Tall Job!

I've spent parts of the past three days painting our new duplex. As you already know, I had hired a painter to do the job, but he didn't follow through with starting on time. I despise working with contractors. They are, almost without exception, long on promises and short on performance.

This is a very tall duplex - I estimate about 25 feet. For someone who doesn't like heights, it has been a challenge reaching the top. To make this job easier, I bought two sets of scaffolding. I buy most of my tools at Lowes, but I was surprised to discover that Lowes didn't have any commercial type scaffolding. I bought mine at TSC (Tractor Supply Company). It was about $180 per section and well worth every penny. I also ordered the safety rails today (about $150). That should make future jobs a little safer.

This is the first time I have ever used scaffolding and I am surprised at how wobbly it is! Ugh! Each section of scaffolding is 6 feet high. So, with two sections, my feet are at 12 feet and I can reach to about 20 feet, which is still about 5 feet from the top of this duplex. I don't think I will feel safe with a third section of scaffolding, so I bought a special brush holder today that can be placed on an extension pole. The brush holder will tilt to any angle and does a good job. It cost about $13 at Lowes.

So far, I've spent about 16 hours painting this duplex. I have completed the front, back, and one side of the house. I probably have about another 12 hours to go including the trim. I saved about $1,000 by doing the job myself. That means that I made about $35 per hour for painting this house. Not great money, but $1,000 here and $1,000 there could add up to real money.

I'm hoping to get this job finished by the end of the week so that we can get the Section 8 inspection completed early next week and get the new tenant moved in.

More of the glamorous life of a landlord! Where is that yacht when I need it?