What do you do with housepainters??
Dianne Ferrans
(not that I'm lazy, I just don't have the ladders or nerve to paint a 23
ft. ceiling) .....ANYWAY, my husband and I both work, so....am I supposed
to take a couple of days off to babysit these guys, or do I just trust
strangers in my house as long as they're licenced and bonded??
I don't think I want to give them a key....should I meet them to open
up and close up??
What do other people do?
I'd really love to know, I've never done this before and am a bit skittish.
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' Dianne Ferrans Internet: ddfe...@ddf.b30.ingr.com `
' Sr. Software Analyst Dingalingnet: (205) 730-3666 `
' Intergraph Corp. `
' `
' " Fixing potholes in the information highway " `
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Sometimes I think the surest sign of intelligent life elsewhere in the
universe is that it hasn't come to visit us."
-- Calvin & Hobbes -- (Bill Waterson)
Redcz
...ANYWAY, my husband and I both work, so....am I supposed
to take a couple of days off to babysit these guys, or do I just trust
strangers in my house as long as they're licenced and bonded??
**********
Now I'm not saying that housepainters can't be trusted, but . . .
I would never give the key to my house to anyone other than a bonded,
insured house/pet sitter. After checking three references and writing
down the license plate number of their car. And calling the insurance
company and receiving written proof of their bond and insurance (my
company requires this from contractors working on their building, why
don't homeowners require it?) I'd never let anyone have free access to my
house and then leave. Am I being over-cautious? I don't think so, but it
may be because of my experience with my housepainters.
YMMV. My experience was that I hired a painter to completely repaint the
inside of my new house. His references checked out ok. The insurance
company sent me proof of the bond and confirmed that he had insurance. He
made it clear that he worked better with the homeowner gone. I said, too
bad. He said he picked up his two helpers and drove them to the houses he
was painting and would drive them home or to their cars at the end of the
day. This would provide security from them stealing from the homes and
driving off with the stuff.
One of the helpers worked for all the painters in the area, was well known
to them all, and no-one had ever had problems with him (I called some of
the other painters he worked for and he checked out ok). The other helper
had been working with this painter for 6 years. He had lived in his house
for 6 months when getting a divorce. The painter trusted him fully.
So, I worked in the house until the fumes got too bad. Then I'd work in
the yard and garden. The second day, I found several empty prescription
bottles in the back of the yard. Yes, they were ours. And yes, they were
empty. They were painkillers and sleeping pills from a surgery a couple
of months back. I confronted the painter who fired the helpers while
driving them home that day. He came back to finish the work. In the
meantime, I had discovered several missing items (not valuable, but
sellable for quick cash).
There's more to this, but I won't clutter up the newsgroup with it. The
lesson I learned was that even if you're there in the house supervising,
if someone wants it bad enough, they'll get it. Also, I talked with my
insurance agent about what they would have covered if the loss was
significant - the answer might be helpful to the person who posted the
question. They said if I had given them the key to the house and left
them unsupervised, there would be a question of whether or not they would
cover the loss at all.
Again, I'm not saying all contractors will rip you off if possible, I'm
just saying you have to take reasonable precautions if for no other reason
than to get the insurance companies to pay off on the losses.
Joel Rose (Manager, Software Development)
dia...@ddf.b30.ingr.com (Dianne Ferrans) writes:
>I would like to hire some internal and external housepainting done ...
> ... my husband and I both work, so....am I supposed
>to take a couple of days off to babysit these guys, or do I just trust
>strangers in my house as long as they're licenced and bonded??
>I don't think I want to give them a key....should I meet them to open
>up and close up??
>
>What do other people do?
>
>I'd really love to know, I've never done this before and am a bit skittish.
I always take time off and make some attempt to supervise the work.
There are two problems here: monitoring the work and trusting strangers in
your house.
I have yet to hire a contractor without the workers departing at some
point from the agreed-upon specifications. If you don't catch it when
it happens, it may be too late as a practical matter. For example,
if painters don't prime where it's needed, the topcoat may already be on
by the time you get home. When the paint fails in a few years, you may have
a guarantee, but do you really want to spend all that time in small claims
court trying to enforce it?
With regard to trusting strangers in your house: What happens when, a year
or two hence, you notice something missing, say some wedding gift which you
love but hardly ever use -- something that might be missing a long time
before you notice it? If you make a practice of letting strangers in
your house unattended, you may well suspect that someone took it, but you'd
have no way of determining exactly who the culprit was, even to your own
satisfaction, let alone to a legal certainty. So, the fact that your
contractor was bonded helps you not at all.
Now, in the case of a particular contractor, these worries may or may not
be appropriate. But how do you tell? If you stay home, you can tackle
some project that you'd probably want to take time off for anyway. That
way, you won't get too steamed when they don't always show up when they've
promised to.
Good luck whatever you decide.
Joel Rose (ACS...@UBVMS.CC.BUFFALO.EDU)
Any opinions expressed above are my own.
Glen Bolen
: ft. ceiling) .....ANYWAY, my husband and I both work, so....am I supposed
: to take a couple of days off to babysit these guys, or do I just trust
: strangers in my house as long as they're licenced and bonded??
: I don't think I want to give them a key....should I meet them to open
: up and close up??
: What do other people do?
: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: ' Dianne Ferrans Internet: ddfe...@ddf.b30.ingr.com `
: ' Sr. Software Analyst Dingalingnet: (205) 730-3666 `
: ' Intergraph Corp. `
: ' `
: ' " Fixing potholes in the information highway " `
: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dianne, I painted houses as a way of putting myself through college. Very
seldom did people want to remain at home while we were painting their houses.
Some people do however, and most painters don't really seem to mind. My advice is to meet with the painters and preferably find someone that you already know
or that is know by your family or friends. License and bond aren't really the
issue. I think the real issue is personality and trust.
good luck
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Glen Bolen
Assistant Regional Planner
Arc/Info user
bol...@metro.or.gov
The views expressed are my own and do not reflect the opinions of
my employer, METRO.
Ron Rothenberg
GB>Dianne, I painted houses as a way of putting myself through college. Very
GB>seldom did people want to remain at home while we were painting their houses
GB>Some people do however, and most painters don't really seem to mind. My
GB>advice is to meet with the painters and preferably find someone that you
GB>already know
GB>or that is know by your family or friends. License and bond aren't really t
GB>issue. I think the real issue is personality and trust.
GB>good luck
I agree 100%. Couldn't hurt to hide the jewelry and medications. I've
never had a problem with a tradesman, but I know this is what most
commonly 'disappears' at open houses.
-rsr-
Ron Rothenberg
Buyer Broker/CFP (Certified Financial Planner)
HomeBase Real Estate Save time! Save money!
Belmont, MA 02178 Use a buyer broker
(617) 489-4812 when you buy a home!
A member of The Buyer's Network
* SLMR 2.1a * Windows and Quayle - Wasted space!
Spiros Triantafyllopoulos
: SUBJECT:RE: What do you do with housepainters?
: I agree 100%. Couldn't hurt to hide the jewelry and medications. I've
: never had a problem with a tradesman, but I know this is what most
: commonly 'disappears' at open houses.
This is an interesting side topic. Why are lockable INTERIOR doors
so uncommon in the US? in Greece every apartment I've ever seen has
lockable (as in, with a key) doors.
Won't do much for open houses ("and here is the skeleton room, locked,
of course") but for the occasional house painter/etc it would be neat.
Spiros
--
Spiros Triantafyllopoulos stri...@indy.net
Carmel, Indiana OUZO POWER
Carl Heinzl
>This is an interesting side topic. Why are lockable INTERIOR doors so
>uncommon in the US? in Greece every apartment I've ever seen has
>lockable (as in, with a key) doors.
>Won't do much for open houses ("and here is the skeleton room, locked,
>of course") but for the occasional house painter/etc it would be neat.
Hell, just put the jewelry and money into the gun safe and lock that...
-Carl-
Douglas Rockwell
of lead based paint. You don't want them sanding & scraping and making
dust that will poison children who spend time in the place. Even though
most states don't have laws on the books yet, if you have lead based
paint (LBP) and kids, you need to make sure that if it is disturbed, the
job is done in a way that doesn't create a mess. BTW, just sweeping up
the dust isn't sufficient. Harmful amounts can be basically invisible.
Doug
DLBerryMan
are a couple of things I recommend: 1. Ask freinds, workmates, and
relatives if they have hired any painters that handled the job
professionally. If a painter is recommended, they can usually be trusted
to work alone and be trusted because their reputation depends on it. 2.
Call 3 or 4 local painters advertised in phone book or newspapers for an
estimate. Ask if they have done this type of work before and then ASK FOR
REFERENCES. When bids and references come, call them and express your
concerns and how they feel about the painter. Do this until you find one
that makes you comfortable. Also be sure the are licensed and bonded if
your state requires it.
I have a publication entitled "Becoming Your Own Home-Pro Painter". It
has a section on hiring Professional painters. EMail me for more
information.
Hope this helps.
Thanks, Home-Pro Dave
DLBerryMan.ShopTrek.HomePro
Taking Pleasure in helping others!!!