Painting the exterior of a home comes with its own set of problems, which is why John Bunnell, owner of the CertaPro Painters franchise in Austin, Texas, makes sure he is always prepared. Troubleshooting potential problems beforehand makes it easier to avoid the vast majority of them, he says.
It’s a good idea to troubleshoot outdoor painting problems before they even occur.
Color is always an issue when it comes to house painting, whether you are talking about the interior or exterior of a home. We want to make sure we have done all our homework, and also given the homeowners all the necessary tools to make the right color decision.
Repairs need to be performed. Any new repairs that are not on the proposal need to be pointed out to the customer and receive approval. We do not want to give the client any surprises. They will already have been given an estimate and we need to stick to that as closely as possible.
We also need to do a good job protecting the homeowners’ property and making sure they get it back in the same condition it was in before we arrived. That can involve quite a lot of advance preparation, which is why it’s so important to scope out the area beforehand. In most cases, we need to cover vehicles, bushes, pools, tools — anything that needs to be kept free of paint.
Older homes require different levels of preparation. We want to make sure that we have properly discussed with the customer what their expectations are with regard to the old paint level. If a home has been around for a long time, it will have noticeably different layers of paint.
Once we scrape off the paint, there may be a certain amount of sanding required in the proposal.
We also always make sure we have identified and solved any problems with hard-to-reach areas, as well as make sure that everybody has what they need to do the job safely.
We need to communicate with our customers, show them our progress, and make sure they are available for a final inspection of the project. We have to make sure that the homeowner has a good expectation of when we will be finished, and would always like to hear their questions or concerns. Finally, we want to wrap up the project in an efficient manner, leaving the place better than it was before we came on the scene.
