Pro Touch Painting & Design T/A Camilo E Silva

Do you work for this business? Unlock this free profile to update company info and see who's viewing your profile.

• By Michael A.

  October 29, 2020

  renovation

  I categorized the performance of ProTouch painting and designs in 4 sections that I feel are important when employing a company to lead a project of the kind we hired them for. In our case, it was putting a structure in place to add a bedroom in our apartment.

  Professionalism:
  Difficult to work with, at times abusive to people he hires. I was included on several text threads where he was highly unprofessional with people he hired.
  Staff sleeping on site although cameras are in plain site. Paperwork with the city not handled and required lots of work on my end after he stopped responding to texts and emails. Lastly, problem solving is not a strength of Camillo. As with any project, unexpected developments occur, what is important is how we deal with the problems. Camillo tends to panic and focus on who will pay for the change of plan instead of focusing on options to resolve the problem.

  Financial planning:
  Contract was not thought through. The number quoted was not thought through and many things were missed (including doors, steps to a room, sprinklers to be moved). Obviously it's very challenging to conclude work in those scenarios, and many conversations with Camillo ended with him asking for more money, including for cleaning at the end.
  Some of his staff complained several times to me for not being paid, a company that was contracted to do work was not paid in spite of numerous reminders and follow up. Overall there was a lack of transparency and management of financials.

  Time Management:
  Didn't stick to his schedule of 3 to 4 weeks and was off by several months. There are several obvious reasons for that, poor planning. days would go by between phases as material was being purchased, although payment was made when requested. During those times Camillo would often stop responding to texts/calls until he would appear some days later.
  City permit delayed several times, workers not showing up as planned. While it is understandable for people to have last minute emergencies, consistently for several months is indicative of a larger problem. One possible reason might be tied to the way he handles payment to his employees? During his weeks of vacation he left someone in charge who lacked the experience to manage the work that was needed which also caused delays.

  Overall quality of work:
  Work ended a bit early due to the pandemic, but outside of some finishes not completed as the project ended abruptly, the work that was done was not always of quality. For example a wall was put in place under a staircase which is not aligned with the stairs but is about an inch off which is very noticeable due to its central position in the house, ceiling not finished (a space of a couple inches was left on the window side), wood staining of had to be re-done. Those are only a few of the examples I could share.

  Overall, saying we were disappointed would be an understatement. It took many times longer than quoted, cost more, was a strain to anyone involved who came in contact to ProTouch (not just us but folks working and helping us with the project). I can see that ProTouch might be well suited for small jobs. Paint jobs, and maybe minor renovations. Anything more complicated and requiring planning is a bit outside their grasp if the work they did for us is any indication of the sphere of competency of ProTouch.

  Read more