Excel Home Painting

We have used Excel Painting a number of times. From the process of getting a quote to the workers on-site to the follow-up after the job is completed, we have been thrilled with the experience. Their prices are always competitive and the workmanship is top-notch. I would highly recommend them to everyone.

We requested a bid on two projects next door to one another, one a three-story house that badly needed to be re-stained, the other a small 1 1/2 story house that needed lead abatement and re-painting. We got a prompt response, an estimator (Ryan Barr) that took time to listen to our concerns, and took a good deal of time inspecting the houses. In less than a week we had the most comprehensive estimates we received - two 12 page document that were informative and easy to follow, and included exactly what Excel would be providing, processes they followed, who would be responsible to us, and what our responsibilities would be. It also contained license/bonding information, and a long list of people we could call for recommendations. Ryan kept in touch with us during our lengthy process of decision making, without being impatient or pushy. Excel Home Painting was one of two finalists whose bids were very close. We eventually chose another firm's bid because of some extra work they offered us. We have no doubt, however, that we would have gotten excellent service from Excel.

Overall a quality job - professional, responsive and on-time. There was some miscommunication between the bid team and the painting team, which required additional clarifications about the job once it got started. The painting team spilled a few drops of paint on a wood furnishing, and Excel handled getting a furniture refinisher out to our place to fix. Again, some delayed and miscommunications about the refinish job (and paying party) - but ultimately all worked out, and Excel project management team were always in touch.

Great job! Very efficient and professional.

They came out to bid the job within a day (it was early Spring) and emailed the bid within a day. I said OK. They mailed a contract and references, set a date, worked around the rainy days. Workers were friendly and very professional. They even accommodated our visitors by painting our front, entry, and entertaining area first. My neighbor across the street used them first, then us, and a neighbor down our street will be next.

They came on time (April 2016), bid on the work, were respectful of my time and place, were responsive to my questions and were able to finish in 3 days even though 8 days were allotted. They returned in the spring to take care of some blistering that had occurred over the summer and explained that to me. They also did excellent work. I'm very happy with the paint job they did.

We sought bids from about a dozen companies and many turned us down because they only wanted to bid on the full house. We ended up with two bids. Excel was the best value and I was impressed with how smoothly the communications had gone with them through the bid process. That initial impression carried through the whole project. There were no sub contractors--everyone we worked with was an employee and it was clear they really cared about the work they did. We received regular check in emails leading up to the project which was so helpful. In the end we had an added bonus--they were able to start 10 days earlier! The crew, Matt and John, showed up on time and walked us through the work plan and what they would need to get the job done (electrical, etc.). We figured out daily start times (we had had an initial estimate of 3-4 days) and they got to work. By the end of the first day most of the scraping had been done on the two exterior walls and they had done an very thorough job cleaning up. It only took another day and a half for them to finish the entire project--so a total of just 2-1/2 days! Their work was outstanding and they were so great to work with. The other thing I appreciated was how much they cared about their work. We thoroughly enjoyed working with them and I would hire Excel in a heartbeat without question--they have outstanding project and people management skills, a high work ethic, and deliver beautiful work ahead of schedule.

The project manager and person who came out to give us the bid were great. Responsive and timely and answered all our questions. Unfortunately, the actual job performed was not great and 9 months later the paint is already starting to chip. The painters spilled some paint on our driveway (and did not clean it up), had a lot of over-spray on the foundation and additionally painted some things (electric outlet casing and venting tubes) that we would have preferred not to be painted. Due to early coats of lead-based paint on our shingle,s extra safety precautions had to be taken; I had to remind the painters several times about some of this and ended up having to speak with their manager for quite awhile on the phone before everything was done properly.

Matt and crew were excellent, very happy!

Everyone was very courteous and professional from the office personnel to painting crew. Within one day of estimator visit, we received the very detailed proposal. They kept us informed of what to expect during the process and the timeline of the project. Any questions we had were answered promptly. They were painting the whole interior of the house while we were living in it and we found the painters were considerate of our space. They arrived on time, protected our floors and furniture, and cleaned up everyday.

Great service started with Ryan who provide us with a detailed and firm estimate. We even took a small 20 foot exterior "pony" wall off the project and he immediately lowered the price. I didn't expect that because it was such a minor deletion. The painters (led by Matt) worked during some of the hottest days in Seattle and did a fantastic job. They were very careful and detailed. They were as about as perfectionist as they could be given they were painting cedar shingles that are very uneven in texture. They were neat and punctual and put in 10 hour days to get the work done. They cleaned-up each day and made the process as easy as they could on us. I would highly recommend this company and will use them when we paint our interior.

Sometimes a problem brings out the best in a vendor. That was certainly our experience with Excel Home Painting but first a little background: We needed to have our house repainted, especially the cedar shakes that made up a good portion of our siding. We also needed the trim repainted but we didn?t know if we needed the HardiePlank repainted. Thus we needed a firm that would give us a clear set of price quotes for each of the options. We contacted 3 firms, one who had worked with us before and 2 others that were top-rated through Angie?s List. Excel, well, excelled in giving us the comparative numbers we needed (we opted do not do the HardiePlank and I?ll have more to say about that later). Not only that, but despite their ?high end? image, their quotes were absolutely competitive with the others. We decided to go with them and one of the reasons is their policy of assigning a team to a house and keep them there until they?re done. Thus our job took a couple days while our neighbor, who was having his house painted at the same time, had to wait almost a month for his team to finish as they were always being called away to other jobs. The guys were great and were very thoughtful checking in with our neighbors whenever they needed access to their property when they had an awkward angle with a ladder, etc. Then the problem popped up. They were on the home stretch on Thursday (the last day of three) to finish up but we had some rain earlier in the week, unusual for late July, and we were concerned. However, the lead painter pushed on, as he was leaving town the next day to attend a wedding and wanted to finish, though the rain was getting worse. We had noted some spatter developing because of the rain but he assured us that he?d come back the next Monday and fix anything that needed touching up. We were nervous about his painting in the rain but he said he?d fix any problems. At this point we wrote the owner and the operations manager, voicing our concerns as well as a list of some of the problem areas and we had quick responses from them. The next day another crew member from Excel stopped by to pick up some of the paint equipment and he was not happy seeing the amount of splatter and drip that was on the house (now that the rain had stopped we had also noted a lot more paint drips than we had seen earlier). He called the operations manager who arrived soon after and was appalled and upset by what he saw. Early the next week a new crew was there and spent a full day redoing much of the paint. Since some of the splatter from the cedar shakes had landed on some of the HardiePlank below, they also painted two whole sides of our house that had HardiePlank, no charge. The care they took to get the job done right was most impressive. And if that wasn?t enough, they gave us a jaw-dropping discount off the original price. All this goes to testify to what a high-quality company this is and to one of the reasons I like Angie?s List: Vendors who depend on good ratings from Angie?s List members will bend over backwards to make sure you?re happy at the end of the process. And we sure are!

First, dealing with Excel went well. They were very attentive - email, phone and in person. However, there are two issues we weren't happy with. One, we believe the scraping could have been more thorough. Because of the prior use of lead paint on the house, it had to be scraped, not sanded. That's fine, but we felt the scraping could have been more thorough to more completely feather out the scraped edges/cracks. We're afraid the edges will curl or the cracks will open and water will intrude. Two, and this is an unforgivable mistake, four of our windows were painted shut. These are/were 90-year old, original to the home, functioning casement windows. Excel attempted to re-open/scrape the paint, and we spent a few hours scraping/sanding the frames and trying to clean out the hinges, to no avail - the windows no longer work as they once did; they stick and don't open or latch properly. The F rating for quality is because of what happened to the windows.

Skilled painters, high quality and attention to detail, efficient and coordinated teamwork, clean/neat, reasonable price

This was by far the most professional painting company I've worked with. From the initial contact (on time and friendly) through the professional and courteous billing and contracts process to the clear communication of expectations for both parties and the on time friendly crew that finished the work. Start to finish a very pleasant company to work with at a reasonable price and completing high quality work. The work site was left clean and I'd happily refer friends to Excel. In fact, I'll likely have them back out again in a couple years when the rest of the house is due for a painting.

The short and sweet of it is that they never were able to complete the job AND they dumped paint down the storm drains. There must have been some disconnect between the person who does the bids and the actual painters. When the painters arrived on the first day they said there is no way they were able to paint the whole building with their ladders, so they had to rent a lift. They then said they would have to pull a permit to use the lift on the side walk. They were unable right away so they never finished painting our building. Now we are left with 1/4 of our trim peeling. When I was inspecting the job that they did I noticed some areas of concern. They had been dumping paint down the storm water drain the feeds into a stream that is under salmon habitat restoration. They missed multiple areas the were well within the reach of their ladder. I called the company and asked for someone to come out to go over the job. I address the areas they missed and they told me someone would be out to fix it. The area that concerns me is the response I got when I asked him why there was paint in the storm water drain. He replied that this was normal practice and their paints cause no harm. This is complete BS and someone in the painting industry should know better. In retrospect I should have reported their company to the city.

They painted the interior and exterior of my house.

They were very good & professional about the work & the place looks great. There was a problem (not their fault - Sherwin Williams mixed the color wrong! Excel ordered it correctly my name & #) and they expedited the corrective action at no cost to get the paint replaced with the color it was supposed to be. It was late in the season & they even used heaters to get the paint set just right. Very Happy and will use them again. Price was right too.

It was a good experience, and I was pleased with the results. The crew showed up on time, avoided leaving any messes, and completed the work on schedule. In addition, they've been very responsive to some minor issues which I appreciate.

They were great. They finished the job early and were professional and helpful when we had questions.

This is a 95-year-old Craftsman house that had not been professionally painted in at least half a century. We had had areas of flaking for years. So we didn't want to hire the low bidder, but looked closely at the details of the bids and other jobs the companies had done. Excel sent a four-painter crew who obviously were experienced. They spent three days preparing surfaces, including grinding down the entire front of the house, as per my request. Where old windows had broken or missing glazing, they reglazed. They used good quality paint, Sherwin-Williams latex, over an oil-based primer. The finished product looks great, and I don't think we will need to repaint for many years.

The job went well. The house looks great. They performed a small miracle on side door to the garage.

David as the sales rep, did a good job preparing the quote, making sure it covered our needs, and communicating the scope included. Drew, the job foreman, started out on the wrong foot and the base coat was sprayed before the prep was ready. Once that was resolved with David reviewing with Drew what was bid, the job went well. Drew did and excellent job, checked in frequently and worked to make sure we were pleased with the quality. Clean-up could have been a little better and they should have been more careful around the yard plants.

From the initial bid process to the end, everyone from Excel provided expedient service, professional results and no-nonsense get-'et-done attitude. After submitting my bid request online, I received an email from Erin in less than 24 hours. I had a bid from Ryan in double-time after his on-site visit, and was able to offer me a full breakdown of the price of each room, w/wo ceiling painted, etc. I got 2 other bids, but the price and level of service received by Excel was a promise of better things to come. This was a 2-day project and on both days, Nigel and his crew were tip-top right on the dot on time. I left for work and couldn't wait to get home to find out how it looked! Between day 1 and day 2, they had removed the equipment and paint to be sure I could use my abode. In doing the walk-through I found one hidden area unpainted (of course, you had to know to look there), and Nigel was happy to come back to take care of it. Not only did he take care of it, he went around to touch-up some places even I hadn't notice (and, to be honest, still couldn't notice when he pointed them out... but I'm not a professional). Overall great experience and results!

They were great! EXTREMELY thorough in their estimate, extensive documentation of 'home flaws' that needed to be addressed. When asked, they gave advice about color and color combinations. I was very happy I followed their advice about the color of the garage door. They did an excellent job of clean up. They were careful with our plants and trees. Our house looks great!