Paint might sound a superficial task, but a good paint job or a bad one makes a huge difference in the look & feel of a building, office space or home. While many people paint their interiors, but most need to hire professional painters to get quality-job done. Hiring professional painters is a must for painting exteriors. Painting interiors and exteriors are two entirely separate jobs as they both require different types of paints and tools.

As a painter, you can either work for a contractor or work independently. Professional painters prepare and paint interior and exterior surfaces. They may work on residential or commercial properties. But in either case, they need to have certain skills to be successful in their work. Have a look at those skills below.

Essential Skills for Professional Painters

• Communication Skills

Good communication means hearing and respecting what the client wants, not what you think they should want. Sometimes people are not able to explain clearly what they want, so a painter needs to use his judgment to fill in the missing links. You can make suggestions, but the owner of the property always has the final say.

• Aesthetic Sense

As a painter sometimes you might be required to call in your artistic skills and make judgment calls in your work or some clients might directly ask you for advice. So you need to have a strong sense of what looks good thinking as if the job site is a work of art.

• Detail-Oriented

What makes a good painter is how deep he dives into the details such as crisp, clean edges, even coats and well-adhered layers. A small error can alter the look of the room or building.

• Familiarity With Required Tools and Materials

Painters need to know all tools such as brushes, rollers, scrapers, sanders and texturing tools to use them to create different styles, textures and effects. Also, they should be well aware of tool choices between interior and exterior painting. Besides, painters should know which combination of material is to be used on which surface as paints vary by colour, texture, lustre, viscosity. Choosing the wrong combination on the wrong surface could cause the paint to peel, crack, wash away or look bad.

• Physical Strength and Balance

Painters need to have the strength and ergonomic skills to move equipment safely and efficiently and a strong sense of balance so that they do not fall off from roofs and ladders.

• Time Management Skills

Painters must also be able to give an accurate estimate of how long a job will take to complete. This applies to both either you work as an independent painter or with some contractor. Your work must be time-bound.

Duties and Responsibilities

Job duties of professional painters include removing old paint, priming surfaces, choosing materials, selecting and mixing colours and cleaning up job sites. They prepare the surface for painting by removing old paint, filling holes and washing walls. Sandpaper, wire brushes or scrapers are used to prepare the surface. After a surface is cleaned and prepared, painters apply primer to ensure the best paint results. Then the next step is applying paint. Painters must know colour theory to advise clients and understand how to create the look they seek. They may use special techniques to provide decorative and faux finishes. After job completion, painters must clean and remove paint spills, dust from sanding and other materials from the worksite.

One of the key responsibility of painters is that they must use high-quality products to get the best results. They must ensure that the customers are satisfied with the result and remedy any discrepancies.

Painting is a diversified profession. There are so many categories to work in such as fine arts painter, restoration painter, design painter, home-decorating painter and industrial painter. Choose the field as you like and enjoy the art of painting while earning your livelihood from the same.