Giving professional painting ideas or suggestions to homeowners can make you look professional and give you lots of juicy cash-paying referrals because of it. You can shave years off of trial and error making your customers’ homes look their best simply by using a few simple free tools called paint color brochures.
I like the ones that have traditional 3-color combinations that look ‘right’ or normal together.
Many people (who could afford to hire a professional painter) buy a home and decide to paint it themselves. They know nothing about painting techniques and it doesn’t take long to screw up a nice piece of property.
Things like using the wrong products and finishes or not taking the time to plan out a custom paint job and its color schemes etc. It’s like “who knew?”
Here’s a Simple Idea:
For example, if doing exterior painting, use custom color brochures when choosing two and three-color combinations so you get it right. Paint stores have these standardized brochures for both interior and exterior painting.
If you drive by some homes in a nice area, you will sometimes see goofy colors on the outside or on the front door and shutters. Instead, they could have used a color brochure or the exact paint and color codes they used when the home was built if it’s a fairly new home.
I did an exterior job a few years back. The paint store had the original colors and the exact brands that were used that came from that paint store. All these were probably from the building contractor. So that was an easy job set-up. I needed four main colors including the porch floor and the exact color in shutter stain.
I will also look to see if the customer has any stored paint cans for what was last used last if they want to stick with the same colors, the custom color codes, etc.
P.S. I also use color (fan deck) decks. These have colors in gradual shades. Someone who is ‘gifted’ with choosing colors can do good with a fan deck. For the rest of us, using standardized 3-color combination brochures (available at paint stores) works best.