I hired Carlos summer 2020, cos he had 10 solid 5 Yelp stars, but here is why I am giving him only 2 stars. I gave him two jobs, 1. drywall repair, 2. exterior painting of my trim.
On the interior drywall repair, I had to call him back cos the cracks came back within 2 months and there was a pronounced SPEED BUMP he built on top of the crack that came through. But Carlos had no hesitation to set a date to come back and redo it. But he said I am only going to redo it once, I won't keep coming back if the crack keeps appearing. His repair looks much better.
Since he was good to come back to fix the speed bump, I gave him the job that he bid before, of painting my fascia only outside and bottom edge, my shutters, and ramada. The roofer for the ramada had changed all the rafters, and was waiting for Carlos to paint the bare wood, before roofer nails metal roof to the new rafters.
I asked Carlos if he painted all the top (skyward-facing new wood) of the ramada. He said Yes I did.
Carlos wanted me to pay him in full before 12 noon that Saturday, so he could deposit the money at the bank, meaning I paid Carlos before he was done on the job. I agreed. He and his couple of guys got done on Sat at 2 pm.
Couple of days later, I got up on a ladder to check the skyward-facing wood when I made appt with the roofer. Guess what! Carlos did not get up on a ladder to see what he was doing with the paint sprayer. The coverage was so light that 1/3 of the new wood was still the bare wood, and the other skyward facing wood had such a light spray, it all rinsed off with a hose, or I can stroke with my fingers and the overspray just brushed off the bare wood See photos below.
When I called Carlos to come back and do it again, he said he was on vacation in Mexico. They ended up staying in Mexico for 2 weeks.
Carlos did come back to my house, but he BLAMED ME for the naked wood, said that I rubbed it all off, not admitting to his poor workmanship. I am sure I am gonna get up on a ladder (I am afraid of heights) and rub all the paint off and risk falling, at age 70. Other workmanship shortcomings I don't have enough room to describe here. He also promised me that he would not drip paint on my brick paving and other areas.
I am very conscious of paint drops (he did not use a drop cloth) because at another house, a solid 5 star Yelp painter dripped paint all over my brand newly poured custom patio. That painter tried to remove his drips using a wire brush, and he ruined the new patio, like rubbing charcoal on the colored concrete and his boss had to make an insurance claim. Big mistake to paint the concrete, cos the paint came off in blotches and I cannot make them pay for another paint job which costs, then $3500. So I told Carlos that story and he promised me not one drop would get on my pavers or concrete. But later I counted about 20 drops all around my house..
When I showed Carlos all the many drip spots, Carlos said the paint drips were from the previous painters 10 years ago, when you could see the drip color was fresh and brilliant, and he would not take responsibility, and removed only what I showed him, not what he dripped.
Also, make sure you make Carlos writes down everything you tell him to paint, DURING THE BID and YOU HAVE COPY, because I told him to paint the backside of my great room. But that was during the bid. It wasn't till another 2 months before Carlos could come and paint (due to his employees getting Covid), and he did not instruct his painter to paint that area on the day they came to paint. We had an argument cos Carlos said it wasn't in the contract (they wanted to leave to go on vacation). But Carlos painted a couple of extra things and didn't charge me.
Good points about Martinez Painting, they were good at straight lines, did a great job on my front door, and they were inexpensive, but not thorough and cut corners (did not prime bare wood, did not caulk where caulk was visibly needed, and did not paint lower edge where rain already damaged the wood, see photo). Carlos said he ran out of caulk, so he PAINTED OVER AREAS HE SHOULD HAVE CAULKED, when WalMart was only 1/4 mile away.
Carlos gets the 2 stars Yelp defines as I've experienced better because he wouldn't take responsibility for not doing a thorough job AND BLAMING ME FOR RUBBING THE PAINT OFF, or blaming drips on previous painter, years ago. I did have a PERFECT painter named Lenin Mendoza Painting to Perfection, but that was 16 years ago, and I can't find him.
I am not giving Carlos 5 stars which is defined by Yelp as WhooHoo! As good as it gets! Wouldn't you agree with me that As good as it gets, means it was so good, no coming back another time to make it right. was needed.
Carlos not owning up to his shortcomings, SAYING I REMOVED HIS PAINT or previous painter dripped, when it was due to HIS poor workmanship, drops Carlos from 3 to 2 stars.
What do you Yelpies think?
