Just a bit of a post today on one particular thing to watch out when you hire a painter to do work in your home. This also applies if you are a new designer or colour consultant who is specifying paint colours for clients to provide to a professional painter.
This story comes from a job I was working on this past summer for a wonderful couple. Let’s call them Ruby and Max for all purposes.. 🙂
I happen to be on site at the job where I was working at the time. The painter showed up to do his painting for the day like he did every other day. When I first showed up I noticed the paint cans on the living room floor, which happened to be NOT in the Paint supplier that I had Specified. I had specified Paint in Benjamin Moore, and this painter had told me that he works with BM paint, and Sherwin Williams Paint. These are both excellent companies when it comes to purchasing your paint by the way.
So what’s the Problem Jodi? Well, here’s a photo to show you why….
The painter had started to do some painting, I bent down to see how it was going it and I noticed that the colour he was using was quite green, really Green( That’s when he even noticed), I honestly started to second guess my choice, but of course the reason that the colour was off due to him Not using actual Benjamin Moore paint, but instead he did a colour match with a Sherwin Williams paint project.
If you pride yourself seeing colour quite well like I do, and if a colour is off by just a bit then this lesson is for you. Rarely would I say have I ever had a colour match extremely well using different companies. It just isn’t possible. Especially when it comes to matching whites and greens.
So let’s go back to the picture that I showed you. The photo on the left is BM Amhearst Gray. The colour on the right is a colour match done by the painter with Sherwin Williams paint. It’s very obvious in this case that the colours are not alike, but in some cases the colours can be just barely off, and honestly for me who is very picky when it comes to the colours that I specify for clients, it has to be just right! That’s for you to decide how inportant it is for you.
Hope that all makes sense? Please ask me to clarify to you if you have any questions.
This is my advice:
1. If you are hiring a Painter yourself and you are providing him/her the paint code from the small sample from the store do ask before hand if they will be actually be using the specified colour that you chose, OR will they be doing a colour match?
2. If they are only willing to do a colour match and reasure you that the paint will come out exact, this is not always the case. This is what would recommend: Buy a small sample pot in the actual colour that you chose and paint a small sample of the colour on a piece of white brissel board. That way the day that the painters are in to paint, you have an exact reference for your colour.
If the colour is off, you have every right to ask them to go back to the paint store to purchase the correct paint that is needed to get your Colour right!
By the way, I will mention also that this is your job as the project manager of your own project to get the colour right, or if you’ve hired a professional to do this part of the job for you then that’s why we are paid to be there. If I hadn’t been there at that exact moment, the clients would have had to come home to the wrong colour in their project. That’s what I do not want. If my client is unhappy, then I am very unhappy… Luckily, and not so lucky for the painter who had to go back out and get the correct Paint and basically had to do the whole job over. Not only does this waste paint, but also his time, and his money.
Either way, most painters are just there to do their job. They aren’t concerned if the paint colour is just right, (because that’s not their job that’s my JOB!) they are only there to do a great job with the actual painting of the project. I know of a few paint company’s like this one, that will care if your colour is just right!
I hope this has helped you in some way to avoid disappointment the next time you hire a professional painter! A professional painter is really worth it my mind if it works for you.
Jodi