tipping a house painter?
tipping a house painter?
Would you tip a house painter? We scored a special price from a big painting company, $3000 for a 2000 sq. ft. house on the California coast, plus a few add-ons. The crew is a little different each day, but the foreman is here all the time and doing a fantastic job. He does want us to hire him on the side for other work and to recommend him to a builder in the family, and so this is not merely a matter of doing the job he's paid for. But even so, I wonder if we should tip him, say, a hundred dollars for his great work?
- Christine_NM
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Re: tipping a house painter?
I wouldn't tip a big-company crew. But if I were going to, I'd make it at least 10%-15%, which hopefully will be shared with crew who did the most work.
I hired an out-of-work painter (friend of a friend) with two helpers and he shared the tip equally with them.
I hired an out-of-work painter (friend of a friend) with two helpers and he shared the tip equally with them.
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Re: tipping a house painter?
I asked around about this myself since we're having lots of work done and the consensus among my friends was that they do not tip for this kind of work. Instead, the "tip" is giving them more work. I'd be curious if others do tip more often.
Re: tipping a house painter?
Monetary tips might get lost in the shuffle. We "tipped" a really great crew once with beer (one case for each worker, two cases for the foreman).
Re: tipping a house painter?
Painting a house the right way is a major project. Of course you should tip him. I always use cash, but many of my friends also use gift certificates to popular restaurants in town.
Re: tipping a house painter?
I would hand him $40-60 in cash since he's done a good job. It does build goodwill and since you have him doing future work it will pay off. I figure its better to have good construction guys/gals on my side rather than angry or indifferent towards me. I feel the same way about my pet sitter; she gets a good tip and has never turned me down when I needed her.
Warning: I am about 80% satisficer (accepting of good enough) and 20% maximizer
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Re: tipping a house painter?
It is likely the foreman signed a contract with "big painting company" which said that he would not solicit "big painting company's" clients. It might get messy if you hired the foreman directly.
Re: tipping a house painter?
The $3000 is a great price. If you like the work, a tip is in order. I'd go the 10-15% route to your primary contact, the foreman, leaving him to decide on split. This is what I've done. A tip, if given, should properly express your appreciation.reisner wrote:Would you tip a house painter? We scored a special price from a big painting company, $3000 for a 2000 sq. ft. house on the California coast, plus a few add-ons. The crew is a little different each day, but the foreman is here all the time and doing a fantastic job. He does want us to hire him on the side for other work and to recommend him to a builder in the family, and so this is not merely a matter of doing the job he's paid for. But even so, I wonder if we should tip him, say, a hundred dollars for his great work?
Re: tipping a house painter?
I used to do beer but the number of recovering workers increased in a manner that made me concerned. I now host a BBQ on the day after CO for crew.
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Re: tipping a house painter?
This thread is now in the Personal Consumer Issues forum (tipping).
Re: tipping a house painter?
I think tipping has gotten out of hand. outside of movers and probably looks a waiters at restaurants I don't really do any other tipping. Well hotel maids too.
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Re: tipping a house painter?
+1. It's built into the price. And looks can be deceiving when it comes to paint jobs.denovo wrote:I think tipping has gotten out of hand. outside of movers and probably looks a waiters at restaurants I don't really do any other tipping. Well hotel maids too.
Re: tipping a house painter?
We had a small painting company paint much of our house a few years ago.
I bought nice coffee and muffins for them every morning while they were here. They were grateful, and I figured it prevented any possible trouble if I tipped the lead painter and trusted him to evenly distribute the tip.
I bought nice coffee and muffins for them every morning while they were here. They were grateful, and I figured it prevented any possible trouble if I tipped the lead painter and trusted him to evenly distribute the tip.
Re: tipping a house painter?
This is what we do with contractors. Had our house resided a few years back during a cold Jersey winter. My wife likes to bake and cook so she would leave breads and crocks of chili out for the guys. The foreman mentioned how the guys didn't stop talking about it and told us (jokingly) if she didn't stop feeding them they would take their sweet time finishing the job.leo383 wrote:We had a small painting company paint much of our house a few years ago.
I bought nice coffee and muffins for them every morning while they were here. They were grateful, and I figured it prevented any possible trouble if I tipped the lead painter and trusted him to evenly distribute the tip.