Painting Your Residence - Do it Yourself or Hire a Residential House Painting Contractor?

Painting the interior or exterior of your home is one of the most cost-effective home improvements that you can embark on. Prior to when you paint you must determine if this is really a do-it-yourself endeavor or do you need to hire a qualified painter to do it for you.

The last thing you need is to invest weeks or months of work and not be pleased with the outcome and even do additional damage to the value of your residence. For those who have went into a rental apartment and witnessed the multitude of inferior paint jobs done by owners or handymen, you completely understand.

Okay so you decided you are having a painting contractor paint your house, now what?

Look For Referrals

The best way would be to search for recommendations. Speak to family members, buddies or neighborhood friends and find out if they have had recent knowledge of a painting contractor. Find out if these people were reputable, neat and tidy, clean and prompt. I feel personal knowledge is the best recommendation.

If you cannot find any recent renovations then let your fingers do the walking through the Yellow Pages. You can also check online to find local companies. Or seek the advice of the paint retailers in your neighborhood. Local paint stores are also helpful when it comes to referrals. One advantage of working with a contractor that has a excellent long-term association with a paint store is that if there's a problem with a product or color, the store will back the contractor for labor and material not just a few gallons of paint. I would steer clear of the big box retailers as they commonly highly recommend general contractors that pay them 20+% of the total bill to be a recommended contractor.

Are They Licensed?

Don't be tempted to hire a neighbor or handyman to paint your home. If a handy-man does damages your property, you've got no recourse. One clue is that a handyman will only have five numbers on the license and a painting contractor will have six numbers. The lower the number on the license the longer they've been running a business. A State licensed contractor has to carry a $12,500 bond to safeguard their customers.

Should you use a State licensed contractor for residential house painting, you also want to check to be sure that their license is active. You can check with the contractors license board online. All you have to do is enter the license number and it'll show the standing and the name of the workers compensation carrier. I looked at a job not too long ago and was underbid by a contractor that does not have workers compensation. He says he will carry out the work on his own, however his website shows he's got employees. If his employee injures himself on the job, you, the property owner, will be liable for his medical bills and treatment. Most homeowners don't know this.

Years of Experience

Be suspicious of boasts of "years of experience". Check on years of experience as a contractor, as opposed to as a painter, or "in the industry". When you are at the state license board website under the license number, it informs you when the business was started. If you ask me, painting at 10 years old isn't going to count as years of experience. It is relatively easy to start a painting business, but much more difficult to stay in business.

Price

Please do not choose a contractor on price alone. If an estimate is extremely low, there is usually a reason behind it. There are numerous ways to cut price; scrimp on the prep work, number of coats of paint, and quality of paint used; go without liability insurance, never pay workers comp (illegal if you have employees), use undocumented workers.

Oftentimes what feels like the lowest priced estimate ends up costing far more in both time and money - not to mention stress. The issue with a terrible paint job is it lasts the life your house until you strip the paint or change the area that's been poorly painted.

Are You Comfortable With Them?

Any licensed contractor worth employing ought to be pleased to consult with the property owner. Don't be reluctant to ask for help with paint colors. I've discovered spending some time finding out what my customers are looking for works out for both of us in the long run. There is nothing more complicated than looking through a color deck and picturing precisely what it will look like on the wall. Your contractor ought to be prepared to do a paint out for you on a 8x11 card that you can move around the room from shade to sun. You'll be astonished how it transforms when the daylight changes.

Find someone you're at ease with. The licensed contractor and his employees will be working around and within your household. Many of my clientele feel at ease enough with my workers to leave us in their home when they go to work. Some even plan to have us work when they are on vacation.