I have been in the painting industry for over 10 years and although I haven't made millions I have made a good living from it. It's an industry that I still enjoy and it's not often that I wake up feeling insecure about my work. That changed this month. I know each painter has their slow periods but we always knew that if we gave it a few weeks and it will pick up, and it always certainly did. But this time it's different.
My boss and other companies were quoting jobs left, right and centre, but no work was coming in. When we asked a few questions we found out that we were too expensive. We learned from a potential client that they got a cheap painter they found on the net by typing the job they required on a site that sends the information to painters. The painter then gets to quote the job and the client gets phoned and email. Okay, nothing wrong with that, I'm all for healthy competition.
So in order to find out and to try and understand why, despite the fact that painters lowered their profit margin, we and other painters were still seen as too expensive. So I put an advertisement out. It read:
"I have 700m2 of plaster wall, looking for quote to do 1 coat of sealer and 2 coats of wall paint." (Including materials)."
Now you quickly do your maths, keeping in mind the cost of materials and labour you would expect that a qualified painter would charge $10-15 per m2. What did you come up with? When I went to my email the next morning I had 3 quotes, 1st $3,700, 2nd $3000 and 3rd wait for it, drum roll please.... $1,500 yeah that's NOT a typo.
One thousand and five hundred dollars. At the time of writing this I have had 8 emails. Only 1 came in around the ballpark figure a second one came in today, another $1,500.
Well I can tell you my blood was boiling. Then I got an email from a plastering company, who now do painting. What next? Ex lawn mower guys painting? Oh silly me, I forgot they're already are!
A while ago they got rid of the hairdressers rego and now any one can do a short course and become a hairdresser. Last year they got rid of the painters rego board. Now most painting companies, even the ones who have been around for years are been undercut by anyone who fancies themselves as a painter. The old mentality of "if you can piss you can paint" is well and truly alive and kicking. I don't know about you but I did not do an apprenticeship, work my butt off and get crap money for 4 years just for the fun of it. I can't sit by and watch an industry that I love go down like this, without putting up a fight. But I can't do it alone. So I have started a petition to bring back the painters rego board.
Yeah I know what just popped into your head, the same thing that use to pop into mine whenever I heard the words rego board those useless bunch of #@$##&! Well I wish that bunch of #@$##&! were still here.
Consider the following:
#1 The general public will not be getting a quality professional paint job.
#2 In order to make a profit while doing the above job for the price quoted short cuts have to be made.
#3 These short cuts will reflect on all qualified painters. Painting us all with the same brush (pardon the pun).
#4 There will be no incentive for young people to take up an apprenticeship.
#5 Having a trade certificate and Dulux credited will mean nothing.
#6 There will be no need for M.P.A
If you're thinking well I'm still doing okay, well good for you and I wish you the best, however it will trickle down and eventually affect you! But the good news is, we can always become hairdressers.
Thank you for your time.
If you agree, then please sign the petition and pass on this link.
Amanda Reilly