Hire A Painter Tips Series - 7 Red Flags Your Painting Estimate May Be Warning You About

1. The " Painters " Estimate . Do the details of the painting estimate reflect what you want or what your painter wants? You may have told your estimator where you want painting done, but did you discuss how it should be prepared and with what materials? If you don't know to ask, you may find your estimate fills in the blanks for you with short cuts and poor finishes you didn't expect.
2. The " Blanket Painting " Estimate . Its all too common to see a quotation for painting where the claim is as simple as, " we will paint all rooms at this address for $XXXX.xx " . It sounds great! Everything in the house is going to be painted for a low price. Perfect! But is it? Beware quotes with too few details. These make for great escape routes whenever the painter doesn't produce the vision you had in mind.
3. The " Name Brand Paint " Estimate. Using top brand names always looks great on a painting estimate. You've heard the name so you feel theres a certain credibility associated with that particular paint manufacture. And in many cases, you'd be right. But did you know that the biggest and the best paint manufacturers in the world make both great and not-so-great paint? More to the point, does you painting estimate detail which of these you're getting on your paint job? Chances are, if you didn't discuss it during the estimate assessment, your written estimate will leave it open to interpretation (usually the painters interpretation).
4. The " Low-Ball " Estimate. When the price is too good to be true you know this one . Or at least this phrase should sound familiar. But when it comes down to making that final decision on which painter to hire for your project, you get giddy looking at that fabulously low quote when all the others " cost so much " . Now emotion takes over and you can't pass up saving all that money! But before you sign the painting contract, ask yourself this: Do you honestly believe that this particular painter knows something that all the other painting contractors don't to cost so much less? Did he sound more knowledgeable with information the others didn't have? Chances are slim against it and not worth the risk.
5. The " No Guarantee " Estimate. All the details sound good but theres no recourse being offered if things don't go your way. Can you afford to have the job fixed and repainted now that you've paid for a paint job with no guarantees? And even if you can afford it, do you really want to pay twice and have the painting results you were expecting take twice as long?
6. The " No Standards " Estimate. Standards of workmanship should be spelled out so you have the same frame of reference as the painter in deciding what constitutes a properly painted surface. Otherwise, its all subjective in the eye of the beholder. There are painting industry standards published by the PDCA (Painting and Decorating Contractors of America) which are used to protect both painting customers as well as painting contractors in a court of law if necessary, to uphold the bar set by the painting industry to best serve customers with a means by which to judge a professionally finished surface. Even if you're not a member of the PDCA , these are the Painting Industry Standards and a good contractor will at least make you aware of them to scrutinize their work if it ever comes into question.
7. The " Wheres The Proof " Estimate. The painting estimate reads like the painter took the words right out of your mouth and mind and so it should! But if its not backed up by other customers with similar painting projects to verify they can do what they're claiming, are you sure thats what you'll end up with? Theres a lot of painters and painting contractors out there vying for you business. You owe it to yourself to make sure you've checked there references to weed out the pros from the cons.

» left by Jennifer Stewart

1 year 172 days ago.
151 fans.

Your points are excellent! I worked in the decor industry for a while and watched clients deal with painting contractors. Mostly, clients just didn't want to pay, so they haggled the contractors down, then wondered why the workmanship was lousy or the paint was bad quality!

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