. Seemed to run like a well-oiled machine. Great project manager - ask for Jared.

Ryan Bradford started by advising me on the work and prepared an informative estimate. He worked to find just the right match for my current paint color. He arrived on time for each appointment, answered questions well, and gave me a better understanding of the painting process and possible considerations. He arrived on painting day promptly and led a great crew with skill and attention to detail and safety. He stuck with the job to get every last detail right, creating a great looking result. Ryan and his crew were thorough in going back over small areas that needed touch up before wrapping up for the day. He did a careful job cleaning up and making sure everything was back in place. I am very pleased with the painting work and the house looks terrific! I highly recommend Ryan for his hard work, skill and friendly manner both with me and with his crew members. This is a great way to get your home looking its best!

I recently had the exterior of my home painted by College Works Painting. I am totally impressed with the professional job the painters did and with their District Manager, Uriah. He and his painters performed to my expectations. Uriah did a thorough assessment of my home and gave me an estimate of costs that were reasonable and within the price range I had anticipated to pay. The bid was given the day I received the estimate and the costs associated with the job were outlined in a format that was easy to understand. The cost that was quoted to me in the bid, was exactly what I payed after the service was provided to my satisfaction. He brought samples of paint to my home, helped me pick the best match and returned with sample paint to try on the house. He used Sherwin Williams Super paint. After the paint selection was made, he pressured washed my entire house with a bio-degradable solution, and sanded some blistered areas. He returned with his crew to paint. They applied two coats to the exterior plus the trim, re-painted garage door and side door, and protected my decks and plants close to the house with drop sheets. They cleaned up completely each night and at the end of the job as the contract outlined. They did a exceptional job painting and conducted this transaction in a professional, business manner. I would highly recommend Uriah and College Works.

My wife and I typically like to discuss and plan what projects we would like to do around the house each year. This year we decided that it was time to re-paint the house. Our house desperately needed to be rescued from the outdated paint color picked by the prior owner. So, when Cameron from College Works Painting knocked on our door this spring we knew that we were at least going to listen to his sales pitch. What we didn?t expect was to come away with as much information from that first meeting as we did. Cameron was upfront and honest with what we could expect the process to be like. He patiently explained all of the details of each step including the estimate, to what we could expect with the completion of the project. From the very start Cameron was willing to be flexible with the schedule, the amount of work and ultimately staying within our budget. He made the decision to accept the bid an easy one. But that was just the start of the process. We would still need to pick a paint color, schedule a date, etc. Every step of the way Cameron explained the options that we had in a calm, confident and re-assuring manner. He even was able to play negotiator between my wife and I as we debated over the color to paint the house. We are able to find a great compromise on color for the house. Bottom line the finished product was well worth the investment.

It was a nightmare

I have a large 2 story home with attached carport and garden shed. He did a lot of the work with his cohorts while I was at work. They did a lot of goofing around according to my sister who was here most of the time. Painted over flaking old paint and leaving a mess. They had to come back many times over the following year to correct things and still left a mess. My decks were stained and Jay had to come back several times to correct the botched job. My decks were left very sticky and bubbly due to the stain put on too thick. They finally had to hire an independent painter to come out and strip the decks and do them right. I still have brown spots from the deck left on my light colored siding where they were sloppy. I am going to have to have my house repainted, but cannot afford it at this time. Don't ever use Collegeworks Painting. They hire college kids to do the work who have absolutely no experience, but sound like they do.

The contractor they sent did an OK job but certainly not in the highly professional and high quality they sell you. I felt sorry for the young college lady they had as the project manager intern. She was not the one scamming people, it was her boss who came to the house and gave us the hard sell which unfortunately we signed up for. Key Issues: I had to demand the work get underway after waiting over a month for them to start and having multiple good weather points. They promised to identify and inform me of all repairs that were needed so I could negotiate any additional work. This was never done and I had to inspect and request each repair myself. They began work on a day before a storm which I questioned but they said would be fine. Water streaking meant that large portions of the main paint had to be re-painted. This took ME inspecting and identifying the rework to be done. The customer should never have to do that It was obvious that the painters they had were only young low skilled workers. They did send a worker with slightly more experience to do the rework since I was withholding final payment. The College Works intern and her boss were nowhere to be seen and did zero inspections and follow-up for the job. Another sign of poor quality and just trying to get your money with the least effort possible. I ended up with an OK job at what I consider a higher price than I should have paid for it. But that is only because I went there day in and day out to make sure they did what at least I felt was needed. The price would have been OK for a good quality job with no hassles. But that was not the case. Overall don't even talk to these folks. You'll never know what you will get. I had to give them a D since my experience was not as bad as the other reviews now In Angie's list. Too bad I didn't see those before signing up.

Initial estimate was difficult to schedule and came in a month after we first contacted them. About a month later we learn that a power washing was required--another $300+. Not realizing that and given the delays, we'd had our windows washed for $300+ which we will repeat tomorrow. Delays led to delays. The initial college student contact was unreachable and was poorly informed about what would be required, what was recommended, and when the work would actually be done. After two months of delays and misinformation we began working with others involved. Contacts from College Works were not reachable, but there was a contractor and his assistant working behind the scenes---they knew what they were doing in terms of painting and had some insights into the workers and their schedule. But they were not in charge and in a position to influence. No one was in charge. No one was responsive. No one was accountable. The workers--the actual painters--showed up one at a time, never with any of the individuals with whom we'd been dealing. One spoke enough English for us to feel confident in our communications, although almost every day was a new worker, and it was clear they were not communicating with each other. Conversations with one painter suggested he had given inaccurate information about the size of the job and was expecting compensation that was less than one quarter of what we were paying, although he (and his successors) were really the only ones who did any painting or prep work. The contractor from behind the scenes tried to reassure me as I struggled with the ethical challenges of this. This contractor also suggested we should be getting two coats rather than just one--after two and a half months of failed promises, I wasn't about to sign on for another $1800 with this group, Well, three months after our initial encounters, the job is not finished. The house has been spray painted. Much of the trim has been done, including some very high places on the back of the house. But there is trim work and clean up left to do. Not sure if I'll ever see them again since I paid 80% of the bill. I would NEVER use this group again. They are exploiting college students and I have not completely dispelled my suspicion that they are exploiting their workers as well. The contractor is from out of town, which limits his availability, and he does not seem be asked to share his knowledge of painting with those who do the estimating. I would NEVER work with College Works again.

I knew something about College Works from checking online, so was prepared for not highly experience professional painters. However, I was surprised at the lack of knowledge about preparation and painting from the two people who came out to measure and bid the job. They were pleasant and professional in demeanor. They had clearly been trained on making the sale. However, when I walked the job with them, and asked questions about how they would prepare areas, and what paint they would use, I was surprised at the lack of knowledge. For example, they knew what brand of paint they would use, but did not know the product line name or grade. They made several phone calls to managers before finding out that they were using the base (lowest) quality line of paint. They also questioned why I would want to paint the doors, because they are steel. (the doors are standard steel skinned, baked enamel coated exterior doors) After all that, I expected their pricing to be very reasonable, but in fact they were almost twice as expensive as the contractor we hired.