House Painter Forum

Professional Painters => Professional Painters and associated Trades Forum => Painter's Tales Short & Tall => Topic started by: the PAINTSMITH on April 09, 2009, 01:28:33 PM

Title: O The Temptation
Post by: the PAINTSMITH on April 09, 2009, 01:28:33 PM
Did a small but way high entryway for a customer yesterday. They had repainted their whole house themselves, but couldn't reach the high spots in an entry with a 10 sq ft landing, 32" stairs going up, 32" stair going down, ceiling at 17'...I spent less than a day there, but my eye kept wandering to other parts of the house...OK, ALL parts of the house. They had roller marks, holidays, uneven cuts at the ceiling, paint on switchplates....I had to talk myself out of going through the house fixing their work...Repeatedly...

They're selling the place, so naturally they picked dark non-neutral colors, exactly what people selling their homes are not supposed to do...But I guess the current owners like them... ::)

...They also did the whole house in semi-gloss...BIG mistake.

Heh heh, but the entryway looks professionally painted... 8)
Title: Re: O The Temptation
Post by: chrisn on April 09, 2009, 05:46:39 PM
They also did the whole house in semi-gloss...

That has to be the single worst thing that home owners do to re sell       WHY??? :o ???
Title: Re: O The Temptation
Post by: wje on April 09, 2009, 06:31:13 PM
I sometimes wonder if some people even notice the difference of a good paint job... I too though helped a couple 3 weeks ago do some touch ups to sell... I told them $200 for the bedroom walls 2 coats, I ended up doing a complete hallway repaint for free among other things and they were more than happy. I know I have already got a $2000 gig out of it so it has paid off already.
Title: Re: O The Temptation
Post by: CarlThePainter on April 09, 2009, 09:39:03 PM
Of course they do not notice.  This IMO is a large part of the reason why painters get little respect.  People don't notice the difference between good quality and bad quality.  Those homeowners may even sell the house to another person that doesn't notice the crooked lines and semi gloss paint.  Isn't it all about what you can put on that stupid real estate sheet? FRESH PAINT!
Title: Re: O The Temptation
Post by: Vin on April 10, 2009, 12:07:50 AM
I was looking through an architectural magazine the other day and noticed several pictures of homes with semi gloss or even gloss paint on walls so it may be a trend happening ? red paint was one of them I remember that one distinctly :P

I've seen what your describing Eric just got done covering a red kitchen with roller marks and holidays from he%$ turned that one into that metalic green and it turned out nice and we did a bathroom in the same house that had terrible paint job done and I know the painter who did it hes now a maintenance man at another site I work at and he's always criticizing my painting ability's HAH I let him know what I thought of his too now  :-*

 At least they have a nice entry that someone will notice and probably ask about and you will get more work  ;D

Title: Re: O The Temptation
Post by: BrushJockey on April 10, 2009, 03:04:45 PM
On the other hand I've noticed clients getting more picky. I had one guy I repainted his condo, which was Builders OW to aura matte.  He didn't like how the old paint scuffed and got handprints.
 Well he expected the Aura to look like porcelain and because the walls now had color , the popcorn texture hanging down creating a jagged line ( not my line, just the visual of the tex) really set him off. Sheesh.
Title: Re: O The Temptation
Post by: the PAINTSMITH on April 11, 2009, 08:01:28 AM
BJ, I've noticed in the past that hyper-persnickity customers are those who have learned their lesson the hard way (got burned), and have resolved to take it out on every tradesman they hire for the rest of their lives...With me they tend to pay for the priviledge.

When I come upon a ceiling where the drywaller was overzealous with the acoustic and failed to tape correctly, I go around each room with a 5-in-1 on an extension pole and scribe the corners, sometimes even having to scrape some wall area...The guys who do not tape, but simply drag a 3' shield around or scrape the walls afterward leave a very inconsistant corner. I curse them...I remember a time when it was considered part of the drywallers' job to scribe corners...
Title: Re: O The Temptation
Post by: LJ on April 17, 2009, 10:36:54 PM
They also did the whole house in semi-gloss...

That has to be the single worst thing that home owners do to re sell       WHY??? :o ???
My wife and I recently looked at a house that I liked quite a bit... until I walked through it - newly painted with semi-gloss everywhere!  I can only figure that some folks have the practical side of their brain only and absolutely no sense of aesthetics.  They think, it wears well, but completely miss the point that it hurts the eye.  While walking through that house all I could think was, I'd have to sand and repaint this entire place before moving in....
Title: Re: O The Temptation
Post by: rmichael on April 20, 2009, 10:30:25 PM
... and what about the "paint expert" down at the paint store that offered no advice on where it should be used..  or worse yet recommended it for the walls...  ::)
Title: Re: O The Temptation
Post by: chrisn on April 21, 2009, 04:11:38 AM
"paint expert" down at the paint store
or worse yet recommended it for the walls... 

I am assuming you mean at the local Blowes or HD ;D

I would hope that nobody at a real paintstore would recommend this