# Email Complaint from customer + Painters Email Back



## Mr. Mike (Dec 27, 2008)

> I would never use paint to fill in cracks and holes and I would never use 10 mil paint on a repaint of a house, especially a house with a paint buildup problem and if I did scrape and sand a surface down to where some raw wood was showing, it would be properly primed, allowed to dry and then painted.


All my bids state to remove loose popping and peeling paint also. I use Aura exterior and it goes on 10 mils thick.


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## Mr. Mike (Dec 27, 2008)

> With your guarantee if paint falls from the house in the first week, as long as it has some old loose and peeling paint on the back of your paint, your guarantee will not fix the work.


I fix it all on my come back warranty. I explain before signing a customer up that the old paint could still pop later and that maintenance is everything. Even though I sale a lifetime paint it is going to have to be maintained.


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## premierpainter (Dec 29, 2006)

10 mil paint is a good thing. That is wet it dries down to 4 mils. 
Quoting the PDCA is not too impressive in this case. They have to keep up with current coatings.


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## DavidNTX (May 6, 2007)

premierpainter said:


> 10 mil paint is a good thing. That is wet it dries down to 4 mils.
> Quoting the PDCA is not too impressive in this case. They have to keep up with current coatings.


I am not a member of PDCA but know a lot about them. I think they have a couple of thousand members and have been around about a hundred years. I know for a fact they have been around at least 50 and I think awhile back they had a 90 year deal or something.

The PDCA has set the standards in many cases. Between them and the SSPCA (Steel Structures Painting Council) they have pretty much set all of the standards in the AIA documents. Even the method of inspecting a paintjob was brought to being by the PDCA.

Maybe they aren't as up to date as the suppliers who make the paint but they aren't far behind, if any at all. Many of their members are the suppliers.

That entire quote from the PDCA was about professionalism and preparing a surface correctly, not about the coating used. Whether you use a 2 mil(dft) paint or a 10 mil (dft) paint you still can't skip the preparation. While maintenance might be important, preparation is the key to a good paint job. Maintenance isn't needed unless there is a failure.


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## davidanbess (Apr 2, 2007)

jeeeeezuss !! all these negative comments against someone who gives out expert advice to anyone asking, to me he is only showing us that he is a mere mortal like the rest of us 
Regards David


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## Tinstaafl (Jan 6, 2008)

davidanbess said:


> jeeeeezuss !! all these negative comments against someone who gives out expert advice to anyone asking,


Well, he gives out advice. Some of it's good.


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## Dorman Painting (May 2, 2006)

DavidNTX said:


> I believe what I said was a 20-30 year old house and 10 coats is not out of the realm of possibillities, especially if every time it is painted gets a coat of primer and 2 coats of paint. If the paint is thick enough to have surface cracks there are at least that many coats of paint on this house. A paint buildup problem is one of the leading causes of coating failure on older homes. Cracked glazing and the fact this house even uses glazing is another indicator that this is an older house.
> 
> I would never place a guarantee that it will NEVER peel, pop or fade if the job isn't prepared right. The paint companies guarantees are only if the surface is prepared correctly.
> 
> ...


I have to address your accusation that I would endorse giving a customer a bad paint job. To toot my own horn a little, I simply can't remember the last time I gave a customer a bad paint job. 

You don't stay in business for over ten years and anually do sales in the hundreds of thousands by giving bad paint jobs. I do these numbers with me, my wife and occasionally one helper. I go over all of the work with a fine tooth comb, am I perfect, hell no. 

But to the topic at hand, my general strategy of tackling an aging exterior is obviously unique to each house but here goesressure wash entire house using water only(don't believe in the chemicals), scrape and sand,(sanding is limited to areas that were scraped), caulk where appropriate, patch and fill obvious holes, nail holes or other blatant imperfections, either spot prime or normally prime whole house, then shoot with Sherwin Williams Super Paint or Duration.

That's our exterior painting process on the old aging exteriors, the customer should get 7-9 good years out of it. If you tell a customer any more years than that, you're full of B.S. I hope you realize now that I don't do or endorse bad paint jobs, we go by the book...old school, except we don't brush, we spray which actually is better in the long run.


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## Mr. Mike (Dec 27, 2008)

What a great group of painters.


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## cutnut (Oct 25, 2008)

Mr.

The way you post and discuss stuff with members here, and the way you describe your interactions with customers points to one unfortunate, but probly not so secret conclusion. You will say anything to get the job. Asking the customer how much they think the paint job should cost is like the doctor asking the patient what he should do about the high blood pressure. 

Your mouth moves way faster than your brain is able to process rational information. One is very fast, the other is not so much. Please, listen to the feedback that the pros here are trying to give you. My cousin says the Louisville market is shrinking, and sounds like you got yourself a house of cards there.


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## rbsremodeling (Nov 12, 2007)

cutnut said:


> Mr.
> 
> The way you post and discuss stuff with members here, and the way you describe your interactions with customers points to one unfortunate, but probly not so secret conclusion. You will say anything to get the job. Asking the customer how much they think the paint job should cost is like the doctor asking the patient what he should do about the high blood pressure.
> 
> Your mouth moves way faster than your brain is able to process rational information. One is very fast, the other is not so much. Please, listen to the feedback that the pros here are trying to give you. My cousin says the Louisville market is shrinking, and sounds like you got yourself a house of cards there.


I disagree. Some of us are good craftsmen. Some are good salesmen. Some of us are both.

If his guys produces the work his mouth sells. Well whoop there it is!


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## cutnut (Oct 25, 2008)

rbsremodeling said:


> I disagree. Some of us are good craftsmen. Some are good salesmen. Some of us are both.s!


And some are mediocre at both. Leadership is also important in a boss man. Gotta love a guy whose first impulse is to blame his own painters. Mike needs to learn to take responsbility and realize that it starts with the man at the top. My Granddad used to say "the fish rots from the head down." This one sounds pretty tinky.


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## Mr. Mike (Dec 27, 2008)

> The way you post and discuss stuff with members here, and the way you describe your interactions with customers points to one unfortunate, but probly not so secret conclusion. You will say anything to get the job. Asking the customer how much they think the paint job should cost is like the doctor asking the patient what he should do about the high blood pressure.


The way a doctor will ask have you talked to other doctors and what did they tell you...

Who is this cutnut? Busting on me anytime you post, I am a great salesman all the way up to a great painter and painting contractor. You hide behind your screen name and name call the great Mr. Mike as a mediocre at the game of painting operating and selling where is your stats Mr. or Mrs., you should thank me for even replying to your insults.



> Your mouth moves way faster than your brain is able to process rational information. One is very fast, the other is not so much. Please, listen to the feedback that the pros here are trying to give you. My cousin says the Louisville market is shrinking, and sounds like you got yourself a house of cards there.


On that note, my brain thinks way faster than your brain, mouth and figures do all together. I am a crazy insane fast thinker and see all the possibilities of every angle there is before I can say it just to let you know. My lady gets asked all the time how do you live with someone that thinks as fast as Mike does. Take that for what you want.

And as any more insults about me cutnut, let's lay this on the table. I have a few people that try and call me out on every forum I am on and it's all good, however not one of these people that do this are in my city. If I was more than 60% full of crap wouldn't all of my Freinds or local painters in my area be in here to pound on my head also? Just a thought how many posters on here do you think I talk to on a weekly or even daily basis? They don't post behind me because they agree with me and know that I am having fun with people trying to call me out. If they all came in here to say what I say to you it would definatly be a dispute instead of a discussion. Cut Nut would you like to buy something from me now? where are you at what do you do?

Your cousin..., I have heard a lot about this cousin and when you mention him or her you always say he has something bad to say about Me or about work in Louisville, sounds like a fun person to talk to... Any who the market is shrinking all over and the better you close the better you eat.





As far as the job goes:

I went and looked at the job and was unhappy with what I seen, the paint was thin it looked like they quickly put up 3 mills of wet paint and I had them put one more coat.


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## cutnut (Oct 25, 2008)

Mr.

I was an art/marketing student in Cinci in the 90s. I worked for the Brumbacks for 6 summers - 4 undergrad and 2 grad. I stay in touch with the bros to this day. Some of my work is still featured on their site. After college I moved to Boseman Montana and started my business that serves the wealthy Hollywood types who are buying up property and building vacation, ski and farmstead type homes. These folks are a trip. They come in from LA with their own GC's who will hire out of state architects who will hire the best in state builders who will hire me to paint. Many of these places, by the time they are done, its time to start again, so I kind of go with the house, like Murphy Brown's painter. This is why I get a kick out of you. This is a people business. You are a very interesting person. Btw, I dont think its just me that finds you so humorous.


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## DavidNTX (May 6, 2007)

:thumbsup:


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## Mr. Mike (Dec 27, 2008)

> I worked for the Brumbacks for 6 summers - 4 undergrad and 2 grad. I stay in touch with the bros to this day. Some of my work is still featured on their site.


Ok so your a new construction house painter, that started painting during the summer for a new construction house painting contractor while going through school to be an art major in Louisville Ky. who moved to Montana to be a painting contractor.:thumbsup:

Now that we have this up infront of us, how is the Brumbacks doing today? They won't come up with anything negitive or bad to say about me in here. I painted a 90k job next door to them a few years ago and he liked my truck so much he went right over and had it wrapped by the people I told him to use. 

Selling new construction jobs and selling re-paints can be two tottally diferent animals. I will tell you now all new house painters can not paint re-paints, that is like sending a bull for a walk in a china house.



> Some of my work is still featured on their site.


That's funny though because last I looked they had a few pictures only, and your work being featured on that site sounds kind of stingy considering they are hands on type of contractors and I am sure they would say they were next to you yelling, lol just joking about yelling.


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## Mr. Mike (Dec 27, 2008)

Brumback now is more re-paints now.


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## cutnut (Oct 25, 2008)

Yes, I moved here in '99 and started my business. My first job here was for a prominent former actor who has a ranch here. I was hired to wash and oil all of the fences on the property and to stain the new barn (16k sf) as it was built. From there I got the interior repaint, with all new faux finishes - marbleizing, graining, strie, glazes etc and then hooked on with his builder and branched from there. 

I have 8 employees year round. I havent had good luck with the resi repaint guys. The craft of painting is really about knowing how to make a beautiful finish on raw material, a blank canvas. Guys who have only done resi repaints dont truly know the full potential of fine finishing because they have only ever gone over the bad work that came before them. I love creating the original finish and being in charge of keeping it looking nice going forward. Also, I dont offer all the specials and discounts and signing bonuses that you do, which I think is a good thing.


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## DavidNTX (May 6, 2007)

Both types of finishes are like an art form. Whether you are starting with a "blank canvas" or repainting over an old one, proper techniques and materials are required for a good quality finish for both. You can't say that one requires more or less skill than the other. Both sides can make good arguments.

As a professional painter one should be ready and able to do what is required, whether it be new construction or a repaint just like a painter should be able to brush, roll or spray as the conditions warrant. Not all painters are spray men but should be able to pickup a spraygun if required. A sprayman should also be able to pickup a brush and roller if required.

Not everything can be brushed and not everything can be sprayed. Even doing new commercial work, repaints do happen and even in a repaint market, new work does happen.

I have a brother in law that went to college and was in the oil business for several years when he started painting houses and anything else he could find to paint. Now his business does about $15 million a year and does nothing but jobs like hotels. Some are new, some are repaints. When his customers ask him to paint their houses you can bet he has the painters able to do that, whether it is a new house or a repaint.

I do understand what might be said about painting new residential but just because it is new residential doesn't mean it is cheap work. Even multi-million dollar homes are new home construction at some point in time and not just anyone can do those. Speaking of new homes, even the cheap ones, have you ever seen those guys paint a new home? It is amazing. Use a washtub to mixup the texture they blow onto to everything. The way they stomp those ceilings. Not just anyone can do that either and the ones that are good at it can make good money at it. A crew of 3 men can finish 2 or 3 houses a week.

I like to think I am a great painter and that there is no one better than me but in reality, there are many many painters better than me. There are many many painters better than you. All of the BS talk can only get you so far. I sure haven't seen anything that has impressed me with it. It almost reminds me of a used car salesman. Professionalism is what sells. It is the "used car salesman" types that make owners give everyone else the "evil eye" the first time they meet.

Everyone here has their own nitch. Some do new homes, some repaints, some commercial and some residential. I'm sure not going to try and find fault with a guy that I don't know just because he is in a little different market than I am. Regardless of the market you can still be a professional. A lack of professionalism is what gets to me. That is what hurts the entire industry.


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## Mr. Mike (Dec 27, 2008)

I don't care what happens I do enjoy reading Davids Posts. Thanks


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## rbsremodeling (Nov 12, 2007)

DavidNTX said:


> *Professionalism is what sells. It is the "used car salesman" types that make owners give everyone else the "evil eye" the first time they meet.*


Some home owner's are use to that. In the market I am in. Its the well dressed guys, driving nice trucks, that have all been trained by some national sales guru that do well.

I go to the meetings and I am amazed that these guys do so well. 

The down to earth regular Joe the contractor do not stand a chance against their marketing hype. 

When I first moved to DC/MD I was out classed on salesmanship.

My work was better than a lot of guys and companies, but their image, salesmanship and marketing hype blew me out of the water.

So I learned very early on to offer a hybrid of good salesman ship and a good quality product.

If you want to have anything resembling a life, not be working past 65 and not be the sole person that runs your company and have some freedom to enjoy other things outside your contracting business, you need a few of the slick talking salesman or become your own if you have too.


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## Crock (Mar 8, 2009)

Mr. Mike said:


> Very good disagreement it is just very broad,
> 
> Hope we can discuss this.
> 
> ...


I'll have to nutshell it right now due to obligations on time. 

I am 25 year self employed very small GC-residential market with 500-1mil annuall sales.

Have closet full of custom bold company logo dress shirts/slacks.

Used to think like Rory (rbsremodeling), dress to impress. (and I did for a while)

Found that "good ole boy" approach works better here. 

Rory is on the coast where the movers and shakers want to use the sexy company and let their friends be green with envy for getting them.

Some homeowners here in the midwest will hire the fancy salesmen with the big remod company and have no prob paying the inflated prices for receptionists and project managers and salesmen and showrroms and wharehouses and trucks and equipment and vice presidents etc. Most want a salesmen that pounds the nails and climbs the ladder and owns the company. It's a less expensive and warm and fuzzy feeling. I will expand later since th O/P didn't mind me hijacking and ask for this response.

I close more % but the fancy guy has an army that advertises much more thereby getting more leads, but I also undercut him. That should not go without saying. His comp O/H is 1000x more and he can't lower price.q

Rory's approach is solid and insightful, but to get to that level takes a 2nd or third generation. In other words, Rory's son may grow to that level but reaching it in 30 years is tough. The big resi remod comp here were started in the 50's and 60's.


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## Mr. Mike (Dec 27, 2008)

> I close more % but the fancy guy has an army that advertises much more thereby getting more leads, but I also undercut him. That should not go without saying. His comp O/H is 1000x more and he can't lower price.q


Actually his WC is probably cheaper than yours, and the overhead is cheaper over all and even with all the advertising, it is possible that they do charge more than you only because they can. I think if the good ole boy approach works well that should be a reason enough for you to charge more than those who use the lad approach and you say it works better but you charge less.


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## Mr. Mike (Dec 27, 2008)

> I will expand later since th O/P didn't mind me hijacking and ask for this response.


Please hijack any thread I start, I start them for one reason and it helps 55 angles everytime...


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## Crock (Mar 8, 2009)

Mr. Mike said:


> Actually his WC is probably cheaper than yours, and the overhead is cheaper over all and even with all the advertising, it is possible that they do charge more than you only because they can. I think if the good ole boy approach works well that should be a reason enough for you to charge more than those who use the lad approach and you say it works better but you charge less.


Oh no! trust me. It's David and Goliath. I operate in the unknown zone. This is the area in between big and small. The small guy generates 100k.
The big guy in my market prolly 4-5 mill. I am the little big guy. This is the toughest because you have to project big and keep cost small. I don't reccomend it for anyone.


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## Crock (Mar 8, 2009)

Mr. Mike said:


> Actually his WC is probably cheaper than yours, and the overhead is cheaper over all and even with all the advertising, it is possible that they do charge more than you only because they can. I think if the good ole boy approach works well that should be a reason enough for you to charge more than those who use the lad approach and you say it works better but you charge less.


 
No I mean the COMPANY overhead.


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## Mr. Mike (Dec 27, 2008)

Company overhead can be very low with a large company though.


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## capital city (Mar 29, 2008)

Im not sure why everyone bashes Mr. Mike. He says he's a good salesman and he closes on 90% of his jobs but we dont know how he does it. Is he just a pushy son of a gun or does he make the HO feel like he is the only one that can do the job correctly? If he makes them feel like he is the only choice to make without being pushy then kudos to him as that is his job when he walks in the door. I dont use this appoach but it is obviously the only way to go if your trying to keep a big crew going.

My concern would be if he makes good on all those promises. We had a painter like that in Frankfort and now in Lexington. They went by Kentucky Painting (mike you may know them) and switched the name to Hamburg Painting after everyone figured out they sucked. They dont scrape anything and they quote for Duration and use A-100 once the HO turns there back. They now use Weather Clad instead of Duration and every house peels within a couple of years. It really pisses me off when someone goes in, promises the world and then delivers like this. Then they pay me to go over it in 2 years. Carl tells them its the previous paint that failed not his but if your scraping everything that is loose and then using Duration then its not coming off in 2 years no matter what.

I am a 2 man crew (myself and wife) and yes I am happy with this. I dont know if I could handle the headache with a crew of painters. I hired one 2 weeks ago and he was considered by everyone I talked to to be a good painter. 1. He was scared to go up a 32. 2. After I went up after him I could tell he didnt scrape anything as I could peel off chunks with my fingernail after he had painted over it. 3 He missed everything on purpose that he thought you couldnt see from the ground.4 He skipped out on Friday at 1 saying he doesnt work long on Fridays cause he has **** to do, when we needed to get the job done. I would like to have maybe 2 guys but how do you keep up the quality?


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## Mr. Mike (Dec 27, 2008)

> Im not sure why everyone bashes Mr. Mike


I know why, because I put myself out right in front and say look at me in the Mr. Mike mobile. Most folks that do that are trying to over step everyone. I am not most folks and would rather get up under you and push us all up. I am certainly not the best sales person, Painter, poster, story teller or anything like that, but knowing that I am better than most at doing all of those things gives me the motivation to keep trying to go bigger and better.




> He says he's a good salesman and he closes on 90% of his jobs but we dont know how he does it. Is he just a pushy son of a gun or does he make the HO feel like he is the only one that can do the job correctly? If he makes them feel like he is the only choice to make without being pushy then kudos to him as that is his job when he walks in the door. I dont use this appoach but it is obviously the only way to go if your trying to keep a big crew going.


I try and share how I do it and will continue to share what I do:

I had 4 appointments today and at my second appointment after signing that contract talked to a neighbor and went in to look at his house then I set up a date to run the estimate.

Here's more:

My 4th one canceled for today and want's me to come out Tuesday. My first one was at a condo and the lady wanted to get another price so to keep good on my %%%(Ha ha) I did not give her a price but I did measure and will put together a bid for when she gets back from Greece... My second appointment was for a Realtor guy I have done a lot of painting for every time I have gave him a price he has said add about ten % to that and lets do the job. The first time he said that to me 5 years ago and about 30 jobs ago I said do you want me to give you some money or what? He said no by all means keep it I just want to make sure we get a great job. So now every time he calls I am signing, today I went to his personal house and we bull5hitted around about my master closing skills and to put the icing on the cake he loved how I did his neighbor today.

Neighbor: 

After signing up my 2nd and on my way to the car I seen a guy going to the mail box and I said, Good Morning (9:25) (Next appointment is at 10:00) The guy said good morning very excited, I said do you need any painting done I just signed your neighbor up and he said yes I do. I went over handed him a card and we go inside and look at his house, 15 minutes after talking to him I let him know I had a 10 am'er and will need to set a time to meet with him. We are sitting in the kitchen and on his counter lays 4 cards for painter and he laid mine on top. I noticed that so I said now sir you have been thinking about this for a while, let me tell you what I will do for you. I go when I come out I will provide you with at least 3 ways of doing this project and you will get 3 prices from me, I make it so easy that you only have to decide exactly what option fits you budget or needs to make it easy on you. I swear on everything I love he said "If you work for my neighbor then I would be a fool to talk to anyone else" I said I will certainly be able to take care of your needs.


3rd and last appointment for the day:

Went in sat down, opened my photos and did my song and dance before going out to measure the house. When I went back inside and had my estimate in hand I asked them about how much they were hoping to be budgeting for this project and they said around 4,000 give or take 500 or so. I go over the bid I had worked up and have taken the window sashes out and gave them a price for $3944.88 then added the deck on to make it $4483.88. I asked them to sign in my way about doing that and they said no, I made sure to get about 7 more No's from them atleast before I could leave and at the end they promise to call me, and I bet they will but the price is exactly $5000.00 when they do and they understand that they just said they needed to get more estimates. I will take a notch down on my closing % for this bid but if they call back then I will add it back on to my over all, I have been over 70% on the one call close and over 80% on my overall closing ratio. 





> He says he's a good salesman and he closes on 90% of his jobs but we dont know how he does it.


I would be more than happy to take a decent looking person along for the ride anytime, I was thinking today about how long it has been since I took someone along for the ride. I have a great time on appointments knowing my goal is to sign the contract if I cant then I make sure to have fun and say off the wall things to practice. I get my best practice on people that don't buy.




> I would like to have maybe 2 guys but how do you keep up the quality?


Great question, send me your email address and I will start sending you painter resumes from your area. From there you can get some good info to choose who you want to bring in and try out. I also make every new guy read this employee guide hand book I got from Pro Wall I think and edited before that I used another. Now you have to have a system down to work crews I mean like how you do walls and when and so on. Once you have the system down you should be able to have one person who knows it and others that will listen to them. I unlike most painters used to write down everyone's info that called for a job and put them in a list called "painter list" now I refuse to take anyone's info over the phone and direct them to my website, from there I am able to provide their info to any other paint contractor. 



I might of missed a question there somewhere, but ask me anything about anything, If I don't know I will say I don't know.


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## monkey (Jan 25, 2009)

George Z said:


> Not to come to anyone's defense here,
> but can you guys get off the mob lynching and offer something positive here?
> Is it just me or are there couple of people here just attacking Mike here
> and nothing else? I mean nothing else, just shadow posting.
> ...


Goerge, I hope you and Mike noticed that while I may have thrown a few little jabs at Mike I didn't do it from hiding(shadow posting-whatever that means). I read this thread and it inspired me to dig through a closet for some old pictures and take pics of pics(scanner not hooked up) that are comparing and do apply to this thread.I even included a pic of that big goon all dusted up(would have been after a hose wash) after a day doing that work.No hiding here.
At the time the discussion was about prep and if the painter was responsible if peeling paint had old paint on the back. 
This thread made me realize that I am ,in fact, an expert at something- high prep exterior re-paints. I would be surprised if a paint rep has seen a house after 5-8-10-12 years in the field. The best teacher is looking at your work as it ages when going back for inside work. With that said whats in the paint can is not the same with new formulas and whatnot. 

Of course I don't strip paint with solid adhesion.
I don't/can't even do that kind of work anymore.
My contracts used to say something like "remove all loose and failing paint to achieve a sound substrate"
Kind of leaves it up to my discretion.
I put up pics of 3 different houses with different levels of prep to show that.
I have seen some houses so bad that there is nothing to paint! sound wood but beyond "scraping". 
I have no idea what you would do with them
From some of the responses it seems like a scrape loose stuff is the "industry standard"
Maybe what I do is "industry best practices" < sounds like a term I've heard before. Not bragging and I never made a lot of money.I am proud of my work.
You said "Have'nt you seen my portfolio"
What does that show?
A color change will always look dramatic.
Could be my eyes or monitor, But what I see is the base of a column that needs about 10 more minutes with a carbide scraper and sandpaper.
I look forward to your input Mike or anyone.It is an interesting thread even if it is all over the place!
Mike have you ever started a thread that didn't go at least 7 pages?


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## monkey (Jan 25, 2009)

I might of missed a question there somewhere, but ask me anything about anything, If I don't know I will say I don't know

Anything about anything?
Okay
3 ?'s

1- You blame your painters for the problem that started this thread and then say you might have up to 22 more employees for the summer.
Do your main painters supervise the new summer help? 
1a- Do you have company vehicles for all this new help?...
I'm just curious.. has nothing to do with me.. I'm a 1 man shop now.

2- From your big salesman experience....
I'm the worst salesman on this site.. maybe the world.... I've actually said that to a customer!
? is how do you like this line
Me " I think I have everything I need.. I'll get something to you in the mail in a couple of days"
Customer " Okay thanks, We are going to get a few more bids"
Me " Okay" now get this! ... with a bit of a smile.. "Well you're not going to hurt my feelings if you hire someone else..have a nice day"
got the job

3- How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?


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## Mr. Mike (Dec 27, 2008)

> George, I hope you and Mike noticed that while I may have thrown a few little jabs at Mike I didn't do it from hiding(shadow posting-whatever that means).


Your good, I have a couple folks that miss me from other forums and they try and troll up my posts.




> You said "Have'nt you seen my portfolio"
> What does that show?
> A color change will always look dramatic.
> Could be my eyes or monitor, But what I see is the base of a column that needs about 10 more minutes with a carbide scraper and sandpaper.
> I look forward to your input Mike or anyone.It is an interesting thread even if it is all over the place!


Thanks for asking about the columns and also for inputting in this great thread. 

















That is a before and after of a removal of loose and popping paint along with the duration process to the finish.

We offer stripping also and this is a great example I feel to have on my website because there is no misrepresentation that people will have a brand new column.





> Mike have you ever started a thread that didn't go at least 7 pages?


 Oh yes all the time, lol 









> I might of missed a question there somewhere, but ask me anything about anything, If I don't know I will say I don't know
> 
> Anything about anything?
> Okay
> ...


1. If I blame my painters... I know you were saying if it is my painters fault it is my fault as the company and I understand your point. However understanding that I am then able to know what and were something went wrong. My guys were suppose to hang around and make sure everything covered before leaving and at the end of the day if they are not done they are suppose to go back and finish the next day, they left and the homeowner after walking them around the first time noticed the paint was streaky in some areas and questioned everything. 

1a. I have 5 company vehicles and tons of magnets. If I am on a big job I get trailers or even pods and stay posted up and rent golf carts until the job is complete.


2 Q. Me " I think I have everything I need.. I'll get something to you in the mail in a couple of days"
Customer " Okay thanks, We are going to get a few more bids"
Me " Okay" now get this! ... with a bit of a smile.. "Well you're not going to hurt my feelings if you hire someone else..have a nice day"
got the job

2A. Change verbiage to "I have everything I need..I'll get you a written quote together on (describe the rooms or whatever at this time) and say was there anything else that I might have left out? do what ever you do monkey.

For the okay get this: I hate it and let me explain why this is so bad, I may have overcome the objection to get more bids with out it ever coming up just by giving them a price today and following through with a close. Heck I would tweak that up for you were you could act like you will need a few days and be on your way out the door to back in the chair and signing a contract, I wont right now in case you would not like that kind of input if you do post up a topic or ask me to and we will give one heck of a one call close that even you would like.

3. Not many I just bite right on in.


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## monkey (Jan 25, 2009)

Mr. Mike said:


> Your good, I have a couple folks that miss me from other forums and they try and troll up my posts.
> 
> 
> Thanks for asking about the columns and also for inputting in this great thread.
> ...


 
My DSL is acting up today so real quick the sales part was something I thought you might get a kick out of "not hurt my feelings" was ridiculous and just came out of my mouth. I guess it could show a strange confidence in the way of "you need me more than I need you" 
I'm 42 and come across like a big shy awkward kid with some grey hair!
My references sell the job for me most times although this was someone new to the area so the reference was not that strong.


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## Mr. Mike (Dec 27, 2008)

> My DSL is acting up today so real quick the sales part was something I thought you might get a kick out of "not hurt my feelings" was ridiculous and just came out of my mouth. I guess it could show a strange confidence in the way of "you need me more than I need you"
> I'm 42 and come across like a big shy awkward kid with some grey hair!
> My references sell the job for me most times although this was someone new to the area so the reference was not that strong.


We are on the same page.


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