Day in the life of
Painter – Paige NeJame
Paige NeJame
Painter
CertaPro Painters of the South Shore and Boston
My Typical Day
A typical day for a painter:
- 8am: Arrive at office to clock in and get work orders for the day
- 8:30am: Arrive at customer’s home and review what is being done on the job to make sure everyone is on the same page
- For exteriors, the next six hours might include:
- Powerwashing the exterior of the home with an eye toward removing dirt and mildew without so much water pressure that it damages the substrate
- Fixing broken shingles or replacing rotted wood on the home
- Prepping the home by scraping loose paint and feathersanding the edges of the old paint
- Priming the raw wood or spot priming the wood that has raw wood showing
- Sampling paint for the customer – many clients leave the color choice to the last minute
- Taking a trip to the paint store to gather paint – usually, the painter will err on the side of buying less paint upfront to see how far he/she can get the paint to go and buying more later if the house is extra “thirsty” and is using more paint than expected.
- Spraying the exterior using a paint sprayer and back rolling the sprayed paint so it gets “pushed” into the substrate (wood/clapboard/stucco etc.)
- Brush or roll painting detail areas like moldings and trim
- Taking the customer around to see if the customer sees any areas that need touching up
Pros
- Lots of work available – there is a shortage of great painters so a painter usually has his/her choice of jobs
- Being able to work as an independent contractor or employee for a painting company – whichever they prefer – again, because of the shortage of good painters, the painters can choose which works for them
- Downtime in the winter – especially in the Northeast, painting is very seasonal. Because exteriors can only be painted March-October due to low temps (can’t paint in the cold) and wet weather (can’t paint in the rain or snow), the winters tend to be very slow so if a painter was smart, they could work a 9-month year, save their money for the winter and take the whole winter off.
- Customers are so happy with the final product. A painter is usually the last one to leave a renovation, so while the plumber and electrician do good work, a painter is the “finishing touch” on a renovation and gets a lot of the credit for the final outcome.
Cons
- Physical work – especially in the summertime when painters are on ladders in the hot sun, is a real “con.”
- Lack of prestige – being a painter doesn’t make for a great cocktail party conversation.
Paige NeJame
Painter
CertaPro Painters of the South Shore and Boston
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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.
Salary:
$46460
Salary Rank:
C
Education: No degree required
Becoming One:
Easy
Job Satisfaction:
Low
Job Growth:
Very High
Suitable Personality:
The Builder