First Rate Calgary Painting Inc.

Response from First Rate Calgary Painting Inc.

Actually things didn't happen quite this way. The homeowner picked out a white colour for the whole house except a kids room she wanted in a soft pink. She was advised not to go with that white because the under tones would not pair well with her trim colour making it look too yellow, which she said she did not want. We painted two bedrooms and other parts of the house including going into downstairs with the white she picked out. Then she decided she did not like the colour and that it did not look good with her trim. And we had to change to a different white. She also added in two more colours. One for another bedroom and another colour for the master. So, we got those colours and painted those bedrooms. We worked during the week and on the weekend.

During this job she had her main level wood floor sanded and re-varnished so we couldn't work during that time as we could not walk on the floor. We did tell her to wait until the painting was done before having the floors sanded. Because we had other jobs that were in place before starting theirs. They had asked us to do an estimate for painting her brothers home and we had to turn it down because of being so booked up. We were fitting her in and had only that time to do the work.

But, even with that information about our timeline she decided to add in getting the trim and baseboards painted. We tried to tell her about the timeline. But she paid no attention to it. We priced it out and said we would do our best to get it all done. She failed to mention in her review that all of the trim and baseboards were painted up stairs as well.

She didn't like the way the floor was done and was having it done again and change the colour of the stain as she didn't like it either. We were there on Saturday and did not have enough paint to finish and the store was closed. The colours she chose took more than two coats to cover so it took more paint than estimated and time. We kept in constant contact with the client letting her know everything that was going on and most of it is in text or email.

We left so she could have the floors redone again. But, with all the delays it has pushed out other jobs that were already in place and now there is no time to finish. We cannot ask other clients to keep delaying their jobs that were in place before this one. So, we let this client know we cannot come back and for the rest of it. We did not just leave and never show up. We tried to make things work with other clients so we could go back and finish hers, but it isn't going to work out.

This client accused us of leaving a mess, when it was from the person that did the floors. It was a brush and a couple of small bags of garbage. The brush actually has stain on it which we did not stain anything. And we only use Purdy brand brushes it is not a Purdy.

This client has given us a 1 rating for everything.

TIMELINESS, was because of delays beyond our control.

QUALITY, she admitted was good, but some places needed touch ups. But, we ran out of paint for that before we left.

COURTEOUS, we were always courteous to her, her kids, husband and brother. Even emailed her brother detailed instructions on how to refinish a cabinet. She claims we were not courteous because we did not do a walk through before leaving. But, we don't do walk through's until the job is done. And we had to leave because of the floor.

CLEANLINESS, the only thing she could come up with was the brush and garbage that was not ours.

BUDGET, she can't complain about because we cut down our prices for her. And did a big patch on the wall in the master bedroom and on a door at no charge. Also, she does not consider the work that was done prior to her changing her colours, or the extra coats of paint and our time when it takes many coats of paint to cover.

Response from First Rate Calgary Painting Inc.

Overall quality of work was more than acceptable as can clearly be seen by the pictures, as well as the cleanliness. The site was kept clean while working and equipment kept neatly out of the way.

There were areas that the client noticed some shadowing and mentioned it, but the painting was not complete in those areas.

The timeline was explained to the client and his wife upon first meeting, that if colours were chosen from Behr Marquee Colour collection the approximate timeline for the square footage of the house would be one week as it would take one coat of paint and is guaranteed by Behr. If the colours were chosen outside Marquee Collection then it is not guaranteed by Behr as those colours do not cover in one coat. Therefore the timeline doubles. The client chose colours outside of the Marquee Collection and was called while we were at Home Depot to get the paint mixed and was asked if the colours they chose are for sure what they wanted, he said yes definitely with the information given to him about Behr Marquee's coverage and the guarantee. Marquee paint is $68.00 a gallon and with Behr's coverage of 400 sq ft per gallon it would take 7 gallons of paint to cover their house at 2500 sq ft. Costing a total of $476.00 plus $.75 eco fee per gallon and tax. The paint purchased for the job was Behr Premium Plus Ultra (clients choice) at $45.00 per gallon and taking 11 gallons to complete. Total cost of $497.00 plus $.75 eco per gallon and tax. See picture of receipts. Home Depot does not give discounts to contractors unless they spend $5,000 or more on one purchase. The client was not charged the difference in paint or the extra labour. With the added time to the project our schedule had to be changed completely to accommodate it for the client. There was no complaint about it from us we just moved forward to get it done. Though being a small company it has a big impact on us when this happens in losing clients that this effects and us financially.

The client also added extra work to the project. Feature walls and stripes. They had asked for some feature walls in the beginning and were not charged extra for them because of the condition of the walls.There would be very little patching and the client was more than accommodating in preparing the house to be painted. Such as cleaning dust on tops of all baseboards, trim above doors and moving furniture etc. They later added more feature walls and 2 walls of stripes. Client was informed they would not be charged for the feature walls but the stripes were extra. This was in text and he agreed to pay any extra cost in text. It also states in the contract he agreed to that 'Additional work not listed in contract will be charged at $50.00 an hour for labour not including material or paint'. He was informed it would take about 5 to 6 hours just for setting up the stripes, measuring it all out and applying the tape, then painting them, he still agreed. After the job was completed he was only charged $100.00 for the stripes, 2 hours of work. He refused to pay it.

The client was also informed by text that all of the feature walls had to be covered in 3 coats as 2 coats was not covering it completely. The feature walls were in a very dark colour so the base is thinner that it has to be mixed in.They had also asked that the main floor bathroom be completely painted in the dark feature wall colour. The ensuite off the master was mostly painted the dark colour as well, which they were supposed to only have a feature wall in. These too had to be painted 3 times to completely cover. The client again was not charged for the extra time or paint.

There was consistent communication with the client mostly through text and some phone calls. And even though there was so much work and time added to this job by the client the work was done with courtesy.