For managers seeking to ensure that a project is done as efficiently as possible and meets their goals for appearance, contractors stress the skill level, experience and productivity that their workers can bring to a project.
"Using an outside contractor as opposed to using their own people means we can get in and get out" as quickly as possible, Pugil says. "That means (managers) have their facilities 51 weeks out of the year, rather than tying up certain areas for weeks. I can put 10 or 15 guys in there over a week's time, where (the in-house department) probably only has two or three (people).
"We can get more work done, generally speaking, with better quality than most in-house painters. My guys know they have to produce every day, and they work for a painting contractor that knows what a guy can and cannot do as far as production. Most in-house managers don't know what a painter should be able to do in a day — how many square feet, how many door frames."
Managers also need to research a contractor's staffing practices.
"We use our own employees," Pugil says. "We don't sub anything out. We don't pay by the piece. But there's a lot of independent contracting going on, where a contractor will say, 'Yeah, I can get you eight guys, and we can do this job for X amount of money.' Then he'll sub it out to some guy that can find seven other guys to do the work, and he pays them half of what he's getting. But nobody's paying insurance. Nobody's paying workers comp. They're not bonded. There are no warranties. It's a bad part of our industry."
A manager's research also will help them understand that not all painting contractors are the same.
"That's a big misconception," he says. "Everybody's looking for a good contractor, but a lot of the contractors don't have the qualifications. They don't keep up with the latest and greatest products. They don't belong to groups like PDCA (Painting and Decorating Contractors Association). They're not accredited."
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