estimates | Crestwood Painting

Top 3 Must-Haves When Hiring A Paint Contractor

If paint contractors are clear in what they are providing and customers are clear in what they are getting then everybody will be happy, yes? So why are happy customer/contractor experiences relatively rare? The answer is the dreaded Unmet Expectations.

Let’s say the paint contractor hired to paint your house drips on your new patio. You assumed he would properly protect your home, he assumed you wanted the work done fast and cheap. If he didn’t have a written contract then shame on everybody. If he did have a contract did it clearly specify these gems?

Inclusions
Exclusions
Clarifications

Inclusions

This is, of course, the work that will be done. In our case it would read something like “Paint house and garage only, including all previously painted doors, windows, soffits, fascia, etc.” Also included should be the materials used, time to completion, and yes, surfaces to be protected.

A job well specified is half delivered

Exclusions

If your fence will not be stained or painted it should be noted here. If the dog house, garage or porch swing will not be painted that will all be listed in the section. Is it really necessary to describe what will not be painted? Well, yes – everyone wants to avoid Unmet Expectations. If you expect that your beloved white dog house will not be painted and then come home to see that it is now gray you will be, at least, a bit put off.

Now, Exclusions can go too far – it’s not necessary to state that your roof will not be painted, is it? Or the driveway?

Clarifications

So you’re talking with your painter during the estimate and he assures you that he’ll take extra precautions around your new rose bushes. This section is where that assurance should be described – “Rose bushes on east side of garage will be staked off with yellow caution tape to help prevent damage”. Even better is an explanation of the consequences if the roses are not staked off – something like “if roses are not staked off and are damaged contractor agrees to have a qualified nursery replace them.”

If the rose bushes are not mentioned at all you’re setting yourself up to have some dreaded Unmet Expectations. Or, what if the contractor simply forgets what he said about the rose bushes. Or he forgets to tell his work crew?

It’s been wisely said that “a job well specified is half delivered”. Give Crestwood Painting a call if you’d like to see what Met Expectations feel like.

Tips For Dark Paint Colors

‘Dja ever notice that deep paint colors don’t seem to cover as well as lighter colors? There’s a simple reason for this and it involves a recent post about titanium dioxide.

Let’s say you’ve chosen a deep orange for your living room – this really happened about three weeks ago (along with deep burgundy, chocolate brown, etc). Because these colors requires so much tint to achieve the deep colors paint manufacturers must remove some other ingredients to make room.

One of the things that’s got to go is titanium dioxide – the chief component that gives paint its hiding power. That means you’ll almost certainly see the original color through the first coat, probably the second, etc. I’ve heard of professional painters applying five coats (in addition to the old trick of using a gray primer coat) before they achieved deep and even coverage. Paint quality really comes into play here – low quality (and low priced) paint never covers very well; you’ll eat up any savings with increase labor costs. Or simple aggravation if you’re a DIY’er.

Paint quality certainly affects coverage, but at a certain point you simply bump into the tug-of-war between tint (deep colors) and hiding power (titanium dioxide or similar). As there’s only so much room in the can; something’s got to give.

This is why we always make a point to ask about colors when we first meet with a customer to discuss an estimate. Most people assume that paint is paint and colors are colors and they appreciate an open discussion about how their color choices can affect the cost of their project.

And not all paints are available in all colors. Manufacturers make different paint “bases” – some are formulated for lighter colors and others are for darker colors. So, for example, if a certain high quality interior wall paint isn’t available in an ultra-deep base so we’ll have to use a more commercial-grade paint for that particular color. Just some of the trade-offs that manufacturers make between product line, cost, sales volume, etc.

What Kind of Painting Do You Do?

There is often a pleasant laugh when the answer is “Well, we’ll paint your shoes if you stand still long enough.” But every once in a while we stumble on a nice story…

This small ranch style house was owned by a single lady on full disability. Her insurance company told her to paint or they would drop her coverage. Needless to say, when your insurance company calls your home is usually in some kind of disrepair. She called several painters and finally chose Crestwood for her exterior project.

[Read more…]

Nice Painting Review!

This was a review of the painting work we did for a new homeowner. Realtors had a very involved deal and rainy weather made this a bit of a challenge but the rain eventually stopped, the exterior painting was soon completed and the homeowner is quite delighted!

“Crestwood Painting is an excellent example of getting what you pay for. While they were our most expensive estimate by a solid 20% over the next-highest competitor, I would absolutely (and likely will, down the line) use them again. We took a bit of a chance and chose them based on their stellar reputation and my excellent first impression during the initial estimate. I’m glad we made the choice we did. I heartily recommend their services.

[Read more…]

Price, Service & Sketchy Dudes

painter background check kansas city — Some painters are best qualified for someone else’s project.

Several factors should be considered when hiring a contractor. The type and quality of painter that will work on your project is right at the top. Below are some thoughts on hiring a contractor that most people don’t address.

We often hear the following question from people who find us on the web or see our vans around Kansas City…..why is your price higher than the other painter(s)?

A number of variables influence pricing, among them…

Apples to apples – we supply carefully written scopes of work so you know what we are promising to paint, and how – a properly and conscientiously written estimate should have no gray areas, nor create opportunities for ‘upselling’ once the project commences.

We only hire people we would be comfortable having work in our own homes – each of our painters presents well, is personable and knows what he or she is doing.

Who is actually going to work in your home? We employ only painters who meet our 3 ‘Cs’ – competence, courtesy and communication. We only hire people we would be comfortable having work in our own homes – each of our painters presents well, is personable and knows what he or she is doing.
Trust but verify – by running background checks on every person who wears the Crestwood uniform we confirm the bona fides of the painters we hire. We consider this the minimum standard for any responsible service company and so should you – it’s your home or office we’ve been invited into.
Employee vs. subcontractor – this is a pet peeve of many an ethical painting contractor – some companies act as brokers, selling on your project to another company – this is becoming more common alas; we call it misrepresentation. Subcontracting lends it to myriad complications around misaligned expectations; typically the company working on your home is realizing a much smaller reward for the work and so likely to be in a hurry to finish!
Professional vs. price; we don’t believe in competing on price. We’d rather deliver excellent service and craft – hiring the right people and keeping them means offering them more than minimum wage so we offer a competitive package of benefits as well as a decent working wage; we reimburse for health savings accounts, offer retirement matches and paid time off.
It’s an unusual industry we’re in – the bar is set low and there are few if any licensing or other regulations that ensure either technical or business competence. We aim therefore to work for homeowners who are interested in turning over the protection of their home to trusted partners who will be around in 10-15 years when it’s time to paint again.

This article was adapted from a post by fellow PDCA member Nigel Costelloe at Catchlight Painting in Boston, the appropriate references have been changed.