Face to face, Bob was very personable and gave great answers to our questions as we walked around the property with him. We were assured by the fact that he was bonded and insured, as well as the fact that he had many positive reviews. Then we received his bid. It was only two sentences and rife with misspellings as well as getting a couple of details wrong from the walk through. We debated long and hard about why the bid was so different from the knowledgeable and friendly guy we met in person, as well as whether his in-person manner or written bid were more reflective of his abilities. Based on the good reviews elsewhere, we decided that we would give Bob a shot. Big mistake. <br /> We set up a time to begin the painting and were assured of their professionalism and how expediently they'd be able to get the job done. Bob brought a crew of several painters with him, and they had several "teams" working throughout the property. We left folks to their work, and said that we'd check back in at the time they cited they would be wrapping up. At that point, they still weren't finished and were going to have to come back again. Fine. The work looked half-way done, but after all, they still had another day to come back and finish everything, so I wasn't worried at that point. <br /> The next time that Bob and crew came back, he asked for payment as the job would be completed that day. I wasn't able to be there in person, so talked to him about setting up an alternate time to do a walkthrough together at the property to look at the finished work. He was agreeable to that, but was insistent that his crew needed to be paid upon completion and that he'd have to have payment at the end of the second (and final) workday. I agreed that this seemed fair (also a mistake) and arranged for my father to come over with the check at the end of the day. <br /> Later that day, I returned home and looked at the work. Large portions of the property- whole rooms- that we had been charged for painting weren't even touched. Closets, cabinets, ceilings, and walls weren't pained properly. Some portions- the most visible issues CBR had been hired to address- were done very nicely. Areas where there had been issues with cracked or missing plaster had been beautifully patched and painted. But there were other not as noticeable areas which were done very shoddily. Large cracks that we had agreed on patching in ceilings and walls weren't fixed. Paint drippings had fallen on the woodwork- which we had specifically warned against. A floor runner in the front hallway was covered in paint and torn all over- another thing that we had specifically warned against- and which ultimately cost us hundreds of dollars to replace. Areas behind radiators were left unpainted, so if you were looking at it from just about any angle, you could see that the wall was painted except for a square around the radiator in a different shade. <br /> I calmly emailed Bob and said that there were some areas that I could tell needed to be fixed already, but that we could discuss them on the walkthrough. He scheduled a time to walkthrough the property with me, so I was hopeful that there could be reconciliation on the issue. However, when the time came for the walkthrough, Bob was nowhere to be found. In his place was James, someone who had been part of his painting crew. OK, I thought, this wasn't Bob showing up like he said he would, but I'm sure that James can help! I walked through the property with James and went through a list of areas that needed to be fixed, as well as relaying my dismay at the runner being ruined and the paint drippings on the woodwork. He didn't take any notes during the walkthrough and seemed like he started to tune out after getting about halfway through the list. I asked him if he'd like me to email the list to Bob, and he appreciatively agreed. <br /> At the end of the walkthrough, I asked how long it would take to take care of the repairs and remediation. He said that he would get started right away and that we could go from there. James stayed about an hour, and then slipped out without my noticing. In that time, he managed to look at a closet, paint over cracks- not patch, mind you- in the ceiling of one room in a DIFFERENT COLOR OF PAINT, leaving stripes of a different paint on the ceiling, and then sand down plaster that they put on which was protruding so that it protruded slightly less. <br /> I emailed Bob with the list of items, to which he never replied. He never replied to subsequent calls or emails either. I considered taking him to small claims court, but figured that it was better to just cut my losses and move on. Looking at the insulting and belligerent responses he gave to bad reviews here and elsewhere seems to be more in line with what you can expect from CBR. Hire at your own risk. <br />