House Painting: A Dirty Job (But Somebody’s Gotta Love It)

22 May House Painting: A Dirty Job (But Somebody’s Gotta Love It)

I love what we do, I am able to restore homes and get paid for it. I have always had a passion for construction and houses. I love my home, and I want you to love yours too.

Painting is my forte but, I have an appreciation for all kinds of restoration. I enjoy the comradery that accompany working with the guys outside repairing wood rot, or prepping for a full exterior repaint job. My duties as an owner have definitely evolved over the years, so I spend less hands-on time working on the houses and more time on the business these days…but I truly enjoy every aspect of helping people love their home again. I tell the guys all the time that I miss just working the walls, though they probably don’t believe me! 

To me it’s simplistic, not the business aspect per say but the labor, the physical work. In the truest form it’s just honest, we put in a hard days work applying raw materials to your home and you pay us for our time. We both walk away satisfied when it’s a fair price and the craftsmanship is superior.

The physical work can be challenging at times, due to the extreme elevations of some homes, tricky architecture, and difficult terrain. Just dealing with ladder placement, set up of aerial equipment, knowledge of ropes for tie offs and harness equipment is enough to deter most people.  Then there’s the weather, we have to keep a careful eye on the constant changing conditions here in Kansas City like extreme cold, heat, high winds, rain, and hail. It can make it very difficult when you work outside for a living. Yet we love it.

Other than the PDCA there really isn’t a guideline for painters to ensure jobs are performed with integrity, so there are a lot of jokers out there – wannabe painting contractors who under bid jobs, or don’t know how to correctly bid a job, or simply have the lack of knowledge to properly perform a quality job…and don’t even get me started on the shady sub-contractor companies out there.

That is why I try and educate when I am out in the field. I try to show the consumers that I am in front of the going’s on of the business so they know what to look for in a solid contractor. So even if we don’t get the job, maybe the information I gave will spread and at least it will go to another like-minded company. Quality work should be the standard, but it isn’t, not anymore. There are respectable painting companies in Kansas City – they are just outnumbered by inferior ones. Where is the customer service, where is the pride in ownership, where is the pride in your work?  Filling this void is another reason I’m still passionate after all these years.

Painting and restoration is a tough business. Yet we still Love it! The best part is that I get to tell our story. A story that started 13 years ago as a one-man-show, a ’96 Chevy Blazer and my dream…which became Neighborhood Painting Inc.