I Heard Them Too

Proving that dreams really do come true, I was hired last week as an expert witness in a paint dispute.  Paid by the hour to impart paint knowledge, including what every dealer and store manager reading this screed already knows: painters do some dumbass shit.

To prepare for deposition I inspected the job gone bad, finding application errors which caused a six-figure failure.  One which, like most complaints I inspected during my 30-year career, could have been avoided if the painter had only met my father.

It was my first inspection in more than five years, though I didn’t have to dust off my Tooke Gauge as the facts of the applications are not in dispute.  What is in dispute is whether that application met the specification for that coating, which is the only thing that will matter when this case gets adjudicated. 

If the parties don’t settle before then, which I hope they do and don’t, then my inspection and testimony will likely settle it for them.  With little room for ambiguity, a paint specification is a fact-based document, with right or wrong as the only outcomes, as determined by inspection.   News this painter is not going to like, though it’s still better that I’m the Lipton delivering it.  Because I remember what my father told painters who screwed up a paint job and came crying to him for solutions, but I’m polite like my mother.

Paint assembled in Orlando last week at the AllPro Spring show, a blend of camaraderie and commerce to start the selling season. 

Spread over four days, the meetings are a who’s who of our industry, with senior executives from every category likely in attendance.  The format gives members their best chance to bend an ear they might otherwise not reach, often waiting in line at the booth to get their two cents in. 

And depending on the executive, the lines can be pretty long. 

On my podcast this week was a summary of layoffs paint has endured during this past year, now more than 3,000 by my count.  With likely more to come, which I also get into before discussing who’s still hiring.  Because despite some concerns about demand for coatings in the coming quarters, some still are.    

THE episode was the last of the LIVE pilot series, each consumed more than 1,000 times so you know I’ll make more, being a bit of a slut for the attention.  Expect to see those in the coming weeks.  Until then, I’ll have a two-episode collaboration with Gary Dandreaux, a consultant to coatings manufacturers with a background in chemistry and the labs. In episode one Gary explains how AI might change the coatings industry, before what comes next for plant-based coatings and sustainability in paint in episode two. Topics we should all get used to talking about. 

Epilogue

Last week I received a tip alleging a grave misdeed in paint, information I confirmed using three first-person sources plus access to public documents evidencing the complaint.  Which may leave you wondering why you’re not reading that news here now.

With the facts determined there’s still more to be done before I can share the story here, though that’s coming in the next few weeks.  Likely the biggest news in paint this year, as well as the next several after that.  Because even at this early stage it’s clear, this reporting will saturate these pages for some time to come. 

So, if you want to read it first, you’re in the right place.