Reston Painting & Contracting

We had a tight timeline with exact dates for our painting project, which we discussed with their receptionist from the first conversation. The project was to take 2 days, according to their estimate, and included drying time of poly-coated surfaces. They never even showed up!!



We received their contract, sent it back with minor clarifications as well as the specific start and end dates, and was told by their receptionist that starting on our requested start date would be no problem. We chose them over other estimates because they could meet our start and end dates.



Two days before the start date, I called the receptionist to let her know that the team could start a day earlier if they had time as our built-ins were done a day early. She said they probably couldn’t come earlier than our start date, but she would let them know. I didn’t hear anything on Wednesday and assumed they would show up on the Thursday start date, as specified countless times and also stated in our contract.



On Thursday morning, no one showed up. I called and left messages with the receptionist and the owner to find out why no one showed up. At 2:30 p.m., the project manager called to say they would be there tomorrow (Friday) morning and could get the job done in one day. I asked how they thought they could get the poly-coat to dry in one day and he said the owner had a special 4-hour drying time poly-coater. I told them to not show up until after I personally spoke with the owner.



The owner called me back before 3 p.m. and, after asking lots of specific questions, he said the paint and poly-coat might be dry in one day (gave it a 50-50 chance) but to have the project go over to Monday to finish would be a better idea. I asked why the team didn’t show up and he stated that he was the only one to set the schedule and, since I didn’t go through him, our start date was never finalized or approved by him. He basically blamed his receptionist for the miscommunication. However, since I had sent back the contract with the start and end dates and lots of other details, I asked if he had seen it. He said he hadn’t and, at this point, I started seriously questioning him about the details of the job, whether or not I could trust that they would do a good job and not shortcut it just to get it done in one day. I was pretty much ready to fire them but asked him to go look at the contract and call me back if there were any details I put in there that they couldn’t do.



He never called me back and no one showed up on Friday.



I’m assuming they don’t need anyone’s work if they can treat their customers so horribly. After the fact, I found out that a friend had used them and, even though they did great work, when he asked them to come back and fix some mistakes, they never came back. He’s just glad he never gave them the final payment. I’m glad we never gave them a deposit.