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Should the drywaller dust their walls, or the painter

  • drywaller

    Votes: 12 80.0%
  • painter

    Votes: 3 20.0%

Drywall Dust-Whose is it??

7K views 29 replies 13 participants last post by  82sauce 
#1 ·
walking into the prime before finish drywall mud touch ups, the entire house , floors and walls were filled with drywall dust and mud mountains on the floor. is it the painter or the drywaller to clean this up before the prime? I feel like they are using me to clean all of this up prime it so they can see their errors and fix them. then im going to have to re prime all of their misses. Please help us decipher whose is what
Thanks Tom
Reliable Painting Plus llc
se michigan
 
#4 ·
No brainer.
The drywall slobs need to clean their own mess.
Stand your ground and refuse to proceed before you prime, or do a free labour cleaning all that crap, unless you get it (in writing) that you will be paid for it.
Is there a General Contractor on that project?
Thank you for your replay. I had a meeting with the PM and the drywallers. I got 250 to clean it, and still primed in a day.
 
#3 ·
Even if there isn’t a GC then let the customers know that if you have to clean up the mess there will be a charge since it wasn’t factored in to your bid. Whereas it SHOULD have been part of the drywallers’ bid and should be included in their price. Then let the HO figure it out.
 
#10 ·
I would literally walk off the job if I came in to spray and the place was full of drywall dust. It's either the responsibility of the drywallers/plasters or the GC/HO. I'm so over the new construction/reno thing where noone cleans up after themselves. Now that I focus mostly on kitchen reno's and spray painting, I find I spend more time cleaning than I do painting! But it's all my own mess so I don't mind. 😅
 
#11 · (Edited)
Well, learn from this, and put it in your bid, that the walls should be dust free, or you'll charge extra. I cannot recommend more highly that you write a quote template (or several) , and add to it whenever you run across more things like this. Cover your bases. It might not even demand that the walls be dusted, but simply something like "Will the walls be dusted prior to my arrival, or will I be responsible for wall dusting?" Give them a long list of questions: "Will the floors be covered by the GC, or is that my responsibility?" "What stage of construction will the painting happen? Before tile? Floors? cabinets?" The more knowledge you have, the better you can prepare, and charge accordingly. If you dont want to dust walls, give them a HIGH price to do it yourself, and they'll be WAY more likely to make the drywallers do it.


I just do wallpaper these days, but I have a template I send everyone that wants a quote, and I have another little message before I start the job. Not to mention, the contract, which has all kinds of stipulations, but the more things you can put out there, the less surprises youll end up with. Plus, anything you get in writing you can throw right back at people, cuz its documented.

Heres my pre-job list I send out:

Just a few things before I start your project:

I will need close by parking. I try not to park in driveways, unless the street is a good distance away. Please keep that in mind, especially if its trash day, and there are bins on the curbs.

Client is responsible for making sure the correct amount of material has been delivered, and all rolls are from the same run/batch number.

Please have area cleared of all personal/small/fragile items before I arrive. I need at minimum, three feet of space in front of walls. I can move most furniture and stuff, but I am by myself, so if anything is too heavy for one person, I need to know in advance.

I may need a sizeable (6'x10') area to setup a paste table. Think about where a good placement would be.

If I am working in a bathroom, please remove all items, and make sure room is clean and sanitized, especially toilet areas, that I will need to get up close and personal with. I will remove and reinstall electrical, towel racks, removable mirrors, lights etc. If there are any very fragile/expensive lights, please make me aware beforehand. In rare cases, an electrician may need to be called to remove, and reinstall.

Please direct me to a restroom you'd prefer me to use while working.

I will usually prime the area before hanging. Be aware that the primer is rather pungent. If anyone in the household has health issues, is pregnant or there are infants, it may be advisable to vacate the house for the day, depending on house size, area to be wallpapered etc.

Payment can be cash, check, or paypal, venmo, or card if needed, but there may be a 3% fee charged for digital transactions.

If in doubt or have questions about anything, please text me at xxxxx

Make sure I have your address and phone number as well.

Thank you for choosing Woodco Paint and Wallcoverings.


Make your own to suit your needs, but its a digital world, and its stupid not to take advantage of it. I keep all my templates and stuff in my dropbox on my phone, so when people call or text about quotes, I email them the appropriate template. My phone messages also tell them to text me an email address if they want a quote. Then I cna take a quick break, and copy and paste my message, and shoot them an email, and deal with it when I get home.
 
#19 ·
Well, learn from this, and put it in your bid, that the walls should be dust free, or you'll charge extra. I cannot recommend more highly that you write a quote template (or several) , and add to it whenever you run across more things like this. Cover your bases. It might not even demand that the walls be dusted, but simply something like "Will the walls be dusted prior to my arrival, or will I be responsible for wall dusting?" Give them a long list of questions: "Will the floors be covered by the GC, or is that my responsibility?" "What stage of construction will the painting happen? Before tile? Floors? cabinets?" The more knowledge you have, the better you can prepare, and charge accordingly. If you dont want to dust walls, give them a HIGH price to do it yourself, and they'll be WAY more likely to make the drywallers do it.


I just do wallpaper these days, but I have a template I send everyone that wants a quote, and I have another little message before I start the job. Not to mention, the contract, which has all kinds of stipulations, but the more things you can put out there, the less surprises youll end up with. Plus, anything you get in writing you can throw right back at people, cuz its documented.

Heres my pre-job list I send out:

Just a few things before I start your project:

I will need close by parking. I try not to park in driveways, unless the street is a good distance away. Please keep that in mind, especially if its trash day, and there are bins on the curbs.

Client is responsible for making sure the correct amount of material has been delivered, and all rolls are from the same run/batch number.

Please have area cleared of all personal/small/fragile items before I arrive. I need at minimum, three feet of space in front of walls. I can move most furniture and stuff, but I am by myself, so if anything is too heavy for one person, I need to know in advance.

I may need a sizeable (6'x10') area to setup a paste table. Think about where a good placement would be.

If I am working in a bathroom, please remove all items, and make sure room is clean and sanitized, especially toilet areas, that I will need to get up close and personal with. I will remove and reinstall electrical, towel racks, removable mirrors, lights etc. If there are any very fragile/expensive lights, please make me aware beforehand. In rare cases, an electrician may need to be called to remove, and reinstall.

Please direct me to a restroom you'd prefer me to use while working.

I will usually prime the area before hanging. Be aware that the primer is rather pungent. If anyone in the household has health issues, is pregnant or there are infants, it may be advisable to vacate the house for the day, depending on house size, area to be wallpapered etc.

Payment can be cash, check, or paypal, venmo, or card if needed, but there may be a 3% fee charged for digital transactions.

If in doubt or have questions about anything, please text me at xxxxx

Make sure I have your address and phone number as well.

Thank you for choosing Woodco Paint and Wallcoverings.


Make your own to suit your needs, but its a digital world, and its stupid not to take advantage of it. I keep all my templates and stuff in my dropbox on my phone, so when people call or text about quotes, I email them the appropriate template. My phone messages also tell them to text me an email address if they want a quote. Then I cna take a quick break, and copy and paste my message, and shoot them an email, and deal with it when I get home.
WOw thank you for your detailed help! I really like telling them that information in a written form instead of verbally. theres no room for not having what I need , or getting lots of unexpecteds. Im implementing these sggestions with my own wording, immediately. Thank you from Detroit!!
 
#12 ·
Woodco makes very good suggestions! In addition I would put the following into your proposal:

All materials remain property of Joe Painter until all materials and labor are paid in full.

Any alteration or deviation from above specifications involving extra costs will be executed only upon written order and will become an extra charge over and above what is stated in this Proposal. All agreements are contingent upon delays beyond our control.


In addition, I would advise taking photos of the areas you will be working on BEFORE you do any work. I just finished a small exterior job where there was ivy growing on the trim. There was also old white paint on the bricks on the inside circle. When I finished the job, the HO saw the paint on the bricks and asked me why I got paint on there. I explained to her that that paint was already there before I started. When I got home I checked my phone and saw I had taken some photos of the job before I started. Here is one that shows the pre-existing paint on the bricks:

Plant Door Fixture Shade Grass


I just now uploaded this photos to my pc so I could post it here. I will be emailing this photo to the customer so she can see that the paint was on the bricks before I started painting.

futtyos
 
#13 ·
All materials remain property of Joe Painter until all materials and labor are paid in full.

Any alteration or deviation from above specifications involving extra costs will be executed only upon written order and will become an extra charge over and above what is stated in this Proposal. All agreements are contingent upon delays beyond our control.
Stuff like that can be saved for the actual contract.
 
#22 ·
In my neck of the woods, it’s actually the GCs responsibility to ensure we have a clean environment to spray in. Sure, the drywallers clean up a bit, but the builder is generally the one who has the air filter equipment, uses a blower on the walls and does the “final vacuum “ before we arrive. It’s been my experience that there’s no point in trying to get other trades to clean up after themselves, it never goes far. If things do get to a point where I deem it unacceptable and I have to clean, we track the time, note who’s mess/tools/content it is and bill the GC. Things have a way of sorting themselves out after that

* quick edit- however we do dust down walls in the corners of walls/ceilings before we spray- more as a QC measure than cleaning up after someone
 
#25 ·
It sounds like this is not the first time you have cleaned up after the drywallers. Since you are doing work for this construction company it seems likely that you will see more cleaning up in the future. Why not type up a checklist for the PM to go over BEFORE giving him a proposal? That way you could include cleaning up the drywallers' mess as one of the tasks you are going to charge for. Have a signature line for the PM to sign off, then include the checklist with your proposal. This will make it clear what you are and are not being authorized to do. No more headaches as if they ask you to do something not on the checklist you just show them what they agreed to. I would make sure the first time you do this you go over the checklist with the PM and specifically point out the section on cleaning up after the drywallers. I think the PM will get the point. No more need to get upset.

futtyos
 
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