My apologies in advance, gotta rant a bit here. Why is it painters can’t properly tape off a window? Truly, it blows my mind. Repeat customer this morning, calls to book, “I had my porch varnished, the painter tried to keep it off the windows, but it got all over them, you might need to razor blade the glass.”
“Tried?” In what world can these people not understand the concept of taping off glass and finished surfaces? I gave it to the gal straight, IF there’s not tint on your windows and IF it’s not tempered glass, and IF I can access the glass, I MAY be able to get them clean. However that process is going to add a considerable bump to the overall cost.
My take away? For want of an extra half hour, some painters tape and plastic sheeting, painters cut corners and ruin windows on the regular.
And in my experience, homeowners give them a pass like it’s a common practice to improperly cover finished surfaces on a job. Ridiculous.
I had one customer successfully get their painter to cover the additional cost of stain removal. Itemize your invoice, and tell your customer to go after the painter for the stain removal portion.
Only way they’ll get the message, is hitting them where it counts💰
Tell your customer to get the painter to fix their mistake, hold them accountable. We need to stop with construction cleanings. It just allows contractors to be sloppy and pass the liability on to us.
We do not get paid enough to fix mistakes of contractors, and risk scratching glass.
Trust me, all it takes is for us to start telling clients that we do not remove construction material and the contractors pull up their socks right quick.
Some comes down to budget. I know many a painter that says “heres my price” and they get chosen. Only to then be asked to cut costs by the cleaning, prep, teardown. They usually want the job so they do it and are free from accountability
CCU is terrible. I will charge no less than 3x regular price for CCU.
I had a regular customer that had those acrylic storm panels that attach with wing nuts to studs drilled into the walls. He would pay $350 at the beginning of hurricane season and $350 at the end of hurricane season to put up and take down. Then he hired a painter who painted over everyone of the studs. A month later he calls to have the panels put up. No can do, the paint is dried on and you can’t get the wing nut to catch the thread of the bolt. I tell him to call the painter to come back and clean the paint off all of the studs on a huge 2 story home. The painter says he can’t because his daughter is sick, just have me take a wire brush to it. BULLSHIT! IF I were to accept I would charge no less than $2,000 for such a task. Anyway, replaced that job with a whole bunch more that aren’t a headache.
I recently repainted all the metal trim on my Pella windows and the prep work involved to tape all the windows off is nearly 90% of the time. Pretty much defined for me why pleasing window cleaners is not a top priority for painters. Although not recommended, it would take far less time for me just to blade the paint off them.
Years ago we had an issues with 2 painting companies in particular. They had a bad habit of painting under the bottom sash on old windows and closing them, and painting over the crevice between the sash and the frame.
At first we put a 60 second rule into place. Basically if we couldn’t pry / shake / shimmy it open in 60 second, we weren’t goin to continue trying to open it. Eventually I started throwing the painters right under the bus. “Give them a call and have them fix it”.
Over the course of a year or two, the painters got smart and stopped doing that.
This thread brings back so many bad memories of losing time on a job which of course means money. Because it’s not just one or two windows with paint splatter, typically the painter is careless across the entire house.
Then having to explain to the client why their job will go up in price can sometimes be a tough conversation. I’m always honest and up front explaining the increase. We don’t budge on these situations because it has to be worth the money due to impacting our schedule.
Man this is so real. Painters stay messing up my windows. Dudes are a special type of stupid in most instances. The only thing more annoying that painters are gardening dudes who show up to blow around dust for no real reason. Can’t stand either of those guys.
