Home/Growth/🎨 Painting/Warning: landed my first big commercial painting gig and nearly botched the whole thing as a newbie
Warning: landed my first big commercial painting gig and nearly botched the whole thing as a newbie
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DustBunnyHunter2
·1mo·15 replies·14 participants
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DustBunnyHunter2⚒️ JourneymanOP1mo
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So I finally scored a commercial client for painting their office lobby, been solo residential for years but this was my shot at scaling up. Walked in with my Graco airless sprayer all set, but forgot to double-check the Sherwin-Williams Emerald paint samples against their spec sheet, ended up mixing the wrong sheen. Spent two days scraping and prepping extra because the primer didn't adhere right on those drywall seams. Guy in the Painting Contractors Facebook group mentioned something similar happening to him on a strip mall job last month. If you're chasing commercial work, always verify the substrate first or you'll be eating hours like I almost did. TBH, saved it by switching to a self-etching primer, but damn that was close. Saw a thread on r/paintingbusiness about upselling commercial add-ons, might try that next time.
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V8076🔧 Apprentice1mo
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man commercial clients are the WORST, they hand you a spec sheet thicker than my thumb and expect perfection while skimping on the budget for proper prep time. i was on a lobby job last week and the owner changed the color halfway through, had to redo half the walls with benjamin moore duration cuz their emerald didnt match. its like they think were magicians not painters, and we end up eating the costs. screw these big gigs that promise scale but deliver headaches.
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MulchMaster⚒️ Journeyman1mo
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first commercial gig i did, i showed up with the wrong color base and turned the ceo's office into a pumpkin patch. shoulda triple-checked those spec sheets, man, or youre lookin at a real halloween nightmare.
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V2463🔧 Apprentice1mo
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damn commercial clients always change the specs last minute and leave us newbies scrambling to fix their crap, its BS how they act like we should read their minds.
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LiftMaster2⚒️ Journeyman1mo
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man, been there on my first commercial gig too, mixing up the sheen and scraping for days sucked.
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DuctDetective⚒️ Journeyman1mo
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man, been there with the wrong mix on my first strip mall gig, ate a full day scraping crap off the walls just to save face.
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V9706🔧 Apprentice1mo
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those damn commercial clients never give you the full spec sheet up front, its like they want you to screw up so they can lowball the fix. ive been on jobs where the office manager hands over some half-assed color swatch and then acts shocked when the sheen dont match their vibe. pissed me off last week on a small conference room gig, had to redo the whole trim because the primer flaked off the metal edges they forgot to mention. and dont get me started on the facebook groups full of guys venting about the same bs, its everywhere in this industry. we shoulda unionized against these vague-ass contracts years ago. saved my ass with a quick sand and recoat but ate two hours of labor. commercial painting is a crapshoot til you force em to sign off on every detail.
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AmpedUpAlex⚒️ Journeyman1mo
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man, been there with the wrong sheen bullshit on a office repaint, turned my two day job into a week long nightmare scraping that crap off. sucks you had to eat those hours, but good on ya for pulling it out with the self-etching primer.
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V2958🌱 Newcomer1mo
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screw verifyin the substrate, i just blast it with whatever sherwin-williams they spec'd and call it good, saves me hours of bs preppin.
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HeatHustler⚒️ Journeyman1mo
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Commercial clients are the worst for nitpicking every damn detail, especially when PE firms are buying up painting outfits and squeezing margins to hell. We're all getting screwed by these roll-ups turning good jobs into lowball nightmares.
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TrimTim⚒️ Journeyman1mo
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Couldn't agree more, had a PE-backed chain demand revisions on a $10k interior job for free.
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ShingleShark6⚒️ Journeyman1mo
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Same, they treat us like disposable labor now. Time to unionize or something.
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ChillMasterC⚒️ Journeyman1mo
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Man, that sounds exactly like my first commercial strip mall repaint last summer, prepped for days and still had adhesion issues on the block walls. Felt like quitting right there on the scaffold.
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TrimTim⚒️ Journeyman1mo
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Congrats on landing the client though, that's huge. I hit my first $100k year by locking in three steady commercial contracts with local businesses, now I'm at four crews full time.
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ChillMasterC⚒️ Journeyman1mo
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Haha, I once showed up to a commercial bid with the wrong roller covers, client thought I was a hack and laughed me out. Had to eat a $200 material loss that day.
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FrameFreak9⚒️ Journeyman1mo
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Oof, been there with a similar Sherwin-Williams mixup on an office ceiling, the whole crew commiserated over beers after. Keep pushing, you'll nail the next one.
