Comments on: Should You Do Your Own Painting

By: Kyle

Kyle — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:09:07 +0000

as i do most of my home finishing / refinishing / remodeling, i haven’t had to deal with many contractor to painter problems / trade-off’s [i've been both!], but you are absolutely correct in the fact that prepping is a vital, albeit, tedious & sometimes painful process.

By: Colleen

Colleen — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:13:12 +0000

My husband is a professional paint contractor. He does mostly commercial work but has a few clients who will wait for months for an opening to have their home painted. He is considered one of the best in our area because his work is so outstanding. Over the years there have been those who got lower bids and went with the cheapest painter or tried to do the work themselves. Most of them call him back to re-do the job that some “handyman” has messed up or finish what they have started themselves. If you are good at painting yourself, by all means go for it. If not, hire someone with a good reputation. I see many more bad paint jobs than good. A bad paint job can ruin the look of a home.

By: Dori Cook

Dori Cook — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:16:11 +0000

This post is SPOT ON! My husband is an excellent painter and so we never hire out. But you are right — half of the battle is the prep and the prep has to be done RIGHT!

Then the painting goes flawlessly. Now I will say when I see him with a model brush up along the ceiling I think he’s a bit neurotic, but when it is all done it looks like we paid hundreds of dollars to have it done.

But I have one question! He’s painting our family room this weekend which is at the top of our staircase. How in the world do you effectively prep and paint a staircase without falling and breaking your neck?!? It’s our own paint job that we have considered hiring out. But I’m thinking with the right equipment we could also do it ourselves.

Any suggestions???

Love the blog.

Blessings,
Dori

By: Kelleigh

Kelleigh — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:30:29 +0000

Great post! I’d never really thought about all of that prep work before, and I did wonder if we should do all of the painting in the next house we build, since our painter didn’t do such a hot job last time. Now, I know that I don’t want to tackle that one.

Thankfully, people warned me about NOT trying to do all of the pre-move-in cleaning on our new home. Well, the builder thought we could do it, but our friends advised against it. I’m SO glad we listened to our friends because it took a professional an entire WEEK to clean up! We paid her for the job rather than by the day. Imagine how long it would have taken us (the non-pros!).