# What is the most important skill set of a painter?



## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

Endurance is the most important skill set a painter possesses. IMO. Everything else is a lot easier to acquire.


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## PACman (Oct 24, 2014)

poetry. I think it's poetry myself.


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## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

Well played sir.


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## SemiproJohn (Jul 29, 2013)

Being able to quickly and easily explain the fallacy of paint and primer in one?


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## SemiproJohn (Jul 29, 2013)

CApainter said:


> Endurance is the most important skill set a painter possesses. IMO. Everything else is a lot easier to acquire.


I can't argue with this.

Here's some lyrics to back up your claim. I'll let you tell me from whom they were pinched.

You can do a lot in a lifetime
If you don't burn out too fast
You can make the most of the distance
First you need endurance
First you've got to last...


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## Delta Painting (Apr 27, 2010)

Remaining composed when some jackazz has a complaint that is totally baseless...


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## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

SemiproJohn said:


> I can't argue with this.
> 
> Here's some lyrics to back up your claim. I'll let you tell me from whom they were pinched.
> 
> ...


I don't want to cheat. who is it from?


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## Eagle Cap Painter (Nov 14, 2016)

Meticulousness & efficiency. I don't mean speed or a microscopic attention to detail, but the ability to compartmentalize tasks and fully complete them with as little wasted energy as possible.


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## SemiproJohn (Jul 29, 2013)

CApainter said:


> I don't want to cheat. who is it from?


From one of my usual sources, Neil Peart. The lines are from the song "Marathon."


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## RH (Sep 7, 2010)

I'd say being able to effectively organize and plan ahead so things get done in their proper order (ex. clean, sand, and prime one day so top coating can be done the next). This leads to efficiency which is the key to being profitable IMO. I think this fits in with what Eagle Cap listed.


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## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

Even with all of these good suggestions, none of them are sustainable without endurance.

What exactly is endurance?

From Google:




noun: *endurance*
*1*. 
the fact or power of enduring an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving way.

_And..._

adjective: *enduring*
continuing or long-lasting.


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## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

In other words, although void of many technical aspects associated with other trades, painting thrives on endurance.

Enduring:
1. mis information
2. stereotyping
3. the physical demands
4. the hazards
5. DIY'ers
6. ignorance
7. ridicule
8. sympathy
9. material unreliability
10. etc. (Breaks over)


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## PACman (Oct 24, 2014)

SemiproJohn said:


> From one of my usual sources, Neil Peart. The lines are from the song "Marathon."


I was going to say Rush.


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## MikeCalifornia (Aug 26, 2012)

RH said:


> I'd say being able to effectively organize and plan ahead so things get done in their proper order (ex. clean, sand, and prime one day so top coating can be done the next). This leads to efficiency which is the key to being profitable IMO. I think this fits in with what Eagle Cap listed.


Amen, although more this lends more to a boss or foreman. If just a painter by trade, no ownership vested, be able to take orders and follow them, adjusting your technique to fit the job at hand.


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## lilpaintchic (Jul 9, 2014)

Well I guess it goes with endurance, but I'm saying patience....lots and lots of patience....so I can endure it all without choking anybody.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk


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## Wildbill7145 (Apr 30, 2014)

This is a great post/question. But I gotta watch the newz prior to responding.


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## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

MikeCalifornia said:


> Amen, although more this lends more to a boss or foreman. If just a painter by trade, no ownership vested, be able to take orders and follow them, adjusting your technique to fit the job at hand.


It definitely takes endurance in order to take orders. A new employee will be tripping all over themselves to follow orders. After three months, if you don't have the endurance to put up with some blow hard "boss", that employee will either begin to slack off until he's fire, or just say adios.


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## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

Endurance requires a level of humility most don't possess.


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## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

As an owner, I could make demands all day long. But if I can't endure a level of respect for the people that make my business what it is, I am unsustainable.


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## PACman (Oct 24, 2014)

There once was a guy from Nantucket,
Who liked to use Behr from a bucket.......


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## futtyos (Aug 11, 2013)

*Attitude/mindset*

I think that one's attitude or mindset towards whatever one is doing is the fundamental key. If you make up your mind to like what you are doing, it makes it a lot easier to put up with or endure troubles that come up.

When I was young, I hated doing prep work. Now, I love doing the prep right because I know it will not only make the painting that much easier to do, but also will make it look really good.

Even more, one's attitude towards painting in general (or at least towards the type of painting one chooses to do) is important, at least for me. I quit painting back in the 90s and swore that I would never paint again. When the next gig I was working at folded up around 2011, I found myself trying to figure out what I could do to make money. Painting offered a way to do this. One of my first bids after coming back involved doing research on proper methods. My research is what brought me here. I figured if I was going to go back into painting, I should make up my mind to do a good job and to enjoy it. Reading lots of what you all have posted here at PT has helped with that tremendously!

Endurance is very important, but I think it is easier to endure things when you are doing something that you enjoy than to endure problems that come up when you are doing something that you don't enjoy doing.

All that being said, I think endurance and attitude are somewhat intertwined.

Two things I need to get down. Getting to bed early and getting up early!

Gotta go get some coffee now.

futyzzzzzzzzz..............


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## futtyos (Aug 11, 2013)

*9-5?*



CApainter said:


> Endurance is the most important skill set a painter possesses. IMO. Everything else is a lot easier to acquire.


After thinking about it a little more, I do believe that if you are working 40 hours a week and doing 9-5 on a regular basis, endurance, at least for me, would be the most important thing. I am definitely not a 9-5er myself. 

futtyos


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## Wareaglerebel (Jun 26, 2017)

I would say salesmenship. Unless you are labor. But for those of us who run our own business the most important thing is salesmenship. Everytime we go to do an estimate we are basically saling ourselves. That is what a HO really is picking, the contractor they get the best impression of. Except for those few who actually just pick the cheapest bid. But my whole livelyhood revolves around my ability to gain trust from potential clients in a matter of a few minutes. If the potential client doesnt get a good impression of you during the estimate process you almost never get the job. This might be a bit different for commercial guys who do all their bids based off blueprints and do estimates over email. But for residential painters I really cant see anything even close to being as important as making a good impression. Except maybe reputation. In res work a good reputation is also a must.


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## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

Wareaglerebel said:


> I would say salesmenship. Unless you are labor. But for those of us who run our own business the most important thing is salesmenship. Everytime we go to do an estimate we are basically saling ourselves. That is what a HO really is picking, the contractor they get the best impression of. Except for those few who actually just pick the cheapest bid. But my whole livelyhood revolves around my ability to gain trust from potential clients in a matter of a few minutes. If the potential client doesnt get a good impression of you during the estimate process you almost never get the job. This might be a bit different for commercial guys who do all their bids based off blueprints and do estimates over email. But for residential painters I really cant see anything even close to being as important as making a good impression. Except maybe reputation. In res work a good reputation is also a must.


Salesmanship applies across the board. I am selling an attitude every day that advertises I am prompt, competent, courteous, honest, and enthusiastic. I basically have no interest, or aspiration to do that on a daily bases, but I have to earn a living. So in order for me to present myself as a competent professional painter, every single day, I have to have endurance. That's what got me through nearly forty years in this trade. It certainly wasn't a glossy brochure, Polo shirt, or my cut in lines.


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## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

futtyos said:


> I think that one's attitude or mindset towards whatever one is doing is the fundamental key. If you make up your mind to like what you are doing, it makes it a lot easier to put up with or endure troubles that come up.
> 
> When I was young, I hated doing prep work. Now, I love doing the prep right because I know it will not only make the painting that much easier to do, but also will make it look really good.
> 
> ...


Doing work one absolutely loves, certainly lends itself to less resistance, and subsequently the lesser need for endurance. Painting just doesn't offer me the dream, or passion that this trade offers many others. Now, if I could make a living playing music, maybe I wouldn't need to endure as much.


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## RH (Sep 7, 2010)

CApainter said:


> Endurance is the most important skill set a painter possesses. IMO. Everything else is a lot easier to acquire.


I certainly understand what you are getting at, and it's likely largely a matter of sematics, but I tend to think of endurance as more of a character trait than a skill set. A skill being something one develops through training and practice (taping effectively and efficiently and cutting in come to mind as "skill sets" specific to painting). Whereas endurance, at least in my mind, is something one already has (or lacks) to a certain degree. 

Of course you may force yourself to "endure" more and cope if you don't have much of that trait initially. And certainly, the pure physical form of endurance is something that someone can work at improving upon. But if you lack mental endurance, I'm not sure that can really be taught or learned (with most individuals anyway), and you probably won't be going into painting - at least as an owner/operator.


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## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

Yea. It's more like an attribute. But I still believe it's one of the most important attributes a painter has. And I would imagine that if you're still working in the field, you still need the same endurance as an owner as you would an employee. Maybe even more considering you have more responsibility to the job.


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## Pete Martin the Painter (Nov 8, 2012)

Gotta say I think all of these are good, but the one that I think is really important..assuming that the painter is competant...is an eagerness to try new things. I am constantly looking for better/easier ways to do things.

Sent from my VS987 using Tapatalk


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## Wildbill7145 (Apr 30, 2014)

Anyone mention a good memory yet? What went on when? What's one coated and what's finished? What got left where? What paint goes where? Gotta keep all sorts of crap at the ready in the old noggin at all times.

Anyone ever get to the finish line at a job and all of a sudden start trying to remember your customers first and last name? I have. Kind of embarrassing.


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## SemiproJohn (Jul 29, 2013)

I think perhaps the most important skill set to have is the ability and desire to shore up one's weaknesses, whatever those may be. 

For me, sales/marketing is my weakness. I find these are not innate within me. They must be consciously sought, nurtured, and pursued. Yet I largely ignore them, and wonder why I'm not doing better than I am. LOL

It's easier for me to learn and apply the prep/painting/product side of the equation. The ownership side is the harder part.


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## MikeCalifornia (Aug 26, 2012)

You are all wrong!!! 

Its endurance, OK. See CA's 9 different posts on why it is so.


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## Gwarel (May 8, 2012)

Endurance is important, but I have to agree with RH that efficiency and the ability to think ahead is the most important. Work smarter, so at the end of the day you don't have to work harder.


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## fauxlynn (Apr 28, 2011)

futtyos said:


> Getting to bed early and getting up early!
> ...


I wish I could get this down...



Wareaglerebel said:


> I would say salesmenship.



I can only speak for faux painters....sex appeal is what we rely on. It's a different form of salesmanship.


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## Vylum (May 12, 2016)

endurance and most of these are too general and not specific enough to our trade. 

im going to say coordination. lots of square footage to manoeuvre, ladders, cutting over carpet. i dont get why some dudes and gals with block hands decide to paint. precision would be another good one


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## lilpaintchic (Jul 9, 2014)

fauxlynn said:


> I wish I could get this down...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


ROFLOLOLOL!! yippee for v neck t-shirts and a great bra, lololol

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## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

I guess this thread is kind of rhetorical.

What gets each of us through the day successfully is likely a combination of personal attributes that are adjusted accordingly, given a certain set of circumstances. For example, I just completed a significant job that required a combination of my organizational skills, competency, planning, and endurance. It was pretty straight forward getting everything off the ground. But I found half way through the project that without a particular level of endurance, I would not have been able to complete the job. Particularly given my limited resources.

So, it had dawned on me that no matter how much I've learned over the years, it came down to that drive to accomplish my goal. Despite the hot weather, the PPE, the grinding, the coating, etc. Along with the fact that certain aspects of the process could have been planned better had I had the opportunity to be involved at that stage.

And it also made me think of what gives me that drive to endure. Part of it was proving myself (yea, I still do that at age 57. Call it painters plight or whatever). Another part of it was spite. To spite what others may think of a painters capabilities and what painting provides in terms of the contribution to the important dynamics of the building and construction industry. And lastly, there was this sense that I had developed my endurance through humility, honesty, teamwork, and purpose. Not to mention blood, sweat, and tears.

At the end of the day, the other tradesmen were pretty impressed with the job. Comments about me being the hardest working man at the site always makes me cringe. It's almost an insult given the complacency found among so many trade workers. Particularly among organized labor. God forbid you show any enthusiam and drive. But then again, maybe it's just recognition for my endurance. 

Anyways, I patted myself on the back for a job well done. Thanks for your interest!


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## RH (Sep 7, 2010)

CApainter said:


> I guess this thread is kind of rhetorical.
> 
> What gets each of us through the day successfully is likely a combination of personal attributes that are adjusted accordingly, given a certain set of circumstances. For example, I just completed a significant job that required a combination of my organizational skills, competency, planning, and endurance. It was pretty straight forward getting everything off the ground. But I found half way through the project that without a particular level of endurance, I would not have been able to complete the job. Particularly given my limited resources.
> 
> ...


Well, it was only rhetorical because you pretty much decided it would be. 

As Wildbill said, great topic for a thread but when everyone's responses are more or less trivialized and rerouted back to being dependent upon the trait of endurance, the potential for lots of suggestions and discussion gets squashed. People just give up or decide just not to respond at all. 

Believe it or not, there are quite a few others here who are also capable of forming intelligent ideas and expressing them. And with a topic such as this, there is seldom a single "right" answer. So In the future, perhaps consider posting your question, thank those who respond, and let the ideas flow - or not. Just my two cents worth.


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## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

RH said:


> Well, it was only rhetorical because you pretty much decided it would be.
> 
> As Wildbill said, great topic for a thread but when everyone's responses are more or less trivialized and rerouted back to being dependent upon the trait of endurance, the potential for lots of suggestions and discussion gets squashed. People just give up or decide just not to respond at all.
> 
> Believe it or not, there are quite a few others here who are also capable of forming intelligent ideas and expressing them. And with a topic such as this, there is seldom a single "right" answer. So In the future, perhaps consider posting your question, thank those who respond, and let the ideas flow - or not. Just my two cents worth.


I believe I admitted it was rhetorical, on my part, by stating there are a lot of attributes that contribute to one's success. (See first paragraph of my last post)

That's why I decided to explain what prompted me to start this thread in the first place. And how I strongly believe that endurance plays a large role in painting. Sorry if I offended you and others. Remember, I'm just reporting my perspective as an employee. Unfortunately, I don't have the experience to participate at the level of everyone else.


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## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

I've never missed Oden more than I do now.


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## RH (Sep 7, 2010)

Speaking just for myself, I think "offended" is too strong a word. Maybe slightly irritated? No, that even seems too much.


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## lilpaintchic (Jul 9, 2014)

Well I'm changing my answer now. Screw patience...its overrated.
I'm going with boobs and the ability to effectively delegate. top that endurance man! (JK) and thanks for the reminder Lynn! Roflol

Gawd I'm just awful sometimes....

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## Gwarel (May 8, 2012)

lilpaintchic said:


> Well I'm changing my answer now. Screw patience...its overrated.
> I'm going with boobs and the ability to effectively delegate. top that endurance man! (JK) and thanks for the reminder Lynn! Roflol
> 
> Gawd I'm just awful sometimes....
> ...


I only know a couple of painters with boobs, and now that you mention it, one of those guys is pretty good at delegating........


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## lilpaintchic (Jul 9, 2014)

Gwarel said:


> I only know a couple of painters with boobs, and now that you mention it, one of those guys is pretty good at delegating........


Lolol

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## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

futtyos said:


> After thinking about it a little more, I do believe that if you are working 40 hours a week and doing 9-5 on a regular basis, endurance, at least for me, would be the most important thing. I am definitely not a 9-5er myself.
> 
> futtyos


I'm afraid that if didn't have the demands of being at work early in the morning until the evening, everyday, I would definitely lose some of that drive.


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## fauxlynn (Apr 28, 2011)

I was sort of not joking. Nobody 'needs' faux, so it doesn't hurt to be Little Miss Flirty sometimes....and I don't know if it's just me getting older but I really don't care anymore if, once on the jobsite, my bra is hanging out or if I have plumbers crack.

Whatevs


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## slinger58 (Feb 11, 2013)

fauxlynn said:


> I was sort of not joking. Nobody 'needs' faux, so it doesn't hurt to be Little Miss Flirty sometimes....and I don't know if it's just me getting older but I really don't care anymore if, once on the jobsite, my bra is hanging out or if I have plumbers crack.
> 
> 
> 
> Whatevs




That may work for you gals, but I'm pretty sure my clients and coworkers appreciate my "non-leaking" long pants and tee shirt.


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## RH (Sep 7, 2010)

slinger58 said:


> That may work for you gals, but I'm pretty sure my clients and coworkers appreciate my "non-leaking" long pants and tee shirt.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Not to mention not seeing your "mansierre".


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## slinger58 (Feb 11, 2013)

RH said:


> Not to mention not seeing your "mansierre".


LOL. That was a great episode of "Seinfeld". 

But my man-boobs aren't the problem. I was never really gifted in the pecs department anyway and now that "old age gravity" has set in, the old, saggy man tits can be dealt with by wearing a generous tee shirt. 

As with most men who have seen 60+ winters, it's that little ski slope right above the waist line that gets me. Best I can do is wear dark shorts and horizontal pattern shirts when I play golf. And try not to see myself in profile in a mirror.


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## joeUKpainter (Jul 26, 2017)

Talent :biggrin: and unfortunately it seems thats getting more rare by the year.I don't know if you've heard the saying "if you can pi55 you can paint"? but it really does seem that the majority of the Tom, Dick and Harry's that roll into a building site with a 9 inch emulsion roller and gleaming overalls really do believe that.


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## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

joeUKpainter said:


> Talent :biggrin: and unfortunately it seems thats getting more rare by the year.I don't know if you've heard the saying "if you can pi55 you can paint"? but it really does seem that the majority of the Tom, Dick and Harry's that roll into a building site with a 9 inch emulsion roller and gleaming overalls really do believe that.


Woody Allen suggested eighty percent of success was showing up.


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## joeUKpainter (Jul 26, 2017)

CApainter said:


> Woody Allen suggested eighty percent of success was showing up.


:biggrin: How many panelled doors do you reckon he's glossed?


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## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

joeUKpainter said:


> :biggrin: How many panelled doors do you reckon he's glossed?


With all the money he made being so successful, I reckon none.


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## Brushman4 (Oct 18, 2014)

Wildbill7145 said:


> Anyone mention a good memory yet? What went on when? What's one coated and what's finished? What got left where? What paint goes where? Gotta keep all sorts of crap at the ready in the old noggin at all times.
> 
> Anyone ever get to the finish line at a job and all of a sudden start trying to remember your customers first and last name? I have. Kind of embarrassing.


Sometimes I've forgotten my own name....:vs_laugh:


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