Day in the life of
Painter – Andrew Groves
My name is Andrew Groves and I’ve been a painter/decorator for 20+ years.
Before and after work
My working day starts very early. Travel is a big part of the job and I will sometimes need to drive for 2 hours+ to get to my client’s home.
Each day is typically different but one thing is constant – I’ll spend a lot of time preparing before even applying a drop of paint. This means ensuring dust sheets are in place so as not to get any paint on the floors and then conducting thorough surface preparation to give my paint something to key to. Some surfaces are in worse conditions than others so the time taken to actually prepare the surface fluctuates.
Then, applying the paint is the easy part. I try to use a water-based paint these days due to the quicker drying times which means once the first coat is done, I can pop out for some lunch and when I get back, it’s usually time to get the next coat on.
Once completed, I do a quality check to ensure everything is as it’s supposed to be and touch up any areas I’m not totally satisfied with (if I’m not satisfied, the customer is unlikely to be either).
When I’m happy with everything, I wash all of my equipment straight away (you don’t want to try cleaning half-dried paint off your roller, trust me) and pack my gear back in the van.
Before and after work
Pros
- You have the opportunity to advance your career as much as you want. You could start as an apprentice and once you’re skilled enough you could easily advance to a business owner. As you advance, you can earn a comfortable amount of money.
- There isn’t really a ‘typical’ day. One day you might be rolling an emulsion on interior walls whereas the next you might have a paint sprayer out doing large areas of fencing. No two days are the same.
- Painting can be therapeutic!
- You get to meet a lot of interesting people.
- You’ll only ever work outdoors when the weather is nice.
Cons
- There’s often quite a bit of travel involved
- You’ll need to be out of the door very early (especially unpleasant during the colder months!)
- It’s a physically demanding job which can catch up with you after many years in the trade
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Construction and Maintenance Painters
paint walls, equipment, buildings, bridges, and other structural surfaces, using brushes, rollers, and spray guns. May remove old paint to prepare surface prior to painting. May mix colors or oils to obtain desired color or consistency.
The Builder
