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This is where you start when you’re ready to hire a painter. Head on over to Google and get to searching! Looking on Google will help you find a list of the top painters in your area. A simple search like “best Painters near me” or “best painters Denver” (with your city instead) will produce this list, and we suggest picking the three that you think stand out the most. This will give you a working list to start with. Take note of their website so that you can use it in your research.
Check Their ReviewsThis is one of the best ways you can determine how important customer satisfaction is to the company you’re looking at. Look for a company that has online reviews, and take the time to read some of them. You can find reviews directly on Google, as well as other sites like Yelp, Facebook, HomeAdvisor and Angie’s List. Most of these sites are free, but some like Angie’s List require a paid subscription. Many companies will also include reviews on their site, but keep in mind these are curated by the company in question. Third-party sites tend to not filter the results and show you all relevant reviews.
Make sure to check these third-party sites as they will give you a full picture of the company’s reputation. When looking at reviews, reading what other customers are saying will give you an idea of what your experience will be. Not all reviews are going to be positive, as things happen. However, if there is a negative review, pay special attention to whether or not the company responded to the review, and if they’re offering to make the situation right. This will let you know what they will do for you should something go wrong with your job.
Most companies will have a gallery on their website of houses they have painted. Take a look at this gallery, is the quality of work up to your standards? Are there houses similar to your house and do they look like quality paint jobs? This is a great way to see the quality of work you can expect on your house. If there isn’t a gallery of their work on their site, you can always ask for examples when you speak with the company. However, not having a gallery might make you want to pause and ask why there isn’t one. Any reputable company should want their work represented on their site, and the pictures should speak for themselves.
One of the best things you can do when looking to hire a painter is to meet with them! You can get much more of a sense of what kind of company they are in person than just on the web. The web is a great place to start and to learn a lot about a company.
Meeting face-to-face with a potential home painting company is a great time to get a feel for their commitment to their customers, as well as if they present themselves in a professional manner. Companies that are professional from the start are much more likely to continue to be professional through the whole process.
Get a Detailed ProposalOnce you’ve done your online research, you should have a list of the top three companies that stood out to you from your search. Typically most house painting companies will offer a free estimate, so ask them if they do. When doing an estimate on your painting job, the company should send a representative, usually an estimator, to come to your property to inspect it and craft a custom proposal for your home. Be wary if the company says they can give you an estimate over the phone. To really know the amount of work that will go into painting your home, they should look at your house and inspect it in person to know how much paint will be required, and if there are any repairs that will need to be completed before painting. Things like damaged siding, wood, or gutters will need to be properly repaired before painting, and it’s impossible to know this just from a picture of your house on the internet.
One of the most important reasons you want a detailed proposal is so that you can compare different companies and their pricing. To compare apples to apples, you want to make sure you understand each of the line items on the proposal. For example, if the prep section of the proposal is different between companies, you need to understand what is included in that section. Are both companies including the same amount of prep? Or is one doing significantly less prep and that is why their prep line item is so much less? That’s why it’s so important to know what is included in each line item, that way you know what you’re comparing.
The time to ask questions is before you hire a painter, not after. This is your chance to make sure you understand all aspects of the painting process. Ask how long they expect the job to take, what their process is, and anything else you can think of. A question you might not think of is what their crew consists of, who you will be meeting with, and if there will be a project supervisor who is in charge of your project from start to finish. Having one point of contact, like a project supervisor, is really important to make sure that communication is smooth and that there is someone accountable for sticking to the original proposal.
Another question you might not think of is to ask about the proposal itself. If something is going to change in the scope of the job, make sure that it will be clearly communicated, and if there is going to be a change in the overall price of the job you will be contacted and approve the change before moving forward. And, as stated above, if you don’t understand something in the proposal make sure to ask.
We hope that this has helped you know what you need to consider when looking for a house painting contractor. If you follow these suggestions, you should be able to decide the house painter that will do the best job for you and your house. While doing this research, we’d love it if you’d consider Kind Home Solutions for your home paint job. Request a free estimate here, or give us a call at 720-807-9068 to talk with one of our specialists.