• With the economy bottoming out, we are working for many clients who have learned the hard way that in the long run, they wished they had hired as professional a company as Painting Solutions, Inc. Some of what we have seen:

• Joe, a resident of Blason Woods in which the contractor was working, hired clandestinely one of the employees off the books. Long story short, that employee took the three days labor charges before he started the job, stole a large amount of money from a neighbor, then (obviously) never returned. Hire only legitimate, registered contractors with references and a long history, and do not pay up front for any contractor’s services.

• Another client wishes she had hired us first as the painting contractor; one of the franchises paint companies spewed lead paint chips all over the yard and cut off a large branch of a 20-year old star maple that was highlighting the run-down front porch of which we rebuilt and painted to its original elegance.

• In a Medford house worth three-quarter of a million dollars, this client hired us after the lesser “splash and dash” painting company left obvious white small spots on the wall that he painted red, and did not paint behind the sconces' globes.

• A young Voorhees couple hired us after a year from our first visit. They tired of pulling the paper off walls and getting an “ok” look to the rooms. On the two-story living room, they wanted it to look great. Sixty hours and 6 gallons of spackle later, they have an elegantly smooth wall free of underlying wallpaper.  We remove wallpaper, and have four different tools for this.

• Charles and Brenda, an older couple wanted to sell their Cherry Hill house to move into a retirement community. They did not save any money by waiting 10 months before deciding the fresh paint was worth a try to help sell the house; the house sold the next month after we painted it. Freshen the house and it will sell faster and for more money.

Cedar, Mahogony, pressure treated woods deteriorate and splinter. A Mt. Laurel couple thought they were saving money in not treating their deck.  When the kids started getting splinters, eight years after the last coating application, they called us.  We had to tell them the deck was shot--the grains were raised as the wood was checking, and only serious heavy sanding might restore it.  They opted to replace the top surface, so we did that and stained same, and were back 2 years later for another application in order to keep up the deck going forward.