Why More Employees Means Less Quality At Higher Prices

Employees for painting companies often times don’t take pride in their work, because they don’t own the company and they don’t get paid very well.

I’ve seen first hand the poor quality produced by painter employees.

I’ve also hired employees in the past and eventually learned that painting is not the type of business where you can produce quality work by hiring employees. I’m not saying they are all bad, but like I mentioned above...

Since painting contractors cannot bid very high on jobs, like plumbers or electricians, there is no room in any painting estimate to pay for employee screw ups. Unfortunately the other problem is, there are too many inexperienced painters running around bidding on jobs and driving the price down because this business is not regulated like plumbing or electrical. The bad news is that homeowners are losing money on poorly prepared paint projects where cheap paint is watered down and sprayed on thin.

Hiring an inexperienced painter at a discount can cost you three times the amount if the person you hire doesn’t prepare the job right and if they use cheap paint.

Paint doesn’t stick to dirt and cheap paint sprayed on thin wears out in a year or two. Not using the right materials to prepare the job can also result in poor quality work that will rear its ugly head soon after Joe Blow-and-Go is down the road with your money.

It’s a shame, but these stereotypical blow-and-go painters will be laughing and high fiving their buddies while sitting on some bar stool sharing beers, that your money bought, as the classic line blurts out of an alcohol breath three times the legal limit, “It looks good from my house.”

If the owner is not on the job site watching closely over his workers, the quality of work will diminish. Even if the owner is there, the quality of work might not be as good as it could be.

Your bid price will be higher when the painting company is larger. Overhead is greater and the company will need a cushion of money just in case something goes wrong on the job.

Theft can also occur when blow-and-go painting employees are running around in your home. I hired a painter years ago who seemed like a good guy, but turned out to be a thief. He was stealing my clients prescription pain pills. I didn’t catch him until the third homeowner came up to me, about their pain killers that went missing. I figured out what happened and I fired him instantly.

I don’t hire painters any longer. I just do the work myself. Jobs may take a little longer, but everyone is happy after I’ve completed a job and my life has less stress in it. Good painters are hard to find anyway and the best ones usually have their own business.

If you are hiring a painting contractor with employees, be sure to do your do diligence and operate like an employer. After all, you are basically an employer hiring an employee on a temporary basis. Check their references thoroughly and follow your gut instinct after you do your homework.

Dave Drew

Phoenix, Arizona house painting contractor for 18 years.

http://www.drewpainting.com

My Favorite Tools

Painting can be incredibly easy when you know a few tricks and techniques when using the proper tools.

For the do-it-yourself homeowner, these five painting tools below are the only tools you will ever need and use for the rest of your life. Take good care of them and they will take good care of you.

• 3" angular sash Purdy pink bristled Nylox Glide brush
• Wooster 9" roller handle
• 3/8" nap 9" lambswool roller cover
• 2' to 4' Wooster Shurlock extension pole
• 19" L x 13" W x 4" Deep Well paint pan

Brushes

There is nothing like a good brush. Don't ever waste your money on a cheap brush, unless you want to make your painting career a stressful, struggling, short-lived mess.

When it comes to latex brushes, I like to use a 3" angled sash Purdy pink bristled Nylox Glide. This is the best brush on the market for latex paints as far as I am concerned.

I've used many other brushes and the Nylox Glide with the angle sash cut is the most versatile. If you are a homeowner looking for a good paint brush that will last the rest of your life, get that pink bristled Nylox Glide and keep it clean.

I will soon be loading a video on how to take care of your brushes.

Dave Drew

Phoenix, Arizona house painting contractor for 18 years.

http://www.drewpainting.com

Real Cost Of Letting Your Paint Job Go Too Long

Peeling exteriors will cost you more money to prepare, prime and paint if you want the surface to look good when it’s done. Letting wood and stucco face the elements too long can cause extreme damage and will cost you more to repair before paint can be applied.

Let’s weigh out the extra cost for preparing and painting an exterior door that you let get to the point of damage and peeling.

If a painter can simply clean and paint a door, the cost might be around $25 plus paint. But, if the door has peeling paint from letting it weather too long, it will have to be sanded and primed before it is painted. That extra work can triple the cost of painting the door, since sanding, priming and the primer all cost more.

Preparing to sand and sanding will take longer than it would to just paint the door. Priming the repaired areas is basically a coat of paint that you have to also prepare for. Then, you finally get to paint the door. The cost for painting a damaged door can be from $75 to $125 plus paint and materials.

If the exterior of your home is looking way overdue for paint, you might want to get it done before the repairs get too out of hand. Just be prepared for the extra costs if your exterior has gotten out of hand.

Sometimes the wood or stucco will have extreme damage and in need of expensive repairs before a primer and a coat of paint can be applied.

The same rule of thumb, for tripling the cost when repairs are needed, applies to any surface on your home.

Can you afford to let your painted surface go too long without painting?

Dave Drew
Phoenix, Arizona painting contractor for 18 years
www.drewpainting.com

Scary Low Exterior Painting Bids

With people spending less money during these economic hard times, painting contractors are struggling for work and offering crazy low bids just to get work. The bad side of this scenario is that it can cost the homeowner three times the amount of money to paint their home if they accept a crazy low bid.

If you accept Joe Blow’s scary low bid, Joe Blow can and probably will quickly turn into Joe Blow-and-Go. Anyone who bids low on a paint job will have to cut as many corners as possible in order to earn a respectable wage.

Joe Blow-and-Go will buy cheaper paint if possible and he will add ¼ gallon of water or more in each gallon, instead of the standard half gallon of water per five gallons of paint recommended for spraying.

If your home is being painted with the same color as the existing paint, Joe Blow can get away with murder in savings and be able to use a lot less paint than it should really take. If there is any color change, Joe Blow-and-Go will need to be slightly more careful about getting the paint to cover. I will soon add a video to show what will happen to your home, in a couple of years, if the paint is applied too thinly and watered down.

Joe Blow-and-Go will then spray the extremely watered down paint on thin and you’ll end up with a bad looking paint job in a year or two.

Since your surface will be covered, you won’t know if you got a good paint job or not until it’s way too late. You won’t even know if they prepared the surface properly. One or two years later, when the thin spots start wearing down from the weather, you’re going to be furious. But, Joe Blow will be long gone with your money by then laughing on some bar stool.

Since you will be furious about the shoddy paint job, you’ll want to have it done right the second time. That’s when you’ll end up paying the RIGHT price to get it done and you will more than likely do your homework getting bids and checking references.

Basically, you lost all that money to Joe Blow-and-Go and now you’re having to pay for another paint job all over again.


What else can happen as the result of scary low bids from an inexperienced painter?

Joe Blow-and-Go will not prepare your surface properly, because he won’t make any money if he takes the extra time to do the proper preparation.

Surfaces that are not cleaned, scrapped, sanded or primed properly will result in continued aggravating problems.

If quality products, primers and paints are not used, your problems will grow faster and can be more costly in the long run.

Dave Drew
Phoenix, Arizona painting contractor for 18 years.
www.drewpainting.com


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How to Avoid Hiring Joe Blow-and-Go

Take on the employer roll and check on the painting contractor you plan on hiring.
Get references if your painting contractor was not referred. Talk to people they've done work for. Do your homework. Contractors are basically employees that you hire and good employers do background checks.
You should feel comfortable with your painter and confident about their work experience after you've checked their references. You are hiring someone to do an expensive job for you and like any employer, you should check your painters references before hiring them.
Ask many questions.
Don't be afraid to have your painter educate you on the job they will bid on. Any contractor should be more than happy to calmly answer your questions.
A good painter will provide you with quality references of the last jobs they completed and they will be more than happy to educate you about what they will do during your painting project.
Watch out for fast talk or painters who don't have patience to explain the process thoroughly. Trust your instincts.
Get educated on the surfaces you will need painted or repaired and on the quality products or paints that you'll need to get the job done right.
People can fool you with a quick line of B.S., but they can't fool you if you ask them many questions and check several references.
Look at their truck or van. How a painter keeps up their vehicle is how your paint job could end up looking.
If you are thinking about hiring a large company with several employees, keep in mind that the owner or supervisor, who has all of the experience, will probably not be on the job. He will also hire labor as cheap as possible since painting contractors don't make much money in the first place. If they pay their employees top wages, you're going to pay a premium price for having employees working in your home.
Painting employees, who obviously don't get paid much, will not care much about the work they do.
It's no fun paying a lot of money for shoddy work and having to justify forking over the cash.
If you'd like to get an extra six to eight years out of your exterior paint job, be sure to do your homework and be patient about the contractor finding process. Don't settle.

Dave Drew
Phoenix, Arizona house painting contractor for 18 years.
http://www.drewpainting.com




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