# What's your biggest mistake?



## Mantis (Aug 4, 2008)

Lets see who is humble enough to tell everyone he (or she) has royally F'd up in the past! Maybe some others can learn from your mistake(s).

Since you came into the business, what's the biggest mistake you've made. You can define "biggest" any way you want; most costly, most losses of future work, no tip, whatever. 

I remember one of the first jobs I had ever done after venturing out on my own without Daddy guiding me. All I had ever done was track homes and saving a buck was the most important thing. We were doing our first fully custom built home. It was 6,000sq ft trimmed in Knotty Alder, beams, built-ins, floor to ceiling trim, the whole works. I was looking for a quick way to fill the holes, i forget why i didnt just use putty. Anyway a painter at the local ICI store who overheard me asking the sales guy about it cornered me. He told me I could just mix some stain in with my Elmers filler and flush it off. It would dry the color you needed and you'd be good to go! I thanked him and was on my way.

So we did as advised by this wonderfully seasoned painter... We mixed that oil stain in with our water based filler and flushed off every damned hole in the home and blasted it with a coat of sanding sealer and 2 coats of Chemcraft Lacquer Opti-Clear 35 sheen. Looked GREAT! Days later, as we were painting the walls, the builder pointed out a nail hole on a column that looked... funny. It had a halo around it. As a matter of fact, ALL the nail holes in the entire house had a halo around it! The stain separated from the putty and soaked right into the wood. Every hole we filled had a nice ring around it.

We ended up having to sand everything down to bare wood, dig out the old putty, re-fill, re-seal, and re-finish the entire house full of trim. We lost money on that job and the builder never used us again. We took some lumps on that one!


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## timhag (Sep 30, 2007)

http://www.painttalk.com/f4/top-business-mistake-275/ :thumbsup:


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## johnthepainter (Apr 1, 2008)

not having a good customer database.


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## Mantis (Aug 4, 2008)

timhag said:


> http://www.painttalk.com/f4/top-business-mistake-275/ :thumbsup:


Wtf! and here i thought i was being original. Well, I'll just call this Part II then. New mistakes? : 

*reads the content in the link*


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## MDRocket (Feb 3, 2009)

When I was a young painter all of 18 on my first big job i made many mistakes. Thinking of these guys I worked for they were kinda fly by nite painters and real seasoned drinkers to boot. On the ride to work out two fearless leaders were downing vodka and orange juice for breakfast. Needless to say the 6 of us in the back all around 18 were having fun with these guys. Well the job was a 6 story restoration of a old mill in Baltimore Maryland. It was already gutted all that remained was the windows and sashes. We were to first take out windows and set up a area for striping, priming and paiting of windows. Also a second crew was to strip the sashes and do the same. Well at 18 and the money was better than working at a local fast food joint I was having fun. Slack bosses good pay and at 18 drinking all the way home.....Well this job carried on and on working hard and having fun I never relized there was such a thing as lead paint. These guys turn and burned when the job was over pretty left me and three of my buddies to end up with lead paint poisoning. So that would have to be my biggest mistake.....not thinking that there is anything that can harm me at 18. Life is allways there to throw you a adventure I guess. On the other hand I did learn alot, alot of dont's! These guys used us for a quick buck and we got sick.


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## JNLP (Dec 13, 2007)

My biggest mistake would be working for hack companies making decent money when I could've been working for more specialized companies, making less at first, but gaining alot more. :yes:

Lessons Learned:
Never trust a pot hook to hold my can of paint. It some how just broke, leaving 1/2 gallon of paint on a two day old custom stone sidewalk. If you see me working off a ladder I will more than likely have two pot hooks attached.

Don't push your 18" bucket across uneven floors with your foot while rolling. They get caught, tip, and a few gallons of paint spreads pretty fast. Good thing it was new construction & only sub floor.

Don't trust that whoever closed the can of stain waiting to be loaded in the truck whiped the lid off. Left a nice trail going from the kitchen, down the hall, down the front sidewalk, driveway, and upto the vehicle. Caught that one in time & got it cleaned up.

:whistling2:


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## Mantis (Aug 4, 2008)

JNLP's post reminded me of another one. Not really tragic, but we were repainting a large ceiling in a customers home. We had a drop laid out with our paint and materials on it, including the lid to the gallon of paint we were using. The home owner was not home, but she left her decaying decrepit afghan dog out to roam. This dog was OLD. Anyhow, we're rolling away and look over and see these blotches of white paint dotted all over the hardwood floor leading from one end of the house to the other. The dog had come and laid, belly first, ontop of the lid and drug as he was walking away had drug his belly across the floor! Lucky it didnt walk across any of the large rugs they had. That day we became All Seasons Painting and Dog Grooming, Inc.


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## MDRocket (Feb 3, 2009)

I allways tell clients to lock up there animals or explain to them what could happen, I have countless paint stories with curious cats.

I once spilled 5 gallons of paint on a brand new carpet right in front of the builder I was working for. He was rather calm to my susprise. It was also in my younger days and he told us to fill a clean 5 with water empty it on the floor and shopvac it up. To my susprise it worked well but it was a biggest mistake that went ok.


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## daArch (Mar 15, 2008)

The HO was a coke head, worked for his father in some high paying job. 1980ish. 

Got there one morning, (not that it matters, but a few mirrors were horizontal from the night before) and he gave me a can of stain for one floor and another can of stain for another floor - one was Colonial Maple, the other Dark Walnut . Pine floors. He called that night, screaming that the colors were mixed up. Blamed me. 

To this day I will swear I put what he asked on each floor.

Had to rent a sander to get as much Dark Walnut out as possible. At least a day lost. He would NEVER even entertain the concept that his coke addled swiss cheese brain coulda f-ed up. 

Lesson: Get it in writing.


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## nEighter (Nov 14, 2008)

my first two years in the business were what I felt like on big mistake. 

I could sum it all up with the fact that I was a nice guy and just got trampled on.. from having employees trample all over me to working on a friend's mom's house. She bent me over HARD (almost lost my business/financial standing in life during/after that). 

Had a bad business partner who I didn't know (at the time) was a true alcoholic and meth addict... was a hard couple first years.

First house I learned the lesson of "get it in writing" Arch.. was bad. Actually you know I think I got all and every kind of "lesson" customer during that time. :lol:


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## bhamsoxfan (Dec 29, 2008)

- Never put the bucket of faux that the artist you are working for (your wife) is using on top of your stepladder.

- Never move your stepladder with a bucket of faux on top.



- Never leave the brand new, unused, unopened can of paint in front of the garage door.:stupid:

- Never move your mother's car out of the garage before you check to make sure there are no cans of paint in the way.:wallbash:

- Never back a car back into the garage if you think you have driven over a can of paint.:cursing:



- Never cut your price in half because the store owner says, "If you'll be good to me, I'll be good to you.":devil2:

- Never work 36 hours in a row because you are trying to finish a job that you cut your price in half on.:yawn:


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## zerowned (Jul 23, 2008)

JNLP said:


> Don't trust that whoever closed the can of stain waiting to be loaded in the truck whiped the lid off. Left a nice trail going from the kitchen, down the hall, down the front sidewalk, driveway, and upto the vehicle. Caught that one in time & got it cleaned up.
> 
> :whistling2:




dont trust that your painters put lids on tight at all.... I had a can of primer put in the back of my pickup and it tipped over, started to leak out of the box of my truck for about 500 feet down a subdivision road... RIGHT up to a job site i had to visit....

i got out of the truck and walked up to the house, turned around and my jaw hit the sidewalk.... i had painted a new center line! 

it was hot out and by the time i got back to the back of the truck to see if i could do anything it was dry. talked to the city and told them what happened and gave them my info.... no one has called. this was in july. 

i always check the lids now...


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## nEighter (Nov 14, 2008)

bhamsoxfan said:


> - Never put the bucket of faux that the artist you are working for (your wife) is using on top of your stepladder.


I just had a gallon of gripper decide to take a dive tonight. It landed on it's side and it's lid "popped" open just a bit. I have all the flooring up in my place and well.. I primed a good size patch of decking with it not by choice. I was able to get most of it up before it dried and what I did not I just hit it with the miniroller. Just glad it was my own place and that it wasn't on anything important. Oh it fell of a box that was about 18" tall :doh: Who would have thunk it would have happened?


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## venetian designs (Nov 24, 2007)

nEighter said:


> I just had a gallon of gripper decide to take a dive tonight. It landed on it's side and it's lid "popped" open just a bit. I have all the flooring up in my place and well.. I primed a good size patch of decking with it not by choice. I was able to get most of it up before it dried and what I did not I just hit it with the miniroller. Just glad it was my own place and that it wasn't on anything important. Oh it fell of a box that was about 18" tall :doh: Who would have thunk it would have happened?



LOL @ thunk :whistling2:


Anyways, back when I was working for someone, last day on a big exterior, one of the guys mixed Cabot problem solver with the solid stain (oil + latex), they were the same color. In order to save his stupid ass, we didn't tell the boss and painted one side of the house with it. I should probably check how it's holding up. 

Another time, I was heat gun stripping some wood, when I saw a wasp (I think) nest. I thought it would be a good idea to burn them out. Well the nest caught a small fire, while I got attacked by the wasps. 3 stings later and a cup of coffee on the nest, the problem was gone. :thumbup:


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## bhamsoxfan (Dec 29, 2008)

venetian designs said:


> Another time, I was heat gun stripping some wood, when I saw a wasp (I think) nest. I thought it would be a good idea to burn them out. Well the nest caught a small fire, while I got attacked by the wasps. 3 stings later and a cup of coffee on the nest, the problem was gone. :thumbup:


Ouch! I was sweeping pine straw off a friend's roof and didn't know a nest was inside. I was blowing leaves out of a shrub bed and "found" a yellow jacket's nest. We get a lot of nests under our eaves and inside our attic vents (three dead hornets in the living room this morning) - the sprays work just fine, and you can be 10-15' away. Those things just fall like dead weights. Gasoline works fine too (especially poured down into the yellow jackets' nests), but keep your heat gun away from that, too.


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## venetian designs (Nov 24, 2007)

bhamsoxfan said:


> Ouch! I was sweeping pine straw off a friend's roof and didn't know a nest was inside. I was blowing leaves out of a shrub bed and "found" a yellow jacket's nest. We get a lot of nests under our eaves and inside our attic vents (three dead hornets in the living room this morning) - the sprays work just fine, and you can be 10-15' away. Those things just fall like dead weights. Gasoline works fine too (especially poured down into the yellow jackets' nests), but keep your heat gun away from that, too.



Haha! I just pictured using the heat gun after spraying some gasoline. Lulz


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## mjkpainting (Feb 12, 2008)

When I first started we painted the entire interior of a larger colonial in various colors most of which were darker colors. While I was repairing a popcorn ceiling that I peeled off in the kitchen b/c I rolled it in a latex--------------

My worker went around touching up the dried walls with brush. The difference in sheen was sooooo obvious and we wound up having to roll every wall over again.


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## mjkpainting (Feb 12, 2008)

Holy crap- My status is now of a Senior member. I always wanted to be a senior member. How did that happen?


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## nEighter (Nov 14, 2008)

Getting paint in your arm/leg hair and not cleaning it out before it dries... instant Brazilian wax to other areas of the body are NEVER good


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## daArch (Mar 15, 2008)

And then there was the time in the very early 70's when I was still painting friends' parents' houses. We were rolling some latex on a ceiling and wondering why the old "paint" was coming off in sheets on the roller.

I now consider myself an expert when it comes to calcimine

Why does experience always come just after you need it ?


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## TooledUp (May 17, 2008)

About 10 years ago I was painting a fancy gable off a ladder, similar to the image below, with oil gloss. Needless to say the job was fiddly and I got quite a bit of paint on my hands and my brush was real messy. I'd done quite a large section and decided it was smoke time before I moved along to the next section. I wiped my hands with some wipes I keep handy and decided i would give the brush a clean down with some white spirit on a rag.

Lesson learned: Remember to put the wet rag down before you light up. The smell of singed eyebrows and lashes kinda puts you off your ciggies.


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## johnthepainter (Apr 1, 2008)

i sprayed oil primer, and had some drops laid out to protect adjacent surfaces.

at the end of the day my helper threw the drops in the back of the van.

the next morning when i opened up the back of the van, the drops were smoldering,,,,not on fire yet, but smoldering.

i yanked them out of the van, and opened them up.

as soon as i opened them up, they burst into flames.


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## mjkpainting (Feb 12, 2008)

high fibre said:


> i sprayed oil primer, and had some drops laid out to protect adjacent surfaces.
> 
> at the end of the day my helper threw the drops in the back of the van.
> 
> ...




I don't get it, why did the drops catch on fire??? 

Just so I don't make the same mistake


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## TooledUp (May 17, 2008)

mjkpainting said:


> I don't get it, why did the drops catch on fire???
> 
> Just so I don't make the same mistake


It's odd because you would've thought the primer would've been dry by the next day so not flammable. Maybe nothing to do with the primer? If there were windows on the side of the van then it could have been a magnifying glass effect causing the drops to smoulder/ignite. I'm wondering if there was some fuel involved? Maybe a petrol generator to drive the sprayer..?


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## daArch (Mar 15, 2008)

It's called spontaneous combustion. Us old farts have been taught this by our fathers and grandfathers :thumbup: We were taught NEVER put solvent or paint soaked rags in a container - spread out with plenty of air so the solvent can dry/evaporate

This from Wikipedia:



> A substance with a relatively low ignition temperature begins to release heat, which may occur in several ways, such as oxidation or fermentation.
> The heat is unable to escape, and the temperature of the material rises
> The temperature of the material rises above its ignition point
> Combustion begins, if sufficient oxygen is present.


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## daArch (Mar 15, 2008)

OH, and also not to pile those soaked rags in a pile on the floor was taught to us.

Speaking of burning drops - old partners were driving along in a stake-body truck with equip in the back. One flicked his cigarette out the window. Pretty soon they saw smoke in the back. The wind had blown the butt back onto a drop and it smoldered. I still have that drop and laugh at the holes each time I use it (folded as a runner only)


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## TooledUp (May 17, 2008)

daArch said:


> It's called spontaneous combustion


I suppose he should've had retardant proof ones.


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## bhamsoxfan (Dec 29, 2008)

TooledUp said:


> I suppose he should've had retardant proof ones.


Did you say retarded proof ones?


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## TooledUp (May 17, 2008)

bhamsoxfan said:


> Did you say retarded proof ones?


Here we go again. People reading into things they way they were meant to be said instead of the way they're written :whistling2:


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## Flaky (Sep 12, 2008)

I'll admit I've done one or more of the following, but won't say 
which one(s):

Never put a roller tray at the foot of a ladder where someone's working, just for a few seconds.

Never clean up a spill with your hat and then forget.

Never spin out a brush right next to the foreman's new truck.

Never use a Dunkin Donuts cup for touching up with brown paint.

Never step on the end of the plank beyond the support if there's an open can on the other end.

Never squirt caulk into the shirt of your female co-worker who practices witchcraft.


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## Bender (Aug 10, 2008)

I pulled a sliding glass door out and set in the grass for about twenty minutes
Pretty impressive how fast the beautiful green grass turned brown.


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## vermontpainter (Dec 24, 2007)

Its refreshing to see that most of these mistakes have to do with actual painting situations and that there havent been many mistakes on the business side of things. Most of the ones I think of are things I wish I had done differently in the early days business-wise.


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## Tampapainter (Aug 9, 2008)

On one of my early jobs I was painting some crown molding in a kitchen of a high end condo. I had already cut in and rolled some shelves, and for some reason put the pan on the floor next to my ladder. When I came off the ladder, I stepped on the corner of the tray which had about a quart of white oil in it. Paint flew up both my legs (I was wearing painters shorts) all over my shirt, socks and shoes, all over the marble floors, on the cabinets, stove, fridge, down the hall and on the walls. Worse part was, the thinner was in my truck, and I was on the fifth floor. I had to take my shirt, shoes and socks off, clean up what I could just make a path to get out of the kitchen. I cussed myself the whole way down to the truck. The neighbors in the building were probably wondering why there was a shirtless barefoot painter with a farmers tan waiting on the elevator. Luckily the HO wasn't home and it was oil, which came up pretty easy. It still took me an hour to clean up. Never forget that one.


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## gmcon (Feb 9, 2009)

The biggest mistake I made was following my Dad's footsteps to be a Painter. In my next life I'm going to be a jiggalo.


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## Mantis (Aug 4, 2008)

Im surprised nobody has a "brought the airless inside to spray something and the line exploded" story yet


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## JNLP (Dec 13, 2007)

Mantis said:


> Im surprised nobody has a "brought the airless inside to spray something and the line exploded" story yet


I was on a recent job and there was a guy spraying. His trigger got stuck & made a tiny little mess no big deal though. Suggested to him he keep a bucket attached to his ladder incase it acts up again.
"Yeah good idea I'll do that!"
20 minutes later I hear some cussing & watch as he's cracking the gun off the unpainted brick wall to get it to stop. Whole time not realizing the fact he was spraying about a 1/2 gallon of white paint down this persons red brick house & driveway. Tip: Always be prepared for an emergency clean up. :whistling2:


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## zerowned (Jul 23, 2008)

Mantis said:


> Im surprised nobody has a "brought the airless inside to spray something and the line exploded" story yet



im pretty scared of that happening, i have 2 dogs and my sprayers are downstairs in the shop area of my house but sometimes the door is left open enough for them to get down there, i always wonder if they are chewing on something... thats one of my fears is that they will get my airless line....


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## daArch (Mar 15, 2008)

Well, I gotta post this pix again.

Not my mistake, and not his biggest, but I still laugh with him about it when I see him at social events (why do I have so many buddies who are painters ? )









BTW, this guy's name is Peter Storey - NO relation to the pstorey on these forums. He and his bro partnered with me on many jobs back in the old days. This was circa 1981. And that's Ben Moore exterior oil. 

I think his biggest mistake (while working one of my jobs) was when I sent him up to stain the TRIM of a storage area above a closet, NOT the beadboard. Again, "Peter, do not stain the beadboard". Well, his short term memory was a little short that day, if you know what I mean






\

OH, he is one of the premiere grainers, malbelizers, and other faux finishers in Boston now, and still a very good friend - he was part and parcel to me and my wife finally recognizing each other as soul mates - but that's a different "story"


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## WePaintIt4u (Jan 18, 2009)

Not so good moments: Have had hoses bust on several occasions, some inside and some outside. Lesson always buy graco hoses, off brands lasted no time at all.

Personal bad moment: Tied to a rope painting a pipe while sliding down it, rolled to bottom side had to let go of the pipe and be pulled back up.

Scariest moment: 2 of my guys in an 85 foot lift fully extended, 1 wheel fell in a septic tank no one knew was there.


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## NEPS.US (Feb 6, 2008)

giving Timhag my phone number


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## timhag (Sep 30, 2007)

NEPS.US said:


> giving Timhag my phone number


Ha!Ha!Ha!


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## JNLP (Dec 13, 2007)

NEPS.US said:


> giving Timhag my phone number


MEEEEE TOOO! :yes:


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## NEPS.US (Feb 6, 2008)

:yes:


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## timhag (Sep 30, 2007)

I am deleting both of you from my phone. No more advise for NEPS and no work for JNLP.:no::no::no::no:


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## NEPS.US (Feb 6, 2008)

timhag said:


> I am deleting both of you from my phone. No more advise for NEPS and no work for JNLP.:no::no::no::no:


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## JNLP (Dec 13, 2007)

timhag said:


> I am deleting both of you from my phone. No more advise for NEPS and no work for JNLP.:no::no::no::no:


Tim the last time you gave me work was 6 months ago. You can keep that $12/hr. :wallbash:


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## JNLP (Dec 13, 2007)

NEPS.US said:


>


What kind of advi*c*e was he giving you NEPS? The proper way to tie a green tip to a purple minivan when all's you got is a boot lace?


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## timhag (Sep 30, 2007)

JNLP said:


> Tim the last time you gave me work was 6 months ago. You can keep that $12/hr. :wallbash:


Not only did I delete you from my phone, i will also put you on ignore so what you post I won't see.


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## JNLP (Dec 13, 2007)

timhag said:


> Not only did I delete you from my phone, i will also put you on ignore so what you post I won't see.


Awwwww... Please don't my little Timma. If you do though, and these are our last words... SEND ME THAT LITTLE PIECE OF MAIL YOU OWE ME lazy ass. :laughing:


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## timhag (Sep 30, 2007)

JNLP said:


> Awwwww... Please don't my little Timma. If you do though, and these are our last words... SEND ME THAT LITTLE PIECE OF MAIL YOU OWE ME lazy ass. :laughing:


Huh? Did you say something?????? Nothing but a blank box.


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## JNLP (Dec 13, 2007)

timhag said:


> Huh? Did you say something?????? Nothing but a blank box.


Good good. I guess no more borrowing my truck so you can look cool then? I bet as soon as your sorry ass somehow someway scams some poor girl into going on a date with you, you'll un-ignore me though. Never fails. Tim gets a date, I get a call.


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## Boden Painting (Dec 27, 2007)

drove the 40' list across the lawn and managed to crush just about every sprinkler head on the way to the side of the house.



and the sprayer line exploding happened to me, just finisished spraying a conferred ceiling when the pressure built up somehow and blew off out the line coating all 4 walls in the DR with Manor Hall semi.


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## Dave Mac (May 4, 2007)

Not saving for retirement at a early age


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## TooledUp (May 17, 2008)

Dave Mac said:


> Not saving for retirement at a early age


Painters get to retire...?


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## bikerboy (Sep 16, 2007)

Dave Mac said:


> Not saving for retirement at a early age


 
OMG!!
Put me down for that one!​


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## MAK-Deco (Apr 17, 2007)

bikerboy said:


> OMG!!
> Put me down for that one!​


I started young, and saw it go away this year


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## bikerboy (Sep 16, 2007)

I started young, but cashed it in to buy my first house. (now, I think you get a tax break for it)


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## DeanV (Apr 18, 2007)

Shoot, add me to the list about not saving for retirement soon enough. I figure with the recent downturn, it will be like starting out 10 years ago, so now I can catch up.


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## johnthepainter (Apr 1, 2008)

yes, spontaneous combustion,,,, and you fellas that have not heard of it>>> it is real and beware of it,,, lay your stuff out to dry, or soak it with water.

i know of two instances (1 garage fire, 1 porch fire from stain rags)


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## MAK-Deco (Apr 17, 2007)

high fibre said:


> yes, spontaneous combustion,,,, and you fellas that have not heard of it>>> it is real and beware of it,,, lay your stuff out to dry, or soak it with water.
> 
> i know of two instances (1 garage fire, 1 porch fire from stain rags)


yeah we soak all are oil base rags in water...


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## NEPS.US (Feb 6, 2008)

A friend of mine used to back his cube truck right up to the front door on NC jobs. His guys were cleaning up (all smokers) and wrapped up drops and threw them in the cube. A hour later 30ft flames were coming out the back. My friend hopped in and drove it away from the house before that caught on fire too. Thinner cans were exploding left and right. Most likely a cig but in the drop.


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## Workaholic (Apr 17, 2007)

NEPS.US said:


> A friend of mine used to back his cube truck right up to the front door on NC jobs. His guys were cleaning up (all smokers) and wrapped up drops and threw them in the cube. A hour later 30ft flames were coming out the back. My friend hopped in and drove it away from the house before that caught on fire too. Thinner cans were exploding left and right. Most likely a cig but in the drop.


That sucks. He was lucky that he was able to get it away from the house. Did his insurance buy him a nice new one and replace all the equipment inside? 
You have to watch out for them smokers.


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## NEPS.US (Feb 6, 2008)

Workaholic said:


> That sucks. He was lucky that he was able to get it away from the house. Did his insurance buy him a nice new one and replace all the equipment inside?
> You have to watch out for them smokers.


 
Lets just say he is not the smartest business man. :no:


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## Workaholic (Apr 17, 2007)

Man that would suck. He must of lost a lot of eqipment. When my ex-partner used a box truck we kept a lot of stuff in there. Sprayers and all. That would be like starting all over.


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## johnthepainter (Apr 1, 2008)

big mistake>>>>>>loaning tools.


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## JNLP (Dec 13, 2007)

NEPS.US said:


> A friend of mine used to back his cube truck right up to the front door on NC jobs. His guys were cleaning up (all smokers) and wrapped up drops and threw them in the cube. A hour later 30ft flames were coming out the back. My friend hopped in and drove it away from the house before that caught on fire too. Thinner cans were exploding left and right. Most likely a cig but in the drop.


A good friend of mine who owns a painting company had the same thing happen to his box truck in front of house. Only major damage end up being the rear door needing replaced. :whistling2:


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## johnthepainter (Apr 1, 2008)

in retrospect, i should have closed the back door and let that step van burn,,,,,that one was a money pit.

maybe that was my biggest mistake.


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## vermontpainter (Dec 24, 2007)

Kevin

This was a good thread about mistakes. There have been others as well.


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## Metro M & L (Jul 21, 2009)

My worst was painting the trim in a three bedroom apartment with latex without deglossing. Needless to say the paint failed to adhere to the super glossy oilbase.

I spent a week stripping and repainting all trim, every window, door and cabinet in the unit. Sooo many doors. Sooo many closets. 

Kept the customer though.


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## jacob33 (Jun 2, 2009)

My worst mistake was the third job I ever did on my own. It happened about a year ago. I did not collect money until the end of the jobs at the time, and I finished and the person refused to pay. I had a simple signed contract but things were changed and no change orders so it basically negated it. I also did not state in the contract that I could put a lien on the property. Since it was a primary residence I could not take a mechanics lien. That one cost me just about 19,000. I talked to a couple of lawyers but was basically told it would be hard to get the money because even if we won it would be difficult to get them to pay. Basically my simple contract was the problem since the primary residence is protected. Sent letters nothing happened. Plus I did not have the money to pay a lawyer since I had just been cheated. It was an expensive lesson. Learned to have better contracts but basically be pickier about who I work for and collect money as I go. If the check is not there when it is supposed to be I stop work.


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## IHATE_HOMEDEPOT (May 27, 2008)

*Tora! Tora! Tora!*

I had masked off an exterior halogen light and somehow the light had been turned on,started a fire within 30 seconds. Luckily I was right there. I would say either totally remove it or make absolutely sure to turn off the breaker. These lights get incredibly hot. Don't ever put a thinner rag in your back pocket.


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## michfan (Jul 6, 2008)

This is a classic. I kicked over a 500 watt light once. Didn't realize I did (obviously, or it wouldn't be a story). Anyways, was staining some cabs on a NC job and started to smell something burning. Looked over where the light was and it was burning a rectangle spot on the floor...Lesson learned, always use the lights on the stand. It cost me $100 bucks to have the floor guy replace that section of floor. Luckily the floor were still bare wood. I'd take the $100 any day compared to what coulda happened.


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## johnisimpson (Oct 5, 2007)

I'm still learning and still making lots of mistakes but my biggest, and this is rather broad, is being one of those guys who should have worked for some more experienced contractors longer before I went on my own. I can appreciate the advice to new guys on the board to work for someone else and gain experience. I can say that I worked to be legit from the start (insurance, workers comp, taxes, etc.) but I very quickly found that you get in deep water fast and had to keep swimming. 8 years later now and the business has morphed and grown and I hope most of the big hiccups are over but man it would have been easier to log a good couple years with one of you pros to help lessen my learning curve. 
My best specific mistake though is being bad about taking info down on scraps of paper, envelopes, any of 5 notebooks or whatever else is handy on a job site or around the house and then realizing that I've been slow to respond to a bid request a few days later. I'm working on my organization constantly but it's a weak point for me.
Worst mistake I've been around though was a friend and owner of a highrise company getting distracted and forgetting to double check his tie offs before going over the side of a 5 story building. Ouch.


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## vermontpainter (Dec 24, 2007)

johnisimpson said:


> I'm still learning and still making lots of mistakes but my biggest, and this is rather broad, is being one of those guys who should have worked for some more experienced contractors longer before I went on my own. I can appreciate the advice to new guys on the board to work for someone else and gain experience. I can say that I worked to be legit from the start (insurance, workers comp, taxes, etc.) but I very quickly found that you get in deep water fast and had to keep swimming. 8 years later now and the business has morphed and grown and I hope most of the big hiccups are over but man it would have been easier to log a good couple years with one of you pros to help lessen my learning curve.
> My best specific mistake though is being bad about taking info down on scraps of paper, envelopes, any of 5 notebooks or whatever else is handy on a job site or around the house and then realizing that I've been slow to respond to a bid request a few days later. I'm working on my organization constantly but it's a weak point for me.
> Worst mistake I've been around though was a friend and owner of a highrise company getting distracted and forgetting to double check his tie offs before going over the side of a 5 story building. Ouch.


John

Sounds like you are building on a proper foundation. Alot of guys skip those steps in the setup and end up with something that is difficult to grow. Not that its everyones goal to grow, but for some people in business that is the desired effect.


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## johnisimpson (Oct 5, 2007)

It's getting better every year and I've found that small growth feels best for me. It's taken time, but I'm much more comfortable with my knowledge base these days.


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## SterlingPainting (Jan 3, 2010)

On second thought - I think my first story was a little to low-brow for this audience. So I'll just tell my 2nd biggest mistake was when I was a new painter and tried to fix a big wall-patch job with featherlite, not knowing it was nearly unsandable..had a hell of a time fixing that one. Medium job turned into a large job lol.


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## jason123 (Jul 2, 2009)

My most Haunting one has to do with red paint. I could go on forever. So just the pertinent info. 

Large High end living room, should of just sprayed it. But at this time in my career I owned a sprayer and never found a reason to use. Sufficed to say I use a different lens to judge that now.

So I used a tinted pink primer, yes I know...Well I know now!
This top coat was a deep base red. I put about four coats by myself over the weekend then had two of my guys come in on Sunday and we did a fifth. It was still S#$T. We ended up spraying the whole apt.

Ill tell ya I bought the farm on that one!


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## Woody (Jan 7, 2010)

I have a little of every post on this thread.... 

Thanks guy's, I enjoyed it !!


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