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Are you planning to paint a lovely baby girl’s nursery or redesign your dining room? Or maybe you’re responsible for a commercial painting project, or you want to freshen up your home’s exterior.

Whatever your project may be, if you want it to look great and last long, you probably already know not to take the DIY route.

But once you’ve decided to hire a painting contractor, where do you even start? There are so many options out there and it can be a little scary wondering if you might choose wrong. After all, what if the quality isn’t what you hoped by the end of the project? What if the end cost is way more than you expected? What if the crew on site is unprofessional? The potential problems from hiring the wrong contractor can range from the awkward and uncomfortable to the downright expensive and disastrous.

Luckily, it is quite feasible to avoid these issues and end up with an excellent completed project by hiring the right contractor for the job. You just need to know the right approach to take before signing the contract.

Use this as a checklist before your next painting project and you’ll make sure you have hired the best possible painting contractor for your project:

How to Choose a Painting Contractor Checklist

Reputation

We probably all know that reputation is crucial when hiring a service provider. That’s why we often ask friends for recommendations instead of just working with the first service provider we find. But on the other hand, we also know that not every customer is reasonable or fair. So research your potential contractor’s reputation, but take negative reviews with a grain of salt.

  • Make a list – what matters most to you in a painting contractor? For example, trustworthiness, quality, customer service, speed, etc.
  • What are their reviews on Yelp or another similar site? Do past customers mention the qualities most important to you?
  • Do they have references you can call?
  • Call their references – what do they have to say? Again, what do they have to say about the qualities you care about?

Quality

Quality is another crucial aspect of choosing any service provider. Obviously, if you are going to pay for a professional to do the job instead of doing it yourself, you expect the quality to be excellent and the work to last a long time. Checking on a contractor’s reputation will address this question to a certain extent, but there are other things you should check:

  • Do they have a portfolio of past projects on their website? Review the photos in depth and make sure you are comfortable with what you see.
  • Do they have some sort of quality or satisfaction guarantee?

Project Details

This seems like common sense but somehow often gets overlooked: you MUST be very clear (in your own mind) about you want, and certain that the contractor understands too.

  • Make a list of everything you’re hoping to achieve with the project. If you have expectations about time, materials, how long it will last, etc., write these down too.
  • Review your list with your potential contractor. Do they seem confident that everything can be achieved within your target budget? Do they have recommendations or advice to change your list?
  • Make sure that the details which go in the final contract are clearly accepted and understood by both sides.

Experience

Experience can be a proxy for quality and customer service. However, it’s important to strike a balance between experience and the other aspects of a good contractor. Not everyone who has been in business for 20 years is going to deliver excellent quality, and not everyone who recently started a business is going to have big flaws. Sometimes, the newcomers work harder and the oldtimers get a little lazy. Sometimes, but not all the time! So as with reputation, take experience with a grain of salt.

  • What certifications / licenses does this contractor have?
  • Do they belong to any professional organizations?
  • How long has this company been in business?
  • Who will be your primary point of contact, and how long have they worked in the industry?
  • Who will be working on site and what is their experience like? Do they have experience doing projects like what you want?
  • Can you see photos and call references for these projects?

Approach / Methods

It’s important that you understand some of the unique aspects of your contractor’s approach and methodology, especially if you have certain expectations about these.

  • What kind of prep work will they do before painting?
  • Who will be working on site? Will it be the owner, employees, or subcontractors? Working directly with the owner will ensure you have high quality work and good customer service, but that’s not always an option. Find out who will be working at your project site and what you can expect from them.
  • Do you want any special details with your paint job, such as glazing, stenciling, or color washes? Ask if the team working on your project has experience & skill in these details.

Pricing

Price is one of the biggest issues when choosing any service provider, and it’s important to find the right balance for you between price and quality. If you push your contractor to provide rock bottom pricing, you can probably expect them to either lose interest in your project, cut corners to meet your target budget, or end up with a higher end project cost than you wanted. But on the other hand, of course you can’t and shouldn’t take on a painting project that you can’t afford.

  • Are you both clear on the project budget and target end cost?
  • Are you hoping it will be lower? Be clear about your expectations.
  • Is your contractor hinting that your target budget is unrealistic? Listen and adjust the project budget or scope to be more reasonable instead of just hoping for the best.

Customer Service

Customer service isn’t just for big companies; small one-person shops offer different kinds of customer service too. The quality of customer service you receive on this project will make a big difference in how you feel about it – a stressful project with poor communication will not be satisfying for anyone.

  • How involved will the person you’re talking to be on the day to day basis of the project?
  • What about the painters on site – will they be knowledgeable about the project and able to answer your questions etc?
  • What kind of service do they offer after the project if issues come up?

Hope you have found this checklist helpful, and best of luck with choosing your next painting contractor! If you are working on a project in the Seattle/Tacoma area (Pierce, King and South King County), please consider us. You can request a quote by clicking here.

More Resources

Other helpful articles on picking the best painting contractor: