Another satisfied customer....not!

[plainpainter]

I wake up and listen to my machine today - and I have this one angry customer whose house I painted a year ago this past may. And he is telling me over the phone that it is infested with mildew - that it shouldn't be that way, blah blah blah, what are you going to do about it? blah blah blah - what's a long term solution to this problem? Etc.

Now I logged my hours on this home - I spent 125 man-hours scraping, grinding, then sanding - and final pressure washing - before this home saw one drop of primer or caulking - let alone paint. 385 man hours in total - it was a monster job. I pressure washed after all the grinding and sanding - so all sanded exposed wood parts would get a cleaning. I used such a strong TSP/nonylphenol/12% solution - that Bob from Pressuretek would bow and say 'I'm not worthy' And of course - you got it - it's always the painters fault.

And I dont' want to hear how this is an excellent time to educate the consumer, blah, blah, blah - such pollyanish comments is enough to push me over the edge and vomit. The sheer volume of cluelessness that came from this customer's mouth while the job was in progress gave me black and blue marks on my lower mandible - from all the times my jaws smacked the ground. No wonder why I gave up on house painting.

I wash homes in New England that are vinyl sided with some of the worst mildew problems I have ever seen - how is a plastic surface responsible for mildew growth let alone paint? Why are homeowers so disallusioned to realities of mother nature? And if I see artillery fungus - I will freakin' laugh in the guys face.

[squirtgun]

Wow.....you get this mad because some former customer thinks you wronged them.

Instead you should be calling them back and explaining the mold issue is beyond your control and offering them the solution of regular yearly maintenance cleaning.

[plainpainter]

I went there and I was calm, Scott. I took a bunch of photos - and found evidence of massive roof leaks into the eave/soffit areas - and eventually exploding out from the back sides of the top rows of clapboards. I wrote a detailed synopsis for him - included a photo with pictures of his home and some close ups detailing what I mean. As well photos from another home taken last winter detailing icicles coming out of soffit vents and from behind the clapboards discolored with tannins - as a better visual of what's going on with his home. And a recomendation that they contact a roofing expert and have their roof replaced along with water proofing membrane installed along the bottom of their roof.

[MMI Enterprises]

I feel yer pain.. sorta anyways. I met up with a potential customer yesterday and not only was the job scope way beyond what we talked about but now I got calls all hours of night and morning demanding his proposal by 9am deadline. I'm like hu there was a deadline mentioned? I specifically told him that I have to bring other guys in on job and that I would need to hear back from them first. Now in his mind I ma like all these other guys that he never hears back from and I broke a code or some yaddayadda. Damn maybe if I would have had Carlos or somebody with me we coulda scored big time. Would have been about $40k. Man I could kick myself as much as the guy I was dealing with.

[squirtgun]

Originally Posted by plainpainter

I went there and I was calm, Scott. I took a bunch of photos - and found evidence of massive roof leaks into the eave/soffit areas - and eventually exploding out from the back sides of the top rows of clapboards. I wrote a detailed synopsis for him - included a photo with pictures of his home and some close ups detailing what I mean. As well photos from another home taken last winter detailing icicles coming out of soffit vents and from behind the clapboards discolored with tannins - as a better visual of what's going on with his home. And a recomendation that they contact a roofing expert and have their roof replaced along with water proofing membrane installed along the bottom of their roof.

If you have gone to all that trouble there is little hope you can please them.
If you offered any kind of warranty on the paint they might have a legit complaint,but usually the warranty is through the manufacturer and it sounds like the prep was way beyond what most companies would offer.

At this point if it were me I would offer to wash the house at no cost to the HO this one time only and tell them any cleaning in the future will cost them $???.?? I would also try to steer them toward a yearly maint. cleaning to prevent the regrowth.I would continue to stress getting the roof fixed.

In the end I still don't think they will be happy,but I feel this will be your best compromise.

[plainpainter]

Scott - we'll see - I have a hard time explaining about roof leaking. I tore off this roof for this lawyer to reroof it once. And what I found was that the bottom 3 feet of the roof decking plywood was soaking wet - and that moisture would migrate down into the soffits and blow out the paint - a house I had just painted. Earlier I had mentioned this to him - even before the roof rip-off and showed him the discolored tannins coming out the crown moulding at the eave.

When he was standing there - and I showed him his soggy wet roof decking - he told me that he honestly didn't understand what I was saying at the time - and now understood. And he was a freakin' lawyer!!!!!! If he has a hard time understanding - who can? And this isn't a slant towards people - what is obvious to you and me, because we're in the field isn't obvious even to very intelligent folks who spend their times in their own fields.

I don't offer warranties, Scott, for this very reason. Another neighbor further up the road had their home repainted for 12 g's and their roof re-done. The roofer was a legit criminal who F'd up the roof. When he did the valleys - he did a 'cut' valley, but cut so deep - he cut right through the second course of shingles. So again, guess what, the paint gets blown off the soffit below this area from all the water leaks- and the painter is called back the following spring and is yelled at for like 2 hours straight.
It wasn't until after the home was scraped and painted - that the homeowner started noticing his inner walls were punky and leaking. Then they call a professional roofer and find the problem. Of course they never apologized to the painter, nor does he even know. These are some of the reasons I just can't do exterior painting anymore - it's just a losing proposition.

[MMI Enterprises]

Taking or placing blaim is a funny thing with a funny ring to it... some point ya may have to tell'em to go fly a kite with piano wire.

[James]

Dan, have you thought of starting a "Blues Band". Caus your always singing the BLUES !! You have allot talent in this area so you should Capitalize ! Future hit songs? Homeowner blues, The Draught I didn't know about blues, My phone is not ringing blues,The Lowballer blues, The New England Blues, Can't be Blue in the Fall blues,No satisfied Customers Blues,Marketing Blues, Don't call me I call you blues. ...

This can be some song titles on your first CD. PPBB " the Plain Painter blues band" ?

[PWkid]

Its simple, you painted the house, you have no control over mother nature,and the rate that mold and mildew grows,unless mold is growing underneath the paint. I hope you did not sell a mold resistant paint, or a paint store sold you paint with a mold and mildew resistant additive. Wow Dan you have had the very worst luck of anyone that I have HEARD of. Have you ever thought of finding another line of work or working for someone else that will deal with ALL these issues that you are having?

[plainpainter]

Mel - I just don't paint anymore - I don't really have complaints with deck restoration - although I imagine that's coming because of a couple of woodtux {a.k.a woodblack} decks I've seen recently - hopefully the A.C. that's coming in the mail will solve those issues, but now it's off to starting again wth a different stain.

BTW - I didn't offer any warranty! Their garage roof is as old as the hills and you can see the mildew growing in the patterns of the brush marks! I'm just glad I used a oil solid stain and not a latex paint on this job - it would have all blown off. I think if I get back into exterior painting, there will be provisos in my contract that homeowner take full responsibility of the condition of their roofs/gutters and any ensuing problems from it. I have another neighbor that got this painter to offer her a 7 year warranty! I looked at the house and said no thanks, it was constantly peeling - and I told them to replace the roof. They didn't, this last spring with all the rain - you could see the remnants of a 'niagra' falls getting behind the clapboards between the gutter - and then 10 feet down - the paint expanded holding a full gallon of water before it burst!!!!!! Whole house was a wreck this spring - but they got that painter back to fix the whole house for free 2 years into his 7 yr. contract. And from what I heard at the paint store - he was dumbfounded as to what happened, that he used quality products, blah, blah, blah, I was laughing my butt off. Again don't offer warranties - I tell clients if there are no issues with their home - then even with the worst prep job, paint will still last forever - so why offer a warrantee?