5 Best Professional Painting Tips and Tricks for Businesses

Painting a room is not an easy task unless and until applied with complete care and responsibilities. The same is the case for painting business owners to manage professionals’ different aspects while working on the site.

Seasoned pros perform a better job than an average homeowner. In short, they must know the secrets that make them the best painters.

To make it easy for you, we have come up with an article highlighting the essential professional painting tips and tricks that will benefit your painting business. These five painting tips and tricks help you improve the quality of your work and save time and money in the process.

5 Painting Tips and Tricks for Painting Businesses

To ease the management of your painting business, all you can do is follow these mentioned tips and tricks.

1. Use High-Quality and Long-Lasting Supplies

   A painting business typically involves a large number of equipment and supplies for completing a painting project.

   • Make use of Painter’s tapes

     Usually, there are two types of painter’s tapes: masking tape and standard blue tape. Masking tape is more dangerous for skin, and it can bleed a painter’s hand or finger while working on the site.

     If a painter tries to remove the painted tape, then it may cause skin problems. You need to make sure that they use painter’s tape with more precautions.

     On the other hand, a painter’s tape can easily be removed as compared to masking tape. The professional painters use a putty knife to bed the tap and wait till the paint dries.

   • Pick a Powerful Primer

     A primer is one of the essential painting tools that you must have when you are starting your painting business. It plays a vital role in dealing with many large-scale painting jobs to remove rust and corrosion, especially from steel or aluminum substrates.

     If your paint is wet (aka in an unlabeled can) use rubbing alcohol to find out if the existing paint is oil-based paint or latex paint.

     You will come across many homeowners who prefer to use latex products on a large scale. But the experts prefer to use alcoholic products as a paint extender to provide the best results.

     If you do not like latex gloves or are allergic to latex, use a similar type of glove material called nitrile. Then, liberally apply Low-Stick Painter’s Tape, sometimes known as the blue tape, which has a low-stick adhesive that comes off easily and resists peeling off primer or existing paint.

     Moreover, selecting the appropriate primer typically affects the final coat’s appearance. It ultimately depends on the painters to paint the ceilings or the interior walls, but the main aim is to show primed spots.

   • Buy Quality Paint

     Usually, there are multiple types of paint hitting the market. However, it entirely depends on the customers what specific type they prefer to use.

     Nowadays, glossier paints are becoming more popular in businesses globally. Such paints work well, especially if your customers want stain-resistant and scrubbable painting solutions.

     Flat paints work fine for ceilings and formal rooms, but many professional painters in the business recommend using eggshell gloss. Such painting techniques are suitable for drawing rooms, kids’ rooms, kitchens, and bathrooms.

     With a tinted primer’s help, a painter can use an old paint color rather than a simple white primer.

     Moreover, many DIY painters use latex paints and oil-based tools too. Oil-based paints are the best for restoration work, while latex paint works well for an interior painting project and new trim.

     The pros in your business typically possess their favorites, but they need to be ready to work with cheap paint and apply two coats of paint.

   • Roller Rules

     The roller is the essential piece of equipment that makes your paint job easy. Therefore, it becomes mandatory for you to inform your pros to take care of rollers by considering the following factors:

     • Make use of a paint roller with a longer nap that has more lifelines to create more texture.
     • Using a 1/2-inch nap lamb’s-wool roller to control multiple painting jobs without any textures.
     • Less expensive rollers work well if they can work, but it requires additional tasks like washing them first in dishwashing liquid to remove any stray fibers.
     • Use paint trays to keep the rollers avoid lap marks when painting walls or ceilings.

     However, many pros typically prefer to use lighter, cheaper, and most importantly, easy-to-use rollers. So they use 9-inch rollers rather than 18-inch models. Once your painter completes its paint job, you need to ensure that the roller covers are kept on a roller frame only. You should not leave them in the paint bucket.

     One of the best painting techniques for pros is wrapping the roller cover in a plastic bag to create an airtight seal.

   • Make use of the Painter’s Rod

     If your customer requires you to paint a ceiling, the professionals need to use a rod or extension pole.

     If the pros stand on a rod or a pole, your customers don’t need to stand underneath the painting area. Apart from ceilings, extension poles can also be used for interior and exterior walls and floors.

     In general, the professionals typically use either a 4- or 8-foot pole for everyday use.

   • Use better paint brushes

     Paintbrushes are solely responsible for giving a professional looking finish to your painting.

     You need to involve natural-bristle brushes, especially oil-based paints and synthetics, for all-around color paint use. Moreover, a wrong paintbrush might be the reason for too much paint or too little paint in brush strokes.

     Therefore, special attention must be given to bristles when making a selection for the brush, and don’t just go for the cheap brushes.

     A synthetic brush is typically made up of nylon or polyester or maybe a combination of both. On the other hand, poly bristles are rigid, making it easy to perform exterior work.

1. Carefully Choose the Colors Options

   Once the list of equipment and supplies is available with you, you must list the best color options that make your client happy.

   The color option you keep should be kept according to different room types like drawing room, bedroom, balcony, and kitchen.

   One of the best recommendations for your business is to create an impressive handy guide. The guide provides expert advice and color suggestions that make the customer happy while looking at first sight. You can try out these approaches:

   • Test first (Always): Never mistake consulting your local hardware to see the list of color options. It can sometimes be helpful but confuse you about how your chosen colors will look on your walls.
   • Interior painter: You can purchase different tester pots with shades and apply them on a blank sheet. If it dries out and suits the best as per your wall, you can go ahead with the rest of the rooms.
   • Consider the room’s dimensions: Once the pros visit the customer’s location, it becomes essential to measure the room’s accurate measurement to paint. So, you can quickly get an overview of paint requirements for the specific project.You’ll come across many interior personnel who will recommend you purchase a gallon of paint per square foot. You may, however, need to buy more than that if your work also involves painting rough, unprimed, or a textured wall surface.
   • Box a paint for a consistent color: You need to check every detail of color specification to remain compatible with almost the entire project. However, it should not affect more even if you mix all the paints into one box. For mixing different colors, you can also adopt box paint.

2. Clear the Area

   The primary intent of any customer is to have a flawless paint finish. But for this, you and your pros must be completely aware of any defects the walls or ceilings possess.

   Often, the walls need to bear the problems like minor or significant scratches, cracks, or even peeling areas. So, it becomes your prime responsibility to analyze such areas before opting for a fresh coat of prime and starting the painting job.

   Moreover, for clearing the area, you need to follow the steps mentioned below:

   • First, you need to wet a sponge using detergent soap or water to remove greasy walls.
   • Make use of canvas drop cloths to remove gathered dust from walls and ceilings.
   • Give protection to your home items like bedsheets, chairs, television, and others against spills by moving them out of the painting area.
   • Remove light switch and outlet covers.
   • Find all the available holes in the walls, especially using a two-part filler or an epoxy wood filler.

   An alternate solution that you can do is to inform your customers to cover furniture items, TV, floors, and other open items with drop cloths, plastic bags, and even blankets that are of no use. Then, it is just to remove any rogue paint drips.

   For example, you can use paintable acrylic latex caulk to fill all the available gaps and make the trim look better than a new one.

   It is better to power off the home, especially where the wall painting job is going on. So, you can cover up your door casings and can then sturdily secure them with painter’s tape.

3. Apply the Paint

   When your pros start to paint, it becomes essential to protect trim work by using masking tape.

   • Never make a mistake to start painting using a roller without stirring the paint properly. This is because paint usually comes in thicker, so you must dilute it well.
   • The painter should use a top-to-bottom approach to paint, especially for wall paint. Initially, you can start with crown molding, casement molding, and at last perform baseboard molding.
   • Make a habit of painting in “W” shapes on the wall with a roller with an extension pole.
   • To avoid stripes caused by rolling over paint that’s already starting to dry, keep a wet edge by painting the full height of the wall and then moving over slightly so you can overlap the last stroke with the next.
   • To wet paint, start near a corner and run the roller up and down the full height of the wall, moving over slightly with each stroke. Move backward where necessary to even out thick spots or runs. Don’t let the roller become nearly dry; reload it often so that it’s always at least half loaded

4. Apply the Finish

   The final step in a painting job is to give an attractive look. No painting job is complete without a coat of paint finish (paint conditioner).

   Let us understand the basic overview of finishes that can make your paint colors more shining.

   • Flat or matte

     You can achieve a matte finish to give the walls and ceilings an attractive look. Such painting may require two or three coats, but it may be increased depending on the client’s wall or whether it may have nail holes.

   • Eggshell or satin

     This finish works well, especially if you want to add sheen to the client’s wall surface. This finish gives better results compared to flat paints and works the best only for walls.

So, take your valuable time to look at each of these tips and tricks to enhance your business productivity and the appearance of your client’s home or office.

However, many questions will still be arising in your mind related to the painting business; we have come up with frequently asked questions in the next section.

Conclusion
The business owners need to follow these painting tips mentioned in this article to become a master at creating and managing the overall business aspects.

Although it may sound easier said than done, bear in mind that it takes years to master a trade fully. Just follow the secrets mentioned, and no one can stop you from being on top of this competitive world.

Once your painting business is set up, you can manage all the essential business activities and operations with FieldCamp. In addition, the service scheduling software provides an option to schedule, dispatch, and even generate business reports in just a few clicks.