Thermo said:
zampa, do you think that its because youre up close and personal to the wall youre working on so to speak. I find that i notice every blemish and it stands out like a beacon to me, but as you say the customer comes along, looks at it and says cor thats nice, yet you stand there thinking i can see that little bit i missed!
I normally stand in front of it so the customer cant see it!
Yeh, I know what you mean.....sometimes you can look too much....try too hard, theres a line between perfection and an acceptable job...ive been in the postion loads of times when a colleague or my apprentice has said 'aint we giong a bit over the top here'...but what do you do?...sods law that if you leave something it will get picked up by the customer.
Its a strange situation....sometimes you know the job looks a bit ropey...even though you have done your best...but the customer either accepts it..or doesnt care anyway...........other times you prep and prep and prep....and they pick up on something trivial...
The worst one is preparing in a bad light...then the sun comes out.or the customer intalls their brand new flourescent light...and BOSH you perfect wall looks like a moonscape!
Some situations are 'negligable' a wall may need lining..it may not...it may need sealing, it may not....ir may need caulking over completly..it may not...I always advise the customer what the best solution will be in my opinion...and what the cheapest solution is...then its down to them...everyone has a budget and has to work within it....hey, including the decorator!
Im only human (just!) and i'll admit that probably every job I do....painting wise at least, I could have done better....but I have done done it within the confines of the customers budget...yeh you could pay me 50 quid to do a door, it would be like glass....or you could pay me ten quid...and it would be good enough for the money.
I think any other dekkies on here would agree you can only go so far with prep work...
The perfect paint job...virtually impossible...
Just had a thought. Is there a varnish remover that would remove the old varnish quicker than sanding?
Yep....ordinary paint stripper will do the job...there are also 'organic' alternatives if you are environmentally conscious...but you still have the grief of getting into all the crevices...and its very time consuming too...ive been to loads of started and not finished jobs where customers have got fed up half way through...i'd seriously think about sanding them.