G. S. Van Hekle Painting

Review: G.S. Van Hekle Painting was contracted to paint a 12 by 14 room on June 29, 2015. The contract stated %50 of payment due up front and the reminder due on completion. The contract stated "one coat of flat white paint to ceiling and two coats of low lustre northstar paint to walls. [redacted], the owner, visually inspected the room and said this was all that was needed to complete the job. He stated since the ceiling was already white, one coat of paint would be plenty. He was given a check for $300.00 on 6/11/15, check number 719.

[redacted] and his partner showed up June 29th. He contacted my husband to say one coat on the ceiling was not enough because the ceiling was light blue and not white like he originally stated. He said he could do another coat for an additional $75.00. We said no. That is too much money. Especially since the entire job was costing $600.00 dollars. [redacted] and his partner were given a check for $300.00 on June 29th for the reminder of the balance. The check was given to him by my Mother, who was at the house that day. When we arrived home, we saw the work and we were not pleased. I called [redacted]'s phone and left a message. This was approximately 4pm. I was concerned and worried, so I placed a stop payment on the check.

[redacted] responded at 9:45 pm that night and stated, "Everything looked fine when he left." We have had numerous conversations with him. One in which he stated, " I cannot be held responsible if the paint doesn't cover." He looked at the room, he has 26 years of experience, and he cannot estimate how much paint is needed!! He is the one who purchased the paint. This leads me to believe, that perhaps he underestimates what is needed and then tries to contact the consumer for more money to complete the job. This is unethical. The ceiling is "streaky" and the one wall had roller marks and looked like "drip" marks. This was from excessive paint being applied to the roller. I want the ceiling fixed and the drip marks sanded and repainted.

Let me add. All furniture was removed from the room for ease and convenience.

[redacted] has offered to talk about the problem, but has not offered to fix it. He keeps saying, "it looked great when he left." He also states, " I did what I was contracted to do." He did what he was contracted to do, but he did not do it professionally. He is furious about the stop payment and is insisting he be paid in cash before any work is done. I am willing to pay by check when the job is completed to our satisfaction. I have no problems paying for a job that is done professionally and [redacted] is supposed to be a professional painter with 26 years of experience.Desired Settlement: We would like the job to be completed to our satisfaction. We want the ceiling completed and the excessive paint marks sanded and painted. We expect the work to be professional quality since we paid for a professional painter. A check will be accepted as payment when the job is completed correctly as recommended to me by the consumer division of the Delaware department of justice.

Business

Response:

When I came out to do the estimate, I did visually inspect the room. However, the blue on the ceiling was so light that it was virtually impossible to judge that from a visual inspection. It appeared to me that the ceiling was white, so I quoted the job for one coat, which is all that would be necessary for a white-over-white ceiling.When I applied the paint to the ceiling and it dried, it became apparent that the ceiling had actually been blue because the blue paint started to bleed through the white ceiling paint. I contacted one of the homeowners and made him aware of this issue and informed him that the cost would be an additional $75.00. The homeowner said he thought that this was too much money and that he would paint a second coat on it himself.For the entire job, which consisted of the ceiling, walls, and trim, we used high-quality Sherwin-Williams paints, as we always do. Applying another coat of paint to the ceiling requires more supplies, and this should not be something I should be responsible for providing without being compensated. It is important to note that if I had originally quoted the job to include two coats on the ceiling, the cost would have been $675.00, as opposed to the original quote of $600.00.The homeowner is accusing us of leaving roller and drip marks on one of the walls. However, when we arrived to paint the room, we found that there were paint samples already applied to that wall. In the places where the samples were applied, the edges of all of them had ridges like someone had applied excessive paint. I did sand the wall prior to applying our paint, but there was so much paint where the samples were applied that without damaging the wall, it would have been impossible to remove them.I value my business reputation and would not do anything I believed was unethical. I have offered to look at the job and discuss a fair and equitable solution for both sides, but the homeowners stated that if I was not willing to fix the issues, which included their demand for another coat on the ceiling for free, I should not bother showing up. They did not want to discuss any options. Based on this, I do not believe that I will ever be able to complete this job to the satisfaction of the homeowners.Regarding the check, I have no problem accepting a check from them if I can be guaranteed another stop payment will not be placed on it.