Site vs Domestic, why the conflict?

Following on from a comment made on a painter forum I use, I thought I would write down my comments and thoughts on my blog. It's played on my mind for a week or so now but I've only had the time to write it down now.The post made was, at first, a gripe about site painters and how rough they are. Basically generalising a whole raft of decorators on the basis some are toshers. I'll stop here for a second and go a bit more in depth on what I mean. Site painters, in the eyes of most deccies, are the ones who only work on new build jobs. Mainly houses or flats, that line of work. Some will work on other new build projects which have a much wider range of finishes and they require a keener eye for detail, but for the basis of this blog and for the gist of the original comment it's new build houses that refer to site painters.

Now your average new build house normally comes down to white ceilings, magnolia walls and white gloss/ satinwood woodwork. The surfaces provided are, in theory, new and smooth so a good finish is easy to achieve. In practice this isn't always the case, often on site other trades have left holes that have had to be patched up, skirting boards and architraves not flush to walls leaving gaps or chippies going gung ho with their nail guns leaving excessive nail holes. You find you can be working in a plot with one or two other trades who make mess when all the painter needs is a nice clean plot with no dust, this works against them. Another thing to go against the site painter is time and price. Sometimes you are given a small window to get a plot finished so you have to work fast to get it completed. Inevitably some corners get cut, it might get pulled up on it might not. The price you get given could be too light so once more corners get cut so the painter makes money. However the reasons though, there really isn't an excuse for poor workmanship. I've worked with many a painter who talk a good game, go in a plot, crash it out and make their money and move on. It's not till a week or so later when the snagging list comes you see how rubbish the plot is. Filler painted over without sanding or even filled in first place, cutting in grinning like Tony Blair, woodwork rougher than when first cut from the tree, bits missed all over yet full price for house booked in.

On the other side of painting you have the ones who deal only in domestic work. Private houses and offices and the like. Nice clean work where you have the time to achieve the right finish. If I'm honest all painters love that work, nothing more satisfying seeing a room redecorated or an exterior repainted from a few years of neglect and then getting the clients praise for the work you have put in. You go that extra length to get it right and the end result shows that. Those extra hours in preparing the surfaces and protecting the area pay off in the end. Some of the jobs I've seen done by domestic painters blow my mind. The quality and expertise on the finish is beautiful and it spurs me on to improve my finished product on each job.
So then you get those who look at site painters as rough as boots due to the reasons I listed before because they don't, or can't be bothered, to go to those lengths.

Before you get the idea I am getting on at site painters, I'm not. I have worked with painters on site who, quite frankly, are brilliant. The level of finish they produce and the speed they do it in is amazing. Gloss work with a mirror like shine to it. Walls smooth as the plaster when first troweled. I've often walked into their plots and have been stunned at how they managed to a finish like they have in the time they did it in. These painters are the reason I feel I need to stand up in defence for site painters. Not all on site are toshers. Yes there are a lot out there, in fact whenever a big car plant or factory painting and decorating always get a influx of new workers, but these are always found out. Maybe they do one or two plots before they get sussed but they do in the end. Add in the politics of site work, many struggle to cope which adds to the toshing element. Plus I've lost count on the amount of painters who have only worked on domestic work and have struggled to get a finish as good as site painters despite taking days longer. In their eyes they think it's only a new house, we can bash a few of them out and show the site painters how to do it then get surprised on much harder it is.

My view is this. The majority of us are in this game to do the best job we can and to earn a decent living out of it. Be that on a building site, a living room for Mrs Brown down the road, a office for solicitors, a pub or country mansion. Whatever the job, we are still the same trade. Because a few tosh it in does not mean we all are the same, and it's wrong to generalise a whole side of decorating because of that. What side am I working on now? The site side, but always longing to be back on the domestic side ;-)

www.db-decs.co.uk