Darnell’s Custom Painting

I am shocked Darnell could have these positive reviews. He did a terrible job with my property and caused extensive damage to the home. I could write a giant essay on the many incompetent and negligent things they did, but I’ll try to keep it somewhat readable.
I hired him to paint most of the interior of home and the exterior doors.
I paid a much higher price with them than other bids I got because I believed his talk about how they would do a much better job. It was about 50% higher than other bids, so one would expect high quality. What I ended up with is a nightmare that I would have to essentially repaint most everything to truly correct.
I gave Dunn Edwards colors to paint, naturally I’d assume they’d use Dunn Edwards high quality paint. They ended up using much cheaper Frazee paint without asking me (though it was in fine print on the contract so I got duped). They also told me that the paint would have a slight sheen in order to be cleanable, even though flat paint would be more typical on most areas of the house other than kitchens and bathrooms. The paint ended up having a heavy sheen to the point of guests in my home asking why I made that bad choice. The paint also does not adhere well to the walls and especially the exterior doors where it can be easily scratched off with a finger.
Their prep work was terrible and rushed. Poor preparation of wood surfaces to minimize defects, poor drywall patching that doesn’t match surrounding areas and looks amateurish.
The covering they used for the carpets had some kind of adhesive on it which stained the carpets and required industrial adhesive remover to have it partially come out. They damaged the wood floors to the point I had to pay to have them refinished.
One example of their incompetence is how they tried to paint the big roll up garage door, which I just had newly installed and wanted to paint to match old door. Their first attempt was ultra shiny high gloss and looked nothing like anything in the neighborhood. So they repainted it with a lower sheen paint. Except it looked cloudy and strange. They tried repainting it again and it looked somewhat better, then they decided to paint the cracks between the door panels the sprayer didn’t quite hit with a brush heavy with paint — which didn’t match the sprayed finish — so it looked awful again. The paint from their brushes was so thick it actually seeped through the cracks into the interior of the door and there was colored paint dripped all over the rear of the door which wasn’t supposed to be painted. They then tried to remove this paint and damaged the factory finish of the interior of the door with the paint remover they used. They then repainted the factory finish with some kind of glossy white paint to cover the damage. Then they repainted the front again after sanding it down and it looked okay enough, but now the door panels stuck violently when the door was opened/​closed. So they then put some kind of wax between the panels. I also noticed that they never covered the interior of the garage walls and a lot of paint got through their too. This is a rambly example, but my point is they made many mistakes only an amateur would make, as though they had never painted a garage door before. They kept having to redo things because it looked terrible and in the end it still isn’t done as right as it would have been, had they just done it right in the first place!
This is but one example. There was many things they did wrong and had to redo. Except they redid it in a poor way. For example some sprayed doors had some defects. They needed to be resprayed, but instead they just dabbed a paint brush on the door, which makes it look worse since brushing over sprayed surface just doesn’t match in color or sheen.
There is all sorts of spots on the walls with an inconsistent sheen, visible brush strokes, many hairs/​fibers from rollers stuck onto the wall, missed spots, improperly prepared spots, bad texture, etc. They painted over things that should have been removed first and put back on after painting was done.
There was many tasks we agreed upon doing in the beginning that they started calling «extras» as the job progressed. All their messing up and redoing stuff was making the job take a long time and they made less than they expected. I do have a large home so maybe things started to take longer than they expected. Instead of doing the job right they just kept on cutting corner after corner and making excuses.
I had to beg and beg for them to show up to correct things, but eventually just gave up since I could see it would never be the quality that I — or anyone — would want. They were just incapable.
He talks a big game, but him and his crew are awful painters and have no attention to detail, no ability to do a big job and plan correctly, don’t even look at their own work after finishing. They are a terrible value for the money and I’m going to have to spend a lot to fix their lousy work.

Well, my husband and I could not be more thrilled with the job that Bob Darnell and his team did for us, on our Ranch home in Temecula. We had recently moved permanently to what was formerly just our weekend retreat, and it became quickly evident that our new home needed some loving care on the outside surfaces, having really been too neglected for several years. We started the arduous task of getting bids for the painting that we envisioned, and sought references from people that we knew. However, despite what seemed reasonable quotes, we just couldn’t find anyone that seemed professional and knew their business. We were determined not to hire someone that would just slap on paint. Well, one of our contacts referred us to Bob Darnell, and we were immediately impressed with his responsiveness and his professionalism. Our call was immediately returned, and an appointment quickly set for Bob to visit our rather remote property. Everything that Bob said, starting from that initial appointment, was all about doing quality work. And, amazingly, his bid for the work was less than the other contractors. Well, the date was set for the job to start, and Bob was generous with his time to help us select colors, and he made a point of putting possible choices on the house, to help us see our possible choices in the right light. Even before colors were picked, however, Bob’s team had started on the PREPARATION, PREPARATION, PREPARATION. They did an amazingly thorough job caulking joints in the siding on our home, caulking and preparing the inside and outside of our wood patio cover, and taping and covering EVERYTHING that wasn’t supposed to have paint on it! All plants were covered and protected and all hardware was taped and protected (or even removed and reinstalled at the end of the project). Throughout the project Bob’s crew was friendly and professional, and made every effort not to interfere with us and our dogs — even removing window «bubble» over the weekend, so we wouldn’t be inconvenienced, even though they had to replace some of it on the following Monday. Within just a few days, the outside of our home looked beautiful, fresh, and new, and it seems that it will withstand every weather condition that it might encounter for years to come. And, when they left, there was no evidence that they had even been there, except for the beautiful house! In other words, none of the usual contractor mess that my husband and I have experienced with other contractors in the past. We would wholeheartedly recommend Darnell Custom Painting, and, in fact, plan to have them repaint our barn in the coming months!

Bob the Painter and his team have painted the exterior and interior of our home. He is our go to guy for all of our painting needs. Clean, good with colors, and can deal with issues other than paint, like drywall, stucco, doors that don’t close properly, etc. I will continue working with Darnell’s Custom Painting and would recommend them to anyone that asks.

Bob Darnell is one of the most honest men I have ever met, he take’s pride in his work and wants to make sure his customers are happy and satisfied with the job he does for them. Knowledgeable, reliable and professional weather doing commercial work or a single room you will always get Bob’s best.

Darnell’s Custom Painting is an excellent, reliable painting company. They arrive on time, give a reasonable bid, aid in color/​paint selection, mask and cover everything thoroughly then do a professional job of painting the house, and clean up afterwards. Bob Darnell and his crew are knowledgeable, efficient, friendly and professional.
I have used painting contractors before but Darnell’s Custom Painting gave us the BEST painting experience ever. They painted all of the interior walls and trim along with the exterior fascia on our 2-​story, 4-​bedroom home.
There was no furniture in the house. They masked and covered the floors in a couple of hours and painted the interior the next day. They came back the next afternoon and painter the exterior fascia in a couple of hours. Their crew of four painters knew what they were doing and worked well as a team.
Bob Darnell is one of the nicest contractors anyone would ever want to work with. I would HIGHLY recommend Darnell’s Custom Painting to anyone interested in getting some painting done. Do not hesitate to give them a call! You will be extremely grateful that you did.