How Do I Decide Who Will Paint My House?
Brooks Painting does a lot of residential painting estimates in a year, and it is not uncommon for us to come across people who have never worked with any type of painting contractor. We provide our potential customers with a contractor comparison checklist so that they can easily compare each of their estimates. This 16 items checklist can be a very helpful tool for a homeowner to make their decision, by easily comparing the companies on an equal field.The questions are simple and easy to answer.
Hiring a Painter Checklist
- 1.) Does the contractor have a valid California C-33 license?
- 2.) Does the contractor give a quality guarantee and written warranty?
- 3.) Does the contractor carry Liability & Workers Comp insurance?
- 4.) How long has the company been in business?
- 5.) Will the contractor give you a list of references with phone numbers in your area?
- 6.) Is the contractor a member in good standing of the Better Business Bureau?
- 7.) Is the contractor a member of their local chamber of commerce?
- 8.) Is the contractor a member of his trade organization, the PDCA?
- 9.) Are the painters who will be in your home company employees or subcontractors?
- 10.) Does the company do background and drug testing before hiring?
- 11.) In the contractor’s proposal clear with detailed pricing for each area of the job?
- 12.) Did the contractor discuss the time required for your job?
- 13.) Did the contractor specify the type of paint to be used?
- 14.) Did the contractor specify the type of surface preparation to be done?
- 15.) Did the contractor appear professional, knowledgeable, clean, and neat?
- 16.) Did any of the references indicate difficulty getting the company to fix problems?
It is so important to make sure that you are comparing apple to apple when deciding on the contractor you will use. In the painting world, estimates can be very vague, and lack a lot of details that are important. It is critical to have a comprehensive, well written estimate, as that job description is what the contractor legally needs to provide. It doesn’t matter if the contractor verbally tells you something if they don’t put it in writing. Make sure that you require the contractor to put everything they tell you they will do in writing. A few other things to think about; are they on time for the estimate, or do they call to let you know they are going to be late? Were they easy to reach and set up the estimate? How long did it take to get the estimate? These few things are all excellent indicators of how they will be to work with during the job. Make sure you feel comfortable with the company you hire- it’s not just about price. The details do matter.
