Painting 101: The Hardest Trade in Reno

When it comes to renovation works, painting seems like the easiest trade.

But the truth is, it might be the hardest trade of them all.

Not because of the technical difficulty, but because it’s the easiest trade to “get caught”.

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Unlike carpentry or tiling, where the technical knowledge required gives contractors some leeway — painting is brutally straightforward.

If you ask for white walls, you expect white walls. No grey areas (literally).

And you expect that the required parts are all white.

There is 100% nothing wrong with these expectations.

But the issue comes when the ID does not communicate clearly on how painting is done. So let’s try to help.

1) Having to touch-up on painting works after the reno is completely normal. It is NOT a defect.

This is the typical painting schedule:

• Painting consists of 2 coats of paint. Hence, painters often come 2 separate times during your reno. Each coat takes about 2 or 3 days (longer if there are putty works involved)

• After painting, other trades (eg. carpentry/electrical) come in, and inevitably might dirty some areas, or create additional areas to paint, some of which can be missed

• Hence, after the whole reno is done, the painter will come back and rectify the areas.

This 3rd and final point, where painters touch-up post-reno, is crucial. Statistically, painters are the ones doing the most touch-up work after renovations.

Yes, if your ID or painter is clearly slacking or cutting corners, by all means, call them out. That’s fair. Shame on them.

However, it is not always that they are doing a slipshod job. It is just that the touch-up works are not completed yet.

Hence, we advise all our homeowners to consolidate all the areas and share this with the painters, as an extra pair of eyes. Else, human tendency we might miss certain spots. They will, and they should come back to fix them.

2) Lastly, we wanted to share that painters don’t earn a huge margin.

A painting job of est $2,000 takes around 10 work days, at least 3-5 separate trips to touch-up, and shared normally between 2 painters (and the boss). We still need to deduct cost of paint ($300-$500) and other expenses, and there are often days and weeks where painters don’t have a job.

So next time you see your painter sweating it out in your new home, consider this: they probably aren't earning a big margin, but they’re still doing their best to meet your expectations.

Maybe offer them a cold bottle of water. It won’t cost you much and it might just make their day!

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