Hidden costs to painting a house
Which one are you? You bought a house and it needs to be painted? You are selling a house and it needs to be painted before you sell? Then again, you ma be tired of looking at a red dining room. Im not sure which one you are, but people that need their house painted and looking for a painting contractor typically fall into one of these 3 categories. Once they call to get a painting estimate the fun begins. What color will I use? When can the painters start? Wait- what about Hidden cost to painting a house?
I do not like it. Painting a house can have surprises. We can see what we see. You can always count on a few buts. A broken window clip. Stress crack starts small -ends big. Fix one nail pop- 5 more show up.
Fixing stress cracks can cost more money
when we start painting, and we begin with fixing cracks, it sounds easy. We cut away a small crack, bigger chip falls away, then a larger chip falls away, then there is nail pop, then another, and then another.
Stress cracks are a a unknown. We guess on the time it takes to fix these issues. We also cannot guarantee the fix will work. The cracks in this picture are from a house in Barrington, IL, which is not that old, but for some reason, the house has severe stress cracks.
When we give you a time or amount to fix drywall repairs, we are guessing, but we cannot guanrantee the final cost.
My window blind broke when removing them!
As we work to paint window areas, we may need to remove window blinds. Some homes like those in Dell Webb Huntley- have older plastic blinds.
Older blinds kind of suck to remove. Older blinds also mean older plastic. Older plastic means they break really fast.
When you or we remove window blind hardware – we and you need to be careful to now break those clips because you may not find new ones. (amazon is the only place we have found them)
The Paint is not covering
When we say the paint is not covering a wall, it usually refers to the color not covering the previous colors. This is very common with white colors. On a recent project we had in Alginquin, the paint took 4 coats of paint!!
Every Paint contractor may have different opinions on paint and coverage, but overall this is true for all paint.
When we estimate for white colors, we will give you the price for 2 coats, and the option for 3rd coat. Without knowing what color or which white you are using- we cannot be 100% sure how many coatts of paint you will need. You can read more about these issues in our FAQ page
The same issues apply to bright, primary-type colors.
Extra costs when painting closets
This one seems common to us, but I see how it can be confusing when getting an estimate for painting. When we are giving a price for a closet, we are giving a price based on what we see. When we estimate to paint a closet and all the shelves are on the wall- there is a price given to paint around those shelves.
When we show up to do the job, if all the shelves are down and and there are 30 1 inch holes to fix- the cost will increase to make those repairs.
Getting walls perfect costs extra money
This issue does not always come up but when it does, it usually does not go well. When we are giving a price to paint a house, we are pricing to pole sand walls, fill some holes etc an repaint the walls, we say a level 4 finish according to the PCA.
if yu have walls from a previous paint job that has a rough texture, sags in the wall, or other badly repaired walls- there will be extra cost to have that fixed.
Also- we use standards from The paint contractor association, PCA, these include looking at walls in natural light, not using a spot light or flashlight to look at walls when we paint.
Other Quetions on painting costs
we hope and strive to answer questions, provide you with information to avoid suprises with painting, but things happen
If you have questions on painting, please let us know!
