Raleigh-Durham
House Painters

Hire a Raleigh-Durham Painter: Don’t let them paint you RED!

Please read this quick guide to hiring a Raleigh-Durham Paint Company (it will help, we promise!) Or click HERE to simply see our suggestions and contact information for 7 of the top Raleigh-Durham paint contractors.

Hiring a professional Raleigh–Durham paint contractor is not always an easy task. There are several factors that make this industry an intimidating one:

First, there are just SO MANY RALEIGH-DURHAM PAINT COMPANIES out there! Look under ‘paint contractors’ in the Raleigh, Durham, Cary, or Chapel Hill phone books and you will see what we mean…there are hundreds of painters listed in each area. There are also tons of “underground” painters that are out dropping business cards and trying to get customers. Many times these individuals are hourly painters and work for other large local paint companies, but paint houses themselves with their friends on the side. How do you choose from the hundreds that are available and promoting the same thing?

Second, the barriers to calling oneself a paint contractor are small. People don’t necessarily need a lot of fancy equipment or tools to start a painting business. Therefore, individuals that have painted a few houses or rooms can try to trick you into believing they are a highly skilled and experienced Raleigh-Duraham painter. If you have a van, a ladder, and a brush you could fool a lot of people!

Finally, there is the fact that painting tends to be a field that homeowners THINK they know enough about and often THINK they can easily do themselves. Ask any professional painter and they will tell you how many jobs they are hired for where customers have called them to paint over the homeowners attempt at doing it themselves! The customer has wasted time, money, and frustration only to end up where they should have began in the first place…hiring a professional Raleigh-Durham painter.

So what do you do when looking for a painter in the Raleigh-Durham and surrounding areas?

We recommend:

• Ask your friends and neighbors to see if they have had good or bad experiences with ant Raleigh-Durham painters. Simply knowing that another person has had a good experience with a paint company prior to calling them lessens your chance of hiring a problem. The Super 7 can help you locate top Raleigh-Durham contractors.

• If you have the time, call a few companies to look at your job. This will help you determine fair market price for the work you require. This does not mean you should always go with the lowest price, you should go with the company you feel most comfortable with and who you feel will do the best job. If an individual is offering a real low price you should ask yourself "why?".

• If you don’t have the time, we suggest using The Super 7 to locate the one Raleigh-DUrham painter you choose. We have a list of painters that appear to meet our standards to be considered quality professionals. In fact our “Certified Super” listed companies have proven that they do! We also require customers to voice their experience about the painter to help ensure that they meet your needs.

• Make sure the company has insurance. House painting usually involves heights, ladders, and plenty of opportunities for injury. As mentioned above, there are many fly-by-night painters that may not be insured. If you skip this part you could be held liable for an uninsured painters’ injury while working on your house, or you could be left holding the bill if they ruin something expensive in your house.

• Ask if the Raleigh-Durham painters that will actually be doing the work on your house are employees of the paint company. Sometimes paint companies will “sub” a job out to other contractors. This means that the company may be too busy to do your painting job, so they “sell” it to another house painter. This is common and there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with it, but it is nice to know. Just make sure that the paint company you sign the contract with is taking responsibility (in writing) for the quality of work AND that that the house painters that are actually painting your house are insured.

• Always get a statement of work performed in writing. Keep this filed away. Make sure the statements clearly state EXACTLY what painting work is to be performed for the price indicated. Don’t be afraid to ask them to clarify their work statement in writing.

• Ask the painter if their work comes with guarantees. Many Raleigh-Durham paint contractors offer free touch ups or guarantees for a few years. Make sure you get these things in writing. These are all factors to weigh when looking at the total estimates left by different Raleigh-Durham painters.

• Make sure that your statement of work states the number of coats of paint that are figured in the estimate. You may want to ask the painter’s opinion on the number of coats needed. Then ask if you can hold them to that number.
The rational for doing this is: if your estimate is for 1 coat of paint, and each additional coat is 50-60% of the original coat, you will want to know how many coats you will need so you can accurately figure your total painting cost. We have heard horror stories about painters who estimate a room for $300. If a customer has chosen a color such as red (which can often take 3-5 coats to correctly cover) and the $300 estimate was for only 1 coat of paint (with additional coats costing 60% of the original) your final painter bill could be more like $840-$1200…a little different from the $300 you were planning on!

• Some painters require an upfront payment. Many companies do not. If you have hired a smaller Raleigh-Durham paint company and they require money upfront to help pay for paint, make sure you have a refund policy stated in your agreement if they end up not working out. Also, this upfront amount should never be over 30% of the total cost of your paint job. For more tips: Paying Raleigh Durham Contractors.

• Check in on the painter’s progress regularly…try to catch potential problems or misunderstandings before it is too late.

• If the painters do a great job, tell them you will recommend them on The Super 7

• If they don’t do a good job, ask them to fix the issue or you will let other Raleigh-Durham residents know about their poor performance on The Super 7 website!

Good luck with your Raleigh-Durham painting needs!

The Super 7 provides 7 quality painters in the Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Chapel Hill, and surrounding areas. Click here for our Super 7 Painters!

More short articles to help with your painting needs:
Raleigh|Durham House Painters
Choosing Exterior Paint Color
Choosing Interior Paint Color
General Suggestions for Hiring Raleigh-Durham Contractors
Paying Your Raleigh-Durham Contractor
How to Avoid Hiring Bad Contractors
How Contractor Pricing Relates to Satisfaction
Finding and Using the Proper Contractor References

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