Additional issues were found with the Alex's paint job. In the days that followed the completion of the painting, I noticed what appeared to be gaps between the quarter round and the floor throughout the house, the appearance of the gap is more noticeable in areas where the floor is tiled in white. At first I thought the quarter round were not installed flat against the floor which caused the appearance of the gaps. However upon looking more closely I realized the appearance of the gap is a result of the tape line at the bottom edge of the quarter round throughout the house. Alex attempted to tape the floor at the base of the quarter round, but instead of taping the floor he taped the bottom edge of the quarter round through the house. Since the quarter round is newly installed wood quarter round, you can see the wood line throughout the house giving the appearance of a gap. As a result of Alex improper taping skills it created the illusion of a gap between the quarter round and the floor.
During my consultation with Alex, I had also pointed out to Alex a crack in the wall above one of the arches and requested the gap to be filled before painting; however the crack was not filled and was painted as is. I was not advised that the crack will not be filled. Also during the consultation with Alex I had told him that there are small dings on some of the walls which I wanted to fixed and some area needs a bit of sanding, I came to realize that most of the dings and were not filled and some of the rough patches were not sanded.
Alex also painted the ceiling bathroom in my home, about three months after painting, the paint has pealed off in several areas. Paint flakes from the old paint apparently chipped off while painting and were picked up on the roller; the flakes were painted onto the ceiling in several areas. Alex did not take the time to remove the flakes.
During my initial discussion with Alex about the color and type of paint to be used, I told Alex that I would like the crown moldings to be painted in satin finish. However, the first day when Alex came to paint the house, he said that it is better to paint the crown molding in a flat paint, and convinced us that plat paint for the crown molding was the way to go. Trusting Alex's recommendation over the color consultant recommendation I decided to have the crown moldings painted in flat paint as the sample section he show us looked ok. However, it turned out to be a bad decision to trust Alex recommendation; the crown moldings look unfinished with the flat paint. Since I have popcorn ceiling, the flat paint on the crown moldings does not create finish look, it created a choppy transition from the wall to crown molding to ceiling.
I had also told Alex that I wanted all the trims in the house to be paint in satin finish. However Alex bought pearl finish paint and made the excuse that Benjamin Moore does not carry satin finish paint and said that Benjamin Moore pearl paint is the same as satin finish. I subsequently called the store and the sales rep confirmed that Benjamin Moore does have satin finish paint. I would assume that Alex bought the wrong paint finish and made the excuse that Benjamin Moore does not have satin finish paint. As a professional painter Alex should know that trims are not painted in pearl paint, but semi-gloss as recommended or as requested by the customer.
Another issue with the paint job is; I had noticed Alex reused the same roller he had used with the cloud white paint to paint the walls with the snowfall white paint in the lower hallway. The cloud white paint is a darker white paint whereas the Snowfall white paint is a light, slightly creamy white paint, the cloud white paint residue from the roller resulted in the snowfall white wall having a tint of cloud white. The walls of the entire lower floors have to be re painted as the shade created by the reused roller does not blend with the color of the tiled floor. A roller cost a few dollars, you would think he would use a new roller for each paint color, but instead he reused the same roller for different paint colors.
Review from other clients claims that Alex has done extensive dry wall repairs, sanding and fixing up of walls etc. etc., however in his response to me he states that he does not do dry wall repairs, it therefore makes me wonder if these reviews are fake as noting these reviews claims he does was done in my home.
Now that I am ready to resume the upgrading and decorating of my home, I have recently hired an interior designer to complete my home improvement project as well as another painter to redo the paint job done by Alex. Both the interior designer and the new painter advised me that Alex has done a below standard paint job. The new painter advised me that a professional painter would ensure that all wall surfaces are properly prepared before painting, such as filling cracks and holes, sanding rough areas and any other defects, and pointed out many flaws with Alex paint job. The new painter also advised me that since the door trims are detailed molding with groves they should not have been painted with a roller, that the proper way to paint these types of trims is with a paint brush to give a smooth finish. The interior designer and the new painter as well as three other painters who came to give estimates to redo Alex's work commented that Alex has done a below standard job, has poor workmanship and is not detailed oriented.
Alex does not do what he says or promises; I had to constantly watch him to ensure that the job was done properly, when I was unable to monitor his work a lot of things were not done properly. He is definitely not a professional painter.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $4,000.00