How To Select The Best Painting Company

Have you ever heard horror stories of remodeling projects that have gone terribly wrong or you yourself is a survivor of such a project, you can probably appreciate the importance of hiring a right contractor for the job.

The fact is that there are big differences among painting companies out there. Consider some variables that can account for this difference: focus on quality and service, level of experience and expertise, employee and leadership commitment, and company philosophy, to name a few. A proper set of these variables will make for smoothly running projects and will result in paint jobs that will look great for many years to come. Weakness in anyone of the above variables will likely produce an opposite effect.

Finding the best painting contractor is probably the most important, though perhaps most difficult, part of any home remodeling project. With the phone book and internet full of company listings, you may be wondering: “Who should I call?” This is a good question, but perhaps a better one is: “What company has the right expertise, and can I trust them to do a good job on my project?”

So, at this stage of the contractor selection process, your main concern is with your prospective bidders ability and trustworthiness. Unfortunately, neither the phone book nor internet listing is going to provide any clues to those two very important points.However, in whichever way you put together your list, you should first ask your prospective bidders a few pre-qualifying questions, before you invite them to come and take a look at your project. At the very least, you should find out if they are properly licensed and insured.

By law, all home painting contractors doing home painting are required to have a valid contractor’s license. If a person does not have a contractor’s license it may be an indication that they lack the necessary expertise. 

The value of a proper insurance coverage can’t be fully appreciated until something goes terribly wrong on the job.

Being licensed and insured, of course, is not a guarantee that your contractor is the best painting contractors you are looking for, but with this knowledge early in the process you can avoid spending time with someone who is perhaps completely unqualified.

While interacting with your house painting contractors, you should also take measure of contractors themselves. There will be telltale signs. You should look for them and take notes. Did this contractor timely return your phone calls and emails? Were they on time for your meetings? Are they easy to communicate with? With all those stories of “disappearing contractors” who were impossible to get a hold of, this is your opportunity to decide whether this is someone you feel comfortable dealing with, and having around your home. After the proposal is received, there will be even more signs. Did the proposal arrive in a timely fashion? Does it reflect your job description and does it state clearly what they will do?

With all proposals in hand, now it’s time to compare them. Carefully review all proposals, and your personal notes on every contractor, making sure that you are comparing “apples to apples.”

At this point, you may feel that you have a clear winner and are ready to award the contract. However, I recommend that you take it a step further and test their track record. You can check their company reviews  if they have a history of complaints. Ask to speak to a couple of their recent clients. If this is an exterior job, you ask for a list of homes they painted in your neighborhood.

From your short interaction with a contractor or their estimator, it may be difficult to know if this company possesses all of the capabilities you are seeking. Finished projects, past client testimonials and personal recommendations may be your only true indicator of whether or not they have the right stuff.

Here is the summary of contractor selection process:

1)Put together a list of contractors

2)Pre-qualify all contractors on your list (check if licensed, insured and experienced).

3)Get comparable proposals from them.

4)Check the track record of the winning proposal contractor (your notes, their past jobs, references, etc.).

5)If the track record checks out, award the project. If not, move on to the next contractor on the list.

With the above steps done, you will save yourself a lot of aggravation. Yes, there are “bad apples” out there who are giving a bad name to the entire construction industry. But there are many good contractors there and I hope this process will help to make finding them a bit easier. My true desire is for you to be able to say, when someone asks you for a referral, “Looking for a good painting contractor? I have a great one for you!”