Faux Painting for Profit

When you are in the Faux Painting Business… you will run into many obstacles that aren't obvious when you start learning how to start your business.  One of the problems many Faux Finish Painting Professionals run into is - Should the artist be responsible for moving furniture away from the walls or faux painting area?

• Does anyone move furniture when on the job?

• Should you assist clients who needed to move a small or medium piece a few inches?
• How would you address the problem of moving big heavy furniture out of the room completely.
• How should your proposal or contract read since we are NOT insured to move furniture?

The answer is - Just DON'T do it.

I would make sure the client knows that they have to have it moved or out of the room. They'll find a way! Don't take the risk with your liability or your back.

You might enter this type of inclusion in your proposal or contract.

Requirements: Clear room of objects and furniture that can be moved, and move anything that is left, away from the walls, allowing a 4 foot access to walls for paint and ladders. Any access less than 4 feet may result in production delay or additional charge.

Or…

The client shall also see that all furniture is moved at least 4' away from the walls and that all painting areas are easily accessible by the painter.  The painter will not move any furniture greater in weight than 30lbs.

The homeowner could hire a local moving/storage company to move all the furniture completely out of the room, if at all possible, and back in at the end of the faux painting job. Little stuff can be moved by the client. These movers are bonded and they have insurance in case the furniture is damaged.

One of my faux painting jobs was for an entire master bedroom suite.  A huge 4 poster bed needed be moved to the center of the room.  The client chose to move the furniture themselves, and they broke a leg in the process.  Thank goodness this wasn't my responsibility.

Simply tell the client that you expect the room to be ready when you arrive. All the furniture needs to be moved and all breakables need to be removed. You must convey to the client that you are an artist and you are in their home to paint art, not to move furniture.

What if you arrive at the job site and the furniture isn't moved?  You either choose to leave the job until the contract provisions are completed or you can call the client and set up movers to complete the job.  Either way… never put yourself, your business or your back at risk.

Another thing that your client needs to be aware of… is electric cords. Just because they moved the furniture, computers and T.V. away from the wall doesn't mean you will gladly trip over the cords still plugged in. Keep yourself, your equipment and your client safe, they should get the point if you explain it well. 

Oh and charge them extra if they just don't get the point.

Make sure you check out our Faux Painting Business eBook. 

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 3rd, 2007 at 3:54 pm and is filed under Faux Business Skills. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.