Here is what to look for at the first visit, in the price, and in what a painting company tells you it doesn’t do.
You’ll learn:
- What a good estimate visit looks like
- What to ask before you hire a painter
- How a painting company prices a job
- Why prep takes so much time
- Which jobs a painting company should tell you it doesn’t do
- What changes on an older home
- What happens after you sign
What Should Happen at an Estimate Visit?
A good visit starts with a conversation. We like to ask what led you to the project, what’s important to you, and what concerns you about it. Then we walk through your house one area at a time and ask what you want in each one. You get an expert making a plan for your house, not just a quote.
Nick, Adam, or another of our estimators will do your estimate. Before we meet, we send you a few educational videos, including one that introduces your estimator.
After the walk, we sit down at the table, type up the estimate, and go over it with you. You get the written estimate at the end of the visit, or the next business day if we can’t finish it then.
What Should You Ask Before You Hire a Painter?
One long-time customer listens for this on a first call: “Are they asking the right questions to figure out if I’m the right client for them?” A painter who asks you a lot of questions is checking whether your job is a good fit.
After the first visit, ask yourself:
- Did they show up on time, when they said they would?
- Were they dressed for the job, and did they meet you at the door and introduce themselves?
- Did they take notes while you talked?
- Did they have a clear process, like confirming your appointment ahead of time?
A red flag is a made-up price, with half the money due up front for a job that won’t start for a month.
How Does a Painting Company Price a Job?
We bid our jobs on labor hours. Our painting prices page gives ballparks: an average-sized bedroom, with 2 coats on the walls and ceiling plus the woodwork, runs $950 to $2,000, and the exterior of a 1,200-square-foot ranch starts in the $8,000 to $12,000 range.
| Job | Price on our pricing page |
|---|---|
| Average-sized bedroom | $950 to $2,000 |
| Exterior of a 1,200 square foot ranch | Starts in the $8,000 to $12,000 range |
Those are averages. Your price depends on the size and condition of your house, how much woodwork there is, how many coats it needs, and how tricky the job is. You get an exact quote after we’ve been through your home.
Because we bid on labor hours, the hours we expect a job to take set the price. A single bedroom can take 1 day, a whole-home interior can take up to 2 weeks, and an exterior can take anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks.
| Job | How long it can take |
|---|---|
| Single bedroom | 1 day |
| Whole-home interior | Up to 2 weeks |
| Exterior | 3 days to 2 weeks |
We’re one of the higher-priced painters around, and in the end, customers usually feel the price was justified. A lower-priced painter and our company are usually a fit for different customers.
Why Does Prep Take So Much Time?
A lot of the time on a job goes into prep. People are always amazed at how fast the painting goes compared to the prep work. Prep covers scraping, caulking, priming, masking, and rotten wood replacement.
Scraping can surprise people on an exterior painting job. On one exterior, the house didn’t look like it needed an enormous amount of scraping, but once the crew got going, almost half the hours we’d planned for the whole job went to scraping. The homeowner expected about 1 week, and the job took almost 2. Our project manager on that job absorbed the extra hours rather than rush, miss things, and have to come back.
As the crew says in the video, scraping can take a day, a couple of days, or a week. It depends on how much sun the house gets, and the sides that get the most sun need the most scraping.
Is There Work a Painting Company Should Tell You It Doesn’t Do?
Ask on the first call what work a painter doesn’t take on, so you find out early whether your job is one they do. We only replace rotten wood when we’re also painting your house. Most of our work is repainting homes. New construction is a market we’re really not a part of.
What Does an Older Home Change About the Job?
Homes built before 1978 may have lead-based paint. Michigan’s lead-safe program explains that lead dust is created when lead-based paint is scraped, dry sanded, heated, or burned. Because scraping is a big part of exterior prep, a pre-1978 house takes more care. We try to do those exteriors in the spring and fall, when it’s a little cooler, because lead work means wearing a full protective suit. If your house was built before 1978, ask each painter you talk to how they handle lead paint when they scrape.
Most homes we paint around Ann Arbor also need some wood siding repaired or replaced. By most, we mean just about all of them. Before we paint, we look your home over for repairs.
What Happens Once You Say Yes?
Ask any painter what happens after you sign. A 10% deposit holds your spot on our calendar. In the summer, we can be booked out 8 weeks or more, so your date may change slightly.
Before the painters arrive, you get a video introducing the lead painter. On the first day, the project manager introduces each painter to you, and they shake your hand and give you their card. Before work starts, the project manager walks through the estimate, the job site, and the details of your house with you. After that, we check in with you every day. Within a week of finishing, our office checks in to make sure you’re satisfied.
Want to See If Tribble Painting Is the Right Fit for Your House?
If this is how you want a painter to handle your house, call us or fill out the form, and we’ll set up an estimate visit. You can read how our painting process works first.
