The Benefits of a Production Manager

• Supply the customer with a scheduled date of when we will begin the project
• Keep the customer informed on the schedule
• Make sure the right team of professional painters are selected to do the project. For example, if you are wanting to have your kitchen cabinets painted with a specialty finish, our production manager will make sure the right Project Manager (foreman) and his team are selected to complete the work well. Some of our painters have their specialties in staining, refinishing, restoration work, exteriors, color matching, interiors or cabinet finishes.
• Make sure the job is running smoothly and will be completed on time.
• Be available to you, the customer, regarding any general questions about products to use on your home or concerns you may have before the project actually starts.

Top Quality Paints

Is Being a “Professional” Important?

You have probably heard the word "professional" used in most business marketing material or perhaps you have used the word yourself. Typically a company will say that they provide "professional service," have a "professional staff of people," or "We are very professional." We are pleased when our customers write on our job report card that, "...the professionalism of the painters was superb."

Professional can mean a few different things, but for business purposes, it basically means that a person has a profession and is an expert. A professional athlete is an expert while a high school athlete is working towards becoming a professional. When we say that an individual was very professional, we are really just saying that he did his job well and knows what he is doing. To be unprofessional means that a person is not highly skilled in a particular profession, is more inclined towards making mistakes, and does not necessarily have the highest ethical standards.

When you hire a painting company, is it important that the company is professional? A professional painting company will do the job right, and if there is a problem, it will be fixed. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of painters or home service companies that provide very professional service, and frankly, it does cost quite a bit more to hire a professional painting company.

Chism Brothers Painting has been in the painting industry for many years and has seen the problems incurred by homeowners hiring unprofessional contractors. Here are a few things we do that set us apart from unprofessional outfits. We do:

• Have a California Contractors License; we are insured and Bonded
• Answer the phones and schedule appointments in a timely manner
• Keep our appointments
• Have a "professional" estimator to give accurate estimates and proposals
• Have a production manager to schedule your project and make sure it is done on time as promised
• Provide "professional" color consultation
• Start your project and stay on it until it is done
• Provide a project foreman to complete your project with his skilled painters
• Protect furniture and cover areas not to be painted
• Carefully prepare the surfaces before applying paint or primers
• Keep the work areas organized and clean
• Label paint cans and provide a Color Schedule of what we used and where colors were applied.
• NOT play loud music, curse, or smoke
• Communicate to you in English
• Have some of the best painters in San Diego that are very skilled and enjoy their work
• Have a written test, thorough interview process, character evaluation and drug test before we consider hiring anyone
• Provide a guarantee all of our work

The Joy of Stripping Wallpaper

Oh the joys of removing wallpaper! Here are some tips to make your endeavors at cleaning up old wallpaper more efficient and less tedious. While you can certainly hire a professional such as ourselves to perform this service for you, stripping wallpaper can be pricy, so it does not hurt to try it yourself. If you get frustrated, we can finish the job! Tips for Removing Wallpaper

• Protect the floors by covering them with plastic and a drop cloth. Remove all electrical switch plates and cover the outlets with tape, to help avoid an electrical shock when water is applied to the walls.
• Test a small section of the paper to see if it will come off easily. Some wallpaper has several layers. The key is to get the paper, the backing and 100% of the paste off the wall before applying any paint.
• If the paper does not come off easily, apply some water or wallpaper stripping formula to the walls and sand the paper with 36 grit sandpaper. This may help loosen the wallpaper from the walls.
• Continue using warm water and sandpaper (you can also use a Scotch-Brite Green Pad) to continue to loosen the paper.
• Once the first layer is off, continue applying very small amounts of water (a Hudson sprayer works best) to the final layer of paper.
• Once the paper is off, scrub the paste off the walls and wipe them clean with warm water. Make sure your water bucket does not build up too much paste. Change your water frequently.
• If you do NOT get all the paste off the walls and begin painting, it will typically cause the paint to crack very quickly. Therefore, this stage is very important to remove ALL the paste.
• Sometimes wallpaper does not come off using the techniques above. You can use a putty knife and other small hand tools to scrape the wet paper off. If you are going to use hand tools, be extra careful not to damage the drywall or plastered walls. The more careful you are, the less prep you will have to do on the walls prior to painting them.

Trade Secrets Regarding Extra-Stubborn Wallpaper

If the walls were not properly prepared and primed before receiving wallpaper, the wallpaper will probably be very difficult to remove. It is sometimes recommended to leave the paper on and follow these steps:

• Begin by making sure any corners or seems of the wallpaper are tight and not peeling back.
• Apply 1 to 2 coats of an oil-base sealer/primer. Oil-base primer is the key. If you use a water-base sealer (such as Kilz2) it may soften the wallpaper and cause bubbling to occur.
• After the wallpaper has been sealed and allowed to dry properly, apply a thin layer of drywall mud to the seems of the wallpaper.
• After the mud drys, sand the patches and apply another coat of oil base primer. Another option is to apply the texture you would like on the walls at this point. This is a difficult process if you have not done a lot of texturing. You may wish to seek a professional painting contractor or drywaller for this step.
• Once the walls have received the desired texture and have a prime coat, the walls are ready to be painted.

Pricing Your Paint Job

• Standard 2-story Track home (2,500-3,500 sq. ft): $8,000-12,000 (with some metal railings, garage doors, several standard doors, patio cover, fencing, and window trim.