Looking for an exterior painting contractor

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thebears
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Looking for an exterior painting contractor

Post by thebears »

I'm looking for an exterior house painting contractor who can be trusted to do a good job at a fixed price.

Incidentally, is it usual for painters to avoid doing much preparation work, prior to painting? I noticed that they often paint over broken surfaces without sanding down. Much of the work I engaged some people to do six years ago didn't last more than a couple of years and I ended up patching it myself.
chopsticks
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Re: Looking for an exterior painting contractor

Post by chopsticks »

thebears wrote:I'm looking for an exterior house painting contractor who can be trusted to do a good job at a fixed price.

Incidentally, is it usual for painters to avoid doing much preparation work, prior to painting? I noticed that they often paint over broken surfaces without sanding down. Much of the work I engaged some people to do six years ago didn't last more than a couple of years and I ended up patching it myself.
Yes, that's standard practice along with 50% + paint dilution. :laugh:
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hhfarang
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Re: Looking for an exterior painting contractor

Post by hhfarang »

We had to have paint work done annually for six years on our house (outside) by a different group each year because we could never find anyone who did good prep work and the job didn't last. We finally think we found a good one, but that was the last year we lived in the house and I haven't been back to see if the work lasted, but at least they did some prep work and we bought the paint and primer ourselves to guarantee quality and did not let them dilute beyond recommendations of the lady at the paint store.

Painting is one of those professions here that seems simple and anyone thinks they can do it so there are many bad operators out there, and few good ones. Of course, no licensing required, just say you're a painting contractor and *poof* you are magically a painting contractor.

The other thing to watch out for is that while they are painting (building and taking down scaffolding if needed) they are likely to do other damage to your home or landscape. One group damaged our rain gutters badly and another group damaged our landscaping by breaking down some shrubs and breaking palm limbs (they let the bamboo scaffolding fall). Yet another bunch dropped one of those metal connectors used on steel scaffolding from the top level and damaged our sandwash walkway. Of course they claimed no responsibility for any of these periferal damages.

To sum it up... good luck!

We painted the entire inside of our house (large 2 storey) just because we didn't trust any painters inside, fearing the damage they might do to our floors or furnishings.
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thebears
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Re: Looking for an exterior painting contractor

Post by thebears »

Thanks for the information. The team that has recently done some work for me has made a good looking job but I'm unhappy with the lack of preparation and I anticipate that it will not last long.

However, the other problem is that while they were inside painting the stairwell, one of the guys just treated my possessions like they were his own. He managed to find things and use them, that were hidden away in cupboards. For example, I had a full tin of gloss paint that was stored in a cupboard in the house and the next thing I noticed, he was using it.

The radio too, just got it out of my bedroom and retuned it to his own. I don't like to be too critical because I know they don't have the same set of values, but still, it's difficult unless one is in a great mood!

As a result, I've drawn the conclusion that getting them to work inside is no longer an option.

Ideally, what I would prefer is to engage a limited company with a manager and simply issue requests to the manager. My Thai language is reasonable but limits my ability to give precise instructions.
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Nereus
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Re: Looking for an exterior painting contractor

Post by Nereus »

hhfarang wrote:We painted the entire inside of our house ................
Hmm, didn`t realise your wife has a Chinese name? :rasta:
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JimmyGreaves
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Re: Looking for an exterior painting contractor

Post by JimmyGreaves »

PM'd U
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dundrillin
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Re: Looking for an exterior painting contractor

Post by dundrillin »

I can sympathise with HHF as the painting trade in the UK is often very poor and agreeing again it's all down to preparation . However my current builder assures me that he is using Butinox and it should last for years, we'll see. Personally I feel wood for external use is over-rated unless you can employ capable and conscientious tradesmen and be prepared to pay them well.
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Re: Looking for an exterior painting contractor

Post by alleykat »

We had some painting done some years ago only for it to start coming off in some places 6 months later.

So the next time we did it we employed a couple of guys to do the preparation only. I think I said something like I was going to do the painting myself, or get brother-in-law to do it, or something like that. So all they had to do was get it ready, cleaned, filled, sanded, sealed etc. They did a good job of prepping it (I checked their progress several times a day), so we decided to give them the job of painting it to. And we bought the paint ourselves.
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Re: Looking for an exterior painting contractor

Post by dundrillin »

That was very smart thinking. Reminds me of when I was a dental student- we had to get each stage of the procedure signed off by a clinician before commencing the next stage. Don't know why I didn't think of that for the painters!
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hhfarang
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Re: Looking for an exterior painting contractor

Post by hhfarang »

Nereus wrote:
hhfarang wrote:We painted the entire inside of our house ................
Hmm, didn`t realise your wife has a Chinese name? :rasta:
Hey, I held and moved the ladder and was the gofer when she needed something! :neener: :laugh:
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TonyB
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Re: Looking for an exterior painting contractor

Post by TonyB »

Hunt around for a bod who can do prep work, try him out on a small section for a few days. Unless you got a mansion one guy can do the lot. Then you can watch him. I've had a guy here for 60 days slowly going through everything, stripping, scraping, grinding, sanding, filling. If it's not right do it again until it is. With one guy the money doesn't matter too much before using your expensive sealants and paints and you got plenty of time to show him how you want it.
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