The Caldwell Home Podcast

When it comes to painting your home, one important decision you'll need to make is the type of paint sheen you want to use. But with so many options available, it can be tough to know which one is right for your project

First, let's define what we mean by "paint sheen." The sheen of a paint refers to the amount of gloss or shine it has. A paint with a high sheen will have a shiny, glossy finish, while a paint with a low sheen will have a matte or satin finish.

Here are some of the most common paint sheens you'll encounter:

• Flat/Matte: Flat or matte paint has a very low sheen and is often used on walls and ceilings. It's a good choice for hiding imperfections, but it's not as durable as other options and may be more prone to staining.
• Eggshell: Eggshell paint has a slightly higher sheen than flat paint and is often used on walls. It's more durable and easier to clean than flat paint, but it can still show imperfections.
• Satin: Satin paint has a medium sheen and is often used on doors, trim, and cabinets. It's more durable and easier to clean than eggshell, but it can still show some imperfections.
• Semi-Gloss: Semi-gloss paint has a higher sheen than satin and is often used on trim, doors, and cabinets. It's very durable and easy to clean, but it can highlight imperfections.
• High-Gloss: High-gloss paint has a very shiny finish and is often used on trim, doors, and cabinets. It's very durable and easy to clean, but it can highlight imperfections and may not be the best choice for large areas.

So, which paint sheen is right for your project? Here are a few factors to consider:

• Durability: If you need a paint that can stand up to wear and tear, you'll want to choose a paint with a higher sheen. Semi-gloss and high-gloss paints are the most durable.
• Cleanability: If you have a lot of traffic in a particular room or area, you'll want a paint that's easy to clean. Semi-gloss and high-gloss paints are the easiest to clean.
• Hiding imperfections: If you're painting over a surface with imperfections, you'll want to choose a paint with a lower sheen to help hide them. Flat and eggshell paints are good options.

Ultimately, the best paint sheen for your project will depend on your personal preferences and the specific needs of your space. Consider the factors above and choose the sheen that will work best for you.

Picking the right front door paint color can be a daunting task, but it's an important decision as the front door is often the first thing that visitors see when they arrive at your home. A fresh coat of paint can also increase your home's curb appeal, which can be a major factor if you're planning to sell your home in the future. Here are some tips to help you choose the perfect front door paint color:

1. Consider the overall color scheme of your home. If your home has a neutral color scheme, you can choose a bolder color for your front door to add some visual interest. However, if your home has a lot of colors going on already, it may be best to stick with a neutral color for your front door to avoid overwhelming the senses.
2. Consider the style of your home. If your home has a traditional style, you may want to choose a classic color such as red or black for your front door. For a more modern look, consider a bright, bold color like yellow or teal.
3. Think about the colors of your landscape. If your home has a lot of greenery around it, you may want to choose a front door color that complements the plants and trees. For example, a dark green door would look great against a backdrop of lush greenery.
4. Take a look at your neighborhood. If most of the homes in your neighborhood have neutral front doors, choosing a bold color for yours can make your home stand out in a good way. However, if all of the homes in your neighborhood have bold front doors, you may want to choose a more subtle color to avoid overwhelming the senses.
5. Test out the color before committing. Before you invest in a gallon of paint, it's a good idea to test out the color on a small patch of your front door to see how it looks in different lighting conditions. This will also give you a chance to see how the color looks against your home's exterior.

By following these tips, you should be able to choose the perfect front door paint color for your home. Don't be afraid to experiment and try out different colors – after all, it's just paint and can always be changed if you don't love the final result.

Are you looking to give your guest room a fresh, new look? One of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to make a big impact is with a new paint color. But with so many options to choose from, it can be tough to decide on the perfect hue. Here are a few tips to help you choose the perfect paint color for your guest room:

1. Consider the purpose of the room. Is your guest room a place for relaxation and rest, or is it more of a multifunctional space that will be used for work or entertaining as well? The purpose of the room should play a role in the color you choose. Calming, neutral colors are often best for a guest room, as they create a peaceful and inviting atmosphere.
2. Think about the overall style of your home. Your guest room should feel like it fits in with the rest of your home, so choose a paint color that complements the style and decor of the rest of your house. If your home has a modern, minimalistic vibe, a bright and bold color might be a good choice. If your home is more traditional, a classic neutral might be a better fit.
3. Consider the size of the room. Lighter colors can make a small room feel larger and more open, while darker colors can make a large room feel more cozy and intimate. Consider the size of your guest room and choose a paint color that will help create the desired atmosphere.
4. Test out the color before committing. It's always a good idea to test out a paint color before committing to it. Purchase a small sample of the color you're considering and paint a large swatch on the wall. Observe the color at different times of day and in different lighting conditions to get a sense of how it will look in the space.

By following these tips, you'll be well on your way to choosing the perfect paint color for your guest room. Whether you want to create a calming retreat or a more energetic and vibrant space, the right paint color can make all the difference. So, take your time and consider all the factors that will help you choose the perfect paint color for your guest room.

The bulletproof guide to picking the right contractor for your next home project.
 
Picking a contractor can be a daunting task. If you pick the wrong contractor they can steal from you, ruin your house and leave you with a huge expensive mess to clean up.  
No pressure right? But how do you know who’s who? After all, unless you are in the know then you probably don’t. So What does a homeowner do?

Well in this guide I'm not only going to show you how to pick the perfect contractor for your project, but I'm also going to show you how to get the best value for both labor and material. Notice I said the word value. Value doesn’t mean cheapest. If you're looking for the cheapest you might as well take the money you are about to spend on the project and put it on red at the casino. You may lose, you may win. If you win, take that money and hire that company your gut was telling you to hire in the first place. 

There is an old saying. “You get what you pay for”. This statement especially rings true in the home service industry.

So first off let’s talk about little tricks and scams contractors use and to take advantage of homeowners.

1)The down payment scam 
        This is the most common scam in the construction industry. “All we need is a 40% down payment and I'll come back next week to get started” ,preferable in cash of course, or in a check made out to someone and not a company.
       
I'm sure you already know what's about to happen. The contractor in question takes the down payment leaving the homeowner waiting around. Next week comes around and the homeowner is left wondering when their project is going to start. They give this contractor a call. No answer. Waiting for the voicemail... Mailbox full.

Still unaware that they have become a victim of a scam, the homeowner believes They will get back in touch with them. Weeks go by and now the homeowner starts doing some investigating into this contractor. They call the material vendor to ask about this contractor. And they find out that they have heard of them doing this before, or even worse, the vendor has never heard of this contractor.

Unfortunately in these situations you aren't getting your money back. Even if the police catch the guy. The money is typically long gone. As a contractor myself I hear of this happening in my hometown (Memphis) almost every week. It's heart breaking too because it usually happens to people that had to work hard saving and barely coming up with the money to make the repair or renovation on their home in the first place. Run this type of investigation before you decide on your contractor. Call the vendor’s before signing a contract. Ask the vendor’s who they would recommend for your project.
            
2)The lawsuit scam
          This scam has been gaining traction over the years although not as common as the down payment scam I hear of this one taking place maybe a couple times a year. The worst part about this contractor scam is that it can take everything from you.

So here is one way this scam works. We will use a painter for example. While the painter you hired is painting the interior of your home he “falls off his ladder’. Of course kicking his ladder over into something that does damage to your personal property, to really sell the incident of course. You come running into the room after hearing the loud bang of his ladder crashing into your china cabinet, and you see your painter laying on the floor telling you to call an ambulance. Completely unaware that the only accident that happened here was that you hired the wrong contractor for your project. 

Now your painter's attorney is calling. Telling you that your employee has been severely injured on your work site and will never be able to work again. Your painter's attorney is telling you that you are responsible for not providing a safe work environment for your employee.  

You call your insurance company telling them what happened. They say don't worry your painter has insurance doesn't he? Doesn't he? Your insurance agent then informs you that in your homeowners insurance agreement that you signed it states that all service providers in your home must have their own insurance policy. They recommend you to a Lawyer and tell you good luck, but there is nothing they can do.

The scary part about this one is your contractor doesn't have to be trying to scam you for this one to become a reality. Especially when ladders are involved, there is a greater risk of an accident happening. 

In my experience of owning a construction company the injuries that happen the most for us are actually the low to the ground ones. 8 foot interior walls. Because you're not high enough to be careful but you are high enough to break a leg or fall and hit your head.

3)Material Scam
 This is the most common scam. There is an agreement of ½ inch plywood and they are hanging ¼ inch. There is an agreement for $90 gallon of paint but your painters are using $45 paint. The difference is going right into your contractor's pocket. You believe you are buying a Mercedes but later find out you bought a Honda. You always need to make sure your material is specified in your signed contract. The contract is to protect both you and your contractor. Never enter into a service small or large without a professionally written contract. 

If you're able to, always check the material that is being applied and make sure it is the same material that was originally discussed and is your contract.
4)Then last but not least. The come back and rob you when your not home Scam
 As a contractor is working in your home they can figure out what your schedule is. A large percentage of home break ins happen after the homeowners had work done on their home. Scary right?  Remember cheap prices = Cheap labor and cheap labor is cheap for a reason.

So there are way more scams going around than these 4. But they are always changing and new ones are always popping up. But most are variations of these

So How do We pick a contractor?
  

So when it comes to our home, for most of us it's the largest investment we have. So we need to be very careful when picking a contractor for home.
Here are some steps to avoid getting taken advantage of and finding the perfect contractor for your upcoming project.

1)  Presence Online / Reputation
 If your potential contractor just has a social media page or is just running an ad on angie's list be very leary. They are easy to change if you need to and angies list and other sites like them don't care who is on their website as long as they are paying them money every month. Check out their website. Does it look like it's something they spent a lot of money on or does it look like something they did themselves. Here’s why this is important.
If a company invest’s money into their website it shows that they aren't planning on going anywhere. It's easy to change a Facebook page or an instagram page and put up some quick fake reviews with their “brand new company”. It’s much harder to build and spend money on a brand new website and domain name every time you need to.
Contractors that do shotty work will often have to change their business name. With a little investigation you can see how long a company has been in business pretty easily. Next look at their online presence. Are they posting pictures of their actual work or is it pictures of houses that are just stolen pictures from the internet. What does their website look like? Then check out their reputation online. When you do a google serce of the company what comes up? Is it a couple 5 star google reviews? Or is it 50? Or 100? Read the negative reviews. However when you read negative reviews you always have to take those with a grain of salt. But look for a pattern as you read the reviews both good and bad. A contractor that is going to stand behind their work is typically going to have a large overall positive footprint on the internet and social media. 

2)Require License and Insurance (And verify)
 Remember that lawsuit scam? This is how you don't let it happen to you. Ask your contractor for a Certificate of Insurance (COI) if it's not on their website. Then once you have the COI call the number to verify that the document you have is valid. The number on the COI is exactly for this. This document gets faked frequently so make sure to call. 

3)Hire local 
 Reputable, local contractors are easier to contact if something goes wrong and if a warranty issue comes up in the future. Make sure your contractor is trying to better the city they work in and not just there to make a profit and leave. Money spent locally always benefits you in the long run.

4)Go with your gut
When getting estimates it’s not always necessary to get a ton of estimates. The most important thing is to do your research on the front end and then listen to your gut instinct. Lots of times the more people that you allow to get in your ear the more confusing the experience can become. 

5)Check their previous work specific to your project
Just because your contractor check’s all the previous boxes doesn't mean they have done a project quite like yours before. Make sure they have done a project like yours before and ask to see pictures.

6)Get Everything in writing
 Your contract needs to detail everything being done. The material being used, the areas being worked on etc. The more detail the better, because if it's not in the contract don't expect it to be done. No matter how much you trust your contractor, never have a verbal agreement on anything being done. 

7)How are change orders handled?
 So as a contractor myself, change orders are the worst! Change orders ruin the schedule, add to the stress of a project.. When something is discovered that is not in the original contract these issues need to be discussed and agreed upon before any work is done and billed for. Change orders are inevitable. It's impossible to know what’s behind that wall until we rip it out. So before signing any contracts it's important to know how your contractor will handle a situation like this. This is another area where a contractor can scam an unsuspecteing homeowner. So make sure the process is in the contract.

8)Down payment and payment schedule
 First off, never pay in cash and never make a check out to a person. Checks MUST be made out to a company. Now the company may have that person’s name in it, Like John’s roofing but never right that check out to John Smith. Major red flag!

A down payment is usually required however it needs to be reasonable and the contractor needs to be able to explain why. What I do in my personal business is a 10% down payment to cover our material cost. If the homeowner decides to cancel for whatever reason before work has begun they can keep all the material purchased. Then on projects over 20K we agree on a halfway point and when we reach that point we request 40% bringing us to half. With the other half being due on completion. The key here as a homeowner is to hang onto the leverage with your contractor. However this doesn't mean taking advantage of the situation. 

Delays happen, unforeseen events happen, that's all part of the construction industry. As a homeowner it's important to be patient and understanding. However your contractor will be much more motivated to continue pushing hard on your project when there is still a significant amount of money left to be made. 

When it comes to payment remember this. When it comes to your project your contractor makes his profit at the completion of the project not along the way. If your contractor doesn’t have enough money to float his bills during a project then what is he going to do if something goes wrong? You could end up being the one responsible for cleaning up the mess financially and having to find another contractor to finish the project. Lack of capital on your contractors' part can be a major red flag and a huge risk on your part. Remember, small companies with no money have nothing to lose, but you.

 So for each draw make sure it passes “the sniff test”. Is what you are paying for equal to the work that has been completed, not the work that is going to be completed. It's reasonable to ask for money that has been spent on completed work. It's not reasonable to ask for money for labor that is going to be done in the future. 

A good rule of thumb is, if the material vendors and your contractor's own people don't trust them, then you probably shouldn't either.

9)Document,Document,Document.
 Keep track of conversation, contracts, change orders, colors, materials, material warranties, checks, receipts, everything. It may not be important now but if it pertains to the project KEEP IT!

Conclusion
      Your home and financial wellbeing is never something worth gambling with. More times than not, what you believe you are saving becomes wasting money because it ends up costing you more both immediately and down the road. I'll give you an example from one of our clients from this year.  We did an estimate that totaled to around $16,000 for an exterior paint project. The homeowner had another estimate for around $11,000. The homeowner went with the $11k contractor and a 40% down payment believing they were getting $16k worth of work just $5k cheaper. After starting, this contractor started the project when he said he would, however only worked a couple days a week, dragging the job out for weeks instead of getting it done in a week like was promised. The homeowner then inquired about the type of paint being used on their house and discovered that yes it was Sherwin Williams paint being used but a grade of paint that is primarily used for rental properties. They then discovered that cobwebs and wasp nests were being painted over. Proper prep was not being done. The painters were getting paint all over the brick and driveway. Rotted wood was being filled with caulk instead of being replaced, a disaster of a project. Not to mention the cheap labor that this contractor was inviting to this homeowners home. About halfway through the project this homeowner fired this contractor. The scary part about this incident is this company is one of the larger painting contractors in the Memphis area. But I promise you contractors like this are in every city.
 So this homeowner calls us to do the work on their house after firing the contractor they hired. Now we have to undo and clean up the mess that was left behind by their last painter and still paint the whole house. Our cost for the clean up was $1900 taking our total to just under $18k and they had paid the other contractor 40% of the $11K which is $4,400. The sad part is this project that should have cost this homeowner $16K ended up costing them $22,300. 
 When it comes to hiring a contractor I hope you were able to take away some valuable information from this. My goal with this is to inform homeowners of the pitfalls and scams that contractors do. No contractor is perfect and no experience is exactly the same. The measure of a good contractor is their ability to deliver the product that you are paying for at the level you agreed on. If their customer service is great then that's a bonus.
 
 

If you need any painting done Caldwell Painting does interior and exterior painting. We have multiple divisions that specialize in exterior painting with a focus on mineral based masonry brick paint. We also do Great interior work and have a fine finish shop that focuses on cabinet painting and door refinishing. So if you want your cabinets done the same way they are done when new let us know. Also, if you are a cabinet maker and looking for a painter, ask us about or pro’s working with pro’s service to have your work professionally shot in our spray shop. Just go to www.caldwellpainting.com to schedule your appointment. You can schedule everything online 24/7. 

Have you been struggling to find products for yourself or your customers? Have you been hearing Mark Zuckerberg talking about this crazy thing called the Metaverse? We'll us too! So lets talk about it and have some drinks

Their opinion will leave you speechless! The show really isnt about them, like not at all actually.

Tonight we talk about the trans weigthlifter from New Zealand and why 40% of the work force is about to walk away from their jobs

Need voice over work? I got just the guy for you! Spencer, Patience, Fallon and I set down to have some drinks and some fun. Little different pace for the show but we had a great time making this episode. Hope you enjoy!

Do you like puppies? Do you like beer? Well if you said yes to atleast one of the two, then your going to love this episode! Matt Womack from the Memphis Humane Soctiey is on the show today talking about some of the MHS upcoming events. He also gives us the ends and outs of the day to day at the Humane Society. If you would like to donate, volunteer or adopt check out their website at www.memphishumane.org. They are doing a ton of good for the city of Memphis and anything and everything helps. Listen to the whole episode to find out how to get some of this amazing limited run beer we are sampling made special for their upcoming event at Meddelsome Brewing Company Saturday the 15th of May. I know you are going to love this episode!