The Cheap Painter and 200 Sprinkler Heads

A client wanted to save money.

Painting looked easy. They hired their own painter.

I'm not kidding. The painter painted over 200+ sprinkler heads.

The cheap painter is going to cost the client thousands. So much more than what we would have cost.

You can't clean it

You can't have even a spec of paint on a sprinkler head. You're not even allowed to clean it. You have to replace it.

That means a licensed fire-protection contractor. Impairment. Drains. Tests. Sometimes lifts. Sometimes the ceiling comes down so someone can get to the heads. Then the ceiling has to go back.

None of that is "touching up paint."

What it can run

For a batch like that around here, I've seen it land in the mid-$20ks to mid-$50ks pretty often. Concealed heads, or access that gets ugly, and it can push toward $80k+.

Two hundred heads. Sometimes 250.

Per head, when you're replacing a bunch at once, you're often looking at something like $100 to $250. Low end closer to $75 to $125. High end $250 to $400 if the head type or the access is a pain.

These aren't a bid on anybody's job. Just what this kind of mess usually costs in our market.

Why "saving" wasn't saving

They saved our markup on painting.

They bought a fire-protection change order. A licensed contractor. Ceiling work. Possible downtime while the system is down. And a conversation nobody wanted to have with the owner.

I've watched this on other trades too. Electrical. Plumbing. Fire alarm. Anything that needs a license or an inspection. The trade that "anybody can do" is often the one that creates the expensive problem.

How we run it

Mark Allan Contracting. Commercial GC in Metro Atlanta since 1999.

If a trade needs a license, an inspection, or an impairment procedure, it stays in our scope. Painting that can stay paint stays paint. Painting that hits a sprinkler head does not.

We'll tell you that before anyone picks up a brush near the ceiling.

Call us before you self-perform the wrong trade

If you're planning a TI and somebody wants to self-perform painting, or anything that sits next to fire protection or other licensed work, call us first.

We'll tell you what can be DIY and what can't. We won't pretend a roller is a fire-protection contractor.

Mark Allan Contracting

macont.com

(404) 724-8709