Going rate for painters

[squishles10]

it depends on the size of the rooms, the quality of the paint, the number of colors of paint, etc. i imagine the trim would have added a lot- its very labor intensive. im not looking forward too it.

i agree though- we never would have done it! better to do it all in 5 days

 

[Road Guy]

I think we paid $250 a room a few years ago, they didnt price per SF but they had a rate per room and a rate per hallway, I just remember I have a very odd shaped master bathroom and I think I paid $150 for the bathroom and thought it was much better than me wasting a weekend doing it!

 

[Wolverine]

I never got that far because as soon as I said the word "negotiate" he went cold on the phone. He said he would have to look it over and call me back. That was 2 weeks ago. I think he was insulted! Guess he doesn't need the work.

He called my husband today and said he lost my number and had to track down my husbands number from the flooring guys who recommended him to us and he'll do it all for $6K.

So, I was juuust about to apologize for ruining your day.....

But now I am cool again... B)

 

[frazil]

:thumbs:

 

[csb]

I'm so glad this thread exists! Since every home improvement show and website and magazine talks about, "Oh, just paint and it's a cheap upgrade," and I've now painted two tiny areas and thought that it wasn't worth it...and now I see other people agree! It takes so freakin' long to get it all right and it eats up so much time. I've been wanting to paint an accent wall, but was overwhelmed at the thought. Now I can see that hiring someone might be great.

 

[TouchDown]

I'm so glad this thread exists! Since every home improvement show and website and magazine talks about, "Oh, just paint and it's a cheap upgrade," and I've now painted two tiny areas and thought that it wasn't worth it...and now I see other people agree! It takes so freakin' long to get it all right and it eats up so much time. I've been wanting to paint an accent wall, but was overwhelmed at the thought. Now I can see that hiring someone might be great.

There are 2 versions of paint jobs. It really depends on how you want it to look when it's finished.

#1 - Home / do it yourself, if you're like us, your standards go down significantly if it's a do it yourself project. i will allow some paint marks on the ceiling/trim and poor cut lines so it only costs me $100 to paint the whole upstairs, even if it takes for freaking ever and is a huge pain in the ***. You might say I'm cheap. If we were to show our house for a sale, I would have to go back and correct some areas, because it just looks bad if you look closely. If you are picky about what the outcome will look like, this is NOT for you. Again, if you can lower your standards, should be good to go.

#2 - You get what you pay for with professionals - it's done quick, and looks much better than do it yourself in my opinion. Most every professional job I've seen has great cut lines, no extra paint on the ceiling or trim, and looks like it got it's full 2 coats with good coverage. I think they use better than wal-mart paint and if you can afford it - well worth the money spent.

With my wife and I - we tire of paint colors fairly quickly, so about once every 2-3 years, we will paint a room to update / change it. If we were to have it professionally painted, we'd never be able to afford doing that.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

House hasn't been painted since we bought it in '98. Bathroom needs to be redone, though. Wallpaper needs replacing as does the mirror, which is de-silvering. Might go with tile instead of carpet, too.

 

[snickerd3]

House hasn't been painted since we bought it in '98. Bathroom needs to be redone, though. Wallpaper needs replacing as does the mirror, which is de-silvering. Might go with tile instead of carpet, too.

you have carpet in the bathroom?

 

[Capt Worley PE]

you have carpet in the bathroom?

Yeah. The PO had to replace the floor in their because of water damage done by the owner before that. They just put wall-to-wall over the plywood.

The hall and bedrooms have carpet over heart of pine floors. We're debating about replacing the carpet or removing it and refinishing as needed. I think we're both tending towards the wood floor, but are afraid of what we'll find under the carpet.

 

[csb]

We replaced a carpet bathroom with vinyl. We also have carpet in the kitchen, which is just stupid.

 

[snickerd3]

We replaced a carpet bathroom with vinyl. We also have carpet in the kitchen, which is just stupid.

my sister had that in her apartment. She dropped a hot pot and it burned a ring in the carpet. she left a kitchen rug over it when she moved out. landlord didn't say anything about it.

 

[Parks and Rec]

Did we ever figure out the going rate for painters?

By the hour, by the room, or by the house?

I have some trim to paint and areas that I painted that need to be "finished" I expect trim to be more time consuming since it requires extra carefulness, something I don't have the patience for.

 

[TouchDown]

my sister had that in her apartment. She dropped a hot pot and it burned a ring in the carpet. she left a kitchen rug over it when she moved out. landlord didn't say anything about it.

After college we attempted to "repair" a section of carpet where my dumb *** roomate tried to bring the grill INSIDE during a rain shower and burnt holes in the kitchen carpet. Moved the stove out, cut matching patterns and superglued in place.

We didn't get our deposit back. It's amazing how carpet will fade / change colors!!!

 

[frazil]

Did we ever figure out the going rate for painters?By the hour, by the room, or by the house?

Well with my new negotiated price, the hourly rate will be about $25/hour, not including supplies.

I think the trim will be a lot of work, plus in our house the trim is an oil-based paint, which is an added PITA.

 

[Guest]

I think the trim will be a lot of work ...

That's what HE said!!

:rotflmao:

Sorry .. couldn't resist!

JR

 

[CivE Bricky]

There are 2 versions of paint jobs. It really depends on how you want it to look when it's finished.
#1 - Home / do it yourself, if you're like us, your standards go down significantly if it's a do it yourself project. i will allow some paint marks on the ceiling/trim and poor cut lines so it only costs me $100 to paint the whole upstairs, even if it takes for freaking ever and is a huge pain in the ***. You might say I'm cheap. If we were to show our house for a sale, I would have to go back and correct some areas, because it just looks bad if you look closely. If you are picky about what the outcome will look like, this is NOT for you. Again, if you can lower your standards, should be good to go.

#2 - You get what you pay for with professionals - it's done quick, and looks much better than do it yourself in my opinion. Most every professional job I've seen has great cut lines, no extra paint on the ceiling or trim, and looks like it got it's full 2 coats with good coverage. I think they use better than wal-mart paint and if you can afford it - well worth the money spent.

I have three versions - quite different than yours:

#1 - Do yourself to very high standards that no one else will ever know about. It takes forever, but there's satisfaction in knowing the trim ABOVE the window is neatly cut in. There's also satisfaction in knowing you didn't get taken, even though the project took about 4 times longer than you estimated.

<---once lived in a tent in the backyard for nearly a month while refinishing wood floors in the entire house. When my 3 year old asked, "Mommy will we ever live inside again?," I felt a bit guilty, but at least it was July!

#2 - Do a quite decent job yourself, that isn't quite up to the quality a top professional could do. Usually done for convenience or scheduling not to save $....that was the case with wood floors -- we wanted to get the house on the market. Our contractor friend said we did a fairly good job, but I could tell someone who does it all the time would have done a better one.

#3 - Hire the pro who you've learned can do a better job than you can....either due to high skill through repetition or vast knowlege you don't want to trudge through researching on your own. For me that might be a landscape design -- I could do it, but I'd need to spend endless hours reading up and someone else who does it all the time could dash it off in no time.

We only had one project that took as long as expected -- Pergo floor install in the kitchen

and only one project that was shorter and easier than expected -- installing commercial vinyl tile in the basement laundry room (that mastic stayed sticky for 24 hours, and tile could be cut with a box cutter and straight edge....easy!)

 

[CivE Bricky]

on painting rates:

My brother paints on the side. He says a little room like a bathroom takes just as much time as a bedroom because all the time is in cutting in and trim. He just quotes a flat rate based on number of windows and doors to work around and the amount of paint needed. Room size is almost irrelevant.

Make certain you know if wall prep and caulking trim etc. is included in the price quoted and ask what paint will be used.

If you do your own painting, quality paint and tools are well worth the investment.

 

[frazil]

Just to follow up... hiring this painter was totally worth it! My house looks beautiful, like brand new. He did a fantastic job, on time and I'm really glad we did it. Maybe we could have found someone cheaper, but who knows if they would have done as nice a job?

 

[snickerd3]

Just to follow up... hiring this painter was totally worth it! My house looks beautiful, like brand new. He did a fantastic job, on time and I'm really glad we did it. Maybe we could have found someone cheaper, but who knows if they would have done as nice a job?

glad you liked the final outcome!!

 

[csb]

Just to follow up... hiring this painter was totally worth it! My house looks beautiful, like brand new. He did a fantastic job, on time and I'm really glad we did it. Maybe we could have found someone cheaper, but who knows if they would have done as nice a job?

This is so wonderful to hear! I'm now totally tempted to hire someone to paint my house. We've accomplished a lot of do-it-yourself and sometimes it would be nice to come home to done-by-someone else