Struggling to find decent painters for jobs? This FB group thread hit home

Man, I came across this post in the Painting Contractors Facebook group asking where to source reliable painters and laborers, and it got me thinking about my own headaches. Been solo for years but now trying to grow, and every time I post on Craigslist or Facebook, I get a parade of flakes who can't even tape a straight line. Last week I hired a guy who swore he knew Sherwin-Williams Emerald inside out, but he showed up with the wrong roller covers and botched a whole wall. The advice in that thread about checking references and starting with helpers for prep work makes sense, but damn it's tough. Anyone else dealing with this crap when scaling up? Feels like the good ones are all snatched up by the big crews. NGL, considering just sticking to small jobs with my Graco sprayer.

this is why i stopped trying to hire anyone. every 'experienced' painter turns out to be a hack who wastes more time fixing their mistakes.

same here, spent a week training a new guy on proper edging with Purdy brushes and he quits after two jobs. what a waste.

big crews? more like the PE vultures scooping up all the talent and jacking up rates for everyone else. screw that.

the facebook group nailed it, post in local trade spots but vet hard or get burned.

i check their socials and past jobs, but still end up with duds half the time. rant over.

never hire without a trial day on a small job first. saved me from so many headaches.

use indeed for background checks, but the real issue is work ethic dying out.

frustrated with the same, my last hire ghosted after i bought him tools. what gives?

asking the same, how do you even find guys who show up sober and on time anymore?

insurance companies are the real enemy, making us jump through hoops just to add a helper.

shut up and pay more, thats what the market demands now. fight me.

had a crew flake on a whole exterior job, left me scrambling with drop cloths everywhere. pissed.

dont take walk-ins from fb, only referrals from trusted painters. learned the hard way.

the big outfits are hoarding talent with benefits we cant match. total BS.

yeah man, i feel your pain on this. scaling up shouldnt be this damn hard.

post on r/paintingbusiness for leads, but yeah PE is killing small ops like us.

angis leads are full of cheap labor promises that never pan out. rage.

same boat, every hire is a gamble with these unreliable types.

we're all in this together, the labor shortage is real for painters.

we're all in this together, the labor shortage is real for painters.

corporations treating us like disposable, time to unionize or something.

sourcing from community colleges has worked ok for me, get the young eager ones.

yeah, community colleges or trade programs, skip the random fb posts.

god the hiring pool is a joke, all show no go.

man i hear ya, been there with bad hires too many times.

tommy mello talks about this on his stuff, build a referral network for hires.

we all feel it, especially when jobs pile up and no help.

check local fb groups beyond just painting, sometimes handymen cross over decent.

thats smart, but still vet like crazy to avoid disasters.