What Causes Delays During a Professional Painting Job?

Delays are an unfortunate reality of any service, including professional painting. While most professionals do everything they can to prevent delays from happening, the sheer number of moving parts in a professional painting job mean that things don’t always go as expected.

Because such delays are an annoyance for clients and painting crews alike, let’s unpack why they happen and what can be done to avoid them.

First, the unavoidable issue of nature… For exterior painting jobs in particular, weather always plays a factor. Different regions have different weather patterns, of course, but no matter where a job may be located, the potential for a rain storm, a blizzard, a dangerous heat wave, etc. equals potential delays. Like any other line of work, safety is important, and painting in such conditions simply isn’t safe. To take it a step further, bad weather conditions can also affect the success of the job in terms of paint adhesion, proper coverage, how long it takes to dry, and so on.

Beyond acts of nature, it’s important to understand that scheduling is one of the most challenging aspects of operating a professional painting business. We complete over a 100 jobs each year, working with multiple crews of painters. These painters are human beings with lives and challenges of their own, and sometimes they can’t make it to work – just like anyone else. In some cases, this means the job takes a bit longer. In others, it makes more sense to delay the work so a full crew can get the work done in a single day. We do our best to have fully operational, time-conscious crews, but sometimes people need to miss work – and that’s okay!

These causes, however, make up a very small percentage of painting job delays. Client-related issues are far more common. The good news is that many of these issues are avoidable through communication and thorough preparation before the painting work begins.

If there’s any carpentry work related to the job, we try to make sure it’s all done before painters arrive – otherwise they’ll have to come back at a later time, which means a longer overall project. Similarly, solidifying choices about color and sheen before the job starts is an easy way to keep things on track. If a client wants to see a particular color on a wall before choosing the color for the trim or accents, this immediately adds time to the project (and tends to irritate the crew).

The last factor is both the most common AND the easiest to avoid: room prep.

The more “paint-ready” a room is when the painting crew arrives, the more immediately they can get to work. If they have to spend time moving personal items, taking things off or away from walls, or finishing up cleaning, all of this delays the painting process and adds time to the job.

Some delays are beyond the control of the painting company, the crew, or the client, but the most common causes can be avoided with thorough communication. To do your part as a client, be clear about your expectations and choices, pay attention to the company’s prep recommendations, and actively participate in communication throughout the entire process.

Delays can happen for a variety of reasons, some of which are more easily controlled than others. The more you understand about how all the pieces fit together, the more you’ll be able to reduce the potential for delays – and maintain some patience if unforeseen circumstances push back the project’s completion.

To get started on your next painting job, or for any questions about how our teams work to finish your projects on time, contact CertaPro today!