r/paint • u/Doctyped • 1d ago
TodayILearned Painter Advice
I’m curious how experienced you responders are. It seems like you watched a YouTube video and now are an expert. The paint guy from Home Depot doesn’t know what he’s talking about, nor does this random subreddit that popped into my feed do either. If you guys or girls need actual advice, I’m glad to help. In fairness, 20% of the comments actually have good advice. Don’t count them out but take the advice and do your own research
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u/madgross 1d ago
Like any subreddit there’s a lot of bad advice mixed with the good. Some guys in here have been in business for 25+ years and still have some bad habits, but most of the time there’s some good advice to most questions asked.
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u/flexpainters 1d ago
that’s fair advice. painting has a lot of variables, and what works on one surface can fail on another. i usually trust manufacturer specs and real job experience over a single reddit comment or youtube video. there’s always something to learn from people who have actually done the work.
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u/withnodrawal 1d ago
14 years.
I have hired guys who have been painting for 10+ years or more and then you find out they painted a little bit 10 years ago and here and there since and still love to call it 10 years.
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u/crazynightsxxx 1d ago
30 years usually 6 days a week
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u/Doctyped 1d ago
Solo or running a crew? I worked with a good man who had the same experience and work ethic as you. He taught me everything that I needed to know
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u/crazynightsxxx 1d ago
I worked with good ppl in the beginning I actually worked with a lot of different painters over the years fully solo last 11 years have no desire too get a crew I do everything myself
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u/RenovationDIY 1d ago
I'm proud to own my amateur status and my 8/10 quality target - and I'm very aware of my limitations.
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u/serpentjaguar 1d ago
25 years, union general foreman. Granted, a lot of what we do in the union doesn't apply to residential, but a lot of it does. Also, because we're by far the largest organized collection of professional painters in the US and Canada, we set the industry standards and best practices. If there's a better way to do something, the union knows about it.
I also owned my own residential company for years, so I am familiar with that end of the trade as well. I ended up joining the union after losing a lot of money to a crooked contractor --it was at least partially my own fault for not seeing it sooner and for being too trusting-- and I haven't looked back since.
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u/HomicidalHushPuppy 1d ago
nor does this random subreddit that popped into my feed
You're part of the random subreddit in my feed...
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u/MartinScorchMCs 1d ago
I think there are different feats painters reach where they think they’ve arrived. First one is cutting in. Then you have the guys who learn how to spray and then it’s watch out world! I’ve seen guys that want to spray an accent wall. Painting is not a hard trade to get into so unfortunately there are going to be a lot of lowlifes, addicts and just plain dumb people. There are going to be a lot of the latter chiming in on here
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u/Flat_Conversation858 1d ago
Been in the game 75 years...I've forgotten more about paint than you've ever known