A Good But Unprofessional Painter

I recently went to see a potential client in La Jolla who wanted her new sliding doors and a few new windows painted. I knew right away that the homeowner wanted a very high quality finish and a professional job. Her home was well taken care of. As I talked to her, I found out that she had purchased her doors from Grand Entrance, a high end window and door company in San Diego. She has previously called us to stain and finish her new front door, but we were not able to meet her short time frame. She ended up hiring another painter who did the job. I then asked her, "Did he do a good job? If so, why don't you hire him again." She told me to go look at his work. While inspecting his work, I realized, he was a very good painting contractor. He did a nice job on her entry door system. So the question remained, "Why is he not doing the next phase for her?"

The homeowner told me that he was a very nice man who did do good work, but she could not rely on him. She would call him, and it would sometimes take over a day to respond to her messages. He would then give her a window of time but not perform as he had said. It wasn't because he was a bad guy. He is just the typical small business owner trying to run a business, but is up to his ears in paperwork, phone calls, etc.

We were awarded the project simply because she believed we were more professional and she had seen us around La Jolla. We followed up on phone calls. I showed up on time. We informed her last time (honestly) that we could not do her exterior door for 4 weeks, etc. In other words, we communicated professionally what we could and could not do. She liked that and was convinced we were a good fit.

The point of this story is to share with you that the next time you are considering hiring any trade professional, make sure the company is good and professional. One way to tell is to see if they are active in a trade association, such as the Painting and Decorating Contractors of America (for painters). A professional company is sometimes (not always) more expensive, but you definitely will get what you pay for. Or customers do not want to worry about if we are going to show up or if the job will be done right. They are confident that we will do the right thing, and that is our mission.