The Seat of Your Pants

Some painting contractors are strange people. I don't mean that they have weird hobbies, or goofy hair, or walk down the street talking to imaginary demons. I mean that they sometimes completely reverse the order in which they should conduct their business.

For example, many times I read or hear of a contractor who is starting a job and wonders what product he should use. Often, this confusion is accompanied with similar confusion regarding what procedures to follow. Such questions provoke a combination of laughter and dismay.

An estimate is a projection of the labor and materials required to complete a particular job. If a painting contractor is not certain what materials he will use, how can he accurately project his material costs? If he is uncertain about the procedures he will follow, how can he determine his labor requirements? The fact is, he can't.

So how in the world can he possibly price the job? Again, he can't. He is simply throwing a number out there and hoping that it will stick. His attitude is: Get the job, and then figure out how to do it profitably.

This make work in some rare circumstances, but such an approach is doomed to ultimately fail. The time to figure out materials and procedures is before you submit the bid, not the day before you start. The fact is, if you try to slide by on the seat of your pants, you are going to wind up with a very sore butt.