About Canyoufeedthedog

A Painting Crew That Works to a Vacancy Calendar

Canyoufeedthedog paints apartments, condos and houses in Santa Monica, California. Most of our work is turnover work, which means we are in a unit after one tenant has gone and before the next one has seen it. That gap is usually short, sometimes it is a weekend, and everything about how we run a job is shaped by it.

We started doing this because the ordinary way of quoting a repaint does not fit a rental. An owner asking about a two bedroom off Pico does not really want to know the price per square foot. They want to know whether the unit can be listed on Thursday. So we quote both, the money and the days, and we hold to the days.

Santa Monica gives the work its own character. A good share of the rental stock here went up between the 1920s and the 1970s, so we move between plaster walls with a century of layers on them and later drywall buildings with hollow core doors and a builder white nobody recorded. Along Ocean Park and Sunset Park there are bungalows that have been split into rentals, and up in the 90403 blocks there are courtyard buildings where the units are almost identical and should be painted as if they are. The marine layer is a genuine factor rather than a talking point. Morning humidity slows a recoat, salt air eats exterior sashes and doors long before it touches a living room wall, and a crew that ignores either ends up either late or back again in two years.

How We Work

• The scope is written down before we start. Which walls, which ceilings, whether trim is in, whether it is one coat or two and why. A vague scope is how a turnover turns into an argument on the last morning.
• We keep a colour standard per building. Wall colour, trim colour, sheen and product line, recorded per property. Later units match, and a touch up blends instead of flashing.
• We tell you when not to spend. Sound walls in the existing colour often need patching and a spot coat rather than a full repaint. Saying so costs us money on that job and keeps the building.
• Lead safe practice on the older buildings. Anything pre 1978 is worked wet, contained and cleaned up properly. It is not optional and it is not a surcharge we spring on you afterwards.

Get in Touch

Call (424) 514-7572 or find us at 5119 Broadway, Santa Monica, CA 90403. Tell us the address, the unit size, the move out date and the date it has to show. We will tell you whether it fits.