When painting contractors receive a call or request to bid from an institutional or commercial facility, they generally know the situation they are getting into.
"The majority of the time, they have large projects that need to get done in a short period of time," says David Scaturro, sales and marketing director with Alpine Painting & Sandblasting Contractors in Paterson, N.J. "They're down to the wire, and they need to get a contractor in there ASAP."
In reality, maintenance managers hire a painting contractor for a variety of reasons influenced by money, time, staffing and experience. But whatever the reason, managers need to be sure they are making the right decision in selecting a contractor. By discussing the project's scope and product selection ahead of time, managers often can ensure a solid match between contractor and project.
While not every facility painting project demands a contractor's expertise and experience, certain types of projects can be completed more efficiently by contractors. Contractors obviously can help departments working against tight schedules, but they can help out in other all-too-common situations.
"Often, when we're brought in, it's one of two situations," says Aaron Moore, partner with Precision Painting & Decorating Corp. in Addison, Ill. "One is for the maintenance cycle. For example, every five years, this section of the building gets painted. The other is the situation where we're on the tail end of another project. They did a build-out, they're reconfiguring a space in the facility, and they want to repaint it."
But contractors also can help in a crisis that threatens to disrupt facility activities and become a larger and more expensive problem.
"A lot of times, (managers) have an issue, whether that's a water intrusion or a coating failure to some degree, and they need our professional input to evaluate why it's happening, put in place corrective measures, specify a coating system, (perform) surface-preparation methods that will correct this issue," Scaturro says.
Painting Contractors as Project Partners
