Ive wanted to write maybe 20 reviews in my life and never made the time. this one i am compelled to. I contacted Charles Stewart Painting a few months ago as my home remodel was underway. i contacted him because of the great reviews, which seemingly were on an older yelp profile with many more reviews. also his ability to paint interior and exterior. Now there are only 18 reviews, and no mention of interior on his yelp page. what happened here?
Charles came to my project to give me a bid, in which i was not present. this bid was for Interior and Exterior paint. he text me the bid all inclusive of both. we agreed on that price. I told him i had doors to stain as well as my vaulted timber truss patios, he said he will throw those in with the price. I then wanted to meet him in person to review the project details and he came then and confirmed his quote, assured me the project would turn out great, assured me he can stain and prep wood, even gives me names of stains he prefers. advised me that he uses dunn edwards paint and that he did not want to start that week on the exterior of the home (which was ready) and said he wanted to do it all at once.
Now that my home is complete, i call him to schedule his services and he sets an apt with me the very next day to bring the contract by. 30 minutes later he texts me and says sorry friend, i spoke to my crew and they are not comfortable doing your project. frustrated, i call him out and he says the text was meant for someone else (which was not true). to save face, and likely try and avoid a bad review, he still came by the home, and after walking the home, again tells me he is not going to do the project and kept saying honestly, i'd be better going with someone else. telling me about all the things he is not good at doing, like priming. His argument is that he doesn't know how to prime and/or paint fresh wood or drywall. he only paints pre-existing paints???? what painter does not feel comfortable priming wood or drywall. that is ridiculous.
Clearly Charles must have not liked his bid and wanted to renig on his offer. He came to the house 3x, knew the entire time that it was fresh wood, fresh stucco and fresh drywall. why now is he not comfortable painting? this home should be a painters dream. There isn't even any masking or covering areas that need protection.
i would not have cared if he retracted his offer the 1st couple days, but now i have turned down or away my other 3 bids, i have let my unfinished cedar wood beams fry in the sun and rain on his advisement, because he didn't' want to stain them and coat them until the inside of the home was ready for paint as well. so i let it sit the last 3 months getting weathered. I have also spent hours at dunn edwards choosing paint colors for him to start next week, because dunn edwards is who he uses. (I dont even prefer dunn edwards). and now he is not doing my project, i am supposed to move into the home in 4 weeks, and have to chase down now 3 more bids since i blew off the last 3 i received.
Great way to conduct business Charles.