7 Things You Should Know Before Hiring a Painter

It’s inevitable, every ten years or so, you’ll need to paint your home. Besides looking good, the paint provides your first line of defense against the elements. To keep your home protected, you’ll need to update the paint every decade. This big project can be easy if you hire the right company. Here are 7 things you must know before hiring a painter.

1. DIY or Hire a Pro?

Many homeowners think painting is a simple afternoon task. Put the roller in the paint, and put it on the walls, right?

Wrong. There is a lot to consider when taking on a paint job yourself. A professional painter comes with the knowledge and tools necessary to accomplish the task efficiently and beautifully. Here are a few things to consider when deciding to hire a pro or do it yourself.

Time

You will save a few dollars by doing the project yourself, but it will take you more time to finish the job. Pros are experienced in the work and can accomplish it much quicker. The prep work alone can take twice as long as the painting itself. As the homeowner, you must decide what your time is worth. With a busy home life, do you want to spend your spare time painting?

Safety

Even if your home is one floor, a lot of painting is done on ladders. Painters hit some very absurd positions to finish their jobs. Professional painters will have tools like ladders and extenders to keep your project on track and their safety in check.

Quality

Hard to reach places and cutting in lines can be very difficult for a novice painter. Avoiding holidays and knowing how to tape off baseboards will slow you down and surely not provide the professional look that a pro can give you. As a novice, you may have to spend more time evening out paint and putting on layers to get the same outcome. A good seal in paint will help reduce the critters that get into your home, while keeping mold and other unmentionables out.

Speed

Professional painters have the experience of painting many homes. Therefore, they will be faster to complete the project. In addition, professional crews typically work with several painters at a time. This means 3-4 painters will be working at any time, cutting the work by the same amount.

2. Prep work

Most pros will tell you that preparation time should be ⅔ of your project timeline. To get ready to paint, furniture must be moved, walls must be cleaned, and there is so much taping to do. There are small jobs that add up to take time, like removing fixtures and protecting floors and big jobs like emptying the room. You have to decide if this is something you’d like to take on.

To save some on your final bill from the painters, you can offer to take care of the prep work yourself. Some companies will insist on some of the prep work themselves in order to guarantee work. Others might be willing to let you take on some of the tasks and cut you a break for your efforts.

3. Where to find a Reputable House Painter

There are several methods to find a reputable house painter. The most trusted is recommendations from friends or family. There is no better way to find a contractor than from someone you know that has first hand experience with the company. You’ll probably have to do quite a bit of asking around to find reliable people to share their experience.

Search Engines

Any search engine will turn up oodles of painters from their pages. This method will allow you to start with a big pool of results and narrow it down from there. You will have to make a lot of calls, ask a lot of questions and review a lot of bids before you settle on a painter. The downside of this is that you won’t be able to verify much. Companies are not likely to present their down sides, instead of paint themselves in a positive light.

Review Sites

With the advent of review websites like Angie’s List, Home Advisor, Google Reviews and more have taken over all of our decisions. They provide a forum for honest discussion of services provided by any company. You will get both glowing and less than stellar experiences from users you may or may not know. It’s a cost effective way to go into a job with piece of mind.

4. What to Expect from a House Painter

When you deal with a professional painting company, there are a few standards you should expect. The crew should be timely and remain on the schedule they presented to you prior to starting. You should get a full walkthrough of the project with measurements and loads of questions before a final cost estimate is provided. The estimator should talk with you about colors, finishes and what you want your final project to look like.

Be wary of any company that does not willingly give their license and insurance information if requested. The estimate you receive should be an example of the work to be expected. If you get a number scrawled on a napkin, be warned, the work will follow suit. Look for a professionally made up estimate that fully details all of the work expected. It should include what preparations, painting and cleaning is to be completed. Also, it should have the expected cost of labor, supplies, and if any touch ups or warranties are offered.

5. Are There Different Types of Painters?

You have options when choosing a house painter to take on your job.

Local Mom-and-Pop’s painting companies rely on word of mouth and referrals from previous jobs. While their work can be great, you might have to deal with scheduling conflicts. Since they most likely only have a crew or two, there might be a bottleneck from estimate to work. Generally, their estimates are very competitive to make up for the hassle of waiting.

Small Commercial Companies will be a bit larger but still only have a couple crews. Their experience in both residential and commercial paint jobs puts them a bit ahead of the mom and pop companies. They will be able to provide you with testimonials, insurance paperwork and pictures of work they have done. They might cost a bit more, but will give you professional company outcomes with less cost.

Specialty painters offer styles and finishes that the other options might not. If you’re looking for a faux wall to be painted, you might want to invest in an expert painter for the job. It’s also important to get these specialists for murals, specialty painting or other specific needs.

6. Estimates and Pricing

Your estimate should detail out all aspects of the job. While some companies quote out jobs by the area measurements to be painted, others will want to come out and assess the project. Your estimate should break out the costs for supplies and labor, in individual listings. If there is prep work or other repairs that need to be done, it should be included as well.

7. Questions to Ask Your Painter

If you are going into your first paint job, you might not even know what to ask your estimator or painter. Here are some important questions to start with.

How long have you been painting houses?

What kind of experience does your crew have?

What timeline do you expect for this project?

Is there anything I need to do before you start?

What prep work do you recommend?

Who cleans up at the end?

Will you wash the walls prior to painting?

Do you offer a warranty?

Is primer included in the estimate?