text:
Write Review
Compare Home Improvement Companies
College Works Painting
out of
, based on
ratings and
reviews & complaints.
Most Popular
More Options >
More filter options:
Valuable info for potential clients, interns and painters!
Posted by
For potential interns, painters, or home owners looking into College Works Painting, please be sure to review the information I'm about to provide.
To painters:
Interns really do not know the full scope of what they are getting into; if they have no painting experience prior, just know they paint one house before they are on their own. So the training they give you, though a district manager is there on your first day to "train", is only what they are told, so again it is basic. They are all about the sales, one thing I've learned is they are told to do anything to get the sale, and will because it means more money for them. The pay works like this for painters, I'll try to explain this well but briefly before I go into why this sounds good, but you get screwed.
Each job is allotted a certain number of hours for work, we'll assume only one painter is working to make this explanation easier, as each contract and price is based on the hours allotted for the work needed. If the intern decides all of the prepping and painting will take 50 hours, it means that based on your salary you will make a specific amount for the job even though you have an hourly rate. So if you make $8/hour, for a 50 hour job you will make $400 if it takes you 10 hours, or if it takes you 100 hours. To sell this to painters, they will tell you that you can "beat the budget" so by working only 40 hours on a job budgeted for 50 hours, it's really like you're making $10/hour. Now you know how the pay works for a painter.
Here's the problem. An intern is given a sheet that tells them how to budget the hours for the contract, and that amount of budgeted hours is what the painters are told, giving them an idea of how fast they would need to work to at least make the hourly wage they are given. But the info the interns have does not take into account things such as: difficulty, ladder movements, amount of scrapping/prepping and unforeseen problems such as working on a roof, landscapes being in the way (flowers, bushes, trees, etc.). The reason this is a problem is that they will budget (if I remember correctly, if not it is still an example) 200 square feet of spray for one hour. So if there are bushes, and you must drop sheet it, work around it, and make 10 ladder movements to do that 200 sq ft, you are then going to take a lot more than an hour. Not to mention the fact you will be slow because you're just learning to spray. To keep this short, there are many, many ways that it will take you longer to do something than the hours budgeted for it. And obviously over the course of a job, this means you are very likely to exceed the budgeted hours, and therefore make much less per hour than your given wage. Your first day or two will make you think you will kill every budget, because they make sure that the first house is the easiest, simple, and able to be finished within no more than two days. Also, managers are likely to cut the amount of hours given, leaving money for themselves to pocket. What I mean is, if the total hours budgeted for the job is really 80, they may tell you that it's budgeted for 75, or some amount lower than 80 and give themselves a higher profit.
Finally, another aspect that costs you time and force you to go over budget are the unforeseen issues. Interns will put anything in the contract that the homeowners want, meaning whatever the client says they want painted, the intern will put that in the contract. They do this for obvious reasons. If they say they can paint everything except the third story dormer, the client is much less likely to do business with them since they cannot provide the service needed. The problem with this is that the intern does not realize how difficult some things are, what needs to be done to get it painted, or how long this part of the house will take. So if it is a third story dormer, they will budget it for an hour because that is what the sheet tells them, that it takes one hour to do a dormer. So if the dormer needs a 40-foot ladder, and requires multiple ladder movements, a roller with an extension (and remember you are just learning), etc. These are all tasks that will take extra time but was never budgeted into the hours, and the painters then go over budget and make less per hour.
Another problem involves the materials. Painters are given two brushes, and if they get ruined, the painters are then supposed to pay for the new ones. The problem is even if you are very conscious about making sure brushes are kept clean, due to long days and having so many other things to worry about, you will go through brushes very quickly.
Painters are also supposed to work four days per week, ten hours per day. The company wants you to work five of those days the first week of the bi-weekly pay scale, and the other three the next week. So you technically work 50 hours one week, but are not compensated for overtime because of the incentive-pay system. Plus, if you end up working over 80 hours in the two week incentive-pay system, an intern can just move those extra hours onto the next scheduled bi-weekly pay period, again you are not compensated for overtime pay you rightly earned.
Also, interns are told that for every hour a painter works, they make an addition forty cents ($.40) and are paid in one check at the end of the summer when painting is finished (well you would actually get the check once the interns accounts are closed, so it would be more like late fall). Basically, it's a bonus check you would receive. The problem is, they do not have to give you this "bonus", and even if they do tell you, they are able to keep it because they can say that a bonus was not earned. It's basically a loophole, so if you do become a painter, make sure to inquire about this.
The final information for painters I have regards when you are paid. Two painters did not receive their first check for over six weeks. The problem was that of the company and not the intern, which shows how unreliable they actually are in terms of running a business correctly. One painter did not receive their final paycheck until January, even though their last week was in August. The company is notified frequently, and the intern and painter are told that things are resolved and they will get their check, but often this happens for weeks, and as you can see also happens for months. This goes for interns as well, College Works likes to hold your money for whatever reason, and I have seen it too many times to not think its intentional or a sign of malpractice.
Also, remember that jobs are budgeted for so many hours and you are always working with at least one other painter, remember that if the other painter is very slow and unskilled, no matter how quick and productive you are they will waste hours and cost you time and money.
One last thing, remember that interns are looking out for their own best interest. They can promise many things but usually do not follow through or are unable to do so. This is partially caused by their âbossâ, the district manager, who will do the same thing in promising those things but not following through. This is one of the biggest problems with the company, they use top-down management, and each tier is told something that more often than not does not happen or is a complete lie. I have read many reviews online about College Works being a âpyramid schemeâ, and while I donât see as being one exactly, it definitely follows the formula and the results back this. Clients invest money but usually have their start date pushed back, the amount of estimated time for the service elongated, and the final product involving extra time for fixing bad work and cleaning up materials. All resulting in giving a lot of time as well as money that results in a weak return on investment; Painters invest their time and are screwed (by losing pay) through the budget system and lack of experience/knowledge of interns; Interns must invest $1,250 for their âkitâ and book $10,000 worth of work before they can even start, as well as give a lot of time for the training, marketing, and sales. All of which results in not receiving compensation until the cost for the kit is deducted from their personal revenue (and remember their start date can be pushed back due to the $10,000 booking total to begin production), which means you will most likely not see a dime until end of May at the earliest but most likely in June, while you will have by then put in hundreds of hours and a lot of money for travel and other expenses. So as you can see, College Works is not by definition a pyramid scheme, but it sure as hell follows the same formula.
To interns:
While some of the prior information will be helpful, Iâll give you some information that should you should be aware of, and provide examples if needed.
First off, I would like to say this can be a great resume builder, it can help you with experience and knowledge in terms of sales, as well as learning how to paint a house, handle clients, manage workers (as well as training, hiring, etc.), and earn money. But the earning money part is very rare, while you can, when it is all said and done make a profit, the chances are you will spend more during the course of your work on extra materials, gas, phone bill, eating out, etc. So keep that in mind, as Iâll continue to the problems you will face.
The main problem you will find comes from your hired painters. Finding quick learners, hard workers, and dedicated employees is very difficult. One intern I was told about had his painters quit on him near the end of the summer, which is the worst part, considering the work he needed to finish. The best advice is to not lie to those you want to hire, make sure they understand the difficulties you face and deal with, and make sure they fully understand the budgeting system. This is the biggest issue, and I would estimate at least 90% of interns have at least one painter quit, but usually one painter quitting results in a snowball effect, so be very careful in regards to hiring.
The best way to help your painters is to paint! Your district manager will tell you to never do this; they will be completely against it and say you should be doing scheduling, making phone calls, marketing, etc. But as long as you have a decent amount of work booked, try as best you can to help, and here is why. For one, it looks good, it shows you want your painters to succeed and are doing what you can to make them beat the budget, Remember, your hours do not count for the house, you do not get paid for the time you spend painting. But, if your help saves them four to five hours, they might then make budget and be paid accordingly. This makes them happy, shows your hard work and honesty, and also creates a level of commitment. This is the best advice I can give, the problem is in the other interns I have worked with or been told about, none help paint.
Your âjobâ is to book work and finish jobs, but remember: this will only work if you have painters who can get the jobs done and do them well! The painters need to be happy and motivated, and the motivation is supposed to be in beating budgets. As I have stated and really stress is that beating budgets is difficult and these painters will work long hours in the hot sun, so near the end of these days they will obviously work slower. So if they are not beating budgets, you need to do everything you can to get them to where they need to be, to be happy and not quit. If this means adding a few hours to the budget so they get their hourly wage, do it. If it means buying them drinks to show you care and want them to be able to endure the heat better, then you should do it.
In terms of clients, you need to actually care about them and their home. You cannot put on your sales pitch and big words, because frankly, as a beginner in the painting business you will often end up biting your tongue.
One big problem you may face is houses that require different work than just painting, such as a house that you contract simply for prepping and no painting. One good example is a job I was involved in that cost just under a grand, and required taking the âlooseâ paint off of wooded shingles, not cedar shakes but close, they had small indents in the wood throughout making regular scrapping nearly impossible. This was budgeted for 12 hours I believe, and the guy was unhappy with the process the first day, and said it required a heated gun (I donât recall the official name, itâs sort of like a blow dryer, using heat to extract the loose paint). The job ended up taking almost 40 hours. Hereâs the problem, unless you are willing to take a loss financially on the job, which I doubt you would, you will not get the job done, have an unhappy client and a lot more to deal with. So you understand how problems like this can arise even on a regular jobsite, where things take extensively longer than budgeted. This again comes down to if you are willing to add hours to the budget, but remember it is stuff like this you are not fully knowledgeable of from the training and information you are given. So these problems can happen with any job, making the likelihood of disgruntled painters, who feel they are then being cheated more likely to quit. As you can see, the problems you will face always comes back to the fear of painters quitting, forcing you to lose time and waste time finding new help, training them, and then you face the same issue. You get the point Iâm sure, so beware of this if you want to be an intern.
Another problem is not knowing how paint will look on a house, depending on the siding, as well as the shade used and the coats applied (including or not a coat of primer). One house I managed a job site for had cedar shakes, and wanted one coat of a light color. The problems started shortly after spraying began, because only one coat of a light shade on cedar shakes causes it to look very blotchy, meaning there is no cohesiveness to the single coat applied. The homeowner refused to have us spray the house, even though this was the best way in terms of speed, and would only allow us to hand paint it with a brush or roller. The house was budgeted originally for (I believe) less than 20 hours, since this intern just used the equation given for an hour budget per every 200 square feet of the house. The house was re-budgeted to 39 hours (for the painters, not the actual contract) by a district manager to compensate for the lack of hours in the original assessment. Long story short it ended up taking 90 hours to paint. The client refused to buy a second coat, which I cannot blame them since they were obviously not informed one coat of spray would look sloppy, so it resulted in taking three times as long and the district manager paying out of pocket for extra compensation. As you can see this is another great example of how you will face problems because of your lack of knowledge about different siding, how paints and colors cover, as well as not knowing if they wanted one coat it would need to be hand painted and therefore make the budgeted hours much higher. As an intern, in situations like these you need to add to the hours and pay the painters accordingly, since no one will work three times the amount of hours budgeted and made 1/3 of their hourly wage. So itâs either have your painters quit or pay out of pocket, obviously both are terrible options but this is what you deal with if you are an intern. Again, this reiterates the theme of what College Works provides: a system where you are set up to fail.
The final piece of information I will give involves everything I know about how you are paid, what you can make, and how your district managers can screw you out of your hard earned money.
One job I know about involved a house that had been contracted for over a year, but do to difficulties and it being extremely underbid, the project was given to someone with extra pay incentive. Long story short, due to a problem on the jobsite (that was easily resolved and dealt with nothing regarding the actual work done) the person who was given the job had it taken away from them by their district manager. Not only was the person screwed because they had the job taken from them, they also had pay the wages of the workers. So, not only did they earn nothing, they lost several hundred dollars for compensating the workers instead of the person who took over the job. Not only is this bad practice, there was nothing the person could do to stop it. This just goes to show you that those above you the system can take jobs from you; they also have great reason to do so. They can make money off of your sale, your work, and have you pay for the hours already put into the job.
Side note: The reason it was under-budgeted is something you, and potential homeowners looking to use college works should note. Some (not all) interns and district managers who leave the company, are offered the option to bid out houses and get contracts at the end of the summer/fall to be painted the following summer. They are compensated $20 for every contract, plus 1% of the contract when it is completed. Since they are leaving the company, they do not care about the problems of the job; they just want to book work to make their money quickly, plus the 1% when the job is completed (meaning they will under-budget the best they can to get contracts). The problem for interns or even district managers is that these jobs are very likely to be extremely underbid, causing you to lose money. For homeowners, you may face the problem of having to pay more for additions to the contract, or have to deal with a lawyer to make sure the contract is carried out (I have witnessed this more than once). And for painters, well I guess you can see the problems as well, like I stated earlier, you may be painting a house that is budgeted for a lot less hours then it will take and may cause you to waste time and earn less than your hourly wage. This practice is one of the major problems with College Works, and shows that they are focused on their income and not to teach and prepare interns. They use people who are skilled in sales to get contracts, knowing that these contracts will be underbid (I use the term âknowingâ because they must realize the incentive given to those who book work, along with them not having to deal with any problems of the job is clear. It is not something they are unaware of because this issue is brought up when interns are given these jobs), and because they know this they are screwing clients and interns alike.
For interns, you can see from the previous example how a job was taken away, and this can happen for any job you have, for a simple reason like not doing something correctly or using the wrong materials (many of which can happen because you are ignorant, by no fault of your own, on aspects of the job). While I understand reasons a job is taken away is due to circumstances that are technically against the rules of the company. But, in your quest to make budget and get things done you are often forced to find the easy way, and in doing so put yourself, your time, and your money at risk.
One thing I will add, simply because it is something you would not know (or should not be told) unless you stay with the company and become a district manager, involves the house you are trained on. The house you learn how to paint is a prime example of how the company works; the painters (you and the other new interns) are not compensated for your work. As in, you do not receive a check for the hours you workâ¦seems wrong doesnât it? They do this in such a way to not even make you think about getting paid, as this is simple part of the training process, yet you are painting someoneâs house and they are obviously paying for these services. So your district manager is making their 4% (like they do for all of the jobs completed by interns), an additional 15% (the percentage you as an intern would make on a job-which is standard and does not include extra money youâd make from using less than what the client paid for in terms of what was budgeted, meaning the difference in materials and labor hours-whether hours you skimmed from the beginning or skimmed because they beat budget), and they also make whatever percentage the labor hours budgeted came to because they are not paying you for your work! Ironically, this in itself is a âbenefitâ to get former interns who they deem fit to stay another year and become a district manager.
To Potential Clients (Homeowners):
While everything I have written previously are examples of the problems with the company, how they operate, and how the interns and painters are given a great opportunity on paper but are most likely set up to fail, the work itself is not always bad and you are not definitely getting yourself into a bad situation.
As a hard worker and dedicated employee, I saw many homes that turned out wonderful. Many times this involved painting an entire house, and when finished, looked absolutely amazing. This refers to the end product though, meaning the problems mentioned prior and including what I will mention in the following passages, are still issues with the process. I did not want to discredit the fact that the finished product can be amazing, because it can be, but is very rare in terms of not having to deal with or face problems throughout the process.
One benefit to hiring college works is actually the inexperience and practices they have, that if you are lucky, can allow you to get what should be expensive for the work needed, done for much less. If you have read this entire passage, the two previously examples of jobs I have mentioned are prime examples of how clients received a job done that should have cost at least double what they paid. Another example which I have yet to mention was one of the first jobs for an intern, involving a wooden fence. It ended up costing the homeowners $1,300 (roughly) but was under-budgeted for both materials and hours just so they would get the contract. This was their district managerâs advice, and in the end they worked on it for over a day to not have the painters go over budget and cost themselves more money. Iâm not sure how much the job would have cost if it were done by other professionals, but in terms of what it should have cost in their contract to what they paid, they saved a few hundred dollars. Iâm not sure if that is a risk you are willing to take, but through my experience, you should always get at least three estimates.
Here are some tips when dealing with the interns attempting to sell you a job:
1. Do not let the discount for signing the day off fool you, interns will usually just add what the discount would take off to the price, meaning you will not really save anything. I think the discount is 5 or 10 percent, and I am not saying this always happens, but I am pretty sure the district managers will tell them this trick, and if not they are likely to figure it out for themselves.
2. They are taught during their making of the contract to get you off topic and talk about your dog, family, or things of that nature to seem more caring. While this is nice for you, and a great sales tactic, it is to make you feel more comfortable with them. They do this during the walk around when they see a playhouse, a doghouse, stuff like that. So now you know, just remember this is what they are taught to do; this is not them being themselves.
3. Another sales tactic they use and you should be aware of, is that after you complete the walk around outside and tell them everything you want done, they will ask to use your bathroom. This is so you and your spouse (or whoever is with you) can talk about everything and give you a few minutes alone to feel more comfortable. Again, itâs nothing bad; just understand this is all strategy to get the sale.
4. MAKE SURE to always know the extent of the problems with your home and the siding, dormers, windows, etc. If the wood is extremely bad, it might need to be replaced, and getting it painted is a waste of money. Usually this is only in some spots, not the whole house, but when you see the final product and looks awful it may be due to the quality of the wood (or whatever the siding is) and not the paint or job done. This can save you time and money, but will also help you if the intern eventually tells you that a different product is needed, and more needs to be done, adding more to your contract and costing you more.
5. You are often told that your house, the siding, or whatever needs to be power washed before it can be painted. While this is most often true (sometimes I power washed for hours siding was so bad, and others it was only bad in one spot), you will be paying a hell of a lot of money for something you can do yourself, In fact, what is budgeted for power washing is usually more than it would cost you to buy a power washer and do it yourself. Thatâs just a tip, while itâs obviously easier they do it, remember it is very expensive just to have water sprayed on your home.
6. Interns will usually try to up-sell you after the painting has already started. This usually refers to painting something you did not originally want, or adding decorative paint to certain aspects of your home, it really depends. Just know this will often be priced higher than it would have had you suggested it prior to the bidding of the contract.
7. Be aware of the fact that the materials will stay on your property! This has happened multiple times involving homeowners complaining about materials being left on site after the job was finished. Interns are supposed to have vehicles that can carry ladders, but they are not always available, so if the painters do not have vehicles able to remove power washers, ladders, or other materials, they will sit on your property until they are picked up. I do not think is as big a problem as it has been with my experience, but it happened at almost every site I have been to (over 40 jobs). Also, if materials are left on your grass it will often kill it, and at sites that take weeks to finish can really be a problem. So if you plan to have your whole house painted, make sure you have a place they can keep the materials to prevent this. If you do not have a spot, then make sure it is in the contract that they will be removed each day from the site.
8. One thing you will be told by the interns in regards to their inexperienced workers is this: Would you rather have painters who have worked for many years and are experienced enough to know every way possible to cut corners? Well, our painters may be inexperienced, but they are taught the right way to do things and will not have the long term experience that can hurt you in cutting corners to get your job done as soon as possible.
This is what they will say to give you peace of mind, and it may make sense, but do think this is realistic? It depends on how you answer that question, but at the very least, keep this in mind when they mention it. I know of many cases that painters put only one coat of paint when clients paid for two, times where painters begin the second coat before the first is totally dry, instances where scraping paint off (prepping) was done minimally and to compensate the coat(s) of paint were just put on thicker, and so on and so forth. What makes it worse is, you cannot really blame painters or interns, the system if set up for them to fail in most cases and this is the only way they can earn what they deserve. With that said, right or wrong, fair or foul, it happens and you are now aware.
9. Finally, talk to friends, family, or neighbors about the proposed contract before you sign anything. Just see what others think in regards to price, the coats you are getting, etc. to see if things seem right. While you can use other painting offers to compare, this may be very helpful since all propositions are to make money.
Finally, one thing that College Works does that I really respect is that they paint some houses at the end of the summer for those who are financially unfortunate. This is done by the interns and district managers (ironically enough this good deed is done with leftover paint that is mixed together, which I find somewhat unsettling). Even still, it is a very positive thing they do for communities and a great thing for interns to experience. I wanted to make sure I mentioned that, to end this on a positive note since this is something that you should hopefully remember if nothing else from this review.
In conclusion, I hope I was able to shed light on the realities of College Works Painting. After working for them for several years, I felt my knowledge of the company and their practices was strong enough to be able to help those who would need or want this information. Please note that all jobs I have written about were those in which I was involved in some way and were not secondhand accounts. While I have witnessed and experienced many negative things in my tenure, I have also gained many skills in terms of painting, sales, management and many other things. While at times I was very upset with what was happening, or with what the company was doing to me and others, looking back I am happy to have worked for them. My resume is much stronger because of College Works, but at the same time, my circumstances were unique. Even though I did not succeed in terms of making a deserved and respectable income, I succeeded on a personal level, while so many others failed. My motives during my tenure were also much different, and the position I was put in did not allow me to quit, for reason that include my own morals, work ethic, dedication and commitment. I did not allow myself to write this while I was still employed by College Works. I felt I was able only now to write this without bias since I have been away from the company long enough. At the very least, I hope all who see this enjoyed the read.
Was this review helpful?
Read 5 Replies
Add reply
Review Link:
User Replies:
dan gordon on 02/16/2011:
you may be better off posting this on
its a site for job seekers
emady on 02/16/2011:
Posted it on pissedconsumer just now actually, I'll have to look into that site, thanks.
dan galczyk on 01/23/2013:
I am a painting contractor , I just applied to be a contractor for college works ,is there any contractors out there who have worked for them ?? if so any problems collecting pay??
Kim on 08/01/2013:
They are painting my house now. I wish I would have read this before, as I am seeing some of the issues as possibly problematic in the current job.
Hunt. R. on 10/20/2013:
I have decided to be an intern for the college works and have been doing researching about the company to see what I am getting into and I just have to say, this has been by far the most helpful review I can find! To me the most important aspect of a company is having my employees be satisfied. Having the experience you've had, I would really like to talk with you more emady! Preferably via email or phone if possible.
Close comments
Add reply
Unprofessional Painters
Posted by
First Impressions:
I should have known there was going to be trouble ahead when the branch manager for College Works Painting, was a day late for our first meeting at my home in March.
College Works Painting (and Student Works Painting owned and operated under parent National Services Group) recruits college students to essentially run franchises in towns across the country. These students are responsible for hiring workers and making sales of their painting services to businesses and residents in their area.
This initial meeting was supposed to be an introduction, presentation of the work College Works Painting does, and a 2 hour walk-around followed by presentation of an estimate/quote to paint my house. The branch manager assured me that she would have a 2-week intensive training and I wouldn't be required to make a final payment until I was completely satisfied with the results.
A couple days after this first meeting the branch manager called to see if I was ready to sign a contract for the job because the summer was booking up quickly with jobs. I felt pressured into making my decision hastily, but having worked my way through college and paying my own tuition and expenses, I appreciated young people willing to work hard.
A week later I signed a contract to have the body of the house painted (no doors or window trim), and I asked to have the work done in late July because we were expecting a new baby in the last part of June and a vacation planned the first of August.
Poor Communication:
In April a College Works Painting sign was placed in my front yard. I never heard from College Works Painting again until early July when the branch manager said she'd like to start the job. I explained we agreed that work would start in late July. The next 2 months were a series of missed and late appointments. The branch manager never came to the house at times scheduled, often arriving an hour late or not at all. I frequently left work early to be home on time for scheduled meetings only to wait an hour or more, and sometimes no one would come at all.
At the first meeting just before work was to begin in late July the branch manager, my wife, and I discussed what color to paint the house. There was a semi-transparent stain already on the cedar clapboard siding. The branch manager recommended using a solid color acrylic stain because it would last longer than a semi-transparent. She said she would come the next day to put a small test patch on an inconspicuous area of the house to show what the color would look like. No one came the next day.
Test Patch:
3 days later the test patch was applied while we were away for the weekend. The inconspicuous area where College Works chose to do the test patch was 3 feet by 1 foot right next to the front door. The solid color stain looked like a dark brown patch of paint and didn't look at all like a stain. Due to the location of the test patch, we couldn't now opt to use a semi-transparent stain as was currently on the house because the dark brown patch would be an obvious blemish and eye-sore. Our only option now was to have the entire house painted. College Works Painting agreed and said it would change the cost, an increase of $1300 above the original quote. I knew it would take more work and materials to paint instead of stain, and despite not having the option to stain the house anymore, we agreed and selected a light green color for the body of the house. Still no doors or window trim would be painted.
Work Begins:
On August 1, a worker came to the house to begin the prep work taping and covering the windows and doors with plastic. The worker finished covering about half the windows, enclosing the windows on the living room, kitchen, dining room, and porch. I called the branch manager that morning to discuss her plans and when the job would be finished. College Works Painting didn't call back.
The following day no one came to the house and the branch manager didn't return my call until that night.
No one came back to the house to finish the prep work for a week. This was August and we were baking inside the house because the windows were covered with plastic.
On August 6 College Works Painting returned my phone calls which I had been placing twice a day for four days to find out what was happening and when the house would be painted. The branch manager said she would have the house finished in two days. I explained that we were going away for a vacation the next day and she should have the house done in plenty of time before we return seven days later.
On August 13 we returned from vacation and found one worker at the house applying the first coat of paint. All the windows were still covered over two weeks later. The branch manager promised the job would take no more than four days when we signed the contract. The painter got about half the house painted with a first coat of paint, but couldn't continue because the sprayer was malfunctioning, and there was no ladder left for him to reach the second floor. That night I noticed that College Works Painting was not using a primer, a critical error because they were painting a light color over a dark stain and because cedar siding is known to stain paint over time as tannic acids bleed out of the wood and through the paint.
The next two days no more work was done on the house, and the branch manager did not return my phone calls. I was forced to call the College Works Painting headquarters and voice my complaints.
On August 16 the branch manager called me and said she would have the first coat and the entire second coat finished by the end of the day. This seemed unbelievable, but I was happy to see such a flourish of work being done after such a long wait and so much frustration. We scheduled a walk-around to review the work at 6:30 that evening.
That evening I got home and saw a disaster. The paint was streaked and splotchy around the entire house. There was paint splatter on the driveway, plants, and brick patio all around the house. There were several spots on the house that still showed the original brown color, and every door and window frame had been dripped on or sprayed with paint. The branch manager arrived 30 minutes late at 7:00, and the first thing she said when she saw the house was, "This looks terrible." We walked around the house and I pointed at all the touch-ups needed and paint damage to the patio and landscape. She said College Works would be back the next day to fix the touch-ups, but the streaked and splotchy paint was the result of conditions of the wood siding that she could not have foreseen, and I would have to pay for another coat of paint if I wanted it fixed. I stated that I had contracted College Works Painting to paint my house. At no time, and nowhere in the quotation or contract was there a specification for 2 coats of paint only.
No one came the next day as promised to fix the problems, but the branch manager came that night and said I would need to pay another $800 to fix the streaked and splotchy paint with another coat of paint. I explained again the contract was to paint the house to my complete satisfaction, not to apply 2 coats of paint.
College Works said they would not do anymore work on the house, not even correct the damages to the landscaping, window trim, and doors, until I made a payment, contradicting our original contract to pay when the job was finished. At this point the branch manager told me she didn't think I would ever pay. I explained that we have a contract to which we are both bound and that I would pay but not until the job is finished as written in the contract written by College Works Painting.
College Works never came back to finish the job after this, and I incurred approximately $1500 in expenses and time to repair the damages to doors, window trim, landscape and patios caused by College Works painters.
During the following 2 months the paint on the house began to be stained by the tannic acids bleeding from the cedar siding through the latex paint. I spoke with 5 different experienced professional painters and they all said that any experienced painter would have known that to prevent this from happening with cedar wood siding, a stain blocking primer needed to be used first followed by the latex paint. College Works Painting did not use a primer, instead they only applied 2 coats of latex paint.
The House Still Looks Bad:
Eventually College Works Painting took me to small claims court to force a payment from me despite admitting on the claim that they had not finished the job. The settlement awarded me reimbursement of the $1500 in materials and time I had put into repairing many of the damages caused by College Works Painting, and College Works was required to return to my house to remove the stains on the paint, then prime, and repaint the areas of cedar bleeding. They were also required to apply more paint where "lap-lines" showed from paint application (the streaks).
The problems with splotchy paint appearance are still not resolved, but having had enough frustration I let College Works Painting finish the work by correcting the cedar bleeding problems that we could see. I paid the balance due for the job minus the $1500 owed to me for my expenses, and learned my lesson about hiring unprofessional workers. Time will tell if the cedar bleeding will be a problem in areas that weren't repainted, and I will repaint the areas showing streaks on my own to insure it is done right and put this behind me.
Final Warning:
My final warning and words of wisdom gained through this experience are that if you want unprofessional results, hire unprofessional painters. I did, and that's what I got. I recommend hiring only experienced, professional painters when the time comes to improve or maintain the exterior appearance of what is likely the biggest investment you have. There are probably some college kids who can do a good job painting houses, but it's not a risk worth taking without seeing their previous work.
Was this review helpful?
Read 26 Replies
Add reply
Review Link:
User Replies:
Mad Eye Moody on 09/28/2007:
Wow. Glad the judge saw through their frivilous litigation. I bet they were counting on you not to show so their lawyers would get a default judgment. Thanks for the warning, and great review - you have spectacular writing skills.
Anonymous on 09/28/2007:
What a disaster! Thanks for the warning to all.
Frenchie on 09/29/2007:
As I posted on another one of these "College Painting" rip offs. I don't have a lot of sympathy because my family has been in the painting bsiness for over l00 years and do nothing but quality work. Never have to advertize - plenty of referrals.
The first coat (the prime coat is the most important) and apparently you did not get the correct coating. The damage is now done and through the years you will have all tpes of problems, probably lots of peeling,etc., should have used a vapor tolerant coating. I could go on and on.
Always remember to talk with professionals -- do you want a shade tree mechanic working on your car? Maybe he knows what he is doing and maybe not. Get references on everything. Sorry to go so long, but this has always been a sore spot with me and especially when I was also in the paint contracting business. I did work quality work for many prominent people who wanted the best, and I knew which coatings were the best & proper for a job.
jktshff1 on 09/29/2007:
good well thought out post, very helpful.
koskijus on 12/10/2007:
College Works Painting did a fantastic job on my house. The manager in charge was my neighbors son. He completed the program last summer and I gained a ton of respect for the program and the company. It changed Michael's life in a great way. The amount of respect and integrity he was taught last summer cannot be gained anywhere else. His parents are huge supporters as well and my house was done properly and looks great!
Dcasalena on 12/10/2007:
koskijus who posted the comment just above this one is Justin Koski, an executive vice president of College Works Painting. He is not the client he says, this is the kind of fraudulent people that are running this business. From the College Works website I found justin koski:
Justin Koski
Executive Vice President
Justin Koski is a Michigan native who graduated with a Marketing degree from the Eli Broad School of Business at Michigan State University. Justin started off as a student manager his Sophomore year at MSU for CWP and has continued to be a top-performer at every level of the company. As a VP in Michigan he has led his team to become one of the largest divisions in the nation and his role as an Executive VP has become a passion as he runs national trainings and mentors other division heads and executive teams to excellence.
koskijus on 12/12/2007:
I did not say I was a client in there anywhere Dominic. I was quoting an excerpt from a reference letter. We received over 550 of them them just last season in Michigan. I will make that one and any others (like the one below) used on this sit available for full viewing on our website as well at www.collegeworks.com.
koskijus on 12/12/2007:
From a client in Michigan "When we hired College Works Painting we were expecting the best service and quality available based on our initial sit-down. We got one step better! Eric and his team were incredibly professional and our 1892 Colonial was not an easy project for any painter. I would recommend College Works to anyone looking for a painter who cares about them..."
-Debbie Randal, Williamston, MI
koskijus on 01/04/2008:
I would like to announce that we have PDF'ed approximately 350 reference letters from; past managers, clients, painters and parent of managers to our site at www.collegeworks.com for full viewing. We will continue to portray thoughts of these people to aide in your research on our fantastic company. I strongly urge anyone who would like to talk about their experiences to email me with their contact information at firstname.lastname@example.com. I prefer to not remai anonymous. Thank you!
Anonymous on 01/04/2008:
Seems that College Works Painting spends a lot of time running around doing damage control. I believe everything Dcasalena posted about College Works Painting.
Mzbo0gie on 01/05/2008:
I don't usually comment on these websites, but after stumbling upon all the College Works bashing, I felt the need to speak up.
I worked for CWP for almost three years in SoCal, and have had a great experience. I am no longer with the company, but still miss it sometimes. I am such a happier person now because of all the confidence I've gained from running a business that produces quality results.
I do believe you Dcasalena that you had a poor experience. I truly feel bad for it, and hope you never have another consumer experience as bad. However, College Works is just like any other company out there: imperfect and still learning. In no way do I believe fraudulent people are running CWP... in fact, the people on top that I've met have been nothing but kind. True, a FEW student interns probably should have never been hired, but for the most part, CWP does beautiful work, and I've met many happy clients.
Anonymous on 09/18/2008:
After reading the above complaint and comments I immediately felt the need to make a comment of my own. I am a college student who last year worked for College Works Painting and since have been promoted to a District Manager position with the company. This year I will assembling a team of quality managers and helping them run successful businesses. Last year as a manager I completed the summer with 100% customer satisfaction rating as well as a reference letter from each of my customers, and not once did I have a customer complaint. College Works Painting is ranked top 100 by the Princeton Review based on selectivity. Only about 5% of applicants actually receive the internship. Now, that does not go to say that the original complaint didn't happen because I'm sure it did (what would be the point of telling a lie), but just like any growing business, employees who may be aren't cut out for the job sometimes slip through the cracks. You can't tell me you haven't or at least know somebody who hasn't had a bad experience with a "professional" contractor at least once in your lifetime. My point is, CWP didn't hire this manager so that he/she could sabotage your house and purposely give you bad service. They provided this manager with the opportunity to get real world experience and had the confidence in that manager to do a professional job. Furthermore, they hired me as a District Manager this year so that I can teach my managers how to successfully run a business with 100% customer satisfaction rating. This just goes to show that they want customers to have a good experience. The whole idea behind the service industry is to build a strong clientele base. How could CWP survive with non-returning, unhappy clients spreading the word around that they are providing a non-satisfactory service? The answer is, they couldn't. The real truth is that CWP is a very professional company and they ARE providing professional service as well as providing college students with an opportunity to gain real world experience and better their future. The personal and professional growth, business management experience, sales experience, marketing experience, communication, and leadership skills that I have gained through this internship and will continue to gain in the years to come could only have been made possible by College Works Painting. I'm sorry you let an incompetent manager convince you that he/she could give you the kind of service you were looking for, but it is completely your fault that you didn't make sure of it before signing the contract. I encourage any and all homeowners to see for themselves whether or not a CWP manager is competent enough to give you the kind of service you are looking for. I am confident you will be satisfied with the result considering CWP's combined customer satisfaction rating over 28 years is above 95%, which is the highest in the nation for any painting company especially the nations largest painting contractor in the nation...which we so happen to be.
Thanks for reading!
Dcasalena on 02/10/2009:
The comment from Afrakes echos all of the sales propaganda on the company's website and marketing material. In fact I have yet to see College Works Painting listed on any "Princeton Review" of internships showing College Works Painting as a top 100 company. If there is such a reference someone please provide it.
johnfd on 02/18/2009:
In regards to Dcasalena: I'm very sorry to hear your story, however I think you are terribly wrong when it comes to professionalism as a whole from college works in the work environment. I had my house painted last year and College Works did a magnificent job on my house for at least 10% less than the other guys. (The other guys showed up for the estimate with a strong smell of booze) College works was on time, courteous, and had a good work ethic. Listen, you have to understand that college works is a large company and unfortunately you were probably the .001% of customers who had an issue with the service you received. Also, I did do some research on the college works and the Princeton review and found the article in the Princeton Review internship Bible. (http://books.google.com/books?id=jGYey3aGXtgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Princeton+Internship+bible&client=firefox-a#PPA392,M1) Check out that link and go to page 392. They recently had to change the name (from student works to college works, same owners though) due to the .001% customers like you(and the other 3-4 people) trying to sabotage a highly valued internship that changes the life of students, for the better. Before you make any preconceived notions be sure to check out the BBB (Irvine, ca address) where you can see College Works has a very high rating. I will use College works again for any of my painting needs. If you have any questions feel free to shoot me a message. I give College Works an A+.
RendellFan on 05/22/2009:
Dominic asked for a reference to the Princeton Review top 100 listing. I have Student Works Painting listed among about 72 other companies as "Internships with the Highest Compensation" on page 461 in "The Internship Bible, 10th Edition, 2005" by The Princeton Review. On page 462 and 463 of the same book, about 150 companies are listed as "Most Selective Internships." Student Works Painting is NOT among those companies listed. The internship bible does give Student Works Painting 4 out of 5 markings for "Selectivity" on page 392. I think that it's very possible Student Works Painting in one of the earlier 9 editions of "The Internship Bible" made the list of the "Most Selective Internships," though I do not rule out the very real possibility that during Student/College Works Painting's unethical recruiting practices, someone simply made up that selling point.
toddling on 07/28/2009:
I wish I would have seen this a couple of weeks ago. I have a friend who hired college works and your report is exactly what they're going through right now: lots of no shows, the work is being done very slow, poorly or not at all. In fact, the manager is now calling to ask for money (before they're done after receiving the initial deposit); and its funny he's calling now for money because no one has been able to get a hold of him for days.
I was just at my friends house moments ago and the job they're doing is the worst I have ever seen. They did not tape or plastic of anything, they used no primer at all, they have cleaned up nothing. Horrible company, assuming you want to call an operation like this a company. Grifters is more like it. I recommend that you stay far away from this company if you value your house.
Anonymous on 08/27/2009:
Yes, Justin Koski is the person in charge and yes his initial entry to this thread was misleading. The rest of the pro-college works people really do not have a clue. I am probably the most recent addition to the houses CW has screwed up. The best line that the writer wrote in this was....if you use college works to paint your home you have 50/50 chance of getting it screwed up. My neighbor got it done with no problems. I got it done and there is overpary on 5 sections of my roof and they dripped paint and overspray everywhere which stained my siding. They want to replace only 1 section of roof (regardless if it matches the rest of the roof) and paint my siding to cover the the spray and drips on that. I have 3 bids for repair and they are all around $20,000.00. Justin does not want replace anything. These are our homes and I find it appalling that the lesson being given to these kids is that you are not responsible for your actions. The corporate office told me that I would have to take them to court. They also take no respoonsiblity for their actions. If there is anyone out there that has expereinced a loss as a result of College Works please contact me. I have retained legal help and would like to see if anyone else would like to join me.
lame on 09/21/2009:
Those of you who have commented that you have a 50/50 chance of receiving a "good" job are 100% correct. I am ashamed to admit that I was a "Branch Operator" running a painting business as a college kid for a summer job. It was a second job that I took on and found responsible painters who did a great job. I was doing a business minor at the university and there was a person from College Works who came to talk to our class. Promising this was a prestigious opportunity and that it would pad our resumes. Well, I found out a valuable lesson. Corporate takes advantage of the little guy. Yes you, the home owner, pays decent money for this job and expects decent work in return. Just know that probably half of what you pay goes to corporate and then the other half is divided among the Branch Operator and their crew. I'm pleased to say that my crew did a good job and all of our customers were satisfied. However, word gets around about other Branch Managers in the city, especially the ones who are having the problems you all have mentioned. What a sham. After that summer I was much too embarrassed, on account of other crews, to even want to put this experience on my resume. Being a college graduate I was hoping to make this a great opportunity for my resume as much as make a nice amount of money. I got hosed and didn't accomplish either of my goals. I wish I could tell every college kid doing this to STOP and not go any further with it.
former manager on 12/04/2009:
The experience I had with Student Works painting not enjoyable. I am a former manager. They start you in the program with recruitment being a sit down with a District manager and a start up cost of $380. To sign a contract (which no signed copy was returned to me:and others)(District manager gets 4% of your take) Than the company takes 25% on top of that 4%... so were now at 29% of pure profit dollars going to the company.(for an avrerage business up to 400000 over the summer break) Now they send you off after a seminar too book work. which by the way is really hard to do when 29% of the prices don't hold any value except a cheesy warranty. Now I booked 10000 and produced 7000 of that at the beginning of the summer. and as opposed to the company releaseing the money so that I could leverage my business to hire more cold callers too find more work.. they hold on too it. not sure what the logic is there. but now without seeing any money (also with a broken leg) I refuse to do more business until some is released. bottom line is I got to the end of my summer and I was paid 2000 on 10500 that I had booked and produced. 1300 of that 10500 was paint and supplies. the rest went to student works..when they were only entitleed to 3045 plus the admin fee of 1200 75 for life insurance and 150 for shirts. 5070 is what should have come out
its a scam. there is no trust in the company as far as I'm concerned. I could not get my District manager to help at all. and he made false promises about the money being released.
I should have known better from the beginning when I heard of a event that had happened within the company with other managers. So a successful manager had become a district manager and brought 20 other managers into the company. She/he is entitled to that 4% as the District manager. A lot of those 20 people/businesses did 75000 that year 75000x.04x20= 60 000 lets just say the district manager was fired and all of the money skipped a step in the company....not very fair...
during my training seminar a successful manager was "stolen from" and had words with the owner. I should have taken this as a warning...
8137productions on 02/26/2010:
You should have stopped them at the test patch, hired a professional painter and had the pro take care of fixing the test patch- it could have been sanded down so that you could have the house done uniformly. If you pay someone who knows what they are doing, they can handle a task like that. In the end, it always costs less to do things right the first time.
That they took you to small claims court cracks me up. They obviously don't realize that a contract means what it says- if they signed it, they're not getting paid per the terms until they fulfill the terms. They sound like serious boneheads. I was considering applying for training there, sounds like a waste of time. Thanks for the heads up.
Raptor528 on 05/06/2010:
I am a former Branch Manager from College Works Painting. They have a manipulative business that preys on college students. They told me I would be paid during the pre-season for estimates and booked jobs. In three months I gave over 40 estimates and booked nearly ten jobs equaling close to 12k. During those three months I got engaged to my friend and we started planning our wedding. With that change in my situation, I needed money sooner than anticipated. When I asked for compensation for the work I was told I could "draw" money from the profits I would make during the summer, I would then refund that amount at a later date. This came as a surprise to me. During the interview process I was led to believe that we would be paid for each estimate and booked job. Without a steady income I decided to quit and found a new job that pays. I have been told by my District Manager that I will not receive any compensation for my work. So basically College Works Painting just took 12k in revenue without spending a cent. I was hoping that they would let another intern take over my jobs and that the interns would benefit from my work... but oh no, my District Manager told me that they would just sub-contract those jobs out to other painting companies, resulting in the company keeping the profits, leaving the other interns dry. And they were the ones questioning my integrity for quitting! I have a sick feeling that this is a far too often scenario.
PS: A warning to painters. As interns, we are taught to skim off the top of your budgeted labor. For example, let's say I budgeted labor for a job to be $1000. According to incentive pay, you would make that amount no matter what, thus providing an incentive if you finish the job much faster and more efficient than anticipated. So the client will pay the bill with that $1000 figured in. We were taught to lie to our painters and tell them we had budgeted labor much less than what was actually budgeted, say $700, and then we could keep the rest ($300) for ourselves. I don't think this type of business practice is appropriate for college interns learning to be tomorrows business leaders. I am glad I got out. Just wish I did sooner.
CWP_Jaded on 05/09/2010:
Please, PLEASE read this carefully-- whether you're a homeowner, or a future branch manager of CWP.
I am a former CWP manager. I spent the entirety of the past year and summer engaged in the program, from which I profited roughly $4000. I'll take this opportunity first to speak to future managers, and then to homeowners. Managers: despite everything you've read, CWP is NOT a "scam." It's a business in every sense of the word, but one with a brilliant marketing concept. You see, college students are an easy sell. First of all, it's so, so very easy to recruit eager, willing college students to slave away their summers for CWP. And why not? It looks great on a resume, it gives you "real world experience," etc, etc. At the end of the summer, you'll realize that the number of hours you put into this job translates to MUCH less than minimum wage -- trust me, I've done the math for myself and a few of my colleagues. Don't buy into all this crap about "How much money you make depends on your work ethic." Bull. How much money you make depends on your luck in landing massive, $12k jobs and cutting enough corners to pocket $3k from that.
But the marketing scheme is unbelievably successful. I'd agree that this company probably has an overall 50/50 satisfaction rate--something which would KILL any legitimate painting industry. So how does CWP survive? Simple. Every homeowner wants to help an ambitious, young student who's trying to scrap together enough money to follow their dreams-- in fact, this is probably one of the sales tactics you've probably been trained to use. You roll in to an estimate, shock the homeowners by presenting a price LARGER than the local painters--and then you sell them the college sob story. Trust me, I know, I've done it, and in retrospect, I feel terrible about it. But I honestly thought that I could do a quality, professional job. After all, the company keeps drilling into your head that "Painting is easy; anyone can do it!" This is FALSE!! This is also my biggest gripe with CWP. They do NOT train you how to properly paint a house. Our "hands-on" training session was 3 days of goofing around on a single house with 30 other branch managers, during which our (FREE) labor was used to profit one of our Division Managers, who had sold that particular job. During that training, I held a spray gun for all of 5 minutes and did brushwork for about 30 minutes. Then I was expected to take these "simple skills" and train my own painters, who were college students themselves. Sufficient to say, painting DOES require a level of skill: issues like blotches, streaking, blistering, and applying coats too thick are all things that professional painters learn to handle. You do not. There's a real difference between people who've done the profession for 30 years, and someone who's done it for 30 minutes.
I probably could have handled these problems if I had the time. Unfortunately, CWP trains you to budget jobs to complete them in the fastest possible manner. Raptor 528, who reviewed above mine, laid out the specifics of how we're taught to lie to our painters about budgeted hours, so we can skim larger profit margins off the top. I decided not to do this. If my painters worked hard and finished ahead of time, I threw them a couple of extra hours of pay instead of pocketing it myself. This cost me about $1500 in profit by the end of the summer, but it earned my painters' trust and loyalty, and quite frankly, it made me feel better. I encourage you to do the same with your workers. Because in the end, this isn't all about making money. I know your DM's have certainly promised you lots of cash over the past few months, but the honest truth is that may be 1/50 managers break $8k in profit. (In my group of 9 co-managers, only 1 of us did so.) If you're going to do this internship, do it to gain those real world skills (I.e. handling crisis, managing teams, thinking outside the box, dealing with angry customers--I learned a LOT about these things, and it's certainly helped me).
Homeowners, I'm going to post again momentarily to address your needs. But my bottom line to CWP managers is this: College Works Painting benefits and thrives off YOUR work ethic. Think about it, the company overhead is 40% of every job (split between your DM, your VP, and the company itself). That's outrageous. Seriously, that's ridiculous. That's the reason your prices are so freaking high. Don't fool yourself into thinking that you're the one winning out on this deal-- you aren't. You'll inevitably screw up some houses, embarrass yourself in your hometown, and some of you may even lose money. [NOTE: The $2500 bottom salary they "promise" you includes the loans that you've already taken out to pay for equipment, marketers, supplies, cold calling, travel expenses, etc.] So if you're committed already, see this thing through. But don't buy into the crap about screwing over your painters, lying to homeowners, etc, to maximize your profits. The company doesn't give a crap about you making an extra $200 on a job -- that probably means that they made $500 extra in raw profit, at your expense.
CWP_Jaded on 05/09/2010:
This one's for all the wary homeowners. CWP managers are not bad kids, but they are trained and encouraged to be very fast and efficient (emphasis on FAST) in completing their jobs. This is because every job is allotted a certain number of labor hours, and the faster the job is done, the more profit the manager makes. This does NOT necessarily mean that the job will be done sloppily/ poorly. I know from my experience that I made my painters go back and fix up messy portions (although I often did it myself to save a little money, since I don't mind getting my hands dirty). My best advice for you is to try to gauge the level of honesty/sincerity in your CWP manager during his estimate session/sales pitch. We are trained to engage in pressure sales tactics (I.e. if you sign on the spot, you save 10%), but the reality is that this discount is left entirely to the discretion of the manager. I personally offered a 3-day extension on the 10%-off to several of my homeowners, mainly because I've been raised to be very skeptical of pressure sales, and I felt very uncomfortable forcing anyone to sign immediately. [Frankly, when you're dealing with a $3-5k paint job, it's a little ridiculous to ask someone to commit on the spot.] So don't begrudge us the sales pitch, but please understand where we're going from. Statistically, if we don't get a signature on the spot, our chances of booking that job decreases exponentially.
That isn't to say that all managers will offer an extension. In fact, many will not. The reason being very simple-- college students DO need money. So if you're enthusiastic about helping out a college kid financially (and I met a lot of folks who definitely were), and you get a good vibe of honesty and integrity from that person, go for it. I'll talk about quality in a second, but in terms of prices, CWP's budget is fairly competitive with local painters (we tend to come in the middle range). I'd say that 90% of my 25 homeowners were satisfied with the job I performed--in no small part, I'm sure this had to do with my openness with them, my willingness to come back and fix things up, etc. I'll warn you that there's a general attitude of "get the job done and grab the check" in the CWP business, but there ARE a lot of good, honest kids working for the company who will do the best possible job and stick around to help out. For example, I developed a very friendly relationship with the vast majority of my homeowners, and I still enjoy seeing them around town.
I would recommend asking around the neighborhood and checking out personal references before booking with a CWP manager. If you have a very complicated paint job (I.e. color changes, difficult trim work, 3-story houses), or a very expensive job, make it a point to ask your manager about his painters before signing him. A lot of my fellow managers hired experienced painters from the local area who were able to tackle these kind of jobs in the allotted time, but most of us tend to hire young, inexperienced painters. Simply put, these younger painters will not be able to provide a high level of perfection. So be warned.
As a final point, I'd like to clarify something about reference letters. I disagree very strongly with "koskijus"'s misleading post above, in which he quoted a reference letter under the obvious false pretense of being a homeowner himself. (Save the tricks, man; that's exactly what makes CWP look so sketchy.) Most, if not all, of our reference letters are not "volunteered" to us out of the generosity of the homeowner. We're trained to ask for them--and oftentimes, I did a few extra favors and touch-ups to earn mine, as part of a deal (I.e. I offered to extend the 10%-off discount if they would provide me a reference letter, assuming the job was to their satisfaction). If you read these letters, they tend to be a testament to the CHARACTER of the manager, and less of an ode to the quality of the job. Most homeowners enjoyed the experience of interacting and working with an enthusiastic, polite college student, and they feel like a reference letter will help those kids achieve their future dreams. In many cases, they will. I'm sure my letters will help out in future job interviews.
My bottom line is this: don't be fooled by letters posted on CWP's website, or on sites like these. CWP invests a LOT of money in damage control--going so far as to bury negative reviews at the bottom of the google search engine. Take their letters with a grain of salt, just like you should take the complaints you find online with a similar grain of salt. Of course there are terrible managers out there. But speaking honestly, from the bad managers I've met and worked with, I'm a little surprised they got a homeowner to sign on in the first place. Some of these CWP managers lack manners and come off like oily car salesmen trying to turn a buck. So use your common sense and intuition when you meet with the kid.
In the end, it's not a gamble to work with CWP. You ARE helping college students, and generally they perform a satisfactory job. If, however, you're trying to save money, or have an extremely difficult job, I'd advise looking to local contractors for estimates. The only benefit in working with CWP is that the price they offer during the estimate is FINALIZED -- even if they underbudget the job, you are not obligated to pay them more. On the other hand, I've spoken to many homeowners who worked with professional painters that did a poor initial estimate, and ended up asking for $2-3k more during the course of the job. Professionals also tend to take their time, and if you don't like having a crew of painters hanging around your windows for 3 weeks, CWP is a better option.
Hope this helps clear some things up. If anyone has a specific question for me, feel free to post. I'll be on vacation till mid-June, but I'll try and get back to you.
CWP painter on 06/13/2010:
This is a comment from an actual CWP painter telling you NOT to get your house painted by CWP.
I'll just start from the very beginning...So I I applied to an add on Craigslist looking for house painters. I got a call some while later and was interviewed over the phone and then told to come to a group interview that same day. I went, and at the end was given a time to call later to see if I got the job. I called and was told I got the job and was told to come to the trial run on Thursday. I went and and was met with 7 new people, none of whom knew each other from other interviews. We were taught how to tape up windows and repair cracks. After 2 hours they started telling people to go home. All that remained were me and another guy. They told us we had the job. We were there from 7am-7:40pm, painting the house and told to come back on Monday. I was excited all weekend that I finally got a job. That didn't last long. Come Sunday I got a call from the manager (who had just turned 19 by the way) telling me my services were not needed, but to keep in touch. I asked why. She said the customer had complain about my work and that she wanted someone with more experience. We'll to go back in time a bit, I asked why she chose us 2 workers and she said we had a great work ethic and experience and were great at taking/fallowing orders. I also asked about payment of the 12 hour day we had put in and she said everyone on that job would receive payment. I have still not received a penny for my work. I'd be surprised if anyone did. I'd be surprised if the other worker was still working and not called at the last second to say he was no longer needed as well. I should have gone back to see if there were 7 new people ready to paint because that the vibe I got from everything.
My final message, If you think College Works is a scam on getting your house painted you are wrong, you will get your house painted by students with no training and no experience. The real scam is the people who are painting the house. We are tricked into thinking we have a job when really they use us to do all the work and no pay. Its a scam to hard working college students due to all the money making middle men and all the lying manager/interns/ whatever you want to call them.
To College kids considering CWP on 07/29/2011:
It's a terrible job market. Make no mistake though, there are no short cuts to getting to where you want to be. I know many who have landed awesome internships and high paying jobs out of school. The way they accomplished this was ONLY through consistent good grades, legitimate internships in their incredibly specific fields, and especially doctored resumes and polished interview skills.
When a CWP representative recruits you, they will make many true statements, but they will also naively make many incorrect statements and promises. They will tell you that hard work, unique attributes, and internships are important to job recruiters - and they are. They will also tell you that recruiters look very highly upon CWP managers because it's evidence of an entrepreneurial drive and someone who worked 60 to 80 hours a week over the summer.
They will give an analogy of, "Do you think a recruiter at company A is more interested in someone who ran a $100k business over the summer or someone who worked at Subway?" This is where it gets really tricky and you need to pay attention. Yes, CWP looks much better than the next candidate who worked at Subway this summer. But I can't stress how much an internship at company A or company A- or even company B or C or D are so much better than CWP. The recruiters will look on CWP as sales, possibly customer service. Someone will look at CWP and think you did summer door to door sales. Another will look at your resume and think you painted. Another will look and think you were an aide.
I promise no recruiter for any legitimate company will look at it as evidence of an ability to perform in a corporate setting. They won't look at it as evidence of an ability to perform in a healthcare setting, a lab setting, a field setting, etc.
Now my story:
I was a CWP manager. I ran an successful $100k revenue business. After CWP's cut, paying labor and materials, my profit on paper was $17k for 8 months (Jan. to Aug) of work. The coverage area I was given was 60 miles from my home. Gas averaged $3.50/gallon. My car went about 23-27 mpg. With those conditions I put about 37,000 miles on my car over 8 months. I conservatively attribute 29,000 to CWP driving.
After paying door to door marketers, miscellaneous supplies, car repairs, extra minutes on the cell phone, extra texting on the phone (req'd by district manager), CWP accounting errors, warranty holdbacks, CWP accounting adjustments, CWP activities, CWP vice president fees, CWP late paperwork fees, new clothes, etc... I took home about $10,500 over 8 months. Not bad, though remember after the 80 hours a week during summer months, I earned a little more than minimum wage. I'm okay with that though, I don't think I deserve more than that as a freshman in college.
Upon finishing CWP, I happily put CWP at the top of my resume and began applying for internships. It was time for my resume to shine above my peers b/c I had good grades and a great entrepreneurial internship, surely CWP I thought would give me an edge when applying for business/finance internships. I thought to myself, I have accounting experience in a small business, management experience over painting and marketing teams, I'm set for any business internship. Oh, how wrong I was.
My peers all got internships during the fall months. I didn't receive any interest. I started talking to my friends, seeing what they thought got themselves internships. They all had experience gained through networking, or legitimate unpaid internships, or volunteer work. They also listed classroom experience, travel abroad, clubs, organizations, and leadership in these activities. If they didn't have the work experience, they showed what classes they took, the case studies they worked on, the competitions they submitted work for, etc.
So from there, I began lessening the prominence of CWP on my resume and I put my relevant classes, my GPA, my extra-curricular activities, and my business internship class I simply signed up for as a part of my class load. What happened after that? Those early spring months I started getting interviews. I sat in front of reputable company recruiters. I interviewed with Ford, Northwestern Mutual, Raytheon, Sears, Discover, JP Morgan, Liberty Mutual, and numerous Fortune 1000 companies. I honestly don't remember all of the companies I interviewed with. It was such a busy semester interviewing simply because I didn't try to flaunt CWP. I listed CWP, but I definitely did not spend more than 15 words on it.
The Ford recruiter said something very interesting to me. He was interviewing for a corporate finance position. Upon interviewing and reviewing my resume further, he said, "I get the impression you want to work in investment banking, not corporate finance. I think you'd be better off working for someone like Goldman Sachs."
WTF? The Ford recruiter actually told me essentially, "you know you're probably better off working for one of the top investment banks in the world, not here." So what did I do from there? I applied to GS, JPM, Citi, etc, and I got interviews! What's my point? My point is, if you want to interview as the manager of Sherwin-Williams, go do CWP. If you want to go to med school, get an internship in health care. If you want to do public relations, get an internship at a news corporation. If you want your PhD in English, suck up to your teachers. If you want to work in business, get a business internship.
Now, credit where it is due. I currently work in my dream job. I work in a growing company in an arguably stagnant economy. I get paid to do what I like to do. I support my wife and children because of my current vocation. We live in a nice house in one of the wealthiest cities in America. CWP helped me get my dream job. CWP was on my resume, but it wasn't first or second or even third on my qualifications. It was hidden on the resume, but I must give some credit because CWP was at least listed somewhere on my resume. Maybe it made my resume well-rounded. I doubt very much after having worked in the corporate world that any recruiter will give 3 seconds of thought when they see CWP on your resume. I think 1 or 2 seconds, but definitely not 3 seconds.
Don't do CWP.
Sherry on 08/22/2013:
Isn't it amazing, I'm going through a similar experience. To make a long story short, John was my intern on the job and yes he promoted the student/internship and yes I always want to help our youth. John is a true salesman. Once I signed that contract it was one thing after another and I'm just in the discovery phase of what I can do.
When I did my research on their history, all you see is the positive, I've really had to do some deep digging to find this blog. Customers out there beware. My house is in disarray and has been for the past 3.5 weeks.
Close comments
Add reply
Unlike Anything Else
Posted by
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA -- I was incredibly skeptical about College Works when I was first approached about doing the program. I think any right-thinking college student would be. College Works recruits very aggressively. 19-year-olds aren't used to being recruited for an internship, especially one that is supposedly ranked so high and pays so well (Almost $10,000 they say the average intern makes). That is what got me a little uneasy. As great as I thought I was right out of high school, why would such an outstanding opportunity be recruiting ME? What college freshmen don't realize is that ll great companies recruit. That's what you do if you want the best employees. And what I later found out, is that this isn't your typical internship where you do garbage work 12 hours a day, and leave the summer saying you got to "hang out" with a bunch of business people. You earn the money you make. Not everyone make $10,000. In fact, I know a lot of people who didn't. But I also know they didn't work as hard as I did.
I have to say, this internship is TOUGH. It tested me more than I had ever been before. In high school I played 3 sports, graduated with honors and was in clubs and all that jazz. I held a part-time job the summer after my senior year. I busted my butt to prepare myself for college. College Works brought new meaning to the term responsibility. I thought football practice and English homework in the same night was tough in HS. Then I was introduced to communicating with clients, scheduling sales appointments, creating marketing plans, sourcing and screening potential employees AND 17 credit hours worth of homework each night. Not to mention, maintaining some sort of a social life as a college freshman. I gave up about half of the weekends during the spring semester of my freshman year to work on my business, on top of what I mentioned above. My friends thought I was crazy. At times, so did I.
I was relieved to get my finals out of the way so I could focus more on my business. It sounds odd, but with all the responsibilities I had, my life actually got MORE organized. It felt like I was in high school again, when I did everything, and I did everything well. It was tough balancing it all at first, but after a while I got used to it, and really started to get into it. So by the time I reached the summer, I was excited for what was ahead. Up to that point, I had really only learned how to source leads for my business and sell paint jobs. It was starting to get a little monotonous, although the prospect of growing my business larger and larger was strangely addicting. Maybe it was the competitive nature of it. Maybe it was the idea of constantly striving to improve. Maybe it was a combination of both. Either way, I was starting to enjoy what I did.
Once I got out of school, I was slightly overwhelmed with even more responsibility. On top of continuing to grow my business, I now had to interview painters, schedule design consultations with clients, get my equipment together, and start planning out my production schedule. Once I did all that, then it was time to actually fulfill the promises I had made to all these people who had entrusted me to beautify their most valuable assets. I spent time training and managing my painters. Yes, I said training.
College Works helped me with this. Painting really isn't that hard. It just takes a sort of blue-collar mentality and a little attention to detail. I had to make sure my painters were up to par. If a painter was bad, I fired him/her and found another one. It wasn't hard to find people looking to make some money. I also had to manage my business's profitability. This means budgeting labor and material costs on each project, and making sure we stayed within those budgets. I was in charge of customer service and processing payroll every 2 weeks so my painters could get paid.
Looking back on it, I can't believe I was given so much responsibility at 19 years old. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced. After a while it got easier, just like the spring. I found some good painters, figured the whole profitability thing out, and eventually my business wasn't as dependent on me. I still worked, but nothing crazy. I had time to do other things that a normal college kid does in the summer. I had a ton of help the whole way. I had a district manager who helped me at each step. I had meetings with her 3-4 times/week from start to finish. She worked very hard to make sure I knew how to be successful. Rarely did she ever do anything FOR me, but she was always there for advice (even if I immaturely ignored it sometimes). I appreciated that.
By the end of the summer I couldn't believe everything I had accomplished. I ran a $60,000 business. I had 15 different employees work for me. I sourced over 150 leads, executed over 70 sales appointments, and completed 20 projects, all the while maintaining customer satisfaction, painter safety, and profitability. There were other people who did a lot better. They ran bigger businesses, made more money, etc. There were others who didn't do as well as I did. Some of these people took longer to figure it out. Most didn't work as hard as I did. Now, College Works is the only thing job interviewers want to talk about.
No one with College Works ever lied to me. They told me that if I worked hard, I would experience more and gain more than anyone else my age. So I gave it my all, and that is exactly what happened.
Was this review helpful?
Read 1 Replies
Add reply
Review Link:
User Replies:
trmn8r on 09/06/2012:
I can see how this might be a good program for just the right individuals.
However, as a consumer I would be very skeptical of hiring a company that uses college interns to run an operation that paints houses. For me, I'm sticking with DIY or hiring professionals. I'm glad it worked for you though.
Here is one well written review on this site that reveals what can happen when hiring non-professionals to paint a house: http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=27915
Close comments
Add reply
Shoddy Management, Poor work Ethic
Posted by
rainbow angel
TUCSON, ARIZONA -- I am writing because I am terribly disappointed and angry. We met the representatives for College Works Painting at the SAHBA Home Show in Tucson, Arizona in April, 2010. The young men were friendly, and personable, so we gave your name for them to contact us re: possibly getting our house painted.
Anthony and Joe came to our house for an interview, and they were pleasant, and seemed knowledgeable, gave us a spiel about how they wanted the customers to be happy, while working to learn the management skills they would need over time to run their own businesses. We felt that it would be nice to get experience, while getting our home looking better.
We reviewed the contract, made selections, and decided to sign (my husband signed) and we gave him a down payment check, with plans made for the work to start in early June. On June 6, Anthony delivered some of the equipment, and they were to start work on Monday the 8th, at 6:00 AM. That morning, 2 young men showed up as scheduled, ready to work--but they had no information about the job to be done, colors to be used, etc. They started the prep, and within an hour, they were out of supplies, so they called Anthony for more. He did not show up for over 2 hours with 1 5 gallon can of paint. That was gone very quickly, and the workers were told that they had to get the job done so they could go get another one started. With no caulk, preparation was not being done, as Anthony had gone all the way to Ina for a tube of caulk. We live in Southwest Tucson. One of the workers finally got frustrated and started painting without the wall being prepared. The wind was blowing hard that day, and the sprayer did not have a regulator on it, thus, creating "gobs" of overspray everywhere.
My husband caught it later.
The second day, only one worker came, and he was only going to paint the Fascia, but we showed him the sloppy work, so he started doing everything that he needed to do to make things better. Unfortunately, the metal screen door on the east side of the house which had been painted, looked horrible, had great big globs of paint and the holes on the screen were sealed. The house door has big streaks of pain, and we will have to paint it over. The contract stipulated that drop cloths would be used, none were. There is overspray all over our decking, and flooring, and paint strippings from scraping are allover as well. There are cigarret butts all over the yard. Anthony saw the shoddy work, and he came by twice that day, wanting the remainder of his payment, but my husband would not give it to him until the job was completed, as stipulated on the contract. When he showed Anthony the doors with the overspray, and paint globbed screens, he spoke to his manager, and they took $50.00 off the price---Whoop de do. It is going to take more than that to remove and repaint the screen doors, as well as the house doors.
In reality, my husband accepted the deal only because he was not feeling well, was burning up with fever, and could hardly function. I was at work, came home to find the mess. My complaint is that the management, those above Anthony, Anthony as the student intern, have no consideration for doing what they claim, and the contract protects them really well. Money is the object, and the work was not worth what was done--10 gallons of paint, and 1 gallon of another color is worth much less than the amount of money that we will have to spend to "fix" the mess.
If I had read these reviews, we would never have contracted with them, and they certainly will not get any referrals from us. Even if the Student Interns are getting experience, the method through which they are getting it is unscrupulous, and totally a scam!!. Please, if you are considering using this company, DON'T. They have no conscience, and consideration for homeowners who work hard to save for payment, and end up getting lousy service. We did not complain to the company because after reading reviews, we figured we would have to end up paying more fees, which would have only angered us more---so we figure if others can read about our and other's experiences, we gain more from it. Thank You for posting.
Was this review helpful?
Add reply
Review Link:
Painting for College Works Painting
Posted by
I was looking for a summer job in my town (which has a very limited seasonal job market), so when I got hired on to College Works Painting (CWP) as a painter I was really excited. I really like manual labor, and painting is a new skill that would be fun to learn. But the unprofessionalism of my employer made the job lose its fun really quickly.
First off, there was really poor communication between the employer and the employees. When I got hired, the employer asked me if I "would be okay doing a little marketing here and there? It's a good way to get some money before you actually start painting.". I said sure. To be honest, I don't really care what I'm doing as long as I am getting paid. But, it turns out, I wasn't getting paid, and the marketing wasn't optional. I had to market for four hours every week with no actual reimbursement beyond a measly commission. Now, this of course is legal (they don't have to pay for work if your total pay at normalizes to at least minimum wage), and you can require people to market if you want. But neither of these factors (the lack of pay and the requirement of marketing) were not communicated to me upon hiring.
But more importantly, the company (as one might expect from something run by college students) is really unprofessional. We had to attend this training to learn how to paint. We had to drive to the next town over (it's about two hours away) for the training. We were supposed to be there at 7am, but we (being driven by our employer) didn't show until 8:15. Yet even the district managers weren't there yet, and nobody cared that we were an hour and fifteen minutes late. The training consisted of us helping paint one house. There were about twenty five painters from all over the region, but one ladder, one paint gun, one paint brush, and about three rolls of masking tape. So those of us not lucky enough to have one of the few supplies were subjected to being yelled at by the supervisor running the training for standing around doing nothing.
The training was bad in other ways, too. I was lucky enough to be on a team with somebody who had painted before, and spent a lot of time pointing out the mistakes to me and, before he was criticized by him, to the supervisor. For example, people would place plastic drop cloths over shrubs so they don't get all painted on, but you're supposed to leave at least one side open so the shrub can "breath". That was never mentioned, so all the shrubs ended up completely covered for hours in the hot sun. They're probably dead now.
I quit after the training. Yet, Oregon labor laws required that I be paid for my training within five days of quitting. I waited two weeks, and still hadn't gotten paid. So I called my supervisor. She didn't answer, and didn't return my message. I called her again a few days later. This time she replied, and told me she would bring my money that day. It turns out she had thrown away my paper work before even entering it to the "system", so she would just have to pay me a flat rate, an estimate of how much I should have been paid. It's been a week now, and even though I've called her a number of times, I still haven't gotten paid.
If you're a college kid looking for some summer work, don't apply at College Works Painting. You'll end up frustrated at the unprofessionalism of your supervisor and the lack of communication in general, and if you quit you'll probably end up having your wages stolen from you.
Was this review helpful?
Read 1 Replies
Add reply
Review Link:
User Replies:
Anonymous on 07/21/2008:
Did you happen to learn that about 4 out of 5 painters are drunks?
Close comments
Add reply
Vandalism and Bad Customer Service
Posted by
PHOENIX, ARIZONA -- We have a serious customer service and vandalism issue with this company. We worked with a young man who was originally supposed to paint our house named Anthony. Due to delays with our HOA, he had to give the job to a man named Juan when it came time to complete the painting job. During this time, they lost our agreed upon and HOA-approved paint sample. Once they figured it out, they did a good job, but removed several of fixtures from our house, including pigeon-proofing spikes that we had paid another company to install years before. They did not ask before removing these spikes, and Anthony had told us they could paint over them (which is best so that they remain blended in with the house). So, not only did they remove them without permission, break several of them in the process, but they then stated they could not put them back on because they did not have the right glue.
Long story short, after weeks of pushback from the company, speaking with a manager named Austin, as well as a manager named Kyle who had told me personally that they would take care of it, the only way to get it done is for US to pay out of pocket for the glue so that they themselves could put the, now broken, pieces of these spikes back on our house.
Oh, and did I mention that by removing these spikes, they have now negated our warranty with the pigeon-proofing company???
I'm very pleased with the paint job itself, but the lack of respect for our property and subsequent rude and unethical treatment when all we asked is that they fix this mistake is absolutely unacceptable. Shame on you College Works! We will be reporting this to the Better Business Bureau.
-Trisha and Joshua
Was this review helpful?
Read 1 Replies
Add reply
Review Link:
User Replies:
Jason on 12/08/2014:
Hi, this is certainly unacceptable and I'd like to help you get this resolved as soon as possible. My name is Jason and I can be reached at 888-450-9675 here at our corporate office or by email at firstname.lastname@example.com. Your contact information is not provided here in this review. Could you please call or email me so we can get this worked out for you?
Close comments
Add reply
CWP prepared me for the "real world"
Posted by
COLUMBUS, OHIO -- Through the interview process, the company warned me that this was going to be one of the hardest things I had ever done but also one of the most rewarding experiences. They were completely right on both counts. I came into this company with absolutely zero sales or management experience and I definitely struggled at the start. However, as I progressed, I began to realize that I didn't struggle because of a lack of support or talent; all of my difficulties with booking work and marketing my business stemmed from a lack of effort on my part.
College Works Painting worked very hard to make sure I had the tools necessary to succeed. I had weekly meetings with my District Manager as well as frequent meetings with the VP of Sales and Marketing and even meetings with the CEO. With all of this help, though, they can't do the work for you. They would frequently put the problems and solutions squarely on my shoulders, which got frustrating for me at certain points. There were a lot of times when I wished they would just tell me what to do, but instead they would ask "how are you going to solve this?" and "what could you do next time to avoid this situation and be more successful?". I was expected to come to every meeting prepared with what I wanted to talk about, having a clear handle on the strengths and weaknesses of my branch.
While it was frustrating and difficult, I am so thankful for the opportunities, skills and lessons I took from this internship. In the professional world, there is no one there to baby you through your job. Sure, you get training and people will (hopefully) be there to help you when you need it, but you will not be successful and progress in your career if you do not take ownership and responsibility for your work.
I exited college and was hired directly into management. I am now an Operations Manager for a nationwide management consulting firm and I owe most of my success to the experience and knowledge I gained through College Works Painting. They aren't lying to you; this will be incredibly challenging AND incredibly rewarding. I got to go to Cancun, Mexico 3 times, California twice and Park City, Utah twice as well as countless weekend retreats. I got to make great money as a college student and build great relationships along the way. But, ultimately, my greatest reward was in the skills transferred and mindset instilled in me by CWP: Be your best in everything you do.
Was this review helpful?
Add reply
Review Link:
Managerial Development Internship
Posted by
DALLAS, TEXAS -- Everything about this program challenges what students are used to doing. In my college career, this program has been the most beneficial learning experience that I went through. The skillsets you develop throughout the internship such as: how to manage people older than you, how to sell a product (and every profession you will pursue in your future requires selling at some level), and how to manage multiple responsibilities at the same time, are things that you cannot learn in a classroom. The internship is not easy, and not for quitters, if you have the will power to last to the end of the internship though, then you are truly a winner and your future rewards make the entire thing worth it.
I personally struggled through the program and did more things wrong than right and every day that I went to work in the business gave me a new reason to quit. Now, as a recent graduate from Texas A&M with a degree in engineering, because of having that internship on my resume I am getting picked for full time positions that I would otherwise have been excluded from. When I am asked questions in interviews, I am always able to use my experience with College Works as a positive answer to behavior based questions. And the leaders of the division that I was a part of still serve as mentors to me and help me make good decisions for my life. The difficulties of the internship ended at the end of the summer, but even now, 3 years later I am still reaping the benefits of it.
I would strongly recommend that anyone who is looking for a challenge and to separate themselves from the mass of status quo college students. At the end of the program you will be able to say that it was the most difficult and most beneficial thing that you have ever done and your only regret will be that you did not have one more month to hit your goals.
Was this review helpful?
Add reply
Review Link:
Helpful Information For Interns
Posted by
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA -- I am currently in my fifth year with the company and thought I would give an unbiased and informative review of my experience so far.
As an intern, I ran my business out of Brookings, Oregon and did $100,000 worth of business. The experience was pretty good for the most part. It was a lot more work than I thought it would be but it ended up paying off. I made good money for school and also learned a lot about how to work with customers and hire my own employees. During my first year though, I did see that not everyone was as successful as I was. Some people quit or had to be let go, some people did more average numbers ($40,000 - $60,000 revenue) and there were a few who did really well. Not everyone succeeded.
For three years after that I worked out of Oregon State as a District Manager and hired my own team of interns to do what I did during my first year with the company. It was a great experience and again was a lot more work than I thought it would be. The only drawback was all of the driving that I did. I learned a lot about how to teach and coach marketing, sales and production management. Again, we did have a few people that dropped out and not everyone successfully completed the internship for one reason or another.
I'd have to say that most of your success with this program is in how hard you work, but also how smart you work. Putting in a lot of hours is not always the best way to do it. Entrepreneurs think in terms of results, not the amount of hours...and this program is a great teacher of that. If you're looking to work for an hourly wage the rest of your life, this may not be the best internship for you.
Was this review helpful?
Add reply
Review Link:
Do Not Choose College Works: An Ethical Standpoint
Posted by
We have all seen the usual complaints about this company. College Works is noted for their carelessness about getting back to the customer, their indifference towards their painters, and the discrimination that goes on when hiring interns. The majority of individuals who work for this company are white males. Not a surprise.. This is the case for many businesses. Though, the thing that sets College Works apart from other internships is the lack of morals and professionalism from higher staff.
Put aside the recruiting process, the customers, the painters.. and look at the relationships between their employees inside and outside of work. Trips to Cancun and Vegas will surely catch any college students eye. But what happens when their workers take their relationships outside of work to a completely different level. A bit unprofessional, don't you think? College Works in Arizona certainly does not seem to think so.
The Vice President of College Works in Arizona should be called out for her immoral and dishonest actions. This woman lacks the maturity and principles to keep a professional relationship with her fellow workers, specifically interns. She gains their trust by giving them guidance about the business world and takes advantage of their dependence by sleeping with them. Disgusting.
This is the case with many other Vice Presidents and District Managers of College Works. California, Texas, Illinois - you name it, they did it! Why is this allowed to go on? People see it happening, yet they do not say a word. This is the wrong kind of loyalty, the wrong kind of mentoring all together.
Was this review helpful?
Read 19 Replies
Add reply
Review Link:
User Replies:
Anonymous on 01/03/2011:
I'm not sure what your point is here. You said a lot without saying anything
Starlord on 01/03/2011:
You make some pretty strong accusations here. Can you back them up with proof? This has been discussed here several times, but some people never seemt to get the message. Unless you can prove what you say, you could be held liable for libel. People writing reviews should stick to the facts, and keep their moral judgements to themselves.
Anonymous on 01/03/2011:
"Unless you can prove what you say, you could be held liable for libel."
Absoulutely not true. The burden of proof lies with the injured party to prove the statements false and also to show harm as the result of the statements. Also hyperbole such as "lack of morals and professionalism ", "A bit unprofessional, don't you think", generally is not grounds for defamation.
This review is way too vague in 'who','what', 'where' and 'when' to ever be the genesis for a defamation suit.
Inat on 01/03/2011:
do the "harmed" college students feel the same way as you? I dunno but some college students aren't always offended by the lack of morals from the female in charge
PepperElf on 01/03/2011:
I agree... it's too vague.
can't tell if this is from a customer who had an issue
or if it's from someone who just wants to make the company look bad for... whatever reasons
Obsfucation on 01/03/2011:
"The majority of individuals who work for this company are white males." Well then that explains it. In the eyes of the liberals, they are automatically a bad company. They are morally obligated to get out there and employ more illegal aliens, then they'll be OK.
PepperElf on 01/03/2011:
good point obs. I wonder if this "review" was perhaps racially or politically motivated.
it sure doesn't sound like a consumer review though.
trmn8r on 01/03/2011:
Perhaps she used President Clinton as a role model. He was called out for working with an intern after hours.
Some specifics would really help strengthen complaint, but then it would edge into libel. Hard to achieve anything IMO.
Anonymous on 01/03/2011:
Relationships outside of work are exactly that - outside of work. As long as they do not interfere with the work at hand, no harm no foul.
trmn8r on 01/03/2011:
Bill's relationship didn't interfere with his work at hand, IMO.
benroe on 01/08/2011:
Yes, this review is vague. This website specifically stated that if I mentioned any names, my review would be removed.
"In the eyes of the liberals, they are automatically a bad company." No, in the eyes of any ETHICAL human being, they are a bad company. I never mentioned politics. What does my political standpoint have anything to do with this review? I have been told by people who work for College Works that they will not hire certain "types" of people. So Obs, are those the only two choices? White males or Illegals? I have been told by one of the interns that they did not hire a Spanish male because of his "accent" The intern pointed out that the male was qualified, but his accent would interfere with work.
These sexual relationships do interfere with work. Any intelligent person would know that sleeping with a manager or boss of any kind can help you move up through that particular company. Sleep with your Vice President, so you become a District Manager? Where can I apply?
Anonymous on 01/08/2011:
I bet Bill Clinton could find a position for you.
benroe on 01/08/2011:
I love how you're using a dishonest man like Bill Clinton in your "retort". Maybe he and this VP should get together. He would surely have more in common with her than with Hilary..
Anonymous on 01/08/2011:
Hey ben, you were the one who asked where you could apply, just trying to be helpful in my "reply." Can you name one honest politician?
benroe on 01/08/2011:
Haha This is true! It's too bad he isn't in office or I would definitely have a new job
madconsumer on 01/08/2011:
sounds like the poster was turned down for a trip to vegas and a sleep over from the vp and is going after revenge!
Brad on 07/01/2011:
Whay are the only comments posted on only two dates? Company disinformation?
DebtorBasher on 07/01/2011:
"Disinformation"...LOL, that's cute Brad.
helpfulsue on 02/27/2012:
I can actually back the original poster up. I also know that many of the employees search for the same things that potential clients tend to search for in an attempt to debunk any negative reviews.
I know for a fact that the relationships between the supervisors and their subordinates can be very unethical. Including, the purchase of alcohol for minors, which they often consume with their subordinates.
Close comments
Add reply
Next Page >
Top of Page
Next Page >
Consumer Resources
Company Responses
Site Rules
Terms & Conditions
Privacy Policy
About Us