One of the top subjects of discussion I have with my customers is about primer. Depending on who you ask you may hear conflicting opinions on whether it's really necessary or not. In fact some of my customers have actually requested that I apply two coats of finish verses a coat of primer and a coat of finish.
Not to down
grade my competition, but some contractors will even misrepresent
the necessity
of primer for a lasting paint job. The fact of the matter is primer is necessary
to have a lasting paint application. Without it, it may look good at first but
you will find yourself repainting very soon. But before I get into why primer is
so necessary, let me first explain
what it is.
In a nutshell, primer is a sealant. It's meant to penetrate and seal out your investment. Paint on the other hand protects your primer and at the same time reflects back the U.V. (ultra violet) rays. U.V. protection helps to protect your overall finish from fading and deterioration.
If you ask us to put on two coats of paint, we are always going to put on one coat of primer and one coat of finish... unless the customer specifies differently. I get asked this all the time, why I would choose to put on one coat of primer and one coat of finish instead of two coats of finish. Primer penetrates surfaces better and leaves a perfect surface for the paint to adhere to. It's a much cleaner better system in that it levels out a lot better. You do not get the highs and lows or the flashing from the surface build that comes from different levels of paint.
What it
comes down to is preserving your investment. With a prime coat we offer standard
10 year warranties, without it we can offer nothing over the year required by
law in Washington State. I run into this all the time with my competitors again
not to downgrade them as everyone has a different system. We just use a system
that works for us, A.P.E. Painting. We have acquired this successful system from over 23
years of professional painting experience.
The minimum basics of our system requires that we wash, scrape, fully prepare, primer, then paint. We do what customers would want us to do so that 10 years from now there investments are still preserved and looking nice. We do not have repaints, our customers come to us for routine pressure washing and after 10 years their investments still look fantastic. Thats the A.P.E. Painting Difference
A.P.E. begins by being loyal to our customers by performing the work exactly as we perform it on our own homes. We take the time to listen to our customers’ needs and wants. We further completely follow through with all of the work we have stipulated in the estimate. No cutting corners, no surface work. Most of the time we don’t even require a down payment or deposit. We get paid when you are fully satisfied with our work. Isn’t that the way it should be?
