How to hire a painting contractor in Auckland?

If you are planning to improve the look of your house you will absolutely need a professional and experienced painting contractor regardless of whether it’s a small or large size house. Not many homeowners are willing to install an HVAC on their own, pour a foundation, or building a house addition. However, other chores like painting the house appears to be a do-it-yourself task. After all, most of the people think of soaking a brush in paint.

However, painting a house is actually a quite difficult task than it appears. Therefore, many DIY painters should choose to hire an experienced painting contractor to perform the job of house painting.

Here, let us understand what does a painting contractor do, how to hire an experienced contractor and how to get the best bargain for your painting project.

What does a painting contractor do?

A painting contractor usually provides potential jobs and run a relatively small company consisting of 20 or 30m painters working under him. In addition, a painting contractor can also work under a general contractor as a sub-contractor. Or, the painting contractor can also hire himself and provide direct painting jobs to the homeowner.

How to find an experienced painting contractor?

Generally, painting contracts are mostly local people as there are no nationally franchised paint contractors till now. Some of them focus only on painting while others also perform related chores like small drywall work, plaster repairs, wallpapering and trim and moulding.

Another difficult task is to find and meet a painting contractor at your place, so he/she can take a look at your house and accordingly, provide a written quote. It is a hard job to find one because they work in combination as they run smaller operations and have an increased demand for their work. As it is nearly impossible to explore local painting contractors on the internet and gather details about them, you can seek suggestions from your neighbours or close friends.

Sometime painters also put their contact numbers and company name on the lawns of homes they are working on. But they are usually general contractors and replacement window companies. If you live in an urban area, you can get a local magazine and

and check out the content on renovated houses. There you will get a list of few popular painting contractors in the town and their contact numbers as well. But if you hire a sub-contractor, remember that they usually charge a very high price.

What do they do?

There are many commercial painters in Auckland, who are willing to take on any type of project from simply painting the trim of your windows to painting a complete home. But if they are painting your house interior you can expect the following services:

1. Covering the areas that won’t be painted like cabinets, kitchen counters, windows, floors, etc.
2. Preparation of surface before painting which will include lightly sanding and scraping away pieces of any loose paint, tapping in some bulging nails, removing woodwork, using tack cloth in some places.
3. Taking off all the hardware such as lights, electrical plates, doors, and other objects.
4. Removing the furniture or gathering all the furniture in the middle of the room for creating better access to the places that are to be painted. However, many painters don’t offer this job, so make sure to inquire about this beforehand.
5. Using an interior latex primer to prime the new drywall or existing paint.
6. Applying two coats of interior latex paint on the walls.
7. Applying two coats of ceiling paint.
8. Painting the trim and moulding including window trim, baseboards, window muntins, etc.
9. Repairing the spots that were missed.
10. Wipe-ups for paint drips that will accidentally happen.
11. A final estimation of the entire project between painting contractor and homeowner.

How to discuss the project

Many home painting contractors are highly skilled and good at making things clearly understandable to the owner of the house. However, there are some topics that you will want to discuss –

• What type of paint does the contractor will be using?
• Will the cost of paint added in the final assessment?
• How many coats will the contractor intends on using?
• How will cover the areas that won’t be painted?
• How much time will it take to complete the job perfectly?
• Is it optional to vacate the home during the painting project?
• Will contractor use cut-in-method or masking tape around the trim?

How much money will it cost?

Some of the paint contractors have their own methods of giving an assessment like summing up the square footage of ceilings and walls as well as the linear footage of trim. They will also estimate the total preparation time and other expenses, including cost of primer and paint.

However, many paint contractors offer an assessment that is based on their experience with similar projects. Usually, they will give you a reasonable figure. But still you should ensure to compare the estimates with offers from other companies to determine the best deal.

Glen Hunter is an online marketing consultant, PHP programmer, project manager, writer, blogger & social media enthusiasts.