Seattle Painting and Drywall

I have to give Seattle Paint & Drywall a very mixed review. Some things were great; some things were not.
Patrick, the estimator (and owner, I think?), was hands-​down the best person that we talked with. We wanted some non-​standard work done, and most of the other folks we talked to sounded like they had no interest in doing something non-​standard, so we were really impressed with Patrick’s enthusiasm.
He sent us a few quotes, including different options for the work that we wanted done. The final quote seemed pretty reasonable. They told us that the whole job should take about a week. So we scheduled our movers for the Monday after.
Sadly, things only got worse from here.
The painters arrived on Monday. When we showed up, we decided that the ceilings didn’t need to be sanded and refinished after all, but that we did want to paint the trim. The lead painter called up his boss, and I got a call from an administrative assistant, who asked me to give a verbal approval for the price change. I was kind of surprised at how big the price difference was; the extra amount for painting the trim was five times as much as the savings from not sanding and refinishing the entire ceiling, which seemed hard to believe. But we had already signed the contract, so there wasn’t much else we could do.
On Friday, we stopped by to see how things we were going. We were dismayed to find the place in total disarray. They were barely halfway through with the paint job, and there were painting supplies (and stray paint) everywhere. The place had started out relatively clean, and now it was a total mess. In addition, some of the painting work was pretty shoddy. Instead of following the technique that we had requested, they had basically just brushed paint haphazardly on the wall.
We told them that the state of the walls was unacceptable, and they said that they’d redo it. We also reminded them that the movers were coming on Monday, and they promised to have the place cleaned up so that we could move in.
Monday came around, and the place looked a little better; there was at least enough free space for us to fit all our boxes and furniture. But it was still pretty messy, and because the paint job wasn’t even close to done, we couldn’t really unpack most of our boxes, nor could we put most of our furniture in place. At least, thankfully, the bedroom was mostly done, so I could set up our bed. Aside from that, for the next couple of days, we were basically living in a construction zone.
In addition, when we were moving in, we ran into a new neighbor. She mentioned how the hallway carpets had just been cleaned, and the painters were getting paint and dirt all over everything. Needless to say, this isn’t the first impression that we wanted to give our neighbors!
On Wednesday (I think), the painters finally finished up, packed up their stuff, and left. Unfortunately, they also left a huge mess. And, as we gradually found out over the next couple of days, there were also tons of things that hadn’t been finished properly, or that had been done really poorly. Undersides of cabinet shelves hadn’t been painted at all; they still hadn’t gotten the special technique right on the walls; there were big areas that clearly still needed a second coat; and they even broke our paper towel dispenser.
We called up Patrick, and the painters were back, this time with a supervisor. The supervisor walked through the condo with us, and made a huge list of all the things that they needed to get done, including «clean the damn floor» (his words). By the end of the day, the paint job finally looked finished, but we still needed to wait another 24 hours for everything to dry before we could really set everything up.
About a month went by, and we didn’t hear anything from them. Eventually, we received the bill. It was yet another disappointment and surprise. First, even though we had «downgraded» the quality of the paint (the bid was for Rodda, the paint we got was Valspar), it turned out that the Valspar was much more expensive, because they paid retail. So we had an extra charge for that. Second, there were $ 1,500 worth of hourly charges for additional work. The hours were way overstated (and we eventually got the charges reduced), but even so, it seemed excessive for what they accomplished.
The moral of the story, for us? First, never sign a contract that includes hourly billing. Second, never sign a contract that doesn’t clearly separate materials from labor. Third, find out other people’s experience of what happens when you ask for a contract change. Fourth, don’t assume that a good estimator always has good people working for him.
In the end, we’re reasonably satisfied with the work that was done, but we’re definitely not happy with how much work it took to get here, and how much money we had to spend. We’ll definitely be looking elsewhere the next time we need painting and drywall work.

This firm is near my home, so even though it currently has no valid reviews, I decided to submit a bid request via their Web site. Jim promptly called me up and asked for photos of the job, which I took and sent that evening. I followed up with two more the next day.
Pffffttt!
Never heard a word. Over two weeks now. Tells me all I need to know.

These are hands down the best painters in Seattle, WA! They really work with you and will work hard to make sure you are happy with the finished job. Thanks for being a reliable team of Seattle Painters!