Outfitting a 10-person painting crew before a big job.

Painting crews are different. They don't need steel-toe boots most of the time, they don't go through gloves the way framers do, but they need things nobody else needs: white pants in three sizes, painter's caps, drop-cloth-grade tarps, and disposable Tyvek for the spray-paint days.

The foreman walked in Wednesday afternoon with ten names, ten sizes, and a Monday start. Total budget was around $2,800, which works out to $280 a man. Lower than framing because we weren't doing top-tier boots — painting crews are softer on boots, and most of these guys would be in Dickies-style work shoes, not Thorogoods.

Pants: white painter's pants. Dickies Painter's Pants at $40 a pair, two pair per guy, in their sizes. That's $800 right there. We have them in the back room in stacks because we know painting crews come in every spring.

Shirts: solid-color t-shirts, not white. Painter's white shirts pick up every drip and look terrible by lunch. Carhartt Heavyweight Pocket T at $20, two per guy, $400.

Painter's caps: we sell Stetson and basic canvas caps at $12 each. Painter's caps keep splatter out of the hair and act as a sweatband. Ten caps, $120.

Boots: Skechers Work Sure Track at $80 a pair was the foreman's call. Not steel-toe. Slip-resistant for ladder work. $800 for ten pair. Several guys wanted to pay the upcharge for a leather option — we accommodated and let them pay the difference out of pocket.

Gloves: nitrile-dipped knit gloves, two pair per guy. Carhartt A540 at $14, $280 for the crew. Painters cycle through gloves slower than framers but they need fresh ones for the priming days.

Knee pads: optional in painting work but we threw in five pairs of cheap foam pads at $15 because half the crew would be doing trim work crouched. $75.

Coveralls: the foreman wanted disposable Tyvek for the upcoming spray days. We don't carry true-grade Tyvek — that's a Grainger order — but we sold him ten basic disposable coveralls at $12 each, $120. He'd supplement from elsewhere for the heavier-duty days.

Total: about $2,595. Under the $2,800 he came in with, with $200 left for incidentals. The foreman was happy. The crew showed up Monday in matching whites and made the property manager visibly relax.