Ask the painting contractor chickie.

Time on my hands.

Just had a last minute job cancellation, so much of this week is free. A tree fell on the homeowners' house and they decided to do the costly roof repair and get the painting done in a month or so. I was underbid on another job I thought I'd get, so that's out too.
Yay! Free time! I've not been able to fill up my week in such short notice. Though it's too bad, the truck needs a new alternator, property tax bill is due any day and I have agility classes to pony up for this evening. So a practically income-free week isn't really the best thing. I'll be able to catch up on some work around my own house, which was built in 1938 and always needs something fixed.
This is a downside to being self employed. Seems I'm either working seven days a week, or unexpectedly having time on my hands. Makes it hard to budget time and money, and I learned long ago not to give exact dates for starting or finishing a job unless I know for sure I can do it.
All sorts of things can delay a job.
Weather!
Another sub is slow. The painter often has to rely on other work to be done before we can do our thing - drywall, carpentry, gutters, whatever.
Client changes their mind about a color and it has to be re-done.
Client either adds more work to the job "as long as you're here...." or decides not to do something already planned.
Helper can't make it to work.
You remove wallpaper only to find it was about the only thing keeping crumbling plaster or rotted drywall attached to the studs. Add another two days for extensive repairs.
And so on.
So rather than annoy people by not being able to start or complete a job within a specific time frame, I'm often intentionally vague. "Oh, it will take three or four days." "I can start sometime in the week of the 10th, I will call you that weekend when I know for sure."

The exterior I finished last week is on the market. Here's the realtor's page - her photos don't do it justice, the interior is gorgeous! I painted it a couple of years ago and it's decorated beautifully.
The back was a pain in the ass - look at all those windows; every one had to be masked. The side of the house not shown was too high for my 32' ladder plus it was on a hill. I had to borrow the homeowner's big truck and put the ladder ON it, levelled with boards to compensate for the hill. It was in the 90s that day, slow going and I wasn't 100% comfortable with the ladder set up. Really hard work and I was glad to get that job finished!
Off to do about three hours of painting, then nada until Monday. Gah.

posted by Carina @ 3:58 AM