Bender Painting & Decorating

STAY AWAY!!! If I could give Bender Painting negative stars, I would. They were contracted by Service Master to carry out the painting of my home, damaged in a flood. The drywall had been hung, taped and sanded. As per our work order, Bender was to prime the drywall with a latex-​based sealer/​primer and top coat with latex. They didn’t prime. In fact, after the sanding, they did no wall prep at all, just slapped up the latex. Now the paint is peeling off in sheets, and chunks can be taken from the wall with a flick of a little finger nail. The peeling paint is coated on the backside with drywall grit and has no adhesion to the wall. Bender is now claiming that they thought that ‘no primer was needed’ on the raw mud/​drywall because I asked for a ‘low VOC’ paint product. I would like to point out that was the general manager of the company, Andrew, who delivered the paint, and a 30 year painting veteran who applied it (I asked), so we’re not talking young kids who may use ignorance an excuse. The charade is not holding water. Clearly Bender was a) trying to save time and money by omitting the primer purposefully, or b) so incompetent that they didn’t understand the most basic rudiments of their trade. Either way, the whole job will have to be redone in it’s entirety and they have set us back weeks in our repairs. thanks for nothing.

I’ve used bender painting for years. The cost has always been reasonable and the crew does an excellent job! I have and would recommend them to anyone who needs painting.

Terrible, just terrible. They under deliver, terrible service and send ‘goons’ out to do the job. I don’t know where they get their painters.
They never came back to finish the job and when we followed up they refused to finish the job they started. We were left with having to fend for ourselves.

Disclaimer: My insurance paid for this service, so in a roundabout way I paid for it.
This is a warning: this company does not ultimately stand behind their work, and you may be left with problems you need to fix yourself or pay someone else to get it properly done. Story below if you’d care to read.
When a fire damaged our condo, the insurers paid for a complete repainting, and hired «their people,» Bender Painting. A quick look at Bender’s website will tell you restoration work is their gig.
They were friendly and professional, in general. But problems began when it came time for finishing touches. Bender’s painter had informed me that he would return to do baseboards and touch-​ups after we were back in. There was no explanation given as to what «touch ups» meant.
When the painter eventually did return, we asked him to fill and touch up a small spot that had somehow been dented in our kitchen ceiling. He said «sure.» Unfortunately, the paint he used for the touch-​up was not the same paint as the previous work, and after drying was an obvious blotch. Bender sent the painter back with the «correct» paint. However, after it dried, it is obviously not the correct paint as there is a large, obvious paint blotch on our ceiling. The painter said they’d likely have to repaint the entire ceiling.
We were fine with that, despite the interruption it would cause.
The Bender project manager (Andrew), however, was NOT fine with that, and told us it was our problem, implying they had done us a favour in the first place, that the ceiling dent wasn’t their fault, blah, blah, blah.
I explained that the source of the original dent was irrelevant; the horrible job in repainting it, by his crew, was unacceptable. At that point he offered to repaint the entire ceiling with me paying his «cost.» Essentially this told me he was done with the conversation.
Based on this, I would not give Bender painting a single dollar, ever again. The remainder of their paint job was ok, nothing great.
If you have a fire or flood, ASK your insurance company (or restoration company) who they use as a painter. If it’s Bender, say «no way.» No one wants to give business to a company that doesn’t stand 100% behind its work.