If you want to improve your home and increase its overall value, then painting both the interior and exterior of your home would have to be the quickest and cheapest way for you to do so.
When you paint your home, you have to do a lot more than just grab a paintbrush and paint the walls. There is a lot of prep work that you are going to have to do. That is why working with painting contractors in Littleton would help you tremendously. Here are some tips that you should use when hiring a painting contractor for your home.
What Does A Painting Contractor Do?
A painting contractor specializes in painting different types of buildings and surfaces from houses and apartments, to commercial properties. They paint both interior and exterior surfaces of homes and buildings, select and purchase all necessary materials, properly prep all walls and substrates, and consult with homeowners to achieve the perfect paint job.
When you work with a painting contractor, they do all of the heavy lifting for you. They can even assist in choosing your paint color scheme to make the process even easier for you. Make sure that you do your research on your painting contractor before you sign any contracts.
Tips For Hiring A Painting Contractor
1. Start with a Plan
Before you even go and look for a painting contractor to work with, you should get a plan set in place. Set up a budget and think about what you already want the end-project to look like because this will help save some of your time and money when you do so.
Here are some questions that you may need to have answered when you are making a plan:
- Is the job you want to get done an interior or exterior job?
- What time of the year would you want the project to be done?
- How many rooms do you want to get painted, or how big the area you want to get painted is?
- Would it impact your work and home schedule?
- What kind of warranty are you wanting?
- What is your budget?
2. Research Painting Contractors
After putting a plan in place, then it is time that you do some research on some of the nearest painting contractors that you could work with. When you are looking for a painting contractor, you have to make sure that they are licensed and have insurance coverage that is current.
Look at companies online and read their reviews, this would help give you an idea of what experience they have, how they work as a team, their customer service, and if the customers they have worked with in the past are satisfied with the outcome of their projects.
3. Get Referrals
Services of each painting contractor may vary, because most of them are actually small local companies, so there are going to be some contractors that could offer additional services that go beyond painting, like trim and molding, woodwork repairs, gutter repairs, color consultations and even small paint projects.
When you are getting referrals, getting personal referrals is better. You could ask your friends and family about some of the painting contractors they have worked with, or you could check the local community boards for suggestions.
4. Interview Painting Contractors
Before you even work with a painting contractor, it is best that you do an initial interview with them, either in person or on the phone.
Here are a few questions that you could add to your list of questions to ask:
- Are you licensed? Are you ensured? What are your contract license number and your certificate of insurance?
- Will you be able to give me a few references from some of the similar projects that you have completed recently?
- Do you offer a warranty?
- Who will be working on my project? Are they subcontractors or your employees?
- What brands and types of paint would they be able to use for the project?
- What are your expectations in terms of payment?
- Is the paint included in the estimate?
- How many coats of paint would you be doing?
- Would you prefer us to be in the home during the painting of the project?
5. Get Your Top Prospects
When you have this list of painting contractors that you are interested to work with, then you could look at the references that they have provided to you and call them for a quick interview.
Here are some of the questions you could ask your references:
- Would you work with them again?
- Was the project done on time?
- Were you satisfied with the work that they have done?
- Were the subcontractors professional and courteous? What about the contractor?
- Did the project ever go over the budget?
6. Get Estimates in Writing
Last but not least, you need to have everything in writing. In the estimate, you are going to have to include the contact information (including the company name, address, website, and telephone number), the total cost of everything including the taxes, terms, and conditions with clear terms of payment, the whole scope of the project, warranty stipulations, start dates and estimated completion dates, and the paint specifications.
There are a lot of factors that go into choosing the perfect paint contractor for you, but it would be well worth it in the end as they bring in a lot of benefits and advantages. If you are getting the interior or exterior of your home painted, hire a painting contractor in Littleton today!
