Paint Emergencies

One of my favorite experiences as a painting contractor is dealing with paint emergencies. These can take numerous forms, but they essentially amount to the customer needing the work done immediately. These aren't situations where a water pipe broke and drywall needs to be repaired prior to a party this weekend. There are real emergencies. For example:

• A commercial customer needs a room painted with a decorative finish. She called at 2 PM and needed the work done that day. She did not have a price, nor did she understand that decorative finishes usually take several days.
• A residential customer called in the afternoon wanting an estimate that day so that we could start the next day. When he was told that was impossible, he announced that we would not be getting his business. And by the way, he had previously insisted that we give him the cheapest price possible.
• We also get a surprising number of calls to send a painter over. Apparently some people think we have painters sitting around the office all day drinking beer (that's what painters do, after all) just waiting for their phone call. Most of these calls involve a DIYer who got in over his head and needs a professional to bail him out. These "experts" usually tell us that there is only a few hours of work.

I am not sure whether these types of emergencies reflect a character flaw on the part of the customer, or the public's perception of the painting industry. While it may be a bit of both, I suspect it is more the former.

While it may be possible, I have yet to see a true paint emergency. Unlike plumbing or electrical problems, a paint problem is not going to threaten one's comfort or safety. Unlike a roofing leak, a paint problem is not going to place the house and its contents in immediate jeopardy. So do do people think that they have a paint emergency?

At least in my experience, those who think that they have a paint emergency are typically very demanding. To call in the afternoon and expect an estimate that day is usually not going to happen (perhaps if I am already in their area I'll do it, but otherwise not). It is a very unreasonable expectation. They are usually open about the fact that they aren't about to spend a lot of money. Which they probably won't have to do if they can find someone to start their job that day. And they often act like they are doing us a huge favor by calling us. They act as if they are our first customer of the year.

It is obvious that such people are clueless as to how successful contracting companies operate. While we occasionally have a small hole in our schedule because a customer isn't ready, or we have weather issues, we usually stay booked for three to five weeks. And we certainly aren't the cheapest painting company in town.

There was a time when I would do flips to try to accommodate such people. But it became clear to me that they got a wild hair up their butt, and on a whim, decided to have some painting done. And since they are such compassionate people, they would put some low-life painter to work for a day and pay him $100. When I realized this, my attitude changed.

While I try to accommodate customers, their requests must also be reasonable. I need customers, but I don't need any one specific customer. And I certainly don't need unreasonable customers.

And speaking of unreasonable customers, I once had a call from a customer who was questioning my price. It's only a few ceilings, he said. Why so much money? I explained that he had a lot of furniture to protect, that we needed to cut in around the walls, and we had to make sure we didn't get any paint on the walls.

Don't worry about protecting the furniture, he told me. I don't care if you get paint on everything. I honestly didn't know whether to laugh or start looking for Rod Serling. I explained that a professional company wouldn't do such a thing. He argued for a few minutes, interlacing a few insults along the way, and then hung up after announcing that he would never hire my company.

Sometimes the best jobs are the ones we don't do.