This weekend I learned a valuable lesson. Don't negotiate with some sharp kids after you've had a few glasses of wine. The task was to paint the outside of the cabin with some specialist (i.e. expensive) paint to seal the wood, make it look nice and prevent it from rotting. Buying into marketing with a hint of science, I bought the very expensive paint from Tuin (who we bought the cabin from). And by expensive I'm talking £78 for a 2.5L tin. No spillage or drips here .. it's way too dear for that.
If that wasn't bad enough, I was negotiating with the kids to help paint it. Finally, I could get some helpers to share the DIY workload around the house. Unfortunately, sensing an opportunity to earn some pocket cash, this ended up in a negotiation.
Being the savvy negotiator that I am (or thought that I was after my 3rd glass of wine), I decided to make this a price per square meter bid. I started with £1/sqm each for 2 coats. They worked me up a bit to £1.30/sqm each for 2 coats. Care wasn't helping at all by pushing the bid up a bit more yet. We ended up with £1.50/sqm each for 2 coats.
We all went to bed happy after a deal well negotiated. Me especially as I thought I'd gotten the better of these kids in their first wage negotiation. Haha!
The next day rolled around and the kids were still happy at the prospects of making some good money - they were already planning on how they'd spend their fortune. In my sobriety I also calculated the numbers....
What?! I'd just agreed to pay each of them £46.62 to paint the cabin! I'd been taken to the cleaners by a couple of pint sized con artists. Don't let those cute faces fool you for a minute.
For that price, they had better do a really, really good job.
The wood had weathered quite nicely over the 1 month in the sun and it was almost a shame to spoil this with paint. But I'd already spent a fortune on it so there was no turning back now.
And here is what £78 looks like. I was expecting some kind of advanced carbon fibre / titanium bling factor for that price. But it was just a pretty ordinary paint tin. I guess it does say 'ULTIMATE' on it - that has to be worth something.
The 2 painting princesses ....
And their helper .. who luckily also didn't try and negotiate a 'fair' wage ...
I have to say, they were quite diligent in their painting. No splashes or drips or complaints all afternoon. They had better not for the price that I was paying them!
"Yes, what do you want?!"
Care did have to help with anything above the 1.8m height mark.
And there you go, the cabin after 2 coats of paint. I must admit, the paint did feel like it went on much better than other brands and it did seem to offer the deep penetration into the wood that Tuin promised. But maybe it was just me rationalising the price tag.
And the rich 2 workers at the end of the day with their spoils. £50 each for a hard days work. Yes, we rounded up. Thank goodness they didn't decide to charge VAT on top of that.
