House Full of Yes!

This week and next, I have painters in my house.  It's the first time I've ever hired someone else to paint anything inside of my house.  It's a big job, because we decided to do the entire house all at once, and one that I didn't want to take on myself this time around.  As you can see below, I like color, and I don't have any "white" walls in the house. But I know for resale purposes, I need to tone things down around here. So, I'm neutralizing these walls, as we're in the beginning stages of getting our house ready to sell.

Last week, I lined up five different painters to give me bids on the job after getting some recommendations from neighbors and friends.  I felt like I was off to a great start when the first bid I got was slightly lower than I was expecting.  That guy said he couldn't start the job right away, he could start it in a couple of months- which at first, I was thinking was my ideal time anyway. He seemed nice enough, fair, honest, and I had read a lot of good feedback about him from our neighborhood online page.

The second bid I got was from a man named Guillermo.  I have a friend who used to live in Dallas and she flipped a lot of houses.  I figured she'd have some good connections.  I texted her and got his contact info from her. I called him up, and he said he could swing over later that day.

Guillermo and his brother showed up, with sweet smiles on their faces.  I mean really sweet.  We walked around the house so he could see what all we wanted done, just smiling and saying, "Okay." and "Yes." the whole time.  I had that feeling that you sometimes get that pretty much, no matter what, I wanted this guy (and his brother) to do the job. He left and after I shut the door behind him, I looked at my husband and said, "Do you think he understood all of that?" and Fermin said, "Yes! Okay!"  We both laughed, and although we weren't really sure what was understood exactly, it didn't really seem like it mattered all that much. 

The next day, Guillermo actually hand delivered his bid.  And it was slightly lower than the previous guy.  I was so glad that all signs and reasons were pointing me to hire this guy, who I had such the strong feeling of "Ok! Yes!" from the start.

I had three other people lined up to come give me their bids the next day, but they both got in touch with me to reschedule until the following day.  And that was all the sign I needed.  I knew I wanted to call Guillermo that night and tell him I wanted he and his brother, Raul to do the job. So, sorry to the other guys but I didn't really care about their bid enough to wait an additional day.  I'm a snap decision maker, and I tend to go with my gut.  For me, it was very clear that I had already found the right people for the job.

When I called Guillermo to tell him I wanted him to paint my house, he of course said "Ok! Yes!" and although I couldn't see him, I know he was smiling. He and his brother were available to start anytime we were ready.  Even though originally, I was sort of thinking July might be best, I realized sometimes NOW is the best time.  What if Guillermo and his brother had another job later in the summer, or went to Mexico or something? Also, for Lucy and Ricky's sake, I knew the cooler days of May would be much better for them than July to spend a lot of time outside while the painting is being done. I figured Guillermo and his brother would need a few days to line things up and be available to us, but also figures it never hurts to ask so I did: "Tomorrow?"  As usual, his answer was "Okay! Yes!" When  I asked him if he could start at 10am, well, you know what he said.

Now I'm in my office, they're two days into this paint project and the smell of paint is becoming a bit overwhelming.  But it's soothed by the sounds of Guillermo and Raul.  I have no idea what in the world they're saying because they speak Spanish the whole time, but they're talking softly and laughing all day long.  Happy people.  And it's such a contagious thing.  I feel happy, even though three rooms of my house area in complete chaotic arrangement right now, and the fumes are giving me a slight, steady headache.

It's a house full of "Okay! Yes!" around here for the next week or two.  I picked the right guys for the job.  I'm positive!  Okay! Yes!