Zero-Hassle , Time & Cost-Efficient – Express Painting.

My dad might believe that none other than his friend can do the best job of painting a house, “He has the contract to do the NCPA Apartments etc. etc. etc. All storied properties in Mumbai !!!!”.

Me? I beg to differ…..and this is a professional opinion. The man can handle my dad’s ego ,and he is a good salesman, but he is not really that particularly knowledgeable , nor has he really bothered to keep himself updated on modern building technology …….. And no, his way is not the best value for money or other resources such as time, mind-space or simply human energy.

Ever since I saw the ads for machine painting of homes on hoardings on BEST Buses, I’ve been interested. After all, if there is a difference in the quality of paintwork on cars, depending on technology used, why not on walls?

So, on the 7th, when I saw an invite to the #BergerXP event, I hopped to accept it. And here’s the information I gathered:

First off, the home-painting tools: 1.)The sanding machine that makes scraping before painting less of a pain. And largely dust free, as it sucks up the dust produced, like a vacuum cleaner.2)The Multi-Purpose Mixer, that ensures greater uniformity than hand mixing.3.)The auto-roller to avoid drips,4)The High Pressure Washer to remove dirt and algae and 5)The Airless Paint Sprayer to apply even coats of paint.

And does painting this way come at a premium? Not really. Where the trained painters cost more than the chaps you can hire by the day at Gulalwadi, the 30-40% saving in time, results in overall reduction in labour costs. So a 1000 sq ft place such as mine, costs about a lakh to do, in fact cheaper than what it cost us to do it the conventional way. Also, you don’t need to go searching for contractors who can paint this way; Just contact Berger Paints online and they will take it forward from there and help you with quotes and help locating trained manpower. They also move and cover furniture and put stuff back in place, once painting is done. So next time you must paint, save yourself needless hassles, time and money and switch to machine painting.

And while you are round the Berger Paints website, do take a look at the Colours and Emotions widget. I found it most useful to zero in on paint shades rather than poring over shade cards. Now if only I can somehow make my dad and his bunch of buds watch Express Painting, I’m sure we’ll be painting our houses and buildings differently and really doing ourselves a favour in the process. But then again my dad, whose pretty fond of saying that he is “Aankhon ka Pakka, Kaanon Ka Kaccha,needs to see proof, and so far none of his buds  have gotten their places done this new-fangled way. Pity!

What is the Amateur Art featured in this post you ask? The winning entry at #BergerXP painting contest. This baby is the proverbial camel designed and executed by committee :our 9 member Team Paint Your Imagination. Our theme was I Love Mumbai.

BTW, no this playing round with paints, was not the only kindergarten fun we had. Anoop the Sadist, had us playing Musical Chairs with a twist. He had us hopping with us clutching one ankle, doing the Egyptian, then a pretend free-style swim, before getting us to get our hands dirty in Operation Sand Storm, sanding down wall simulates in quick time. Our team of mostly gals, took the prize, clocking less than 10 seconds! A record till now. Apparently we went about it like a clutch of clawing cats!

All in all, a fun afternoon.

Also really productive Saturday, as a bunch of people from the Bombay Management Association and Jamnalal Bajaj Institute, who were  having their event in the adjoining room, decided to button-hole me and learn more about influencer marketing.

And then there was Bharatnatyam, Kuchipudi, Bellydancing at Kala Ghoda before I headed home.