Brandon Lewis: Hello. I’m Brandon Lewis, publisher of Painter’s Weekly, and founder of The Academy for Professional Painting Contractors, and you are tuned into Pro Talk. Today, we are joined by one of my favorites, Mike Balding of Absolute Painting, and we’re going to talk about what homeowners should really be looking for in a house painter in Lenexa, Kansas. Mike, welcome to the program.
Mike Balding: Yeah, thanks for having me, Brandon. Glad to be here.
Brandon Lewis: Well, let’s get right into it. This is an exciting topic to me, and you know, when it comes to getting your home painted, there are really three key things. There’s lots of things, but you’d shared three with me, the first of which is homeowners really need to figure out who’s coming into their home, because they’re around the people that they love, around the things that they love, and often, you go from not really knowing a contractor very well to having them inside your home, so talk about what a homeowner could do to make sure that the people, the painters in particular, that are in their home executing the work, how can they make sure that they’re to be trusted and to have some peace of mind?
Mike Balding: Yeah, I think that’s a really good point, Brandon. The most important thing that homeowners are looking for, I think, is to have painters they can trust, and really, in order to make that something that you can wrap your hands around, you really need to do a background check of your painters. Now, a good reputable company will have already performed a background check on all of the painters they’re going to have in the home, and be willing to provide documentation that their background check came back clean. And I would say that’s probably the most important way to convey to a homeowner that they can trust the painters in their home.
Brandon Lewis: I think that makes sense. You also, you know, you can have the world’s best painters, really, honest, ethical, hardworking people, and a lot of them are, but if they do not have a good system to follow, if there’s not a good process in front of them, often, there’s miscommunications or issues. How do you make sure that once you have good people, that you still end up with a good product?
Mike Balding: Yeah, well that’s really, really important. The thing that you have to have are checklists and systems in place that make sure that steps are always completed. There’s so many moving parts to a paint job that you want to make sure that things are being done in order, and the best way to do that is just to provide the painters with a simple checklist. At Absolute Painting, that’s something that the crew lead is going through every day, several times a day, to make sure all of the steps are being followed appropriately.
Brandon Lewis: Well, you can have good people, you can have a good process, but if you have poor products, then if you put the wrong stuff on the wrong surface, you’re in trouble, or you end up with a lot of investment and labor that doesn’t last as long, because people have taken shortcuts, or have chosen an inappropriate product. How do you make sure, or how should homeowners make sure, that the products that the painting contractors are recommending are the ones that they should really be using?
Mike Balding: Yeah, that’s a great question. You know, there are two different pieces of this, piece number one is on the prep work side. A lot of painters will use quality paint, but they use caulking that is the cheapest you can get. The problem with that is the caulking is really what seals the cracks in the windows and doors, prevents moisture intrusion, so we make sure that we use a high-quality caulking that can stretch, especially here in Kansas, where you have extremely hot temperatures in the summer and very cold temperatures in the winter. There’s going to be a lot of movement of your house, and to use a high-quality caulking is important.
Mike Balding: Primer is the same way. Any time of woods like cedar, that are going to build tannins over time, you need an oil-based primer to block out those tannins and make sure that the paint adheres to the surface. And on the product side, you want to make sure that you’re using a high-quality retail paint from a reputable paint company. We particularly use Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore, most of the time.
Brandon Lewis: Well, that makes sense. Three elements to recap from Mike at Absolute Painting. If you’re looking for a house painter in Lenexa, Kansas, he recommends these three things. Number one, make sure that your painters are background checked, that you can find the proof that the company does quality work. Number two, there need to be procedures in place so that these painters can follow guidelines. And then finally, making certain that the correct products from good suppliers are being used on your home. I’m Brandon Lewis with Painter’s Weekly, and Mike, it’s been a pleasure having you here.
Mike Balding: Thanks so much. It’s great to be here.
Brandon Lewis: Okay, guys. I hope you’ve enjoyed this edition of Pro Talk, with Painter’s Weekly. Until next time, I’m Brandon Lewis, signing off.
