tipping a house painter?

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reisner
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tipping a house painter?

Post by reisner »

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?
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Christine_NM
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Re: tipping a house painter?

Post by Christine_NM »

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.
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Leemiller
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Re: tipping a house painter?

Post by Leemiller »

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.
john94549
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Re: tipping a house painter?

Post by john94549 »

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).
dognose
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Re: tipping a house painter?

Post by dognose »

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.
stan1
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Re: tipping a house painter?

Post by stan1 »

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.
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BradMajors
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Re: tipping a house painter?

Post by BradMajors »

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.
tidelandp
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Re: tipping a house painter?

Post by tidelandp »

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?
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.
WhyNotUs
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Re: tipping a house painter?

Post by WhyNotUs »

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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LadyGeek
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Re: tipping a house painter?

Post by LadyGeek »

This thread is now in the Personal Consumer Issues forum (tipping).
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denovo
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Re: tipping a house painter?

Post by denovo »

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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dgdevil
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Re: tipping a house painter?

Post by dgdevil »

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.
+1. It's built into the price. And looks can be deceiving when it comes to paint jobs.
leo383
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Re: tipping a house painter?

Post by leo383 »

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.
BarryB
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Re: tipping a house painter?

Post by BarryB »

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.
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.
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