How to Obtain a Proper Commercial Painting Bid in Sacramento
Many times prospective clients call our office inquiring about a bid for a commercial property, HOA or a local business. While some have gone through it before, many have very little experience on hiring a Sacramento area painting company and getting a bid. I know most customers are going to get at least three bids and I recommend they do as well.To get comparable bids, make sure the bid scopes are “apples to apples” which is actually very hard to do in this market. Why? Because many times a commercial paint estimator looks at the scope of work differently than another estimator.
Kevin's Recommendations When Getting a Paint Bid
For painting of any commercial building, an HOA, apartment complex or shopping center I recommend the following:
Contact a local paint supply company who has a sales representative that can walk your project with you in advance, prior to getting contractor estimates. Sherwin-Williams, Kelly-Moore, Dunn Edwards, and Benjamin-Moore, just to name a few, have sales people who can write a specification recommending how a building should be prepped and painted. What products should be used? What grade of products they would recommend? What type of patching material and caulking should be used? The sales peoples will even help in suggesting qualified painting contractors to bid your project.
Walk the job with all the recommended contractors at the same time to review the specifications written by the manufacture and to answer questions contractors may have about the project. Manufacture sales representatives will check in and see the project is getting done per specifications and to follow up on the quality of the job with the contractor and client. Paint manufacturers will also usually provide free a color previews showing what a building will look like with a new color. These services are free to property owners and help provide a competitive bid, apples for apples. These services also ensure a better job for the client. If you are serious about protecting your commercial investment and want a job quality, I recommend utilizing the free services Sherwin-Williams, Benjamin-Moore, Kelly-Moore and Dunn Edwards can provide for you.
Your job as a business owner is to run your business, let the paint manufactures sales people do the work for you; it’s their job to provide these services to our industry!