An episode in painting

Nothing dramatic here like the famed masters of the renaissance but more mundane as in getting the abode painted. As in our home from the inside and out. Now we (as in born in India) have tried this form of DIY task in the past with mixed results. It takes quite a while to do one room and the results are mixed. As in not mix of paints on a wall but the finish leaves a lot to be desired in spite of having the right tools (or so we thought).

Now use the concept of hiring domain experts and typically you would go with folks that have a heritage from south of the border. This largely implies folks with a Mexican lineage (not to sound racist but some in our government with their stance against illegal immigration will literally run against a resource wall with their thinking on sending all so called illegals back to their homes - no salads at dinner to no clean restrooms at their favorite restaurant to no food in most cases); who are skilled to handle repetitive and laborious tasks that result in a quality product.

These include food farming to processing, to yard maintenance to house cleaning to house building to maintenance. This country would look a lot different if it was not for the assistance of these skills from this hard working ethnic group. I am sure there are tales of horror in every society but my limited and non empirical observations of certain minorities tell a very poignant story of their core expertise and passion.

Hats off to all of those that are delivering a project under budget and on time. Having come from so called Big 5 consulting I am myself not that qualified to do it over and over again.

So was the case in our house with the team of four. One of these guys I picked from a neighbor who just finished painting his house and after appreciating those results decided to allow him to come and estimate on mine. He came, he saw, he quoted - time and materials and price.

Then on the appointed Friday he sent his manager to begin the task. His manager was actually his father (senor Leandro). Himself approaching 70 and only too pleased to leave a quarrelsome spouse at home he decided to earn a honest living. His dedication and patience to complete a large room in a day was outstanding. He left and promised to come with more help the next morning.

As promised the gang of four shows up at 8 am sharp - not too many people can live with that commitment and professionalism in my experience (you see careless slackers in all cultures - in my little experience I can tell you its tough getting good manual labor in India), and got to work. Before the sun had set they completed their mission and finished the entire house inside and some minor work on the outside.

With some simple tricks of the trade about masking the walls with a tape, gathering electrical outlet covers in a bucket to using a bucket to catch paint with the can of paint in the bucket at all times they have a process that they follow to save time and not create confusion.

A lot motivates them I think to deliver what they are honed to in the absence of arrogance, an awareness of their station, and the reality of making an honest buck.

A job well done!