Mid-century houses with their original bathrooms intact.

Original mid-century means colored fixtures: pink, mint green, yellow, powder blue tubs and matching tile. Fifty years ago that was the height of it. Today it's the single most common reason people in Downey call a refinisher, and it's the easiest kind of job to explain — there's nothing wrong with the tub, it's just the wrong color.

Because those bathrooms are original, the tile usually is too, which makes doing the tub and the surround together the obvious move. The room is masked off either way.

The other side of Downey is the rental stock along the older corridors, where turnover work is steady and speed matters more than anything else.