Painting Bollards

Raise your hand if you hate painting bollards... Maybe it's just me, but painting bollards bugs me to the point that I try to not do it whenever I can. I feel they should be painted by a painter, not a striper. They are metal and our paint just does not stick... I spray, so unless I have someone hold up a shield, paint dust goes everywhere and I can't get all the way to the bottom without using a 2 piece wrap around at the base... Most of the time they are right up next to something, so I have to use a shield. We have jobs ranging from 10 to 175 per job. I charge $5 - $10 per depending on how many, but I still don't think I should be painting them. Is it just me? How much do you charge? How do you paint them, or do you at all?

A) You should always, always, always use Industrial Enamel (Rustoleum, SW, etc) when painting bollards. Use a 4" roller. Don't spray unless you use a mask around the bottom. Traffic paint is for painting on asphalt and concrete. Use the right paint for the job..... B) Bollards are good money. Most times I send my helper off to do them when we aren't striping. He can paint like 15 an hour with a roller and I charge $8 each. 30 bollards X $8 = $240 - $70 labor and materials is $170 for doing nuttin.

If yoy don't like painting them raise your price till you do like painting them. or use plastic covers by Robert

I do what Chip does. We use industrial enamel. Dwan has the right idea!! It is so obvious but I have never heard it put into words.

The only ones I will paint are the ones that have been previously painted with traffic paint, which seem to be the case most of the time. If I come across some that have been painted correctly I usually tell the PM to have whatever painter that did it last time to do it again. So there is the problem, most have been painted with traffic paint already and are a pealing rusty mess. Has anyone used industrial enamel on rusty traffic painted bollards? and how does it hold up? For the money it would cost to clean them properly, apply a primer, and paint with enamel, they could put the hard plastic covers on them.. which most don't want to do for 100 bollards in the back of the center.

Born to stripe is right. One gal.of industrial enamal with a 4 inch roller,small frame just sitting in trail asking to make you money.$12 per coat.new ones will pay $25. Dwan ,that quote I must put into action. Fool, I am both, a painter and striper. S.W. has a rust converter that works on really rusty objects. We normally wire brush and put to coats on those.

I saw a wal mart striper painting the poles with striping paint must be the right thing to do.

I've posted before on this very subject. It's just ignorance on the client/striper's part or an effort to save money/make more money. Let's see. If I'm a contractor and I can get the same money using $10 paint versus $40 paint...what am I going to do? Then there's always the lazy/unprepared guy who doesn't like keeping a couple gallons of ind. enamel in the trailer/truck. "I don't feel like making that extra trip, I'll just use this here traffic paint...they won't notice the difference" I'll admit I've done it, but ONLY when the bollards have been previously painted with traffic paint. Like Cheney, I started off as a painter and realize that a good job is not just in the workmanship. It's also proper prep and using the correct material for the application. Just try to EDUCATE your clients AND your employees about the proper way of doing things, and they will realize the results will definitely outweigh the extra time and expense. Man, that makes so much sense I may quote myself on my website

we use SW industrial enamel, but on ones in bad shape due to rust or even striping paint, we use Alkyd enamel after wire brushing the bad spots...