One October, I decided to hire outside help to accomplish my goal of having the best looking house for the holiday season. I hired a larger painting company to do the work for me, as I had seen their commercials and ads around town and had assumed that anybody wiling to put up this much signage and advertisement must be good. After the fact, I now believe that most of their money went into advertising instead of hiring good, respectable individuals to perform their work.
A contracted painter can be a nightmare if the wrong one is chosen to do your exterior painting. I made such a mistake that fateful October as I hired the biggest painting company in town to do the work for me. The team of painters did not show up on time any of the three days they were supposed to be working. I also expected the job to take a day or two, as my house is not all that large. Their disrespect towards my house and myself turned out to be more than I could handle. Tire marks on the lawn, careless paint spills and their getting too cozy in my backyard all began to annoy and anger me almost immediately.
The next year, I again took a shot at owning the best looking house for the holiday season and hired another, this time smaller, contracted painter. The team turned out to be a few college kids looking to put themselves through school by painting houses. Their concern with the well-being of my house's paint job, as well as my property in general, amazed me. For college kids who are attributed with such a negative stigma that they are lazy and disrespectful, they did a superb job as a contracted painter team.