When selecting a Toronto house painter you want a company that provides a great experience. Here’s how we provide a great painting experience during the project.
We arrive when we promise or we call. Generally we arrive at 8:30 unless we schedule a different time due to your schedule. If we are going to be more than 1 minute late we call, so that you don’t have to wonder where we are.
We check in with you when we arrive. We want to advise you on what we’re planning on accomplishing for the day and we want to make sure that any questions or concerns that you may have are addressed in a timely manner. If you’re not at home, we’ll send you a quick text or email with this information, just to keep you in the loop.
If there’s any way that we can make your painting experience a great one, let us know. We want you to be a raving fan of our services!
At the End of the Day
We also check in with you at the end of the day. We’d like you to know what we’ve accomplished during the day. This also gives us a chance to let you know if there’s any areas that have wet paint and should be avoided. Additionally we can advise you if there’s any areas that are complete so you are able to move back in and use. If you are not available we will text or email you this information.
Once again, if there’s any way that we can make your painting experience a great one, let us know. We want you to be a raving fan of our services!
We want you to know what’s going on during the entire process
The reason why we check in with you during the project is that we want you to know what’s going on during the entire painting process so that there are no surprises. Also, we want to deal with concerns as they come up, so that you are comfortable during the duration of the project.
When you are looking to find a Toronto house painter you want a painting company that provides a great painting experience. Here’s how we provide a great experience when we come out for an estimate.
First, we offer online booking
Instead of back and forth emails trying to book an appointment you can go to the online booking form on our website and see our schedule and book a time that’s convenient for you. How many emails back and forth has that saved you? If you have a couple of questions and would prefer to reach us by phone or email, feel free to do that as well! Just visit our contact us page for all our contact info.
We show up on time for the estimate
Your time is valuable, and you shouldn’t waste it waiting around for someone to give you an estimate. When you book an appointment for 1:00 we show up at 1:00, not at 12:55 or 1:05. In the unlikely event that something unforeseen happens we always call and let you know.
We take detailed notes
We want to make sure that we don’t miss any of the details, because a good paint job and a great painting experience is all in the little details. In order to capture all the details we take notes and, with your permission, pictures. These notes and pictures can be referenced later by our painters so that they know exactly what you’ve been promised.
We write up a comprehensive proposal
We present you with a fully detailed written proposal so that you can see exactly what you are getting for your hard-earned dollars. We describe all the steps of the project in the proposal from:
job set-up
preparation of the surfaces
priming – which surfaces get primed and with what primer
painting – what paint goes where and how many coats
job clean-up
payment terms
We take the time to review the proposal with you
It’s very important that you know what’s involved with your painting project, so we review the proposal with you. This allows you to ask any questions and get clarification, so that you’re comfortable with the entire process. It’s our goal that you are comfortable with the way we are going to handle your painting project before you agree to move forward.
We’d be happy to provide you with an estimate for your painting project, why don’t you book one now? CAM Painters will Transform Your Home With Lasting Beauty!
When you hire a painting contractor for your Toronto home you expect to have a great experience. Here are some steps we go through to make sure that happens.
We remove our outdoor shoes when working on your interior project
We don’t want to track dirt all over your home, so we have shoes that we use when we’re inside your home and shoes that we wear outside, so that dirt is not tracked into your home.
We’ll introduce you to the entire painting crew
We want you to be comfortable with our crew when they are working in and around your home, so we’ll introduce you to everyone. Feel free to ask any of the workers on your project any questions that you have, we’re all here to make sure you have a great painting experience
We’ll review the scope of work with you and work out the sequencing of the job
We want you to know where we will be working and how long we’ll be in each area. We don’t want there to be any surprises, you will know each day what area of the house we’ll be in.
We’ll discuss some logistics
We want to know which washroom you’d prefer us to use, where you’d prefer us to store our equipment at the end of the day, and if there’s a utility sink we can use to access water.
We’ll discuss the finer points of the project
We’ll ask which picture hooks, screws and other hardware such as towel bars, etc. you’d like removed and which will be staying. We’ll address any pre-existing conditions, such as existing paint drips or other existing damage.
We want you to have the best painting experience possible
The best way to do that is to make sure that all your expectations are met. A pre-job walk through is one of the ways to ensure that we are clear on your expectations.
Here is a story common among Toronto homeowners. It has been captured in the account of two fictional painters, Billy and Bobby. Join us as the story unfolds…
A Tale of 2 painters
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
In a land far away there lived 2 painters. Billy and Bobby.
Billy the Painter
Billy was a good painter and wanted to do a good job for his customers. One day Sue gave him a call, she needed someone to paint her condo and heard about Billy and his business from a friend.
They met and Sue showed him the project. “Now Billy, I really want a top notch job done, and I really need it done during the 2nd week of March, you can do that for me, can’t you?”
Billy really needed the work, even though he had Mrs. Jones’ job for the beginning of March he figured he could be finished in time to start Sue’s job, if he rushed.
March rolled around and Billy was swamped! He had not anticipated that the Mrs. Jones’ job would take as long as it did. Finally he got up enough courage to call Sue the Saturday before he was supposed to start and tell her that he wouldn’t be able to make it on Monday. In fact, he wouldn’t be able to start until the week following.
“What?” Sue retorted “when I talked to you initially you promised me the 2nd week of March. I had scheduled for the kids and the dog to be out of the house, we’ve even started to move the furniture”
“How about if I was to start in the middle of the week instead of the following week” Billy didn’t want to let Sue down.
“Fine” said Sue “but don’t let me down, okay?”
“I won’t let you down” replied Billy
On Wednesday of that week Billy showed up to Sue’s job. He told Mrs. Jones that he caught a bad cold. “That will buy me a couple of days,” he thought.
In order to make the schedule work he would have to work quickly on Sue’s job.
“Maybe I can save time on some of the prep work” he reasoned to himself. “Sue probably won’t even notice”
Because of this, Billy made great progress on Sue’s job. Near the end of the first day he was well over halfway done.
Sue came home later that day and she was not impressed! Sure, the nail holes had been filled, as requested, but the wall themselves still had divots and lumps and bumps. It just wasn’t the professional job that she was expecting.
“Billy,” she said in a stern tone “I’m not happy with the job. I think you need to smoothen the walls and repaint them. I simply can’t have them looking like this, I expect a better job than this”
Sue proceeded to point out all the areas on the wall that she was not happy with.
“Oh no” thought Billy “she’s being so picky! This is ridiculous, I won’t be able to finish her job in time”
As a result, Billy ended up taking 4 days to finish Sue’s job. Sue never was completely happy with the work, but she figured it was okay and she paid Billy, mainly just to have it over and done with.
She also made sure to tell her friend who referred Billy what a bad experience she had. That friend, consequently, never referred Billy to anyone else.
The story doesn’t end there, because Billy was delayed in finishing Mrs. Jones’ job too. So Billy ended up with Mrs. Jones being upset at him too.
Let’s hear about Bobby….
Bobby was a good painter and wanted to do a good job for his customers. One day Ann gave him a call, she needed someone to paint her condo and heard about Bobby and his business from a friend.
They met and Ann showed him the project. “Now Bobby, I really want a top notch job done, and I really need it done during the 2nd week of March, you can do that for me, can’t you?”
Now Bobby had Mrs. Smith scheduled for the beginning of March. Since he always allowed extra time in his schedule for unforeseen circumstances, he didn’t want to promise Ann the 2nd week of March.
“Ann,” he said “I just can’t promise you the 2nd week of March”
Bobby was willing to lose the job rather than promise something he couldn’t deliver.
Ann, however, was willing to be flexible and they settled on the 3rd week of March.
A week before Bobby was set to start he emailed Ann, just to remind her that he was on schedule and to give her a handy list of things that would ensure the paint job would go as smoothly as possible.
The 3rd week of March came along and Bobby and his crew showed up at Ann’s condo. Bobby had gone through exactly what Ann wanted at the time of the estimate and those expectations were clearly noted for his crew in their project management system.
Bobby’s crew was organized. They knew the level of prep that was expected and they went to work to make sure it was all done correctly.
When Ann came home, the crew leader had left a note detailing what was done, and what was planned for the next day.
She was impressed! She liked the care that they took ensuring that everything was covered and the meticulous prep work.
Bobby was always telling his crew “it’s easier to do it right the first time, than to have to go back and do it again” and it showed!
When Bobby and his crew finished Ann’s condo she was so pleased. She thanked Bobby and each of his crew members and happily paid Bobby for the work performed.
She also made sure to tell her friend that referred Bobby to her what a wonderful job he had done. That friend was pleased and resolved to refer Bobby to even more people.
So it really was the best of times and the worst of times. It was the best of times for Bobby and the worst of times for Billy, even though they both had the same circumstances.
THE END
There’s a few lessons we can learn from this fictional account:
First, Billy “over-promised” which meant that he “under-delivered”. He promised more than he was able to deliver which got him in trouble as one missed promise caused another.
Bobby, on the other hand, “under-promised” and “over-delivered”. He was willing to lose business, rather than get himself into the cycle of missed promises.
Also, Bobby had excellent communication with his customer. He was sure to let Ann know that everything was on schedule, and he did so far enough in advance that if there were any changes, they’d be easier to adjust for. During the job, communication was maintained with Ann, so that she knew what was going on and how the project was progressing.
So, if you’d like a quote from a “Bobby painter”, rather than a “Billy painter”, schedule one now. CAM Painters will Transform your home with lasting beauty!
Years ago it was common to have varnished wood trim, or stained panelling or other natural wood features throughout the home. This was a standard in Toronto home painting and varnishing. This highlighted the natural beauty of the grain, however, it can result in a very dark look for your house.
These days many people are choosing to paint their stained or varnished wood to brighten up the interior of their home, but it’s not as simple as grabbing a brush and putting on a coat of paint. Here are some pointers if you’re thinking about painting your interior.
Natural wood can make an area look dark if you have varnished wood…
You’ll know if you have varnished wood by looking at it, this coating generally has a glossiness to it, and it sits on top of the surface and looks like a clear film.
Do not paint directly over top of varnished surfaces without the proper preperation! This coating is inherently unstable, it never fully cures, even though it is dry to the touch. If the paint is applied directly over it without proper preparation the paint will develop cracks as the coating underneath shifts.
Scuff sand the surface: We want to break open the top layer so that our primer can penetrate and grip the surface
Prime with a high adhesion primer: I like to use Sherwin Williams Extreme Bond Primer or XIM UMA. Both primers are great at sticking to difficult surfaces. Follow the directions on the can and allow it to fully cure before the next step.
Paint with a top quality paint: When painting trim I usually use Sherwin Williams ProClassic or Benjamin Moore Advance paints. These paints dry very hard and durable and also dry very smooth too.
If you have stained surfaces…
It’s a little easier to paint if the surface is currently stained. As you might guess, this coating soaks into the surface and doesn’t create a film on top, so getting paint to adhere is not a problem like it is with varnish.
Steps for painting stained wood
Prime the wood with a stain blocking primer: Any oil based primer or any shellac based primer will do. I like to test an area with Sherwin Williams Multi-Purpose Water-Based Acrylic-Alkyd Primer which has the properties of oil paint with water clean up. If that doesn’t seal properly and there is discolouration on the surface, I’ll move to a regular oil primer. Finally, if the oil primer doesn’t work I’ll use a shellac based product like Zinsser BIN which is effective on all types of staining even nicotine stains, if necessary.
Paint with a top quality paint: Once the primer has been given enough time to dry, paint with a top quality paint like I mentioned above.
I often get asked by people who enjoy DIY projects, “what kind of brushes and rollers do you use?”
In this post, I’d like to talk about brush selection, and in a subsequent post I’ll talk about roller selection.
Quality is key.
A low quality brush will only give you frustration and slow the painting process down. How do we select a quality brush? Take the brush out of the package and place it against a wall with a little bit of pressure, as if you’re applying paint. If the bristles come to a nice point, that’s the sign of a good quality brush, you’ll be able to apply the paint in a nice clean cut line. If when you place the brush against a wall and the bristles are going many different directions – select another brush, or use it as a dust brush!
The type of brush is dictated by the task you are doing.
There are two main types of brushes; angle sash and straight sash.
Angle sash brushes are cut at an angle, so that the bristles come to a point. These brushes are good for all tasks, especially when cutting straight lines, for example, brushing the top edge of a wall, or painting a window.
Straight sash brushes are squared off at the bottom. These brushes are not as good at cutting a straight line as an angle sash. They are good, however, for painting clapboard siding and decks.
The size of the brush should be determined by the task that you are doing.
If you are painting walls, I’d recommend a 2.5″ or 3″ brush. These brushes will hold more paint so you will not have to be dipping your brush in the paint as often. This allows you to do longer, more even strokes, which will result in a better, smoother, finish.
Most trim I use a 2″ to 2.5″ brush. This would include baseboards that are over 3″ (which most are these days), window and door casements, doors, etc.
If you are painting fine trim, such as a french door, you could opt for a smaller 1.5″ brush. This will ensure that you don’t get too much paint on the smaller surface. Too much paint on the surface and you will get drips and sags.
Sometimes there are times when an artist brush comes in handy. These are great for detail work! Here’s a tip to keep the brush steady while doing fine detail work; touch the surface with your pinky and ring finger while you hold the brush with your thumb, index and middle finger. The pinky and ring finger anchor your hand and minimize any hand shakiness.
What brands of brushes are good?
This is all a matter of personal preference, of course, but I’ll give a few suggestions to start you off. You can look for Purdy brushes, Wooster brushes, these are pricy brushes, but you get what you pay for, if you take care of them, they’ll last for a while. Other good brush brands are Piccaso (which can be found at some Benjamin Moore stores). If you’re looking for a more economical brush, Sherwin Williams has a contractor grade brush that has a lot of bang for the buck.
If you’re project is bigger, or more involved than you’d like to take on, please book a quote! We’d be happy to come over and give you a quote and help you Transform your home with lasting beauty!
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