Painting with Deep Base Colors

Q: What kind of paint should I use when painting deep base colors?

A:  The most expensive you can find.....with a caveat

There are scenarios (even in extremely low profile job scenarios) where it pays to go with the most expensive paint available.  It will ultimately save you money.  One of these scenarios is using deep base colors on accent walls.  

Bright Reds, Dark Green, Royal Blues and other deep base colors will not cover in two coats (even if you tint a quality primer) if you get cheap paint.  You'll end up spending a lot more time with 3, 4 or 5 coats then you otherwise would if you simply would have got one of the two products.  1.  Benjamin Moore's Aura or 2. Sherwin Williams' Emerald.  Both Products are selling around $70.00 retail.  A good painting contractor can do considerably better on that price but these products will generally cover in two coats (with primer and sometimes without) in any color and they are largely burnish resistant to boot.

Here is a job where a homeowner picked up the paint for an accent wall for us.   Generally I always buy products but on this particular job the homeowner was insistent on purchasing the paint.  We primed the walls with a dark grey and ended up applying 4 top coats:  

I didn't charge the customer any extra money because there was other work to be done as we allowed this paint to dry but had the homeowner wanted an entire room painted with such a poor product it could have cost him a lot more.

You can see from the pic that after a patch, primer and two top coats its not even close to a finished product.  Stick with the top of the line products for any deep base color...

Nick Dettinger

Complete Custom Painting

651-336-0561 cellular

Hiring a Reputable Painting Contractor

Hiring a reputable painting contractor is the very first step in assuring success with your painting project. How does a homeowner or business owner go about doing this?  One of the first steps you can take is by checking out your local Better Business Bureau. Find at least three contractors with no complaints with an A rating. Or you may know a friend or family member who have used a contractor in the past that they have had success with. You should always get at least three quotes no matter how you find them.

The contractor that you wind up choosing should provide you with the following items:

1. A written proposal explaining exactly what they will do, the materials they will use, and exactly what the job will cost.

2. A list of references with phone numbers that you may call. The list should have at least 20-30 names with the city that the job was done in and the type of work that was done. My reference list has either an I, E, and or R after each name to show if the job was interior, exterior, or repeat customer. A refence list such as this insures that it is not a list of just family and friends.

3. Proof of business insurance and workers comp. insurance. More on this in another article. Any reputable contractor will have both.

4. If your home was built before 1978, then by law, the contractor MUST be certified by the EPA to work in/on your house. Any reputable contractor will show his/her certificate as proof that they are certified. The certification has to do with lead dust/paint. More on that in another article.

5. You are paying hard earned money for a contractor to perform a job for you. Do yourself a favor and hire a Professional, not a Jack of All Trades. There are simply to many handymen, roofing contractors, siding contractors, drywallers, etc... that attach Painting as a service that they provide. If you want to achieve a quality job that lasts, then hire  a real Painting Contractor. Real painting contractors paint day in, day out, and know what materials to use, what tools to use, and know the tricks of the trade to achieve a paint job that you will marvel over.

Michael Guinther
Allure Painting
1441 Wagar
Lakewood Ohio 44107
216-287-7468
www.allurepainting.net
allurepainting@gmail.com

Multiple colors for enamel work looks good

Question: Should your doors be the same color as the door frames if you are going to paint them?

Answer:  In most cases they are, but they don't have to be.

Most of the enamel work we do involves painting the door trim the same color as the door.  It is appropriate at times to split it however.  Depending on the color and room decor you can paint the doors a different color and it looks fantastic.  If you choose to do this it is very important to speak with a designer.  You can do this for free and your only cost will be having the painting done professionally.  I'd also strongly recommend you have a professional do the painting work.  There is a difference in quality and knowledge.
Also, I don't recommend splitting windows.  It's too busy and defeats one of the purposes of having a window there.

Call Nick  with Complete Custom Painting:  651-336-0561 cellular

 White Bear Lake Painter.  Interior Painter.  Exterior Painter.  Painting Company Twin Cities.  Twin Cities Painter.  Painting Company Twin Cities.  Painting Company North East Metro.  Deck Staining.  Fine Finishing.

Interior wall and ceiling painting (keeping it clean and perfect)

Q:What happens if I find an error after the first coat of paint on the walls, but I've already done the mud work?
A:  No problem, mud the area, but make sure to prime/paint that mud area and let it dry prior to re-top coating everything or you'll get a flashing spot in the walls.


 If you put a first coat on (even with some higher end paints) and the color is a deep base color (like a red or dark green etc) the paint will not cover in one coat (actually paint never really covers in one coat if you ask me).  A second coat is needed but if you notice a few small holes you missed when you went around the first time and hit everything with the 5 minute mud (or 20 minute or joint compound or top coat etc whatever the situation calls for)  All you need to do is hit that area with the mud, let it dry, prime it and then proceed to top coat everything.
More errors can show up after the first coat, because the reflective nature of the paint you are using as well as the color you are using may reveal more (or less for that matter)  Generally, I've found that the marbling look you get after a first coat will reveal one or two holes (very minor ones) that may have been missed.  Simple to fix and a perfect wall is the end result.
A couple of quick tips on sanding the spot. 1. Use a vacuum underneath every spot you apply mud.  2.  Prime in a circular pattern a little further out from the actual mud spot.
From there just proceed with expertise and excellence.

Nick Dettinger-  Complete Custom Painting LLC

651-336-0561 cellular

White Bear Lake Painter.  Interior Painter.  Exterior Painter.  Painting Company Twin Cities.  Twin Cities Painter.  Painting Company Twin Cities.  Painting Company North East Metro.  Deck Staining.  Fine Finishing.

Professional Trim Painting.

Q: How do I paint trim professionally?
A: Generally speaking, you shouldn't try, but depending on the scenario here are some tips.

If you are going to paint previously stained woodwork you should really consider hiring a professional.  There are a lot of steps to take to ensure the primer and top coat adhere.  It is time consuming and smells bad.  I've written previously about it but generally speaking, it should be done by someone who has done it many times before.  If done well, you can make stained oak look great.  If rushed, you will regret it.
With that said if you have previously painted trim work and just want to brighten up, you can use a product by the name of "Advanced" by Ben Moore.  I like it because the luster of the finish is like an oil and it lays down much nicer than a lot of the latex enamels.
Prior to the top coat however, you should take these minimum steps.
1.  Scuff the surface.  Use a medium purple sanding sponge.  It should chalk the surface.
2.  Vacuum the surface.  Use a brush on the end of the hose.

3.  tac cloth the surface right before brushing on the paint.

Nick Dettinger-  Complete Custom Painting LLC

651-336-0561 cellular

White Bear Lake Painter.  Interior Painter.  Exterior Painter.  Painting Company Twin Cities.  Twin Cities Painter.  Painting Company Twin Cities.  Painting Company North East Metro.  Deck Staining.  Fine Finishing.

The right prep for painting a ceiling.

Q:  Should I use plastic or tarps if I'm prepping to paint a ceiling
A:  BOTH:  Read Below.

If you're getting ready to prep and paint a ceiling and want to protect the flooring you should take a few simple steps.  1st:  use painters plastic on all furniture, the tops of cabinets and carpet.  2nd: Use tarps on any wood or tile surfaces.  Generally I recommend using tarps on surfaces that are slippery (in either case be careful).  I personally buy the plastic backed tarps or thick woven tarps which are a little more expensive but block any spillage.
What tends to happen is paint splatter from the roller falls down and as you walk around some of it will stick on your shoes.  Make sure you prep the area so you are always walking only in those areas where you have something on the ground (or outside).  Then take your shoes off before moving to those areas that are not protected.
I see a lot of ceilings that have roller marks in them, un-matched texture, roller lines (because they were rolling too long or pressing) and then we get called in to fix the mess.  We appreciate it.
Specifically with texture repair, I am consistently asked to fix areas that were butchered by someone that didn't know the correct way to do it and didn't have the experience.
Painting a ceiling correctly is not as easy as you may thing, and there are more steps than you think.  If you are going to tackle it though.  Take the time to prep the area correctly by covering everything,...everything.
Call Nick at Complete Custom Painting
651-336-0561 cellular

Twin Cities, MN Painter  

 Here on the carpet and the couch we used plastic.

Here we used tarps on the carpet and taped off the on the brass.  In this picture the painter is rolling to the left of the fan but when we roll above the fan we take some painter plastic and throw it over the top of the fan blades.

How to make sure my painted walls turn out perfect

Q:How to make sure my painted walls turn out perfect?
A: Read Below.

There are a few steps you'll want to take to make sure your walls turn out well when your painting.
1.  Make sure you see everything:  A professional painter should ALWAYS make sure any surface they are going to paint is well lit.  If you can't see an imperfection, you'll likely miss correcting it.


Here you can see we use a 3 stage light and a small light to carry around on an extension cord.  The large light move from wall to wall and the smaller light acts as an inspection light.
2.  Skim the wall in 2 stages.  Once before the prime coat and once after.  Also sand the entire wall.
3.  Use a primer:  There are a lot of reasons why, yes, even though almost all acrylic paints now advertise "prime and paint in one," there are aspects to a primer that perform independently from paints that claim to prime and paint in one step.  Especially when mud is involved (and should always be involved.)
4.  Make sure you are using appropriate techniques.  There are a lot to expand upon here.  You can discuss it further by calling Complete Custom Painting LLC
651-336-0561 Ask for Nick

How do I get different species of wood to look the same after staining them

Q:  How do you get different species of wood to look the same after staining
A:  Read Below and then call Complete Custom Painting: 651-336-0561

Recently we had a job in a very nice house where in a french door was made of Red Oak and the jamb and casing were white oak.  This all butted up to white oak baseboard which had already been finished (more than 10 years ago).  So the question was, how to get the white oak to match the existing white oak, and then make the read oak match also.  Below are some pictures and an explanation of how it turned out:

 Here is a white oak jamb and casing but the door is read oak.  I had two samples made and was carrying two types of stain.  You can see that the read oak appears darker (more red of course) so I thinned it and it matched much better.

In this picture I used the the same two stains but put them on different items.  You can see that the red oak is now extremely red compared to the white and the white oak, is a little too light.  I scrapped this match but added a little of it to the other stain when I applied it to the white oak.  I didn't use any of it on the red (it would have been way too red)

Here is the Read Oak French Door next to an existing door that was White Oak but was in the house for 15 years or better.  Extremely close match and the varnish isn't on it yet. (after the varnish it should be spot on )

  Here is the casing, jamb and french door.  2 types of stains were applied and it was thinned down dramatically when applied to the red oak to make sure it wasn't too dark. This is before the Sealer and Varnish were applied so the amber effect will make it match exactly. While red oak will not ever be exactly the same as white oak (because the idea of stain is to see through to the wood and allow the woods natural color to come through the transparent color of the stain you are going to have different looks from species to species and board to board.  Depending on how opaque the stain is you can make it match.  The more transparent, the more likely you are to see the difference.  However by using 2 types of stains and knowing which colors will mute out certain tones you can get even different species of wood to match pretty well.

Call Complete Custom Painting 651-336-0561  

Can you shade varnish with stain?

Question: Can you add stain to varnish to shade it?
Answer:  Yes, but be careful...

Shading has become popular in lacquers.  Lacquers can only be used in a sprayer (or at least the catalyzed lacquers that builders seem to be in love with).  You can do something similar with varnish but the amount of stain you can add to varnish is very limited in comparison to lacquer.  Adding stain to varnish to shade it slightly can cause a real problem if you add too much.  It can separate while drying and destroy your finish.  In addition, it is advised to avoid it entirely if you have universal colorants at your disposal and you can get the same finish by adding those to the varnish.  Since universal colorants are n longer universally carried by professional painters you can add a very small amount of stain to shade your varnish to achieve a darkened look.  This occurs in several scenarios:  Old casing with new inserts on windows, new doors with old jambs, where a shoe meets a new wood floor etc etc etc.  The scenarios are really endless but the important thing to know is that if you do it with a varnish, it can be brushed or sprayed where as with lacquers you are more limited.  Below is a pic of some doors that were replaced in a home with a fire.  Most of the doors were OK and kept in the house but the owner wanted to speed up (slightly) the new doors with a shaded varnish so we did this in a sprayed finish.  They looked great.
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COMPLETE CUSTOM PAINTING for any of your painting needs.

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An easy way to save your customer money

Q:  Can you mix paints?
A:  Depends, see below

Generally speaking if you are using interior water-borne paints with the same sheen you can mix them.  I don't recommend it in the event a customer has signed an agreement where you are charging them for one product but then mixing it with another.  But their are a few scenarios where it works pretty well.  For homeowners not working with a professional painting contractor and they want to throw some paint on an old shed (just to clean it up) the general rules are as follows:  You can mix water based interior paints with any other water-based interior paint of the same sheen (and the sheen really doesn't matter if you mix it with a paddle drill and continually stir it through the application process).  You can also mix oil based paints (interior with interior and exterior with exterior).  Just make sure the paint is not lumpy, you've filtered it, and you mix it with a drill and paddle.  I don't recommend this for a painting contractor working with a homeowner.  In the event a homeowner has purchased a job with new quality products, it is wrong to cut the product they've purchased.  In one rare case however, I had the following example and it did work to save the customer money.
Example:  We were painting a house for re-sale (a foreclosure house for a bank), and there are multiple colors in the home, and the agent wants everything painted one color, it may be hard to cover everything in one coat.

My recommendation is to purchase the darkest color in the beige family that will cover in one coat.  (or match it to the darkest beige on site that is acceptable to the seller) and then mix in white on the job site to lighten the color as needed.  That way the painter is saving time (because they don't have to paint multiple colors in multiple rooms) and the customer is saving money (because in at least some rooms you can cover in one coat).  Of course you'll need to put 2 coats on some walls and areas.  I would not recommend this for a homeowner looking to stay in their house.  I would also not recommend it on any area where durability is a concern.  There is no one coat product substitute for the quality process of:  one coat primer, 2 top coats of a quality acrylic paint.  With that said, a lot of people are only looking to clean up the look of their home for staging purposes and are looking to save money.  This is a simple way to save them a few dollars on the job site.

As promised, here are a few pictures I've added after the fact that show the walls.  These smart phone images are as clear as I can make them but I hope the point is clear that after one matching coat (after all mud was primed of course) the finish is prefect for staging.

Call Complete Custom Painting for any of your painting needs:  651-336-0561 cellular

What is a safe way to remove Graffiti without damaging the undercoat?

When one of our fellow citizens runs around at night and decides to paint all over your business, home, commercial building, parking ramp, retaining wall etc etc it causes you a headache.  Their is a new product that we used recently that can remove the graffiti coating and leave the under coat safe from marring, scraping or the  cumbersome task of having to fully paint everything to match.
There are 2 types of products available (both are lemon based out of Australia).  One is for graffiti done on softer surfaces like a previously painted wall and one is for graffiti done on hard surfaces like block, retaining wall, ferrous steel.
On this job a large building in St. Paul was "tagged" and the property manager called us.  We were able to fully remove the graffiti without damaging the pre-finished aluminum siding.  There was no marring and no scraping.  Also, we were not required to prime and paint the surface (which could have voided any manufacturer warranty)
For safe, effective graffiti removal call Complete Custom Painting
651-336-0561 cellular phone
www.completecustompaint.com

  AFTER GRAFFITI
 AFTER CLEANING
  Product hoisted up 30 feet with rope.

  Cleaning in Process.

PRODUCT APPLICATION

Painting Steel Railing

Q: Should I paint metal railing?

A: Depends on the type of metal?

Generally speaking a person can paint metal railing if it is not pre-finished or polished aluminum. Aluminum is coated with a Zinc Primer in a shop and normally baked on so the finish holds up better. If you are required to field paint it you should use a minium of 2 coats of a zinc primer and top coat it with a top quality paint if you want it to last. I normally don't recommend painting pre-finished aluminum. If you have a old set of gutters that are aluminum and are chipping and fading and you are convinced you want them painted then you can do it but the process requires quite a bit of care and as always I would recommend using top quality products. We are often asked to paint steel railings, light posts and I always recommend to following process:

Sand and wire brush any rust. Angle grind it off (if it is more than flash rusting). Prime with Moisture Cure Urethane. Top coat with an industrial oil enamel.

It should last a long time. In the above picture we are painting some railing at a very popular location in St. Louis Park, MN. We were hired by a large property manager

Contact Complete Custom Painting for any of your painting needs.

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Here are some more pics a full paint removal

The blue tape square is after the sanding
Hepa Vac Required to meet lead safe rules
The pic with the full wall wood shake shows the siding after grinding but before sanding


Call Complete Custom Painting
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Lead safe practices when you are dealing with wood siding

Q: What is the best way to keep my old growth wood siding, and get a paint job that last while still following the lead safe requirements
A: Use a certified painting contractor with experience is fully restoring wood siding.


There are different levels of prep involved with exterior painting. Sometimes someones wants a standard scrape and scuff sand job and sometimes someone wants the surface to be washed only. Other times a person is ready to remove ALL of the exterior coating and start from scratch. It is the job of the painting contractor to make sure they communicate with the homeowner to be sure they are giving them the desired result.
One area that I run into a lot is when homeowners have lead paint but have very nice old growth wood siding or wood shake. They don't want to simply paint over the existing paint job and they don't want to spend triple what it would cost of paint the house just to put up some composite siding that claims to be as good as wood.
A great solution for wood siding is to grind off the paint using a paint striping machine and then sand the bare wood with a orbital sander.
It should be noted that if this is going to be done you should use lead safe practices and work with a contractor that has removed lead paint before. There are rules covering a safe work place environment and disposal and should be followed.
If lead is present all of these rules need to be followed regardless if you want a standard scrape job or all the paint fully removed.


Here are some pictures of a full lead paint removal job. The homeowners had beautiful old growth wood shake. They didn't want to re-coat the paint that was in terrible condition and didn't want to spend 30 thousand or more on new siding (that many would argue doesn't perform as well anyway)
Call Complete Custom Painting for more information
651-336-0561

How to do a Epoxy Floor Coating that lasts

A few years ago I took a class on Epoxy floor coatings offered through Hirshfields. The class offered hands on training in the appropriate way to etch, clean, prime, paint and seal a garage floor coating so it will stand up the the rigors of a Minnesota Winter. Since then we've done quite a few garage floors and I've always followed the same process. I'm going to share it with you so you know a good standard for completing a garage floor

1. Wash any stains, rust marks of areas with dark grime.

2. Etch the floor with a diamond etcher and avoid the Muratic Acid. Spend more time Etching until you are sure that the floor is sufficiently etched. You'll be able to tell because you'll see the color and profile of the surface change.

3. Vacuum the floor not once, not twice, but 3 times. Once after etching, once before the pre-prime, and once before the 1st coat of epoxy.

4. Use a good product and use one system. I use a system with a long history of performance that comes in a 100 percent solids or 84 percent solids. I start with the pre-prime, apply two coats of epoxy (and apply some colored flakes after the 2nd coat of epoxy is still wet). Then I top coat everything with 3 coats of a 2 part urethane. The Urethane is a important step that will help protect the flakes, help protect against fading and chalking and help against salt damage.

5. Let everything dry about a week until you drive on it. You can move general yard equipment in the garage within 48 hours but avoid driving on the floor for a week and then always part on some rubber pads placed under the car tires.

Of course the most important steps are the application techniques, cleaning techniques, mixing techniques and product knowledge that you learn through training and time on the job so if you are thinking of having it done make to consult a expert.

Call Nick D for a free quote

Complete Custom Painting LLC

651-336-0561 cellular

How to keep paint from bleeding behind the tape

Q: Why does Paint Bleed behind the tape?
A: You are not burnishing it or cleaning the surface.

Lots of times when I am visiting a homeowner who wants their walls painted I'll note a few paint dots that got behind the tape and stained the baseboard or door frame. I always try to point that out to the homeowner in a subtle way before I start painting because if they chose a similar color their may be confusion as to who got the paint there.
I would make the following points for homeowners who are going to do it themselves or homeowners who are hiring a professional painter:
1. Clean the surface. Lots of small particles sit on the surfaces of baseboard and sides of door frames and you have to wipe them, tack cloth them, or at the very least sweep them with a brush prior to taping the surface. The surface may look clean but I would make a point to sweep over it with a clean paint brush after giving it the feel test.
2. Use the appropriate tape. I'm not sure it makes a huge difference between 3m tan, 3m blue, frog tape, or inter-tape tan with regard to preventing bleed (depending on the surface). All of them will prevent bleed if you apply them correctly on the correct surface and all of them will fail if you do not apply them correctly. Generally stick to the instructions on the tapes wrapping. Delicate tape for freshly painted surfaces and the higher adhesion tape for wood that has fully cured varnish and paint, etc etc.
3. Burnish you tape line: Finally, make sure to take a small putty knife (preferably plastic or at least dull) and score over the top of the tape line prior to cutting. This will get rid of air bubbles and make sure all of the tapes adhesive surface will have been pressed into contact with the surface you are trying to protect.
4. Make sure to pull out the paint over the top of the tape line. This basically means that you shouldn't let a bunch of paint pool on the top of the tape line. Although, it shouldn't matter as much if you follow steps 1 through 3. It is still a good habit to make sure you have a nicely even pulled out surface.

It should work every time.

Complete Custom Painting
651-336-0561 cellular

Measure Moisture on any exterior painting project

Q: If the the bid prices appear the same, what can I ask to help in choosing a painting company for my exterior painting project.?
A: Ask them how long they plan to let the surface sit after they wash it before they apply the primer/paint? Their answer will let you know if they are qualified to paint your house or building

A crucial step in an exterior painting or staining job is making sure you have a clean surface. After the scraping/sanding/grinding and other prep work usually comes the washing. Depending on the surface you can use a gentle hose wash with some detergent or a power washer with a higher psi in some commercial settings.
In most cases water is involved. After the surface is clean but before you prime (or paint) you are absolutely going to want your painting contractor to measure the moisture level in the surface. When I first started I had heard through others in the industry that the general rule of thumb was to let wood surfaces sit in warm sunny weather for 5 days to a week before coating and composite or concrete surfaces sit for the same. Since I wasn't sure one way or the other, I purchased a moisture meter. I figured I needed one to measure moisture for deck staining anyway. I was pretty surprised what I found. Concrete, while it may appear totally dry may have too high a moisture content to paint. The same is true for wood. Never assume because the surface has sat in warm weather for a "general" amount of time that it will be dry and ready to paint. Any painter or painting company should always test the surface with a moisture meter.

Back to the original question. If you are having a painting bid and ask the painting contractor how long they are going to let the surface sit before they paint and they tell you that they have a set amount of time and don't need to test the surface for moisture, then throw their proposal out.

Complete Custom Painting LLC
651-336-0561 cellular

How to hire a good painter.

How can you be sure you are getting a good paint job (large or small)?

There are a lot of painting companies that run around with a lot of sub-contractors who paint for them and give them different names like "production managers" and then grade them on some type of "sign off" system where the homeowner or manager grades the painters. The claim is that this "sign off system" ensures a quality job. There is also the school of thought that only employees provide top quality work.

The truth is that only individuals provide top quality work. Work status (regarding employee or subcontractor) has nothing to do with performance. Generally a "sign off" system doesn't ensure the job will go smoothly (after all, you can give them a poor grade for the job and none the less have to pay for it).
Nor does an employee of a company ensure quality. I don't even need to expand on this point because it is simply human nature that some employees are good and some are not.

So how do you make sure you hired a good painter?
While some painters or paint companies may not agree with my style, here is how my company makes sure to do a great job on every project:
(I've broken it down into 4 points)
1. The owner of the painting company (me) is on site or at least stops in every day.
This is important because nobody cares more about the job then the owner of the company. If the painting company is so big and disconnected from the field that the job is left to employees or sub-contractors who have THEIR best interest in mind, not the companies, then they probably care more about their work schedule, their breaks, their profit (if they are a sub-contractor) then if you are getting the best job possible. So make sure the owner of the painting company is on site (at least for awhile everyday)
2. I give lots of references. We suggest our customers actually call the references and ask the questions that are relevant to their painting job. If it is a small residential job then you may want to call homeowners. If it is a big Multi-housing project then you may want to call some Multi-housing property managers we have worked for.
3. We pay our painters a bonus on a sign off system. After the job is done we ask the homeowner/builder/manager to grade our performance. It only makes sense that on larger jobs that require more painters, you pay them an incentive for better performance. Sub-contractors specifically should be paid (at least in part) on performance.
4. We give before and after pictures (on the appropriate jobs) and ask a TON of questions on the front end. If you hire a painter (weather you are a homeowner, a builder or a property manager) and you can't be on site for the project, you'll want a painter who is in contact with you a lot. Make sure they bring this up before they hire you. Some keys to look for are: Did they ask for your email, cell phone number, questions on scheduling, questions entry to the house, questions on working late, questions on potential unforeseen work. Here is the bottom line, if they were not detailed in the first meeting prior to selecting them for your painting project then the likelihood is they are not that detailed a person. You can then decide for yourself if you want a painter in your house who is not that detailed.

Call Complete Custom Painting for top quality painting jobs in the Twin Cities Area
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What to do when another contractor is reponsible for a change in your schedule

Something happened to me on a commercial job site that may change the way I approach all commercial jobs.
Here is what happened: We were given a deadline for a very nice commercial project. The painting portion of the project consisted of 14 days of work. All trades had roughly 2 months 2 finish by the time I got involved. The drywall contractor was more than 2 weeks off schedule and as a result, moved me very close to the overall deadline for the project (and well past the painting deadline). Any potential reader of this article would know that you can't paint drywall that has not been taped and sanded so it is obvious that the painter can't start until the drywall is complete. Being that the drywall was completed 2 weeks late, us painters started 2 weeks late and had to work along side lots of contractors that would otherwise not be in our way. Electricians, flooring contractors, network wiring, finish carpentry, etc etc. In the original schedule we were supposed to have the place to ourselves for the period that it would take to finish. In the new scenario we had to work around multiple contractors and instead of completing individual rooms or sections we were forced to do portions of rooms and then come back to them. When it started occurring that we were working in the exact same area as a contractor who needed the area to themselves (like the concrete staining contractor) sparks started to fly. He started yelling about how this was his area and he needed it to himself and I pointed out to him that I had not had my allotted time to finish my area. It caused for a lot of confusion.
The project got done and it looks great but what a mess the scheduling became because of one contractor who got off schedule.
My old philosophy went as follows: Do your best, show up on time, be on schedule and do excellent work and if the schedule gets thrown off by someone else, the General Contractor will know that all following schedules my be backed up as a result (or you'll have to work longer/ bring more guys in order to finish on time)

That philosophy worked well until got a call from the General telling me that the Concrete Staining Contractor called him all upset about how I had put him off his schedule and was in his way. I couldn't believe that the General wasn't aware of the fact that the Drywall guys had put me off schedule by better than 2 weeks.

My point of course is that you should never assume that a General actually knows what is going on, on a job site. Point out everything. Do it in a polite, professional way. Take pictures of finished work and send a lot of completion schedule updates. Had I sent a email saying that the drywall contractor was way behind and as a result the painting portion would get started late, the General would have been prepared for the concrete staining guy's complaint and told the concrete staining guy that the area belonged to the painters.

It is not in my nature to complain or point out how someone else is screwing up on a job site. I try to mind my own business and do my work. Unfortunately, you are not always the only factor in the completion of your work on a commercial job site so be detailed, take good notes and let the general know of every single...(and I mean every single) change. It can save you a phone call.

COMPLETE CUSTOM PAINTING LLC
651-336-0561 cellular

Here is a picture of the colorants leeching through and making a stain mark.