KellyPainting

At a residential job today....Last week the homeowner and her sons were madd that i charged her $300 to paint 2.5 ceilings 2 coats (me and a helper). They spent time figuring out how many hours I was there so on and so forth..... Now today the Electrician shows up with his helper.... and works less than a full day.
And says $685.00.... they pay it without a blink!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The electrician never even gave a bid.....just worked and said how much.

WHY ARE WE DIFFERENT?

mahlere

Because you are not nearly as qualified as us and neuro-surgeons...

ProWallGuy

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neolitic

Because everyone has held a paint brush at one time. Maybe even painted a room.
So they think they can do it.
They just don't have the time.
They've never done a good job, so they've no idea what's involved in what you are doing.
Electricity is scary, voodoo, hockum, pockum.
Pay the man and smile.

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daArch

Kelly,

While chastising my freind about dropping his price (as mentioned in the "Quality" thread) he said painters are perceived as low man on the totem pole. He feels he just can't charge as much as paperhangers, framers, spark chasers, etc. As much as I tried to talk him out of that attitude, I know deep in my heart he is correct.

Sure anyone can pick up a brush and buy a can of behr, but we have to sell them on the difference between homeowner hack jobs and experienced professionals doing it correctly.

Another selling point is pointing out that it would take them twice as long to apply one crappy coat, and in that time they could earn more than your wages. It's cost effective to hire a pro.

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plazaman

FOr this same reason, i cannot sell a paint job in my area. Everyone goes to home depot, buys paint, and roll it on. they dont realize whats in a proper paint job.

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Workaholic

good one.

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Sean

painterman

As long as we have painters that are willing to work for $15 per hour we will always face these problems. You will never see a plumber or a sparky or mason work for peanut wages.As pro painters we need to raise the bar.

silvertree

Everyone gets these people from time to time, although in my advanced years I get them less often.
I wish I had a dollar for everytime I heard "I'd do it myself, but I don't have the time, or the tools". Or, "I was a carpenter in college".
My favorite is "My dad and I built a garage one summer". Get the money and move on. Painters and carpenters will get this baloney from time to time, it comes with the job.

PlainPainter

When people give those lines, I think of them as red-flags, and don't bother getting an estimate to them. Anybody who was looking over my back counting my hours - I would yell at them - I am thru with that kind of bull****.
It's none of their business how long it takes me - they never seem to care when I go over 10-20-30-40% on my time on the estimate - never there to give me extra cash if I goofed up. IF homeowners want a painter to work for an hourly wage - then the way I see it, they should supply everything from the credit card to go purchase paint, the van, the equipment, rollers, paint brushes, insurances, workmans comp in case I get hurt on the job, a health plan package, 401k, etc, etc, etc. They hired a service provider - it's none of their business how long it takes - If I find a way to knock out a 5500sq ft home interior in 2 days - when it would take everyone else a month - do you think I'd accept a lousy 2 days wages for it? Hell no! We are professionals that sell a service- I am not in business to butt heads with some homeowners egos - thinking I shouldn't get paid well, because that might imply I make more than they do. Hell - every company I worked for, accounting billed me out at 4X my salary! If you take that logic - then a painting contractor should charge $60/man-hrs for $15/hr salaried employees!

wireless

If you look in the plumbing and electrical forum they are saying the same thing! Every trade has lowballers.

fathersonfab

More importantly I think is selling them on YOU...
I do handyman work and I'm amazed at what people have paid me to do, and call me back because they like me and trust me. Caulk a bathtub, hang pictures, assemble a bike, hang curtains... and I'm not cheap. I charge twice as much as other guys on craigslist.

Sell yourself and sell quality... and you can charge whatever you like. If they baulk, then politely say, "OK, here's my card, maybe next time"

Dave Mac

good post

dkillianjr

Yup I get the same thing too. On the painting issue just cause people can hold a brush they think they can paint. I know on evry job that I do I always sub out the painting and if they HO really wants to do it sometimes they do but it never looks as good, cause I know my painter just doesnt paint he fixes any blemishes and stuff like that. Ive even had people say to me "well I'm off on tuesday and thursday if I help how much will that knock off. Usually I don't get to many of those jobs


Dave

jackrabbit5

I'll paint your bedroom for $500. It'll be $600 if you want to watch and $700 if you want to help.

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Stacy

S B Bolson & Sons

WNYcarpenter

Just finished a skylight installation a couple months ago and the home owner was adamant about meeting with our sub/painter to go over colors since the entire sunroom was to be repainted.

The painter we used came, met with the HO and picked apart about HALF of the flaws in the previous painting. He didn't much care what the color would be, but was thinking out loud about all the crap he had to fix and then asked.."oh...did you paint this?" She was a pain so the moment was beautiful!

ModernStyle

When you paint after a HO , should you paint the new color over the blobs of the old color on the ceiling and trim or should you let the room now have 3 colors in it? I always wonder what is the proper method.

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LADYBIZ

Yeah, It's funny how people think some trades such as electricians are
just smarter or more educated, while surely anyone can paint, right?
If they had to go out and purchase all of the ladders, brushes, tarps
and etc. what would it cost them then. Not to mention the time involved
as well as the experience in doing the job right. I'm sure if you asked them
what their time was worth, it would be a whole different story. Good luck
on the next one. Hang in there.

LADYBIZ

shed-n-deck

I did some carpentry for some HO's a couple weeks back. I mentioned to my wife the paint job they had and how nice it looked, it was obvious it was done by a professional. I asked the HO who did his paint, he told me that he did it himself. They hired a pro designer to help them with colors, but other than that they did an incredible job. At that moment, I was glad I wasn't a painter. I've seen the same with carpentry, some people just have a knack for it, and you wouldn't be able to tell my work from theirs.

The reality is that it isn't complicated the things that we do for people, I could learn the tips and tricks of building a good solid deck in just a few weeks. I'm sure the same is true for just about any construction trade.

I think that what we need to keep in mind is that these people, these "do-it-yourself" types, they just aren't our customers. Who cares? It's the "I can't do that" types that are signing our paychecks. We really don't need to make it seem as though our jobs are so complicated that it takes a special type of person to accomplish it. It doesn't. It isn't rocket science(which is quite simple too). We aren't special because we are good at what we do, we are good at what we do because it pays the bills.

I don't know though, I've hired people, and worked with people, and they can spend years in an industry and still not grasp the simplest concepts, so maybe I'm wrong.

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Shed

JMGP

Next time you run into a customer like that just tell them to go dig out their last week pay stub and look at their gross earnings for the week... then tell them to now look at their net after uncle sam etc... ok...

THEN... tell them to jump in your shoes for a minute... (using the same pay stub).. now deduct liability insurance... workmans comp... office overhead... equipment costs... vehicle costs... etc etc etc .... then say... THAT's why it cost $ 300 bucks to paint your 2.5 ceilings 2 coats!!!! AND after I pay ALL MY costs I only made $ 80 bucks!! Comprenday (sp)!!?? Have a nice day maam!!!

Then do a break stand in her driveway.... so she will always remember you!!!

She got a good deal!!!