A few weeks ago, I had an idea.
What if I created an ad for the exact painter nobody should hire?
Not a real company.
A parody.
The cheapest painter in town.
The guy who skips prep.
Uses whatever paint is on sale.
Guarantees nothing.
Answers his phone sometimes.
And somehow always has the lowest estimate.
So I created:
The Cheaper Guy
Shiddy Painting Contractors
And honestly, it wrote itself.
The Joke Isn’t the Joke
The funny part is how little exaggeration was required.
Every line on the flyer came from a real conversation I’ve had as a painting contractor.
Not necessarily with bad painters.
With homeowners who hired them.
Things like:
“The other guy was a lot cheaper.”
Followed six months later by:
“Can you come take a look at something?”
Those are usually not the same phone calls.
Every Painter Has Seen This Movie
The details change.
The story doesn’t.
The cheapest estimate gets hired.
Prep gets skipped.
The wrong products get used.
Corners get cut.
Then eventually somebody else gets called to fix it.
Usually after the original painter has become surprisingly difficult to reach.
My Favorite Line
The flyer says:
Warranty valid until taillight visibility.
That might be my favorite line in the whole thing.
Not because it’s funny.
Because every contractor knows exactly what it means.
A warranty is only valuable if the person offering it plans to answer the phone later.
Why Make Something Like This?
Because contractor advertising is funny.
Most of it is accidentally funny.
A stock photo.
A crossed-arm pose.
A list of services.
The same promise everybody else makes.
The same blue logo.
The same truck.
The same website.
The same smiling family staring at a freshly painted wall like they just won the lottery.
I wanted to make something people would actually remember.
Something that made homeowners laugh.
Something painters would send to each other.
Something that felt more like Chicago and less like a corporate template.
The Real Point
The flyer isn’t really about bad painters.
It’s about shortcuts.
Everybody wants a fair price.
I do too.
But there comes a point where a price gets so low that you have to wonder:
What’s missing?
Because paint is paint.
The difference is usually everything that happens before it goes on the wall.
Every Painter Knows This Guy
We had a lot of fun making The Cheaper Guy.
Mostly because every painter knows this guy.
The names change.
The truck changes.
The estimate changes.
The story usually doesn’t.
Somebody hires the cheapest bid.
Corners get cut.
Somebody becomes surprisingly difficult to reach.
Somebody else gets called to fix it.
If you’ve ever been part of that story, the flyer probably makes sense.
A roller mark takes seconds to create.
Fixing it can take hours.
Most paint failures don’t start with paint. They start with shortcuts—poor prep, rushed work, and materials chosen because they’re cheap instead of because they’re right for the job.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting a fair price.
Just make sure you’re comparing the work being done, not just the number at the bottom of the estimate.
