My dad is a painter and has been a painter for 20 years of his life since he's been here in Australia.
In recent years there's been a large growing number of painters which has lead my dad to getting little job opportunities, I just thought I should help him out and ask you guys where do you look when you're looking for a painter?
I've looked at sites like oneflare but it just seems really competitive to get a job.
Thanks for your response in advance. Much appreciated.
can he contact local builders directly? so he can subbie directly to them?
I ask around my friends and family to see if they've had someone they've been happy with recently. When your dad has done a job it doesn't hurt to ask specifically for people to pass his name on and leave a few cards etc. Sometimes people need reminded that your business relies on word of mouth. If they're happy with the job done then they'll be more than happy to do it. I still recommend my screen door guy years later as he was fantastic.
My mum looks on Gumtree and has had a lot of success with finding people there, I tend not to as much but will give it a go next time I need someone given the success she's had. The ad has to be good though - clearly stating insurances, business name, listing experience, showing past work etc. Also good to give a rough indication of prices, especially if he's reasonably priced.
We have a lot of local community groups on Facebook and people are always asking for names of tradies on these. Tradies will often monitor them and refer people to their Facebook business page. I've gotten a couple of people like this. People in our area are really good for supporting locals. Couple of things to note when going down this path - make sure your Facebook personal profile is clean. I rejected a local electrician recently (who is super-keen for business locally) when I saw all the racist things posted publicly on his Facebook profile. I won't knowingly choose to support someone like that. I'm also not keen on businesses that don't show their work regularly or haven't posted in years, it makes me wonder what's going on if they can't be bothered spending 2 minutes putting up a quick pic of some recently completed work - if you have a Facebook page then use it, otherwise don't have one at all.
I have also used Hipages and would probably end up on there if all other avenues were exhausted. But it is pretty cutthroat for tradies - I tend to get overwhelmed with responses within 20 minutes of posting a job. I actually find it a bit harassing having to suddenly juggle 3+ keen people wanting to know if they've got a job etc so don't tend to use it unless I've tried every other avenue.
Ask my friends. If not, serviceseeking.com.au. Had my oven fixed by a guy from that website. He did a good job.
Try some local freelance websites
Off the top of my head there is airtasker / gumtree / Craigslist / various forums / honestly just post it up in the classifieds section of the forum and see what you get
In this day and age trust is a huge thing so if you can establish trust already by going to the buyers trusted site you may have more of a chance to get a job and also maybe have something to talk about.
I wonder as well whether the younger generation do all their research online. And whether it's actually the majority.
gumtree is ridiculous, every idiot and their grandma tradie advertise on there, you have a much better chance to get a good painter through word of mouth.
Depends on the kind of work your father wants. Does he want residential or commercial. Does he want a fixed 9-5pm type work or at call.
He definitely should advertise in his local paper, that will drive the majority of the work. Try contacting strata firms and real estate agents, and see if he can get jobs through them.
Then look at councils for small contracts.
If he has been doing this job for 20 years, then he should have built a bunch of contacts where other painters need help with their jobs, he would get less money, but at least daily rate. A good painter can make $500 a day self employed, dailies can be at $350 or so.
Maybe he should also make a personal website, with customers giving him their reviews. Print about 10k business cards, do a local card drop. Make sure he has shirts printed to advertise his painting business if he has one. Give a free shirt or 3 away with each job.
Off-topic but…
I recently got charged $650 for repainting 2 walls and touching up some skirtings, the painter spent 4 hours doing the job and I supplied them with the paint for the skirtings…
Airtasker.com.au or Freelancer.com.au.
Airtasker has been great.
airtasker
I usually go by word of mouth from friends; we have a really good plumber that way. Recently we had some work done to our house and we got the builder to recommend some painters. Unfortunately they were either super busy and/or expensive so we decided to do the painting ourselves. We are doing it piecemeal when we have time and the weather is OK. In our case once we find someone who is a good tradie we ring them back when we want something additional done. I don't bother mucking around to try and get a few dollars less, I'd rather go with someone I trust. (I know, this will get me banned from Ozbargain.)
For building works I normally put the job up on the Masters Builders website.
http://www.mbav.com.au/vpLink.aspx?ID=000000000100
Where are you guys located?
I use Gumtree. I also look at how long they've been a member of Gumtree, then google their name / business name to see if anything pops up as dodgy before calling to get a quote. I generally lean towards tradies who have been active on Gumtree for a few years.
I use Gumtree like others here, but why not contact everyone you know and ask them to pass on his abilities and contact info, that should help.
Gumtree/local newspapers