What would you do?

I just started a very large project consisting of several garages and surface lots. The stalls are all double line in all of the garages and whoever did it in the past, like me, was using multiple machines. The problem lies in that they must not have set the machines up consistently from one to the other so now the spacing of all the double lines is all over the place.. My position is to set all my machines up so that the spacing is the same throughout, but this does mean that on some stalls my lines are wider and on some they are narrower.. The old lines are still pretty visible so obviously its not the best looking thing in the world. I haven't been approached or asked about it and to be honeat i don't think i will be on this job, but its driving me nuts... If i do get approached and asked my plan is just to explain the situation and how i cant readjust my machines for every line we paint.. Then ill use it as a selling point to keep me coming back so that as the old lines fade away over the next year or two, they can get back to some uniformity throughout.. Obviously my fear is that they will just assume its me and be unhappy.. . I will probably have to pull the manager out here tomorrow and explain the situation.. Would you guys do what im doing or adjust the guns every few stalls? I would have to charge more for all that extra time..

Just adjust the gun for the widest line and make them all the same. Would seem that it was painted by an untrained crew, they should have measured the first line they painted and made sure it was the right width.

Maybe it was done originally by a striper with lots of time and a 3400 who laid out the first line and tried to freehand the second parallel line.

when you quoted the job did you not notice this? the time for bringing this up has passed. you are the PROFESSIONAL and should have brought this to the owners attention before even turning in a bid. if I was the owner and you came to me for more $$$ at this point, I'd fire you on the spot. paint it back like it is.

ncstripe1 wrote on Aug 13, 2015:Go to #4

when you quoted the job did you not notice this? the time for bringing this up has passed. you are the PROFESSIONAL and should have brought this to the owners attention before even turning in a bid. if I was the owner and you came to me for more $$$ at this point, I'd fire you on the spot. paint it back like it is.

I agree. I posted one time about bidding Costcos or any double lines to measure a lot of them for consistently if they could be shot with double guns. If not double the labor and spray each line with one gun. But after you have quoted its to late to charge more.

Talk to the Manager and get a game plan that he agrees on to make it uniform if possible, if he wont accept it that way, they you will have to find a solution to repaint it as effiecently as you can.

Correct me if I am wrong. I think you are saying the spacing between the two parallel lines is not consistent. If that is indeed what you are saying just paint the stripes individually.

Correct the spacing between the two lines is all over the place.. either they were using multiple two gun machines that were not set up the same way, or they sprayed them individually, although I highly doubt that.. For those that asked if I checked, I did, but only on the two floors I walked with them...They provided a site plan that the remainder of the job was priced off of. I basically took a quick ride through to double check the layout and counts according to the plans and submitted my proposal because, as always, they needed it as soon as possible.. We are talking about more than 10,000 stalls, so no I didn't check all of them. As far as getting fired on the spot, i think that's a bit ridiculous. I've worked as management in all types of asphalt and concrete construction for a lot of years now, and submitting change orders, or dealing with unexpected issues as they arise throughout a project is a very, very common thing.. Maybe your tact is a bit off if you can't approach a customer when something comes up.. if It was some 100 stall lot somewhere, it would not have been an issue,but because of the scope of this project the money and time really adds up. Long story short, I met with them yesterday morning and explained the situation. The problem lies in the fact that the last striper didn't take the time to provide consistent stalls, and moving forward this would be an issue every time they have it done. The lines would just get more and more off over time with various stripers trying to match them... They agreed that it would be best to maintain the same spacing throughout, and as the old lines fade away over the next year or two we can actually get back to some nice even crisp looking lines.. They also appreciated me caring enough to do the job correctly, and bring it to their attention so that they knew what to expect, and have told me that this will be my project from now on.

Sounds like you did the right thing by bringing it to their attention. I am very happy to hear they took it as good as they did because we (every striper out there) have runned into something like this because this is the real world. There is never a parking stall that is exact certain measurements but we all try to correct someone else's screw up so the job we do looks great. I just look at something like this as a learning experience because from now on you will notice the spacing between the lines just by looking plus it sounds like you will have a regular customer.

Once was a time when single gun was all we had because no one made a double gun set up and a lot of old lots were shot double with a single gun and some of the old stripers would use the good 'ol eye ball method to measure the second line. Go have a look at some of the old K Marts, nothing is even and at some stores you can park a car between the double lines.

TT@RNS wrote on Aug 14, 2015:Go to #8

Correct the spacing between the two lines is all over the place.. either they were using multiple two gun machines that were not set up the same way, or they sprayed them individually, although I highly doubt that.. For those that asked if I checked, I did, but only on the two floors I walked with them...They provided a site plan that the remainder of the job was priced off of. I basically took a quick ride through to double check the layout and counts according to the plans and submitted my proposal because, as always, they needed it as soon as possible.. We are talking about more than 10,000 stalls, so no I didn't check all of them. As far as getting fired on the spot, i think that's a bit ridiculous. I've worked as management in all types of asphalt and concrete construction for a lot of years now, and submitting change orders, or dealing with unexpected issues as they arise throughout a project is a very, very common thing.. Maybe your tact is a bit off if you can't approach a customer when something comes up.. if It was some 100 stall lot somewhere, it would not have been an issue,but because of the scope of this project the money and time really adds up. Long story short, I met with them yesterday morning and explained the situation. The problem lies in the fact that the last striper didn't take the time to provide consistent stalls, and moving forward this would be an issue every time they have it done. The lines would just get more and more off over time with various stripers trying to match them... They agreed that it would be best to maintain the same spacing throughout, and as the old lines fade away over the next year or two we can actually get back to some nice even crisp looking lines.. They also appreciated me caring enough to do the job correctly, and bring it to their attention so that they knew what to expect, and have told me that this will be my project from now on.

your the one that posted the question, I gave my honest answer as a professional. no need to get all butt hurt because you didn't get the answer you wanted. I don't have jobs with change orders due the lack of preparedness on my part. ive always found change orders of that nature less than professional, but hey that's just me.

This phrase is what I include in my estimates. "Re-stripe lot as it currently exist". This should cover any inconsistencies. If they are not happy with what was previously striped, Now is the time for them to bring it up. Ball in their court!!!

We just painted an underground garage that had lines down both sides of the bollard/supports and hatching between the two lines EVERY two spaces. It was fine when doing banked spaces but the ones that were against the wall were interesting. No two lines were the same distance apart. Got real comfortable spraying off the left side of the machine during that job haha Pic: