Student Works Painting

To Whom It May Concern:

Re: Michael Holley's STUDENT WORKS PAINTING

I have just had the interior of one of my properties painted - a total of eight rooms. The work done is really very good - not a drop of paint where it is not supposed to be. Careful attention to trim, cutting in on borders, and producing even coverage.

Mike and his team worked very efficiently, and cleaned up so you would not know they were there. Mike is a friendly, organized, and businesslike fellow, whom I strongly recommend to anyone who is looking for painting to be done.

I will not hesitate to hire him again, and I wish him all the best.

Dr. W. J. Beck

From the estimate to completion of the job, Nick and his team were very professional and dependable. He provided consistent and clear communication on how the job would be done and left the site very clean. I would highly recommend Student Works Painting to anyone!

The team arrived on time on the pre-scheduled date, having previously done a match with the old paint colour. They worked steadily, completing an excellent job earlier than expected. All were careful, friendly and pleasant to have in and around our house.

i've had the same experience as Ellen in Montreal who commented just recently. They solicitated me at my door in March 2013 and if you sign that day and give a 25% deposit - you save. I agreed to a contract that involved painting trims on the front facade of my house. The contract states June 2013 for the work to be done. Granted, we had a lot of rain in june and we are understanding, but i can't recall how many times i called to find out when they were coming. the standard answer was: we'll be there in 2 weeks. Finally, my husband called in mid august asking for our deposit back. they assigned someone else to the project, the person overseeing our project called and apologized for the delay and said he will be there in TWO weeks. By mid September, my husband called and told them enough is enough, please give us our deposit back. The woman flat out told him: no, we got until end of november to do the work. Do you know anyone that applies exterior paint at the end of November? We certainly were not going to pay good hard earned money for an inferior job. I sent them a formal notice by registered mail requesting my deposit back within 10 days. The letter was received, but I got no replies from them. I filled a complaint with The Better Business Bureau and through their mediator they replied that I told them i was not in a rush to have this job done and had agreed to September?? That unfortunately in October, they can no longer do the work due to the weather conditions and staff limitation and they can do it next year and throw in a few extra for the trouble. I refused and asked for my deposit back. I certainly do not want to run after them again next year and I also learned through the Consumer Protection Bureau that you have no legal recourse for a contract that was made from a door solicitation after one year. So basically, after March 2014, they can keep my deposit and I won't be able to do anything about it. My next step is to file a complaint with the Consumer Protection Bureau (CPB) and if no result then the CPB as instructed me to go to small claims court. All this work for a deposit of $247. Lessons learned: 1). In Quebec, the law says that a business cannot solicitate you without a permit from CPB. This licence requires businesses to provide a fund with CPB to cover claims such as mine. Students Works Painting (also known as Peintres Etudiants in Montreal) has no licence on file with CPB. 2). never ever give a deposit on labor. Material which is delivered to your house ahead of time is fine, but not the labor. If they want the job, let them come back and pay when it is done. 3). Prior to engaging yourself in a contractual agreement, visit the Consumer Protection Bureau or Better Business Bureau for prior complaints against the business. Or ask for the business to supply you with references. Don't make the same mistake I made.

J'ai été heureusement surpris de la qualiter de travail de l'équipe à Nayo Gariépy. Il est venu faire l'estimer une journée apres avoir appeler peintres étudiants puis les travaux ont été complétée la même semaine.

Trampled garden, left paint flakes everyplace, can see old paint through new paint, only removed part of house number, then didn't put house number back up. Also indicated garage door and trim,then said the decorative trim above door wasn't trim.(so now it doesn't match!) Stained porch deck without power-washing it,even though contract said it would be washed.Also charged for paint, but reused an open can from another job, to do my porch. It was similar to what we talked about, but don't charge for new, if you aren't buying new stain.
Also wrote up quote without filling in hst, leading us to believe signed quote was the total. And then "accidentally"charged me 30%hst which I noticed after they'd left. (Got that corrected). Paint drippings on door, door now feels rough to touch. So not satisfied. Couldn't get close to look at door etc before they left, for final inspection, because the porch closest to the door was painted last, which makes zero sense anyway! Kissed my money goodbye, and lesson learned. Hoping to save others from same mistake
Located in Centre Wellington , ontario
In response to companies response- the flakes weren't small, and after day one I had cleaned up a lot from my porch and garage areas they did use a drop cloth in the garden, while I was out, which is why the plants are all flattened. I knew there would be some damage, but they cut my Japanese sand cherry tree branches without asking /informing me! The operator did offer to return, but doing it a second time won't help, if you can't do it right the first time will it? And I also did say I needed to talk to my spouse to see what he would want to do. The 80 dollars was to power wash my wrap around deck, and i knew that, but on the day my Porch was painted I asked the worker about cleaning it, to confirm and he said the deck would be washed before staining. Otherwise I would have done it myself. Washing it at all would have been great. Thankfully I swept it! Also I came home to find the one worker using my outdoor broom to sweep the freshly laid stain-smoothing it out maybe? I don't know and I honestly didn't ask. The house number, the part that was removed, was stuck on with the screws just resting in/ sticking out. We went with 1 coat, but does that mean we didn't deserve at least coverage ? And yes it's a siding trim, I just wish that the person experienced in quoting the jobs had mentioned that that strip wouldn't be done, that's all and neither my husband nor I recall mentioning that strip wouldn't done, so maybe that was both of us misremembering . And yes as I mentioned the HST was corrected, within minutes because I noticed and called to have it corrected The stain was not purchased for my house, though quote shows materials. So yeah, not sure what they mean saying the quoted amount was used because quote included paint cost. Only the opened can was used. The companies statement leads one to believe they were already using stain on mine. They were not. So yeah. They called and asked me to withdraw review, and I said I would think it over. That clearly accounts for all the positives. So yeah now I'm not. I paid full price. The review stands.

I was very disappointed with the results I got from Student Works Painting. The workers did their best, and stayed until the job was done...but the longer it took...the less attention was given to the details.

I will never recommend SWP to anyone of my friends unless they want something like a barn outside painted. Otherwise, expect paint splatter everywhere. We had it on the front porch on the walls inside, in the bathroom (where they painted as well) had paint on the radiators, toilet, shower, sink, etc... Took me almost as long to clean up as it took them to do it.

When the cleaned up, they got paint everywhere. And OIL paint to boot. We had it everywhere...on the side of our kitchen sink, on the faucet, walls....crazy.

Learned my lesson. I tried SWP...liked the people...didn't like the outcome. And i will not be recommending them to anyone.

No need to reply with a "company response" siting some nonsense with buzz words like "miscommunication" and so on. We were clear on what we wanted and you confirmed you could deliver...yet didn't.

Waste of money! Money i saved using your organization, I spent cleaning up their damage...and replacing screens.

We hired Katherine Craig and her team in Ottawa in May to paint our living & dining room, main hallway, entranceway, stairwell and up stairs hallway. We were immediately impressed by Katherine's professionalism and she provided us a very fast and reasonable quote. She took care of everything. The work started on time, on budget and was completed as per her estimate. Her team carefully moved and protected furniture and effects, replacing them when done. They were hardworking and tidied up after themselves in the two days that it took for them to complete such a large job - even sweeping up after themselves before leaving each afternoon. She had a great attention to detail, so the job was done right and we were thrilled with the results. Katherine is very knowledgeable and has a great attitude. We would definitely use her again, and we have already recommended her to friends and co-workers.

Carol and Steve
Nepean