Common Issues Within The Exterior Painting Industry
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
The painting industry as a whole gets a bad reputation for some of the stuff that we do. Unfortunately, what this does is put a bad taste in homeowner’s mouths so they’re reluctant to call us painting companies when something needs to be fixed. It’s almost like we’re the new version of the used-car salesmen!
Well, if you’ve bought a used car in the past 15 years, you’ve most likely shown up to the dealership with a print out of the exact car you want. There is no guesswork with the car at that point.
We’re here to do the same with the painting industry.
Exterior Painter Problems
The Landscape Gets Messed Up
Unless the area that a homeowner wants to have painted is under six feet high, ladders or scaffolding will need to be used to reach higher sections of the home. What this means is the ladder will have to be positioned somewhere near the section. Where does the base of the ladder get positioned? You guessed it, right in your flower bed. While sometimes it’s truly unavoidable due to safety reasons, ladders can (and should) be strategically placed to leave as little impact on the landscape as possible!
If you’ve got specific sections of the landscape that are more fragile, just let your contractor know.
Patios & Walkways Recieve A Coat Of Paint Too
Carelessness is the main reason for this. While nobody is perfect, there is no reason that paint should get on your hardscapes. You’ve most likely paid a good amount of money to have these put in. If we hired a contractor to come over and they accidentally scratched our car due to carelessness, we wouldn’t be happy about it.
Painting Over The Problem
This is probably one of the most frustrating issues within our industry. When repainting a home, it’s very common that the wood that’s being repainted has started rotting and needs to be replaced. In fact, about 85% of the jobs that we take on have sections that need replacing. What tends to happen is one of two things:
- The painting contractor paints over the rotting wood. What happens with this is the problem isn’t fixed, just painted over (literally)
- The contractor stops the project so a carpenter can come in and fix the wood
Improperly diagnosing the problem can cause delays! Check out our carpentry services page if you want to learn more about how we handle this issue.
Scrape Then Leave
Speaking of the first step in the exterior painting process of scraping the current paint, here’s another common action us painting companies love to do. The paint gets scraped, and then… the company leaves. The next day, that same company goes to another house to scrape their paint. And another, and another.
Eventually, they’ve scraped the paint off of a half dozen homes before finally returning to your home to paint it! In the meantime, your home sits there with the paint scraped for a week or so. Doesn’t it seem odd to do it this way compared to just starting and finishing one project before moving onto the next?
Poor Follow-Up
Have you ever hired a contractor to do the work and then they go completely dark after they do the work? If there are any issues with the project, its as if the contractor has entered the witness protection program. Forget about the warranty they promised, you just want them to answer the phone.
Checking out online reviews of painting contractors and even calling references can do wonders to ensure you’re hiring the best person!
Learn more about how to avoid hiring a bad paint contractor>>