Complaints about Painters
Ready to hire a painter for your home or business? Do you know what to look for in a painter? Have you heard stories of paint jobs going bad? Are you looking at the list of paint contractors online and faced with a decision on who to call? Well, today- I’m gonna share the Top Complaints about Painters!
Sounds like an odd thing to talk about from a painter, but we want to be as transparent as possible as we are far from perfect. We are always learning how we can improve our business and ourselves and how to provide a better experience for you- the homeowner or business owner.
So like Family Feud- survey says…..
Why does it cost so much to Paint?
How much does it cost to paint a room? Why is it so expensive to paint my house? You cost too much.
These 4 comments and questions are by far the most common complaints about painters or painting. Like every other business, there some fixed costs to running a business. As paint contractors we all have to pay state and federal taxes, we all have liability and work compensation (ok- not all contractors have work comp- but they should!)
Other fixed costs include the materials to get the job done. Not all paint is the same price, from $35 a gallon for basic paint to up to $90 for premium paints, paint will affect the cost to paint a house or room.
Labor is the variable we cannot control. The time to do a task such as taping, sanding, rolling or cutting in a wall is all about the same. The price you pay per hour to have that done is what will vary from painter to painter. We try to pay our painters as best as we can for good help, people we trust with your home, and great results.
So good help with someone you can call in the office who has all insurance uses quality materials, and gives free touch-ups with over 200 Google reviews, all of which add up to a price that we charge. The same is true with all reputable house painters.
The painters won’t call me back
Not calling customers back, sadly, is also something even with Daphne in the office and Chad going to job sites, we also can struggle with. So it is no surprise that the 2nd highest Complaints about Painters average painter or paint contractor has 1.5 people in their company. 1.5 people to do estimates, do the work, get materials, return calls, pay bills, and drive to and from home to jobs, plus what needs to be done at home. That does not leave a ton of time for phone calls and tlaking to people either.
Believe it or not, there are less and less people painting as a business, more and more people painting as a hobby than a profession. So if you have people painting as a side hustle, calling people back is not a priority.
I can’t get help from a painter to pick colors
When we hear this complaint, I laugh as we will tell people- “you pick it we stick it!”. As a painter, we do not pick colors. When you buy a car- do you ask the salesman what color you should pick?
We can help though!! There several ways you can get help with color selection for your home.
- sherwin williams color design
- JC licht in home color
- hire a interior designer
If you hire D’franco Painting and Wallpaper, any job over $2500 gets you a free hour with a color consultation. That takes away the issue or stress of finding the right colors for your home.
Why can’t I get contractors to show up?
This is a huge issue. It resembles why contractors dont return calls. Almost for every contractor. Part of the problem is the 1.5 painter per person as a paint contractor. So- guys are running late, there is no one in the office to help make calls, the result is we forget to call. There is a problem on a job site, job is taking longer to finish, paint/parts or other trades are delayed, now we are delayed and the chain reaction of calling 6 people get to be lot, and difficult to manage under the best circumstances.
We strive to call as soon as we can. We want to keep customers know what is happening. But we are at best people working to do our job, and at worst people trying to do our job. We make mistakes, we can get distracted and just forget. We are sorry for that, but it happens.
The Estimator or sales person doesn’t come back after the sale
As a paint estimator, I am looking to forward to seeing how we can help a customer with their painting and or wallpaper projects. I am excited when a customer chooses us, D’franco Painting and Wallpaper, to help with their painting.
We or I want to make sure that we build relationships with customers for long term.
This will sound bad, but we also have many other customers with whom we want to build relationships and keep them happy also. I akin the comments or calls about the sales person not coming back after the sale, to other sales- like a car. Once the car is sold, how often do you deal with the sales person? As we look to build our business, we want to build process or systems that keep relatonships moving forward- long term. We sell a job, we want youto have a great relationship with our office manager, our fireld managerr and our crews. Kind of a fmaily affair.
How long will the painting take
This comment or complaint is usually easy to take care of with clear expectations at the start. We base our estimates on metric based paint estimating. It takes “x” amount of time do a task. When a crew is coming to your house, we give them a work order, that work order shows the hours based we figure to paint a house.
BUT! Delays can happen. Extra time to fix drywall repairs. Paint is not drying due to rain days. Family issues cause a painter to leave early. Add these up, and it means the project takes longer to get done.
We work to stay ahead of these issues keep you informed, but we can miss the ques to let you know there is a delay. We try to not let this happen- but we apologize if it does.
Why do we keep getting Extra costs to paint our house
The extra costs, additional costs, happen when we are painting. Most people don’t think of hidden costs when painting- but like everything else in home repairs, extra costs can happen. Issues tht can add or increase cost to finish painting;
- repairs to walls are more severe than expected
- hidden mold behind walls
- the color selected wont cover in 2 coats- needing more paint and labor
- a customer adds extra rooms
These items seem small but they can add to the frustration of paying more money. It is like when i had my brakes fixed, what started at the brake pads, led to a rusted bolt, which led to a cracked brake line, which led to and extra $500! Not what I expected- or budgeted for, but part of the cost to do things right.
Do you have complaints about painters or contractors?
Let us know! We want to make sure we improve, so if there is something we are not doing- we may not know it. So letting us will not hurt our feelings.
