Tips for Hiring a Quality Painting Company
If you have never hired a painter before or have limited experience with hiring a tradesman, there are important key issues that you should consider when screening for potential qualified painting contractors.
Experience
I always ask the company about the experience of the painters doing the job and whether a supervisor will be on site. There is generally a lot of turnover in the painting industry, and it can be hard to find and keep qualified painters. There is a lot of unqualified and inexperienced people out there selling themselves to painting companies as qualified or certified painters.
Local or Franchise Company
There are pros and cons to what type of painting company you want to hire. There are generally two types of painting companies serving the Greater Vancouver area. Companies such as Certa Pro Painter or Student Pro Painters are run on a franchise model. They also have the highest painter turnover in the industry and mainly hire students or amateurs for the busy summer season. These companies spend millions on advertising, telling you they are ‘certified’ or ‘experts’, but at most have a few years of experience and work at wages below industry standards. Another negative is that they usually have a subcontractor working the job who is not technically an employee of the company and is getting a flat rate to do your project. The result is a tendency to rush the job and cut corners to get the job done. The positives to this industry model, if any is that they do have a corporate structure behind them to back up any warranty claims or damages the painters may have caused your home and they are usually honorable in dealing with complaints.
However, a local painting company with a smaller, seasoned crew is a much safer bet. Always ask the owner if he is the one doing the work and whether he will be on site for the entire project and that you don’t want any inexperienced workers left to themselves. You also want to make sure that the local company has liability insurance and WCB coverage as you don’t want to be liable for any accidents that happen in your home or office. Local companies tend to have better prices than the larger corporate companies, as there is way less overhead.
References – Company History
It’s always a good idea to ask the company for real people references of recent projects they have done. A good painter will have a lot of people they can refer you to as references, and will also put any worries you have at ease, hearing a recent customer who has used their services. It’s also good to know how long the company has been around in the community. Painting companies come and go as there are a lot of people out there who try and start up a company with little or no experience. If you ask a few hard questions, you should be able to screen out the rookies.
Price Quote
Always ask for a quote in writing and with as much detail as possible. The last thing you want to happen is to hire a painter only to discover halfway through that there are many items that weren’t included. The more you can communicate to the painter what you want included in the price, the better.
You should always get two price quotes minimum when looking to hire a painter. But don’t always go with the lower price as sometimes that could mean the painter is cutting corners in some way to bring the price down. Good painters don’t always have to be the cheapest and will always get work through reputation and word of mouth. It is the painters that are willing to low ball there price that you should watch out for. Here is a list of things to consider when evaluating multiple quotes —>
- type of paint being used
- painters experience
- painting process implemented (ie prep, coats of paint)
- job duration
- quality references?
- overall impression of the painter (trust your instincts)
I hope the aforementioned information has been helpful the next time you need to hire a qualified and professional painting contractor for your next project.
Courtesy of:
Weiler Painting is a local family-owned and operated painting contractor located in Surrey, B.C. We have an excellent track record and have a small core of qualified and experienced painters who will insure you get the best results at an affordable price.