We did it. First big painting job, full house in 3 days. Got a painful customer. Are customers this bad, usually

[liamdude5]

So, long story short, we just painted our first house, 4 bedrooms, 3 living rooms and a hallway w staircase in 3 days. We had a team of 3 in the first two days and a team of 5 on the last day. I think that we did a very good job, the place was spotless, and the painting job was great. What brings me here is really to talk about this customer, that was a very singular to say the least. Every day, before starting the day, she would start by pointing something that ,according to her, was done wrong, like saying that we did not finish a room or that some caulk was missing on a door jam ( we were still working, leave us alone). On top of that,she would always say that we painted something that we shouldn't like the window casings, while painting the walls. Which is not honest. The casing was already painted ( bad previous painting job) with a color different than the one we were using ( antique white). At certain point, last day, I had to tell her to leave us alone and that we would finish that last day as agreed upon.. She is now saying that is going to call us with a list she is putting together of any spots that need touch up, whenever she sees it, eventually. Is this a fucked up or tipical customer? One last thing, before we left the site today.. She started arguing that we painted one panel of the three panel door, which we did not. And she is now demanding that we paint the whole door for free.... unbelieve bit h...

 

[bmh3d]

@liamdude5 All you need to do is hold up your end of the contract and tell the customer everything else is out of scope and you would be happy to write up a new proposal for the extra work. Make sure it's an expensive one.

Don't start doing work for free because it will never end. She knows you're new and is taking advantage.

Also, next time, take pictures before you start.

 

[liamdude5]

@bmh3d Great advise. She even asked me can you fill up this little xan with paint for the next home owners. That can is for someone else to paint the door.

 

[lb1865]

@liamdude5 You are getting too personally invested and are coming across bitter. Based on your reactions and how you are speaking of your customers I’d never do business with you. It’s a business, keep it professional, assume the best, set boundaries, and use the other advice. Right now you are getting worked up and speaking about your customers unprofessionally. Your reactions aren’t healthy and will cause you stress and anxiety. It’s not worth it. You’ll have customers like that, do you best, take your photos, set your scope, charge more when they want extra, fix any real mistakes, and move on when you are done.

 

[liamdude5]

@lb1865 Great advise. Thank you

 

[ehr]

@liamdude5 Do what my painter did — he scheduled to see me again one week later, and anything reasonable I was able to spot in that time frame, he addressed it when he showed up that day. Anything after that was no longer addressable.

It gave me a chance to really review the home and point out some easy fixes that he/his crew missed: stairway/banister trim was crooked on one side, easy fix; one of the motion sensors was cracked during removal/installation, replaced with a similar one from HD that wasn’t expensive, easy fix; and cleanup issues (bunch of debris scattered near exterior of home, as he redid some trim work for me too), easy fix.

In my opinion, he still didn’t do the best of jobs, but his price was 70% of what others quoted so it was par for the course. I really respected him giving me time to review the home in detail, and he was fair about fixing most of what I brought up. There was one concern he didn’t address, but it must have not mattered much, because I can’t remember it for the life of me.

 

[amyf90]

@liamdude5 Get better at recognizing mfers and don't do business with them.

 

[liamdude5]

@amyf90 I could tell that she was going to be a tough one. You are right. If I had tons of customers I would have dropped her....

 

[daddio68]

@liamdude5 We walked away from a 15,000 dollar job because the customer sent back our contract with a ton of stuff in red ink. She wanted us to guarantee work that another company had done.

Sometimes the juice isn't worth the squeeze.

 

[amyf90]

@liamdude5 There is an endless supply of customers don't live in scarcity

 

[inmatetalks]

@liamdude5 I'd say about 5% of my customers are like this. Ironically my first customer was also like what you described

 

[newchristian7198]

@liamdude5 You have a phone with a camera and so do many of your workers (I’d assume), so do yourself a huge favor and take a bunch of photos when you bid the job or right before you start. Email them to the customer and say something like “Our bid covers walls only, we are happy to touch up trim and doors with a new bid. Our process is based on dry times and may not be linear, but you are welcome to use the blue tape we leave at the job site to indicate any areas you notice requiring touch up before the job is complete. We will use green tape to indicate any issues not covered by our bid. A quality assurance walk-thru will be at this time on the final day of work.”

 

[liamdude5]

@newchristian7198 Love it. Thank you