Yes or no? Is painting over hardware, switch plates and vent covers the mark of a lazy painter?

[Anonymous]

Spouse and I say yes, our GC says no. What say you, DCUM?

[Anonymous]

Big time yes.

[Anonymous]

Uh yes. But also, it really only matters if you wanted it done or not.

[Anonymous]

Hell yes. Lazy, or just bad. At a minimum, everything painted over needs to be replaced, and paint correction may be needed before I’d pay for the work.

[Anonymous]

Unless they assume you’re going to replace all those things anyway, in which case I guess it’s a decent time saver. But if your new stuff is smaller or shaped different than the old, that’s no good.

[Anonymous]

One hundred percent yes.

Also, paint over my specifically chosen colored/detailed plates and I will cut you. Either take them off first or tape them if you are that bad at cutting.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely. And I’d wonder what other cheap things your GC is also doing. Taking a switch plate off takes 30 seconds

[Anonymous]

I’d call it a bad painter, regardless of the cause, be it laziness or ignorance.

[Anonymous]

We specify what we want painted and what we don't. Some of our vent covers are painted so that they blend in better. None of the switchplates are - painted switch plates would get so dirty!

[Anonymous]

Yes, very lazy. Just wrong. Remove wall plates and door hardware. Remove or tape off vents.

Do it right.

[Anonymous]

Wildly lazy.

[Anonymous]

Even if you are going to paint them, you take it off and do them separately.

And I echo the question what else is the GC cutting corners on?

[Anonymous]

Super lazy.

[Anonymous]

I once had a tenant who asked for permission to paint a room with a skylight in it. We said OK.

She painted over all the switchplates/outlet covers and up into the skylight -- but only as far as she could reach. The walls inside the skylight were blue on the bottom and white at the top, above a zig-zag pattern of paint roller marks.

That's lazy.

[Anonymous]

Yes! Omg, drives me crazy. I hail from a family full of professional house painters and this is something I really notice wherever I go.