Does anyone have a positive story when dealing with Wal

I am just curious if anyone had a positive story about dealing with Wal-Mart Striping? We started Phase 1 (+or- 300 stalls) of another WalMart expansion project and showed up at 1pm to stripe behind the paving concract (we are a sub from them). They are half way through with the lot and paving east to west. We need to lay off the concrete islands from the north to south. The GC and WalMart managers get upset when I tell them we can't do a thing until they finish paving. They expect the lot to be open the next morning. This is the typical routine for these store expansion projects. I try to bid these jobs high enough so there is not a chance we have to do the work, but somehow we always end up doing it. Anyway... We get a couple bays laid out, the paver does not finish the lot, and rain is headed our way. We paint what we have ready, and ir pours down rain at 5pm. (Thank You Lord!) The next day we start at 5am, finish Phase 1 with 2 coats and all the goofy parallel handicap stuff etc. Hopefully they will allow more than 30 minutes for striping in Phase 2, but I doubt it. If anyone was curious... The islands were not on 60 degree angles (shocking), but we had to use them anyway. I just made sure the stalls were wider than 9'6" and tried to line the bays up on the fly.

i have never pursued anything with them (from what i hear...slowpay/hassles etc...) from what i hear they dont sealcoat (at least in my area i can say that is the case) most in my area look like a road map....they will blackout lines on some real weathered blacktop and then stripe all kind of crazy ways and bottom line it looks like CRAP and very confusing looking, they will crack fill though.....do a "search" i believe there has been numuerous posts on wallmarts....

I could not disagree more. We have done several Super Wal-Mart conversions and new super Wal-Marts. One had the angles on the islands screwed up as mentioned above but that does not change the layout for our 60 deg stalls. I never trust the concrete guys or whoever staked the job. I always check our own angles regardless of what angle the curb has been set at. Anyhow, every Wal-Mart we have done (and they have all been for general contractors or paving contractors) have went smooth. It has been a matter of close communication with our customer and making sure they don't have unrealistic expectations. We don't show up with an army of people (usually 1 or 2 people) and it has still went very well.

I've done several jobs for Wal-Mart distribution warehouses. They are a tad slow to pay but not nearly the problem as reflected here on PLP with the retail stores. Being most of our work is new construction, I look closely at the GC before accepting the job offer. I've only been burned a couple of times in 8-9 years. Chip (BTS) tried to tell me not to work for other stripers.....he was right.....been burned by "other stripers" several times. Finally learned my lesson. Watch out for the GC's and PMC's who act like they know everything or who are severely deficient in social skills.. As Randy indicates, not a good idea to stripe a whole bunch of stripes wrong in order to match the islands. Better to make just enough adjustments to make it look right near the islands (and function) then stripe it like it is supposed to be. If not, you could have a really big problem on your hands. Changing the striping on a Wal-Mart could be devastating

I just bid a Sams Club. The GC just wants a restripe , gave him the price , he said lets go . So I drop off the contract and the personal letter of guarentee , I highlighted the 40% deposit to schedule the work, balance upon completion . They are an out of state company . He doesnt want to give a deposit or sign the letter of guarentee. I simply told him no deposit , no work. I dont extend terms to out of state companies I have never heard of.

Freestate; Smart move. Only people I have ever had a problem collecting from were from out of state.

Our only experience was on an add-on and the GC was OK to work with and paid OK the biggest problem was they had to have new, high-traffic, concrete painted way too soon after pouring because the concrete guy was behind schedule. It was an "I should have got it in writing" type deal but the on-site rep. for the GC said "go ahead and do it, this has to be open by whenever" and I had warned him the paint almost surely wouldn't stick to his newly poured concrete and that some black out it what was now a traffic lane would probably wear off & leave the old stripes visible and I couldn't guarantee it. It did and they called so we had to re-paint one concrete area and some black out before they would mail the check. But they did mail it. I will note that in this case I knew another local contractor who had done some other type work for this GC previously and vouched for them paying with no problem or I would have been as hesitant as some of you since they were out of state etc. If any of you have read some of my posts over the years you'd know there are a FEW GC's I'll work for anywhere anytime but there are as many or more that I wouldn't work for at double the price unless they paid in full in advance & the check had cleared!

Ya...there are some good GC's and their money is good. Wal-Mart is one of those customers that you have to ask..."how BAD do I want this?" Target's maintenance subcontractor is another one you need to be careful with....

I just had to jump in one this one. We striped a Walmart a few years back on Thanksgiving Day, they were closed. This was for a GC out of Texas and when our bill kept coming back we did a search for that company. Low and behold no such company. They got me once, but they won't get me twice.

Well all guess who is comming to town? right Wally World. They have just taken over an old "K-Mart" that went out of business 4 years ago. I have a good feeling that they will want sweeped, striped, plowed and sanded. and as that is what I do it is my turn to have fun. Should be about a year or so before they open so I have a long time to plan on how to charge them. Also have a Home Depot moving in within the next 2 years.

Update Just got asked to bid the wal-mart. Like has been mentioned before they are asking for 2 coats, also they want all curbs masked for sharp edges, The specks say no painting till the blacktop has cured for 1 month but the GC wants it painted the day after the black top is down. They are also asking to have the wet film thickness tested twice on each parking row. ( not sure how to test wet paint for thickness, I can test the dry paint for thickness with no problem) My prices are noted for been high, now to make them real high. like 4 times my uasual rate.

Use a Wet Film Thickness Gauge. SW used to hand them out at shows. $.25 worth of aluminum and it does $.25 worth of testing. Sounds like more W-M well-intentioned, but lamebrained BS. Also available at Paul Gardner Co: http://www.gardco.com/pages/film_thickness/wet_film/nords… Prolly costs a lot more than $.25

Of the Wal-Marts we have done, there has never - not once - been an inspector or engineer or Wal-Mart rep there to inspect our paint or our layout or our application rate or to make sure we wait the 30 days as called for in their specifications. The first couple made me nervous but we just make sure we do it right and if there ends up being someone there someday that actually knows how to test our painting, they will have no problem with it. The specifications are written into their plans to cover their a$$ from unscrupulous painters and to scare away anyone not capable of doing quality work on larger jobs. They can enforfce the specifications if need be but I suspect that if you appear professional, experienced and knowledgable and then put your paint down with quality (and at proper rates) they will not question your work. As for waiting 30 days? I'd challenge anyone across the country to tell us one store that allowed waiting 30 days on reconstruction or new construction . . . . . As for 15 mils application rate, put a larger tip in than you are used to using and put the paint down HEAVY! Most people do not spray even 10 mils. 15 mils is a thick application rate and most stripers would be surprised to learn they are normally applying paint at around 8-10 mils (often less on restripe jobs). To verify this, use the gauge Chip mentioned or trust your Graco digital readout (unless you are like Ken and don't believe in modern advances in striping equipment)

I believe only in advances that don't take any time away from putting paint on the ground.

Ooooh! ooooh! Hold me back! That post is such a HUGE target! Hold me baaaaaaaack!

Well, I set the bait and got a bite

sic'em chip