The idea of decorating always used to worry the life out of me. But since hiring a lady painter and decorator, I was able to appreciate all the preparation steps that are taken before a job can be commenced. She likes to visit the prperty to be quoted for. Every part of the room to be decorated is inspected and if there appears to be anything calling out for repair or other attention, she points this out to the owner and specifies whether she’s able and or prepared to carry ou that work in the same scope. I watched her look across the ceiling and run her hand over a couple of patches. She checked if discolouration was caused by a reent water leak above it. I was tasked with checking the state of the pipewoek running across the ceiling from the shower in the main bathroom. She agreed to paint over it if there was no expansion to the patch between that inspection and start up some six weeks hence. The ceiling was included as the wound was considered old!