Hands On Painters Inc.

I have used Hands on Painters for several projects and I am always extremely pleased with the work performed. Most recently, employees Gus and Jose painted front porch railings. They arrived on schedule and did a great job. I was very pleased with the result and can easily recommend this company.

Hands on Painters had a disastrous execution of a big project in our historical home: 1) Painters painting without covering floors with tarps, paint splashed on floors and antique furniture 2) Antique floors scraped full of big scratches and gouges by moving furniture on hardwood floors without furniture moving pads, which were provided by is 3) Twelve days’ job done in rush and poorly in 7 days 4) Painters not moving heavy furniture back in place after finishing the project 5) Painters entering private closets and using our items 6) Window screens “plastered” opaque 7) Delay in getting the screens cleaned and they were not cleaned properly after all 8) Extremely unprofessional project manager Brandon 9) Company owner not returning e-mails We had Hands on Painters do ceiling and wall repair and painting in January in our historical home. It was done in three parts, two smaller areas and then a big job in two bedrooms and hallway (covering an old plastered ceiling with drywall and plastering and painting walls). The first part in October, 2018, went well. The team was neat. We had pre-prepared the workspace by moving furniture and covering with plastic what could not be removed and the result was neat. We had told that we have polished antique pine hardwood floors and we ourselves remove our outside shoes indoors. The painters should either remove their shoes or use shoe covers, which we provided. They did so. The next project was to be two big bedrooms and a hallway in our second floor. Brandon gave an estimate of about 12 days or two weeks for the job. It started immediately in the beginning of January. This turned out to be a total fiasco! For the first project, we had removed almost all furniture from the painters’ way and what large pieces of our antique furniture could not be removed, we had wrapped carefully with plastic sheets. We did the same with this new project: we emptied everything from the rooms except some big antique armoires, chests-of-drawers and beds. I wrapped everything very carefully in plastic so that the furniture was literally neatly “packaged” in plastic.- completely. I covered all closet doors with plastic so that no dust would get in. Our chestnut bannisters were covered, and all doorways to the hall were covered with plastic sheets as well. At some point my husband stated, that painters usually cover furniture and that I was unnecessarily spending hours and a huge amount of plastic sheets for the project myself., but I wanted to make sure that the house would stay clean and neat. In addition to covering with plastic the two large beds, which could not moved out of the room, we spread tarps on them and then placed large boards of plywood on top, so that the painters would be able to stand on the beds while working on the ceiling. The new team, Nelson, Eric and Noel came in. Upon their arrival my husband reminded them of the floors and handed them shoe covers and soft furniture moving pads so that the floors would not be scratched. The team started working. I came back from work mid day and was horrified to find out that not only had they their outside shoes on without coves, but they also had not covered the floors with tarps- or anything!. They were just working on the plaster and paint without any protection of the floors. I have never heard of a painting company, which has painters working on wall and ceiling paint without floor covers! My husband told them that they needed to cover the floors. The result was that the team spread tarps without first vacuuming the plaster scraps and dust, and when the tarps were eventually removed, there were scrapes and paint drops on the floors. I had told Brandon that I wanted the master bedroom wall paint matched to the previous paint- I had spent considerable time in the past to find just the right shade of yellow. I also said that I wanted to make personally sure that the match was correct: the paint colors look different in sunlight, evening light and electric light. Brandon said that it would be no problem. The first “match” was way off when I saw the sample area on the wall. I told Brandon that we had used Behr paint and it might be that the Sherwin Williams paints had different pigments, which might never match. That proved to be the case. When the presumably correct yellow paint was ready for me to check, I was horrified to find out that the painters- now on day 7 of the job- had painted the whole room without letting me to check the match. They were painting furiously with clearly a goal to finish the whole project that afternoon – 5 days earlier than estimated. When I told them that they should immediately stop painting, as I had not approved the color, the team leader Nelson pretended that he had not been told that I wanted to check the paint. He just stared me blankly and said: “The paint matches”. Needless to say, I was not pleased: first of all, what may match his eye, may not match mine, and now there was only one few square cm large area for me to see the old yellow shade and to try to see if the new paint- covering now the whole room- really matched. During the project the painters had removed some of the protective plastic, which I had used to cover the upper part of the windows (so that the rolling shades would not get dusty) and the plastic covering from an old chestnut door leading to a closet. I re-wrapped the plastic again in mid project, but the plastics had been removed again the next day. The painters finished on the afternoon of day 8 – well ahead of the estimated time. I came home just in time to notice that they were planning to leave without moving furniture back in place: big beds were almost in the middle of the rooms. My husband was able to catch the men who were already sitting in their van ready to leave. They came back and started pushing the furniture without using the large, soft furniture moving pads, which my husband had provided (and Brandon said that they had those in their van, too). They had not used any protective pads the whole time and now our antique floor was full of big scrapes; it looked absolutely horrible and had to be resurfaced. Further damage turned out during the next few days. For whatever reason, the painters had repeatedly removed the plastic covering from the closet door, and when I looked inside, there was now a lot of dust all over the items inside. Moreover, there was a big flashlight hanging inside the closet door. The painters had used it (for what?) and the handle was covered by plaster. The problem was not a dirty flashlight: it was intruding into a private space where they were not supposed to go. Fortunately there were no valuables inside. but it was very disquieting that they were searching something in a closet, which was closed, covered and not supposed to be painted. Were they searching for valuables? They had also recurrently removed plastic from several window shades and the scrolls were now covered with plaster dust (as I was afraid would happen if I did not cover them). Unlike after the first floor projects, where everything was left very clean, I found now layers and layers of plaster dust on closet frames, on top of doors, window frames etc. And I mean thick layers!! The clothes in the closets, which I had covered, were white of plaster dust. I was vacuuming and wiping the doorframes until I got a tennis elbow injury. The dust was falling on the floors like a snow flurry when I was vacuuming . We also found a lot of splattered paint on the hardwood floors and our 150+ year antique bed. When I had vacuumed, mopped, vacuumed again and mopped again the rooms, I started washing the windows. After finishing the first window, I noticed that there was still a layer of dust on the window frame, and had to clean the window again. After washing the next window, I noticed that the mosquito screen was all caked with plaster dust. And sure enough: 4 other windows, which I had already cleaned, had totally “plastered” screens. I did not notice all that damage first because it was early morning on a warm day- a rare day possible for window washing in January. It was now clear why the painters had repetitively removed my plastic covers from in front of the windows: they had opened the windows and had blown the plaster dust through the screens. I restarted again: I tried to wash the screens with a brush and water, which had detergent. I had just washed the screens last summer on the patio with brushing and hosing water. That was now, of course not possible, as the outside garden water had been shut off for the winter. When the screens looked clean, I re-washed one window. Then I saw that the screen was still dirty. I threw several buckets of water through the screens and washed the windows again (the third time). Yet it is hard to describe my feelings when a couple of days later I saw the windows, which I had just washed 3 times: there had still been plaster in the screens, and now rain and wind had blown the plaster dust to the outside of the newly cleaned windows (see the photo below). Brandon came on Tuesday to see the damage we had found by then (splattered paint, scrapes on the floor, dusty clothing in closets etc.). I had taken the dirty screens out of the windows for the company to clean them, but he did not take them with him: he said that the new painters, which would come on Friday for damage control, would take them for cleaning. I was a little surprised that he did not take them and have the incoming team bring them back 3 days later. The screens were taken out on Friday. My husband cannot sleep without having two windows open. We were fighting stinkbugs coming in from the now screenless windows. On Wednesday, when there was still no word of the screens (which had now been off for a week and half) my husband texted Brandon. His reply was that he would bring the screens “maybe on Friday but at least on Monday”. After all this extra work, pre-protection and then damage control from my part, recurrent window cleaning, cloth cleaning, wiping cement dust, removing my protective plastic from the furniture etc. there was not even a word of apology or worry from his part about this extra nuisance of screenless windows and stink bugs. Brandon came on Friday, after I called him and told that Monday delivery was absolutely no option. He came cheerfully without apologies, although I had been upset on the phone. He gave a lame explanation that the company car had been broken. Had there been a force majeure, he could have called in the beginning of the week apologizing the delay. He was unapologetic and totally defensive when I let him know my unhappiness with all this mess and delay, his comment was: “I don’t want to be yelled at”. Have you heard that kind of comment from a project manager who communicates with customers after a disastrous project? Moreover, turned out that one of the screens had hardly been cleaned at all and Brandon flatly refused to come to pick it up for re-cleaning. Now we are waiting for spring to be able to “get this project finished” by ourselves. I sent an e-mail to the owner of the company but got no response. My husband finally got him on the phone. He had no apologies, either. He claimed arrogantly that the company had “given all kinds of discounts” to us. That was totally untrue. They compensated the repair of the floor surfaces, but that is not a discount, that is damage compensation. The only discount THEY gave us was the normal war veteran’s discount. WE actually “discounted” the project for THEM, as my careful plastic wrapping of furniture saved them time- 4-5 days’ job. This was a nightmare I don’t wish even my enemies.

I hired HOP to paint the cornice on the exterior of my home. They did an amazing job and I definitely plan to rehire them for any future projects.

This was a wonderful company to deal with. Professional, reasonable price, and excellent service. I would not hesitate to use them again!

Hands on Painters handles the job from start to finish with professionalism. They approach the project with efficiency, and the final finished work was beautifully done.

I have used Hands On Painters at least five times and each time was a very pleasant experience. Everyone was a professional, the job was started and finished on time and I found the price to be much better than other painting companies. I would recommend them to anyone seeking their services.