Jim Hinshaw
Contributing Writer
Improvement Professional, President & Sales

So we have a 10 year old home in Colorado, and we are getting ready to sell it, move permanently back to Az. May and I built the home back in 2008, it has served us well, several generations lived under one roof for years. We moved back to AZ a couple of years ago, rented it out, but decided this year to sell it, time liquidate that large asset.

So we moved back to get involved and supervise. First thing we noticed was the home needed a full painting. So we went and bought some paint, started painting. Not a full-on painting, just more of a touch-up. Turns out that was not such a good move. Our daughter-in-law Shalaine told us that touch-up looks just like it sounds, touch-up. In fact, we soon discovered that you could actually see where we had touched up. We spent over $800 in paint, indoor and outdoor and garage type paint, and you could tell where we have been. Realtor that we listed with said: probably need to hire a real painter. Not sure exactly what that meant, but we went and checked around for a painter.

Had a few that we had heard of, two actually came to the home, measured everything, both said they would get back to us either the same day or in the same week. Neither one has called yet, 2 months later. Amazing to me, if you take the time to go and visit the job site, get all the measurements, why not put some numbers together? The hard part, in my humble opinion is the job site visit. Running the numbers should only take an hour or maybe less, these were both long time painting companies. One of my sons said: maybe they thought you were just mooches, could not afford a real painting. That came to mind, but I am continually surprised about how incorrect we are when we look at a customer and pre-judge their ability to buy.   Note-amazingly enough, one of those painters who did NOT give us a price but had actually been to the home left a flyer on our front door, soliciting painting work! Just wow, cannot make this stuff up.

May went to Thumb Tack, a website that came up when she searched for painters in our office. Found a woman-based painting company who did come to the home and tried to impress us with the fact that they could do everything. Remodeling, repainting, plumbing, the whole ball of wax. Not sure who started that phrase, and I have no idea what a ball of wax looks like (3” or 3’), or represents, but the phrase seems to fit. Gave us a price, even said if extras were needed, it would be an extra $50/hour. Not sure if that was for 2 or 1 painters, little confusing. They also said they would beat anyone else’s estimate by 10{938cd9e8dae860e800efc538277d4f7684e6f6981618ba70d1c34357a53c2e1f}. Which gives my feeble brain the following thoughts: if there was that sort of room to move why not start with your best price? Not a fan of that concept.

Called the realtor, who said, I got a guy! She referred us to a family owned second generation painter, who has moved from new construction to remodel work, sound familiar? Our realtor said she had actually used this company to “fix” a paint job on a new construction spec home she built a year ago. They did marvelous.

So we called, they came out, put together an estimate, and said they could start in a couple of weeks. We accepted their estimate, said, let’s do this. Couple of weeks went by, the owner (the son of the founder) came by and said, we are finishing up another project, and if we could start in a couple of days, that would help them. He said I wanted to come by and ask you that in person, rather than email. Impressive, and we agreed.

Three of them showed up a few days later and started on the lower level. All they did the first couple of days was tape and put down plastic to protect the floors and carpets. When they did start painting, it went really fast. Now, painting is a tough business. I have a good friend who says the problem with painting is that everything is connected. When you do a wall, then you realize the ceiling and baseboards now need painting, then the window sills, it goes on forever. These guys did more than we expected, they caulked around all the windows and baseboards, giving a really great finished look to the project.

They then moved upstairs, started taping and masking again. Then they painted. We have 12-foot ceilings, so it is not an easy process, lots of ladders and tall brushes. It all went well, looked good to us. May asked if they could touch up some of the outside trim, they did without hesitation. On one of the last days, the owner came in with several gallons of new wall paint. We wondered why. He said the home soaked up the first coat, so he applied a second coat, at no additional cost. It looks stunning.

So we waited, he called to see if we had any questions. We said no, and if he had a bill, we would be glad to pay. Just to be clear, he had not asked for a deposit or down payment of any kind. He said he would be glad to put together an invoice, it was exactly what he had originally quoted. We had not discussed caulking the windows and baseboards, and he certainly did more than we expected, yet he kept the same pricing, which was significantly less than the other estimate. It was an excellent experience. May actually cooked them lunch each day, we had sodas and cookies all day long, we thought it would be good to keep them here rather than them driving out for food and losing an hour each day, maybe more. We have their names and numbers, will let the neighborhood know what a great job they did. I posted positive reviews on social media, it was a good experience.

Lessons learned: first, if you are serious about a project and spend some time looking at it, finish up and put together an estimate. I was here when the other painter came, met him, he seemed serious, but failed to give us any numbers. Second, if you have a scheduling opportunity, let the customer know as soon as possible and by phone or face-to-face. In most cases they will work with you and will certainly appreciate that more than an email. Third, do more than what is expected. A second coat of paint went on really fast, already taped and primed, only took an extra day, and some paint. The caulking went fast as well, another thing we did not think of. Lastly, the project you are doing is one of many you may have done over the years, but it may be only time this customer has done anything like this. They don’t know what they don’t know. I believe it is not possible to overcommunicate. Let them know what will happen next, how it will all proceed. Each day at lunch the owner with share with us the next steps, what they are working on, how long it would take.

Bottom line, we deal with homeowners who may have an engineering background and want to know exactly what sort of motors are in their system being installed. Others could care less, they just want some cool air in the summer, warm in the winter. Help each customer get what they want and delivered how they want it delivered. It will pay dividends. Thanks for listening, we’ll talk later.