Professional Painters are Lazy

[jiveturkey]

The people that lived in our place before us were mentally reeruned, which lead them to painting the back deck. This year it finally got bad enough that I decided to do some work on it. We power washed it, scrapped it and laid down a coat of primer. After all of this we decided that this was too much fun for the wife and I and decided to pay someone else to finish the project.

I've called 5 painting companies and here's the results.
First 2 do not answer or return calls.
Candidate #3 made an appointment to come out and give me an estimate. He never showed up.
Candidate #4 is either related to candidate #3 or the previous owners of my house.
Candidate #5 came out and told me that he'll "probably" be able to do it but he won't be able to get to it until October and I will have to buy a sprayer for him.

So if you know of any painters please kick them square in the nuts for me.

I have lost hope in the people of this country. I also run my own business and I run into similar problems in the professional world. There are times when I need a service or product from an outside vendor so I shop around and then place a call that goes something like this "Hello ABC company mine name is Jiveturkey and I would like to give you money in exchange for the service or product that you specialize in". Later that week no one calls back, there's no follow up and they never actually put any effort into taking money from me.

When someone calls me and requests that I take their money I haul ass over to their place and help them write the check.

The lazyness has reached epic proportions and it's pissing me off.

[Moooo]

Originally Posted by jspchief

Why? IMO it's because sometime in the last 50 years labor became a dirty word. There was a time when when being a tradesman was a respected job. Now it's what your parents tell you you'll end up as if you don't study harder in college.

On top of that, like I already mentioned, it's because price is the only selling point for so many people now. Ten years ago, if I got a call to bid a job, I set up an appointment to meet the customer and "sell" myself and my services. It was an opportunity to tell them why they should hire me instead of the other guy. Now, they just want an estimate dropped in the mailbox. That tells me from the start that it's only about price. And when you need to cut costs to lower prices, employees are the only option in this business. Instead of paying a premium for the top guys, you have to find guys that fit within the budget.

As for suggesting "big business", I have no idea where you get the idea that's what I'm saying. In fact, it's just the opposite.

Because by putting it into bigger businesses you could lower that price while still maintaining quality. Plus bigger businesses have more protocol to follow, such as using quality tools, employee reviews, drug testing, and whatnot.

Moooo

[jspchief]

Originally Posted by Moooo

Because by putting it into bigger businesses you could lower that price while still maintaining quality.
Moooo

I don't believe that in the least. The bigger the business, the more ways for things to slip through the cracks. Quality always goes down with growth.

[Moooo]

Originally Posted by jspchief

I don't believe that in the least. The bigger the business, the more ways for things to slip through the cracks. Quality always goes down with growth.

All I know is something needs to be done, cause 90% of the people in these trades cannot be self-regulated.

I've offered my ideas, but blaming society doesn't make the problem better...

Moooo

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Moooo

Because by putting it into bigger businesses you could lower that price while still maintaining quality. Plus bigger businesses have more protocol to follow, such as using quality tools, employee reviews, drug testing, and whatnot.

Moooo

I must agree with jspchief. I've never seen a big company do anything better or more efficiently than a small company. Their only advantage is in raw lifting power.

That said, I think licensing can be a useful tool to a) ensure that people have at least a modicum of knowledge about their industry, and b) to provide a barrier to entry that keeps out the laziest, who will bail out halfway through the test as opposed to halfway through the job.

I hate myself for saying this since I don't like government intervention in most cases, but I kind of wish my industry was regulated. There are some very incompetent people out there who claim that they do market research, and all they do is damage the reputation of the industry. I could tell some stories about "market researchers" who have wasted thousands of dollars of their clients' money because they do shoddy research.

[007]

Originally Posted by jiveturkey

The people that lived in our place before us were mentally reeruned, which lead them to painting the back deck. This year it finally got bad enough that I decided to do some work on it. We power washed it, scrapped it and laid down a coat of primer. After all of this we decided that this was too much fun for the wife and I and decided to pay someone else to finish the project.

I've called 5 painting companies and here's the results.
First 2 do not answer or return calls.
Candidate #3 made an appointment to come out and give me an estimate. He never showed up.
Candidate #4 is either related to candidate #3 or the previous owners of my house.
Candidate #5 came out and told me that he'll "probably" be able to do it but he won't be able to get to it until October and I will have to buy a sprayer for him.

So if you know of any painters please kick them square in the nuts for me.

I have lost hope in the people of this country. I also run my own business and I run into similar problems in the professional world. There are times when I need a service or product from an outside vendor so I shop around and then place a call that goes something like this "Hello ABC company mine name is Jiveturkey and I would like to give you money in exchange for the service or product that you specialize in". Later that week no one calls back, there's no follow up and they never actually put any effort into taking money from me.

When someone calls me and requests that I take their money I haul ass over to their place and help them write the check.

The lazyness has reached epic proportions and it's pissing me off.

Sounds like my experience when I was debating on vinyl siding or paint. It paritially helped me come to the decision to vinyl side. I was leaning that way anyway.

[greg63]

Originally Posted by kcchiefsguru

Sounds like my experience when I was debating on vinyl siding or paint. It paritially helped me come to the decision to vinyl side. I was leaning that way anyway.

How's it goin?

[Garcia Bronco]

Originally Posted by jiveturkey

.

The lazyness has reached epic proportions and it's pissing me off.

He says as he doesn't finish his own deck project that he started.

[Simplex3]

Originally Posted by Moooo

If they had to have some sort of licensing and certification not only would it make them show proficient knowledge of their trade, but it would also make sure to do a good job cause their ability to work on that trade would be on the line.

Moooo

Oh, wait, you actually believe that?

[Bugeater]

Just FTR, Wagner Power Painters=complete junk. However Wagner also makes low-end consumer grade airless paint sprayers that are decent.

Where Jiveturkey went wrong:

1. He went to the yellow pages, and the painters that advertise there are mostly big time contractors who are already booked up for months in advance. No one worth a shit is sitting around waiting for the phone to ring this time of the year.

2. He started it himself. The prep work is the most vital step of painting, and if the paint job fails prematurely the contractor knows they are going to get phone call whether it's their fault or not.

If you are a homeowner and you don't like to do these sorts of things, it's best to ask around and get a referral from a neighbor/friend/co-worker etc. All the business I get is from word of mouth, if I had to advertise in the YP I would have to charge twice as much because not only is it expensive, I would also have to hire someone just to answer the phone and I would be spending way too much time writing estimates for cheapskates.

And finally, if you are satisfied with the job the contractor did, PAY HIM PROMPTLY! Then the next time you need him in a pinch, he will probably work you in quicker.

[Simplex3]

Originally Posted by Moooo

All I know is something needs to be done, cause 90% of the people in these trades cannot be self-regulated.

I've offered my ideas, but blaming society doesn't make the problem better...

Moooo

...because you're too f**king lazy to monitor your own contractors? We should all pay millions and millions more in taxes because you can't manage the people you hire to work for you? Give me a break.

When you're hiring a contractor, take some simple steps. Ask for two references and to see his photo book. If he hasn't taken the steps necessary to provide those two things he isn't the type of guy you want to work with. Does it take time to find the right guy? Yes. It also takes time to find the right employee in any situation, so this shouldn't come as a suprise. Good employees also already have jobs, so you'd better be prepared to wait a bit for them to get freed up.

I agree with JSP, this is a Wal-mart society problem. I want it cheap and now, then I want to be pissed off when I don't get exactly what I wanted and it lasts half the time I thought it would. Oh, and I don't want to have to search to find what I want, I want someone to open a warehouse where I can go and find three versions so that I can assume that's everything there is to offer.

Other than the military the govt. doesn't do a single thing right. For some reason you want to believe that they'd miraculously get this right, though.

[Brock]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

Just FTR, Wagner Power Painters=complete junk.

I couldn't disagree more.

[BucEyedPea]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I must agree with jspchief. I've never seen a big company do anything better or more efficiently than a small company. Their only advantage is in raw lifting power.

That said, I think licensing can be a useful tool to a) ensure that people have at least a modicum of knowledge about their industry, and b) to provide a barrier to entry that keeps out the laziest, who will bail out halfway through the test as opposed to halfway through the job.

I hate myself for saying this since I don't like government intervention in most cases, but I kind of wish my industry was regulated. There are some very incompetent people out there who claim that they do market research, and all they do is damage the reputation of the industry. I could tell some stories about "market researchers" who have wasted thousands of dollars of their clients' money because they do shoddy research.

You don't really have to have the govt do the certifying...that would lead to establishing merely a mediocre standard of quality as govt usually does.

I think a good idea would be something along the lines of an Underwriter's Laboratory seal of approval which is sought out. You have that seal on it and you have a certain level of trust. Or like being Adobe Ceritfied. No govt and private. The rest is Buyer Beware.You take responsibility for checking them out.

Even school accreditation is done privately....which most don't even know.

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by Brock

I couldn't disagree more.

Dude, I've been painting for 15 years and I've used nearly every type of painting device out there. Trust me, they are junk. They are noisy, slow and have a shitty spray pattern because they don't atomize the paint adequately. Total waste of money.

[Brock]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

Dude, I've been painting for 15 years and I've used nearly every type of painting device out there. Trust me, they are junk. They are noisy, slow and have a shitty spray pattern because they don't atomize the paint adequately. Total waste of money.

Well, let's just say my experience has been quite different.

[jiveturkey]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

Just FTR, Wagner Power Painters=complete junk. However Wagner also makes low-end consumer grade airless paint sprayers that are decent.

Where Jiveturkey went wrong:

1. He went to the yellow pages, and the painters that advertise there are mostly big time contractors who are already booked up for months in advance. No one worth a shit is sitting around waiting for the phone to ring this time of the year.

2. He started it himself. The prep work is the most vital step of painting, and if the paint job fails prematurely the contractor knows they are going to get phone call whether it's their fault or not.

If you are a homeowner and you don't like to do these sorts of things, it's best to ask around and get a referral from a neighbor/friend/co-worker etc. All the business I get is from word of mouth, if I had to advertise in the YP I would have to charge twice as much because not only is it expensive, I would also have to hire someone just to answer the phone and I would be spending way too much time writing estimates for cheapskates.

And finally, if you are satisfied with the job the contractor did, PAY HIM PROMPTLY! Then the next time you need him in a pinch, he will probably work you in quicker.

I never used the Yellow Pages. All of the problems are coming from referrals. And none of the possible contractors even know that I started the project. I also don't know where "cheapskate" came from. I'm willing to pay to have it done right.