It's time. Time to throw me in with every other consumer out there who must interview, get bids from, and hire a painter. Very soon, my husband and I will be pouring some re-modeling money into our ten year-old production home. And, among the other facelifts it is beginning to need, it definitely needs interior paint. No, I don't want to get off on a rant here, but my spouse and I are thoroughly convinced that, although some people in the trades may be very good at what they do, many are lousy business people. Are you beginning to get the drift that this has not been a pleasant experience so far? Read on if you like true-life stories.

Mind you, this may not be the first time we've had some painting done to a home we've owned, but this is definitely the first time we've planned and saved and decided to re-paint the entire interior, closets and all. Ideas we've got. After having sold new homes for over a decade, my working conditions screamed of fresh paint, clever window coverings and decorator-perfect color schemes in true model home fashion, so it was not difficult to have definite ideas on how I would someday re-paint the inside of my less-than model-perfect home.

We had referrals to painters from friends, had several neighbors in the business, and were privy to some painters who regularly had painted for some of the builders I had sold homes for during those years. We decided to start with the neighbor. With a full-page display ad in our little suburban town's diminutive telephone book and recommendations from several other neighbors, we gave him a call. And then we waited. Next day, no call back. Several days later, still no call back. Too busy or gone on vacation? About eight days from the initial phone call, I found a message on the answering machine at last. Sure, he would be happy to come over and give us a bid.

So I return that call. And I wait again. After another week we finally hooked up and set a time for him to come over. (Mind you, he lives two blocks away) I was not even thinking of setting up other bid appointments at the time, however, because this guy came so highly recommended. At last we meet face-to-face. He is a friendly person, with good advice and interesting recommendations. He tells us that everyone down at the blankety-blank paint store knows him; just mention his name. No problem on the various painting plans we have devised, he says. So we offered him some pre-selected paint chips from the blankety-blank store and he shakes our hands, saying he will be back with the paint samples to throw up on a token wall. He gives us a bid verbally and says he'll drop a written one off soon.

Weeks go by and we have not had a visit, seen a bid or received a phone call. We consider getting more bids. No, we figure, let's just give him a call and remind him of our existence. So we do, and another week goes by until we have an apologetic phone message from him, saying he'll drop the bid off in a few days, and then come over with the samples.

The evening he is to show up at 5 p.m. with the samples, I have reminded my other half to leave work early to be on hand for the occasion, so we can corral our neighbor-painter and get some serious stuff arranged. The painter shows up at my front door with little paint cans surrounding him and asks if I have a paint brush, a rather unusual question from a professional painter. I invite him in, and while he removes his paint-spattered shoes, I head out to the garage to see if I saved any paintbrushes from my last scourge of garage junk. Realizing the search was in vain, I informed him that we were out of luck. He proceeded to tell me that his wife was coming down with the flu and he had to get home, but he would check his truck one more time for a brush. Miraculously a brush appears. He covers a small area of the floor with plastic and then strokes some paint colors onto our entry wall. Thankfully, my husband arrives before he is ready to leave, and we decide that the colors we chose were too dark. We pledge to go to the blankety-blank paint store and get some different samples and experiment a bit. And before we know it he is gone. No arrangements have been made, no dates set, and no bid passes our hands.

To abridge this story, I will cut to the chase. The blankety-blank paint store says they haven't had the pleasure of dealing with this painter in several years, seven phone calls later, we still we were receiving no response from him, and we finally left a "see ya" message on his useless answering machine. But I ask you; is this any way to do business?

We were convinced this must be an anomaly, so we feverishly thumbed through the phonebook for painters no one had recommended to see if our luck would be better. The first one I called said he'd drop by the next day, and at the appointed time he called to ask how large my house was, and gave me a pre-emptive bid by phone. He then smugly told me that all the bids were probably going to be in that ballpark, so when I was finished doing the research, to call him back. Sure, no problem.

Several others no-showed. And another showed up, wrote out a bid after taking a tour of my home, after which I asked him several questions as he was leaving. They ran along the lines of "who moves the furniture?", "does this include the closets?" and several more not-out-of-the-ordinary queries. Not one of these "extras" was included in his bid. I politely said thank you and good-bye.

Finally, a true businessman enters the scene. My husband not only finds his ad in the phonebook; he also looks the company up on the Internet and taps out some in cyber-inquiries. The man calls us within a day, sets up an appointment to meet, and arrives on time. As he introduces himself, we notice he is carrying a briefcase and a clipboard. After taking his tour he asks if he can "set-up" at our kitchen table and he would give us our bid. With a flourish, he whips out a lap-top computer and printer, while he hands us a thick, categorized binder full of photos, insurance papers, and lists of satisfied customers for us to browse through while he makes his computations.

Are we impressed?

My unbelieving spouse then asks, "Do you personally paint our house with your crew?" He laughs, and says no, he is a former software engineer; you wouldn't want him painting your house . . . He has several professional painting crews that he oversees, and he would be on hand for the job. We thumbed through beautiful pictures of fancy paint jobs, looked at his insurance certifications and licenses, and were convinced that we could now stop our search. And we hadn't even seen his bid!

Are we unusual, or is it common for homeowners to hesitate to fill the pockets of so-called business owners with money, when we feel we are begging to get bids? Are we just too anal for most home-improvement contractors, or is customer service not a buzzword in their industry? I am sure that there are many others out there like the business owner we hired for the job, but our experience now tells us that they are not easy to find.

Something tells us our journey in hiring a contractor is not all that unusual. We are just busy business people ourselves, and would rather spend the extra (hard-earned) money on hiring another professional to do what they do best, rather than forever look at wavy paint lines and see the old color show through our personal paint job while curse words fill the air. With every experience comes a lesson, however. We were reminded of how important accountability and professionalism are in any business, and we resolved to not permit ourselves to slack off in that department any time soon.

And, in the interim, (dad-gum-it) we are finally going to have a freshly painted home.

Published: December 24, 1999

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Editor's Note: This article reflects the opinions of Dena Kouremetis only and not necessarily the views of this or any other publication, organization or Website owner.