Think It’s Expensive to Hire a Professional Painter?

You get what you pay for is that old adage saying you typically will hear after you’ve hired an inexperienced amateur to do any type of work in your home.

No matter what type of tradesperson whether it’s a carpenter, a plumber, an electrician or painters you are hiring for any home improvements or home renovations don’t let the money you think you are saving with a low quote lead you to believe you get quality, in fact it will typically cost you double and a little more by hiring the unskilled and inexperienced just to cut costs.

In this article we hope to provide you with information on what you need to look for when hiring painting companies in Ottawa, and provide you with some tips on how to know the difference between qualified skilled and knowledgeable painters vs. the amateur, unskilled, fly-by night types.

To get professional painting results that will be done right the first time, last a long time and use good quality paint products you need to find the best painters who will take the time to go through every detail with you when providing you with a painting estimate or quote. 

Hiring professional painters is not as expensive as you may think especially when you factor in the time it takes to prepare all the areas properly, use top  quality paints, come with their own supplies, tools and materials needed to get the job done right  and have the skills and knowledge to complete the work on time and within budget.

Keep in mind that most professional painters are typically small business owners who independently run their painting company on their own without hiring subcontractors and in order to remain competitive they will will always quote you a fair price.

They want to remain in business, earn your trust and your loyalty as one of their valued clients and just like you they have families to feed and bills to pay.  They are committed to their work, take pride in what they do and will give you the best quality craftsmanship, skills and labour that will exceed your expectations.  Their expertise will be worth the little extra in the end and here’s why.

When you hire skilled professional painters they always include full painting services and attention to every detail of your project.  Here is a list of things you should look for when hiring any professional painters in Ottawa.

Prep Work – Professional painters will ensure that the necessary and important first steps of preparing the surfaces before painting are always done. 

They ensure all patching repairs are done to erase any drywall imperfections like the nail pops, holes, cracks or bumps. They will take the extra time and put in the effort to properly prepare drywall for painting making sure the right paint primer and paint finishes are used. 

A qualified painter will also take the necessary time to repair or replace damaged or rotted wood, remove any old paint that may be flaking or chipped by scraping or sanding wood surfaces. 

High Quality Paints – Professional painters will always use the highest quality paint products for painting any interior or exterior. 

Using the best quality of paints ensures the walls, ceilings, baseboards, trim, and doors on the inside of your house along with any exterior surfaces get complete coverage.  Professional painting always consists of applying minimum 2 coats of paint and a third or fourth if necessary.  The costs of all the paint, and the labour to apply the two to three coats is calculated in the painting quote. 

The difference of about $10.00 – $12.00 extra dollars between the lower end paint brands to get the higher end paints is well worth it in order to get the best bang for your buck. 

Using the better quality paint products will result in the best coverage and a smoother finished result, along with a longer lifespan and durability of the paint.  This will save you money in the end by reducing how often you need to paint. 

Painting Tools – Professional painters will be equipped with all the necessary tools to do the work efficiently.   They will have invested in using the right paint brushes and paint rollers that will provide a smooth look to the finished area.  

Skilled Help – Most painting contractors are a small local business and often times operated as a one man show.  Hiring a local painting company can sometimes mean you are getting a personal painter who works solely on your project and do not sub-contract to others. 

Skilled painters may be hired at peak season for additional help, but you won’t normally see more than one or two extra people including the owner on the job site.  They do not come in as a 10 member team, in order to finish up the quickest way and to move on to the next project.  

Guarantee or Warranty – A professional and skilled painter will offer their personal guarantee that if any touch ups are needed, or if any paint problems arise such as peeling, cracking or flaking paint, sticking paint, or paint bubbles occur they will return to fix them within a reasonable amount of time after the initial work was done. 

They will guarantee that they are available for any issues you may have and return to make certain that you the homeowner are always 100%+++  satisfied with the work. 

It is easy to find reviews for Ottawa painters online, and it is always a good idea to read what past clients are saying about their own experience of working with the painting company. 

As a homeowner when you hire an Ottawa Painting Contractor to work in your home you should always expect nothing less that 100% quality and attention to every detail, especially since painting your house is an investment whether you are just moving in or selling. 

Getting the cheapest or lowest quote might be attractive but here are a few things to consider when hiring the unskilled, amateur painters at bargain prices. 

While cheaper groceries or saving on clothes is always great this doesn’t necessary apply when you are hiring contractors to work in your home.

What you pay for is what you get so here are a few tips to look out for to avoid being ripped off. 

Prep Work – the lower quotes and bids will most likely not include all the painting services required for a professional painting result.  To cut costs and offer you the lowest bid things like the necessary steps to preparing a room before painting are omitted as it is a tedious, time consuming part of getting the work area ready.

Bargain painters will not ensure all the prep work to drywall such as filling in the nail pops or holes, repairing and cracks or dents to walls.

Omitting this essential first stage of the painting project will negatively impact the longevity of the finished quality of work. 

Low Quality Paints – If you get a cheaper painting estimate beware that it will be a cheaper low quality paint product that will be used.

The results you get will be poor coverage to the walls or ceilings since the lower end paints to provide as great or complete of coverage as the better quality paints.

Keep in mind that the bargain prices will also only buy you the application of one coat of paint as opposed to the two or three offered by the best painters.  You will be charged extra for any additional coats and remember that the lower quote typically does not include painting of any ceilings, baseboards or trim.

The cheaper the cost of paint the cheaper the paint job will look.  While it may be saving you money to start you will find yourself having to re-paint again earlier than what you were wanting.

A lower quality paint has a lower and shorter life span, require more coats to cover the surface properly and entirely and won’t be as durable as the better paints. 

Painting Tools – Bargain painters will use cheap brushes and rollers that will leave you with more problems than you were asking for.  Cheap paint brushes and rollers that can easily be purchased at a local dollar store tend to have bristles that fall off.  These bristles then get into the paint and will leave a noticeable streak on the surface of the walls.  Poor quality paint rollers will leave behind fibers or lint creating extra bumps on the painted surface. 

Unskilled – Be wary of painting companies who promise you a house can be painted in a day.  These promises usually come from companies who hire subcontractors to do the work.  They tend to hire inexperienced workers that they may not even know personally just to get a quick turnover rate. 

The more painting projects they get at cheaper bargain deals, the more inexperienced and unskilled help they will hire just to get more money for their own pockets but not caring about their clients nor how the painting project really turned out at the end. 

Guarantee or Warranty – These bargain deals types of painting companies will not take the responsibility for the quality of their work.  There is no guarantee you will ever be able to contact them again should you have an issue with anything. 

Not having a warranty or guarantee for you the homeowner to be able to rely on will more than likely result in you having to hire painters again from a painting company and having it done all over again. 

So although you saved money at the beginning by hiring the cheapest quote you end up spending more in the end.  Having to go through the hassle and entire process of finding another painting company who will have to charge you full costs as they would be starting the project all over again to get it right this time around.

We hope that with this article you now have a better understanding the importance of  why you should hire a qualified painter and know the difference between the lowest and the highest painting estimate should be the reasons for hiring qualified painters. 

Since painting your home is an investment you want to know what to look for when hiring painters to work in your home.

Careful consideration and planning should go into every homeowners decision on whether they should do it themselves or hire a painting company.  Everyone loves a good bargain, but cheaper painters could end up costing you double or more in the end. 

A reputable painting company that cares about their clients will stand behind their work and here at PG PAINT & DESIGN Ottawa house painters we are committed to excellence in providing you with the best quality painting services.  

 

This post was originally published on Mar 2, 2015 and edited on Jan 17, 2022