10 Mistakes To Avoid When Hiring A Painting Contractor

10 Mistakes To Avoid When Hiring A Painting Contractor

Share This Post

The best way to get long-lasting, top-quality, and nice-looking interior paint results is to hire a professional painting contractor in Dallas.

When you are hiring a painting contractor, you need to consider reliability with expertise as you will let them into your house. Remember that the painter will have full access to most or all rooms in your house.

To make sure you get top-quality service from your painter, you must conduct great research on painting contractors near me, gathering estimates the right way, and having clear communication with qualified painting companies.

While lots of homeowners know that they need to hire an experienced, reputable, and reasonably priced painting contractor, there are few mistakes they make in the process.

Below are the ten majorly popular mistakes you should never make when hiring a painting contract for your next interior painting project.

1. Not Hiring a Local Painter

Don’t just hire a painting contractor online. If you need interior painting in Dallas, hire an interior painting contractor in Dallas.

This is not to say you should only work with painters from your neighborhood or the next street. When you work with a painter who is found in your region or township, it can be a lot more convenient. They can come to your home easily to check the job and provide an estimate.

Also, it increases the opportunities of the painting team to make it to your job site early. If there is any emergency while on the project, you know you can get to them easily.

2. Hiring the Least Expensive Option

The second mistake is to hire the least expensive option available to you. In some cases, the most affordable option is not the best option. Usually, the best option is the one that costs a bit more and performs a better job, too.

You need to consider that a business that offers a lesser price than its competitors often lack the financial capability to deliver a quality job.

Since the quality of the paint job is as important as the quality of the paint used on your walls, it is therefore important that you ensure you hire the most qualified painting contractor.

3. Obtaining Just One Estimate

We understand that shopping around for many painting estimates can be a stress, especially if you are busy and trying to fit in a painting project.

With that, choosing the first painter’s bid or estimate you receive limits your knowledge of whether the company is over-charging or under-charging you.

While a too-low painting estimate seems good, companies that give such too low price than their competitors are often compensating for something, whether they don’t have the right certifications, they make use of inferior materials in their work, or they deliver low-quality work in general.

We recommend obtaining a minimum of two to three painting estimates to ensure you are obtaining a good deal on quality finishing. 

Read Guide to know how much to paint a house.

4. Not Providing Clarity about the Scope of the Project

This is one of the reasons most landlords end up not satisfied by the outcome produced by painting contractors. While giving descriptions of the project, you must be clear and detailed enough about what your needs are.

For example, if the paint is peeling and bubbling or if there are mold and mildew growth, they must know this so they come with relevant preparation. If you want your ceiling painted, extra finish coat applied, or caulking replaced, discuss it too.

5. Overlooking Insurance

If the painting company you hire doesn’t provide general liability insurance and workman’s compensation policies, know that you are paying for any accident that happens.

Professional painters who provide insurance can provide coverage for repairs, replacement, and reimbursement for any damages to your property while on your job.

Workman’s compensation gives you protection against paying extra charges if any of the paint team sustains an injury while working on your building. Remember this important information. A trustworthy painter will freely show you proof of their insurance policies. 

6. Not Researching a Painting Contractor Before Hiring

Research is an important part of the hiring process, and only a few people spend sufficient time on it to ensure that they hire the ideal team for their project.

For instance, you may care about how well the floor or ground of the area painted in your home is protected by the company whether now or after the job.

Do they help protect your furniture from drips and drops from ruining those pieces for you? All this information could be easily known from performing a little research about your prospective painting contractor. 

7. Hiring an Inexperienced Painting Contractor

While all new businesses deserve a chance to prove themselves, hiring a painting contractor that just comes around is risky. You want to be sure your hired painter has enough experience painting various types of buildings and surfaces. They may have advanced experience with another company to support the newly established business.

8. Not Remembering to ask for Licensing and Certifications

When you are searching for an experienced painting contractor to hire for face-lifting your home, you don’t want to go for just any painter. Your state may or may not require that all painters be licensed to offer painting services for commercial purposes.

This is based on the location where the painter is working, so be sure to confirm from your local legislation to know what requirement the painting contractor must satisfy to legally paint the interior of your home.

No matter whether they are licensed or not, all painting contractors must be registered with the state they are servicing. Confirm their registration status by entering their name or registration number into the registration database, provided by the Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation’s office.

When you do this, you will save yourself from insurance troubles, if anything gets damaged by an unregistered painting contractor in your home or gets injured on the job.

9. Not Asking if the Contractor Know How to deliver what you need

If you only need paint to be applied to an already primed drywall, you could then hire any painter to perform that for you and discover just a few problems in the process.

The problems arise, however, when you have more complex work. Whether what you want is a faux finish, paint, stripes, with a sheen, and so on, there are many tasks that are best left to someone who has the relevant skill and the right training to ensure that the job is being done perfectly the first time.

To determine if the company that you are looking to hire can do this, it is nice to ask before you sign any agreements. 

10. Not Getting Contract in Writing

When you then agree to hire a company that best matches your home needs, you must secure the contract in writing. This is important to your legal protection when proceeding with the job at hand.

With no written agreement, you risk your legal protection as regards insurance, which can be in form of property damages and bodily injuries.

Also, the contract will contain the compositions of the projects in question. The document will contain the following information:

  • Estimated timeline of the job
  • Chosen paint colors
  • Payment and work schedule
  • Required materials

Questions To Ask Your Painter

Making a decision to hire a professional painting contractor can be a huge one. Whether you are looking to paint the interior or exterior of your space, there are a few questions that need to be asked from your painter so your project can go as smooth as possible and not making the common mistakes above.

Do I Need To Take Perform Some Tasks Before You Arrive?

Some painting companies don’t require customers to do anything; while others may ask that you move away from your furniture from job site or perform your prep work. Knowing their expectation in advance is always a good move for proper preparation.

What Kind Of Prep Work Will You Perform?

Prep work is highly crucial to the success of a good paint project. Knowing what the crew will do is important. You want to be sure that your hired painting contractor is not reducing costs by cutting some vital steps from your painting project.

If there is rotten wood on your garage, for instance, you need to know if your painting contractor will fix it for you or just proceed to paint over it.

How Many Painters Are Assigned To Paint MySpace?

You should know the number of people that may or may not be working on your painting project. It is also important to find out if the people working on your painting job are employees or subcontractors.

Understand that an employee has an established connection with the painting company and are committed to your paint project and satisfaction. The use of subcontractors is not much of a bad thing, but you have to be sure that they keep the same top standard and principles as the actual contractor.

When Is Your Starting Time Each Day?

If you like being present while a project is being accomplished, you will be able to organize your time when you have a time schedule. In addition, knowing if they are not working only on your project can also give you a clue as to why they won’t be at your job site every day, or just for a few hours each day.  

How Will You Ensure My House Remain Clean?

Accidents are inevitable. You must make sure that the painting contractor will take care of all messes, and not you. Providing details of the project from start to finish is what sets a professional painting contractor aside.

Can You Explain The Content Covered In Your Warranty?

Not all companies offer warranties. It will be helpful for your peace of mind to ask for the kind of warranties offered by the company. Figure out the things covered and those that are not in the warranty.

Who Is My Contact Person If I Have Bothering Questions?

Ensuring that you have a point of contact for your painting project is important just to be prepared for an unexpected issue.

This could be a supervisor assigned to your project who is always at the job site all through the project, or maybe someone from the office.

Having this information will save you much time trying to figure out the responsible personnel later on.

Conclusion

Hiring an interior painting company is not a tough task as you might think. Performing some background check is highly important, read online reviews, double-check references, and ask around where possible.

Finally, you should find yourself a painting contractor that matches your specific painting project and also within your budget range.

If your interior painting projects in Dallas and its environments, and require any professional help, contact Dallas Paints immediately. Our well-trained and experienced painting team will gladly offer you top-quality, reliable, and durable interior painting services.

More To Explore

Table of Contents

How much will your project cost?