I finally figured out why my crew was burning through caulk so fast

Been running a painting crew for about 6 years now and I kept noticing we were going through a tube of caulk per room on basic trim work. That seemed crazy to me because my dad used to make a single tube last for three rooms easy. So last week I watched my guys more closely and realized they were cutting the tip way too wide and using way too much pressure on the gun. I showed them to cut a smaller hole and keep a steady light pull instead of squeezing hard. First job after that we used half the caulk we normally do and the finish looked cleaner too. Anyone else run into this with their crew or am I just late to noticing the obvious?

2 comments

2 Comments

betty_wells1mo ago

Did you check if they were using the right size tip for the gun too? Sometimes that makes them squeeze harder than they need to.

michael6691mo ago

Yeah exactly, wrong tip size can mess with the whole flow. They might not realize they're overcompensating with extra pressure because the tip doesn't fit right. Ever try swapping tips on someone mid-job to see if it changes their form?