Five Star Painting of Boston North Shore

Twenty-one published reviews, and not one of them written since January 2020. That is the first thing a homeowner should know about Five Star Painting of Boston North Shore — the praise is real, and it is all history. The company is the Danvers-based local franchise of the national Five Star Painting brand, run by an owner reviewers simply call Steve. Its own copy says he has more than 30 years in design/build; the platform listings put the business itself at 17 years, which are two different clocks. Interior and exterior painting is the core, with ceilings, cabinet refinishing, deck staining, wallpaper, plaster and drywall repair, power washing and light carpentry around it. When customers wrote, they wrote about the crew. A 2017 reviewer had an old French front door that "needed lots of TLC", other exterior doors, a powerwash and a new fence primed — an odd mix of small jobs — and said the daily cleanup left the site looking untouched. Another in 2017 described woodpecker damage to trim assessed accurately and repaired. In a 2016 review a homeowner named the crew lead, Tito, on an exterior painting and carpentry job; a 2015 reviewer had ceilings and walls done in ten rooms; a 2013 one noted the crew started within a week and finished in three days with no charges beyond the estimate. Steve turning up on site himself is a recurring detail across years. The one sharp exception is worth reading in full before you call. In a 2016 review a customer rated the company half a star, saying the final bill came in 20% above the agreed price and that the paint was peeling within two years, and called the warranty response inadequate. The company answered at length and in detail: it says it visited the site, that the underside of the paint chip was solid wood fiber — wood releasing rather than paint failing — that the extra cost was an agreed change order under 10% covering rotting trim and nearly 300 linear feet of clapboard replacement, and that the peeling appeared only where the surface had been sound three years earlier. Both accounts are on the record and they do not reconcile. The practical lesson for a homeowner either way: get the change-order terms and the warranty in writing before work starts. Worth noting too that the Angi and HomeAdvisor pages are the same listing published twice — same 15 reviews, same owner reply — so the volume is smaller than it first looks, and three of those reviews carry no star rating at all. The Houzz set of six all landed in a five-week window in spring 2017. Fair call for a North Shore homeowner who wants an established painting outfit with a named owner on site, provided you treat the record as history rather than a current report card. Ask for jobs completed in the last year and local references you can call, get the scope and change-order rules in writing, and confirm the Home Improvement Contractor registration — Houzz lists number 164832 for the company, but that is the directory's listing rather than a state confirmation.