Everybody knows that you should get some quotes from Painting Compainies before hiring someone to do any work on your house such as painting services. But you can’t rely on price alone to make the right decision. You need to ask for references for work that painter has done in your area and ideally, visit that home to look at the work. Especially for the exterior painting work done on your home, it would be great if you could take a look at the work a year or more later.
There are a lot of different ways a painter can lowball a price and then cut the quality of the work. Or worse, charge a competitive price and still deliver what is in effect, fraud. You need to ask specific questions about how the painting services will be delivered and then follow up and make sure that you are getting what is promised. A quality painter will do proper prep work before beginning. These tasks take time and money, but will add years to the life of the paint job.
- Is old, loose paint removed?
- Is bare wood properly primed?
- Are joints and nail holes caulked and prepped?
These questions and more need to be discussed before the painting services begin. And that is before any paint is applied. Is the proper type and grade paint being used for the surfaces getting painted? Also how will it be applied? You don’t want a crew showing up with a sprayer and just blasting away at your house like it was a commercial job. How many coats are you being charged for? With a modern, quality paint, you may not need two coats, but don’t pay for one and not get it – that’s double the materials right there.
Quality painting services requires quality workmanship and that takes money. Don’t just hire the cheapest contractor you can find and expect good results. Do it right and do it once.
