# They gave me a Behr paint chip, wife says she wanted B Moore. Fired off the job!



## EricBrancard (Jun 8, 2012)

I don't have any problem with "primer and paint in one." Ben Moore Aura and Regal Select are both marketed as such and are both excellent paints. Behr does have a pretty strong odor, though.


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## pcplumber (Oct 12, 2008)

EricBrancard said:


> I don't have any problem with "primer and paint in one." Ben Moore Aura and Regal Select are both marketed as such and are both excellent paints. Behr does have a pretty strong odor, though.


I never notice that Behr had an odor. I am going to paint a 14 x 20 foot room tomorrow with Behr and I am going to sniff the paint in between the joints. I actually like the smell of every paint. They all smell like easy money. 

Painting is considered the most profitable trade in the construction industry My ex-wife just got an estimate to paint 4 average-size rooms where we did one of the most beautiful paint jobs only a few years ago. Her Jehovah witness friends quoted $3,000 and told her they would be finished in three days. No prep work nor sanding is required and no ceilings. About $200 for paint reels in a cool $6800 profit. I guess I'm getting too old and not in touch with today's prices.


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## MarkJames (Nov 25, 2012)

pcplumber said:


> I never notice that Behr had an odor. I am going to paint a 14 x 20 foot room tomorrow with Behr and I am going to sniff the paint in between the joints. I actually like the smell of every paint. They all smell like easy money.
> 
> Painting is considered the most profitable trade in the construction industry My ex-wife just got an estimate to paint 4 average-size rooms where we did one of the most beautiful paint jobs only a few years ago. Her Jehovah witness friends quoted $3,000 and told her they would be finished in three days. No prep work nor sanding is required and no ceilings. About $200 for paint reels in a cool $6800 profit. I guess I'm getting too old and not in touch with today's prices.


Please explain how $200 in paint (maybe 6 gallons of Behr?) reels in a cool $6800 profit. How many painters and hours or days did it take, altogether? Thank you in advance.


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## pcplumber (Oct 12, 2008)

MarkJames said:


> Please explain how $200 in paint (maybe 6 gallons of Behr?) reels in a cool $6800 profit. How many painters and hours or days did it take, altogether? Thank you in advance.


I've been painting for more than 50 years and even as old as I am and even when I paint the ceilings I can move the furniture, cover the floors and paint 4 rooms in an 8-hour day all by myself. Since I am old(er) I would take a $100 helper with me and finish the job in two days. Figure two days to paint 4 rooms two coats with one painter who knows his stuff and a half-wit helper.

Since they are painting only the walls in my ex-wife's house I would figure that a $150 5-gallon bucket of paint should be close enough to cover only the walls in 4 average-size 12 x 14 or even 15 x 15 rooms. If you calculate the square footage according to the mfg recommendations you will need more paint, but I always add a lot of water (thinner) and never apply paint as thick as putty and I use much less paint than recommended because I always use a paint brush. I hate the bumps that rollers make and even when I sub painting I will not allow a painter to paint a wall without actually working with the painter to make sure he understands because I explained how I wanted painting done several times and most painters refuse to stop using their rollers.

Tomorrow morning I am going to take pictures of the room that I am painting. It is is an office that I rent for for my movie star/singer promotion business and I paid a painter to paint the room only 6 months ago. When people visit us at the office the paint job embarasses me. I explained to the painter that I did not want him to use a roller and was too busy that day to get to the office, so he used a roller anyway. The pictures i post will show you the exact reason I will not allow rollers and the only reason I am re-painting the room is because of the lousy job the rollers did. When I use a paint brush the room will be beautiful and I will use about one-half as much paint.

What most people don't understand about paint is that a thinner coat of paint is always much better than a thick coat. It is easier, less-expensive and better to apply two thin coats vs. one thick coat. As explained once, paint on auto vehicles is super thin, but look at how beautiful and durable that thin coat of paint is. Thick paint on a vehicle always looks terrible and has the finish of a Navel orange.

The truth! My ex-wife is a meticulous perfectionist and she will choose a few colors that may drive the cost up a maybe another $100 to $200.

Big time money in paint. I still paint the exterior for a 1600 to 200 sq foot home for $7500. In takes about 10 gallons to 15 max for a cost of no more than $450. I pay no more than $1500 for labor and end up with a $5,500 profit minus a few minor operating costs. The average exterior takes 3 workers about 3 days to apply two coats. 

A few years ago, I was busy and I hired a painter to paint the exterior of my ex-wife's 2,000 sq ft home. I paid him $3500 and the entire job took him about 2 hours. He sprayed the walls, windows, doors, plants and even her two dogs (not a joke). He even painted an entirely different shade of gray than my ex-wife chose and then told her that 'he' liked the color better.


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## avenge (Sep 25, 2008)

EricBrancard said:


> I don't have any problem with "primer and paint in one." Ben Moore Aura and Regal Select are both marketed as such and are both excellent paints. Behr does have a pretty strong odor, though.


Ya but what's the difference between paint & primer in one and self priming paint? The latter being around for some time.


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## avenge (Sep 25, 2008)

pcplumber said:


> Painting is considered the most profitable trade in the construction industry


Since when is painting the most profitable? You've been painting for 50 years, how much longer to realize Behr sucks?


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## pcplumber (Oct 12, 2008)

avenge said:


> Since when is painting the most profitable? You've been painting for 50 years, how much longer to realize Behr sucks?


Like I said, my company paints 6 days of every week and almost 100% of the paint we use is Behr. I have never had a problem nor a complaint about the odor, sheen, peeling nor fading with the exception of cases where the integrity of some surfaces where every paint would have a problem i.e. powdery stucco, etc.

I have never had a coagulation problem with Behr, never had a problem running it through a sprayer and never had a problem matching the sheen.

I have had serious problems with coagulation with Sears paints and several other top brands. I have been inside three huge paint factories, spoke with the people who make the paint and I don't remember anyone every telling me that that had a superior mixture. I think all paints consist of similar compounds that are government regulated. What is paint made of?


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## colevalleytim (Mar 1, 2008)

Sounds like they are canceling a contract. What is the contract cancellation fee?

take the money and leave


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## needs glasses (Aug 12, 2014)

I was there today and finished off the room as they had asked.

It's a commercial job and they came by in the afternoon, I was just cleaning up and it all looked good. 

Their attitude had totally changed, they wanted to assure me that they were really happy with what I've done, and would always recommend me to anyone looking for handyman/renovations.... the husband even commented that most of the smell had gone now.

Then later on they posted a picture on Facebook of the renovated room (it's a dance studio) and said " a big shout out to Needs Glasses, if ever you need a reliable handyman/contractor he's your man)

I think what happened is the wife had a bit off a fit and figured she could save a few bucks by hiring 'Fred the painter' and myself I'm not to worried about that. I like painting now and then but not much more than that.

But it's all OK, and I was joking with her today and she gave me that friendly punch on the arm. And they have some more stuff they want me to do. So it was all a storm in a tea cup. 

I hear what people are saying re; clarify the details and write them down! 

And it makes good sense to do that, but to be real I think they know that we all knew it was to be Behr and as another poster said, the wife smelled it and then started to back track. 

I know people will flip when I say this, but we don't have a contract... I know them and I just do it on a T&M basis, (my hourly rate + 20% on subs and materials) and I've done the same in the past for them, one job took 2 of us 6 weeks, and no problem getting paid.

I'm up here in Vancouver Canada, and seems to be like that up here. To be honest the last job I didn't get paid for is about?? a long time ago, maybe 7 or 8 years.

I had 2 that came close, one was a batty old women, but she'd told me she didn't declare her rental suite income, so I just hinted to her that maybe the tax man might want to know. The other was batty middle aged women and she'd told me her mother was about to put the house in her name, so I did the same thing and said if she has any financial stuff going on with the house (which I knew she did) that a lean on the house would stop it dead! She ran to the bank and put the money in my account! :clap:


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## needs glasses (Aug 12, 2014)

I have to say though.. so many things to think of in contracting! 

I'm always envious of mechanics, you take your van there, it disappears into a shop, then you meet the front desk guy and get a bill. 

Who knows what happened back there. 

"I wanted Castrol oil not Pennzoil, so I'm not paying ".... doesn't really happen.


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## Calidecks (Nov 19, 2011)

CrpntrFrk said:


> We don't play the guess the paint brand game. Dunn Edwards is our chosen brand. No matter the paint chip brought to us, we use Dunn Edwards. The customer is made aware of this when it is go time to mix the paint.


Dunn Edwards for everything, here as well, period, Great paint and great customer service


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## BRShomerepair (Jun 28, 2015)

Needs glasses: 

glad it worked out in the end. Even without a contract, I'd still just write up an email at the start of the job summarizing the agreement, and a scope of work with materials to be used, approximate timeline, any issues that may come up if it's opening stuff up.

I learned the hard way too to get the details in writing. Just nice to have something in writing to avoid the you said I said stuff. My two cents anyways.


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## avenge (Sep 25, 2008)

I work without a contract all the time with my 20+ year customers. But I still put in writing the scope of work and any details I can think of. Almost all of my jobs end up a larger project than first estimated for one reason or another. 

It then becomes T&M and I communicate almost on a daily basis either by text, email, phone call, in person or all. You can't start feeling too comfortable as a contractor and forgetting to cover all the bases no matter how good or how long that relationship is with your customers.


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## EricBrancard (Jun 8, 2012)

avenge said:


> Ya but what's the difference between paint & primer in one and self priming paint? The latter being around for some time.


I don't know that there is any difference. Doesn't matter to me what they call it as long as it's good. The Ben Moore stuff is good.


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## Anti-wingnut (Mar 12, 2009)

pcplumber said:


> It is is an office that I rent for for my movie star/singer promotion business


Fine little boast to drop in


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

Every thread turns into a paint thread....


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## avenge (Sep 25, 2008)

hdavis said:


> Every thread turns into a paint thread....


Remember what I said about the "Thanks" button....I'm having a hard time using it. There should actually be a "No Thanks" button I may use that frequently.


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## 91782 (Sep 6, 2012)

hdavis said:


> Every thread turns into a paint thread....


Where's a "professional painter" when we need one?

No way us part-timers can handle questions of such complexity without the scholarly assistance of a fully puttied and primed maestro of the wall mop.


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## avenge (Sep 25, 2008)

SmallTownGuy said:


> Where's a "professional painter" when we need one?
> 
> No way us part-timers can handle questions of such complexity without the scholarly assistance of a fully puttied and primed maestro of the wall mop.


There was one in the painters section but he won't come to this section because it's only for ones that discuss business full time.


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## pcplumber (Oct 12, 2008)

Anti-wingnut said:


> Fine little boast to drop in


I can't argue about that.


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