How much will it cost to paint my house?
This is the question that all customers ask when they want to hire a painter. This is the question they ask all painters hoping they will get the answer they are looking for the amount of money they think they want to spend. They look to the reality shows, HiPages, friends and neighbours for a advice to what the cost of the work should be and what is a fair price for the work they want to do.
The answer to this questions is not as easy as it sounds. It’s more complicated that it seems and takes years of experience to get the formula right. There are a number or things that the painting contractor or any contractor in the trades for that matter needs to take into consideration when he is going to give a price on the work the clients wants done in their home, office or any other area they want painted.
Is the place that he is quoting a restoration of a period home or is it a display type home that is done by volume builders. Is in a refresh of an existing home or are they getting the property ready for sale and need it to look its best. Or is it for a high end architect like Jon Fredrich Architects who is known for designing some of the most prestigious homes in Melbourne. These prices range from as low as $3,200 to as high as $125,000 depending on what you are required to do and the quality of work that is required by the client.
First of all there is the hourly and/or daily rate that the painter will charge for his work. Included in this must be all insurances including, public liability, labour, materials and all overhead costs. This must be added in to the charge out rate for their work. These costs must be included in the charge out rate so that the price the work is accurate and all cost are covered. This makes sure that everyone that is working on the project is paid a reasonable rate and the job is both profitable and cost effective. If these figures are inaccurate and not calculated properly then some painters will and sometimes have been known to cut corners to make sure that they finish the job on time and on budget and not lose money on the job.
Correct pricing is crucial and that all direct and indirect costs are included. This is important because it’s an obligation to not only you as the owner of the business your employees but also to your customers and clients that you are doing work for. Your customers deserve a painting company that has its business processes in order so that they can do the job in a timely manner.
All pricing is based on estimates. Estimating the time it will take to complete the job according to the needs and wants of the customer. Does the customer want a high quality finish and have all imperfections on all surfaces or does he want the job to just look good and cover up any glaring area so that he can rent out or sell a property. For example does the customer want all trims (windows, architraves, skirting boards and doors) to be scuff sanded, sanded to matt or does he want it stripped back to bare timber. Does he want a mirror finish, sprayed or a brushed finish. All these require different amounts of preparation time and materials to complete the job properly.
This all take time to complete. In the above example scuff sanding a door will take anywhere from 3-5 minutes with a sander. Whereas sanding the door to remove all the gloss of the door can take anywhere up to 10-15 minutes per side to complete. From there the door needs to be undercoated and then two top coats of either semi-gloss or gloss dependent on if you are doing a two or three coat system. The door will need to be sanded between coats. Sanding between coats needs to be done with a fine sandpaper e.g. 240 or 320 grit. Again it will depend on the needs of the clients and what look they want to achieve.
This needs to be done with caution as to not cut into the undercoat. As if you do that the door will need to be recoated with an undercoat and start the process all over again. This will also depend on type of finish you are doing. Are you doing an old school brushed finish with a really fine synthetic brush like the Staalmeester Spalter one series brush with as little brush stokes as possible, are you doing a rolled finish or are you going to take them off side a spray then. This again can be done with a foam roller or a mohair roller.
All three methods will leave you with a different finish. All three finishes will have a different time allocated to the finishing time of the job. If you are doing for example a mirror finish on a door this is a completely different process again and can take up to a week to complete a door and can cost up to $1,500 per door.
The same goes with the finish on the ceiling and the walls. This will depend on the outcome you want to achieve and the outcome and expectation of the customer. Does the customer want the finish on the ceilings and wall to have as little to no imperfections as possible or does the customer want to make sure that the ceilings and wall to look fresh and clean. The process will be different and the time allocated to do it will be different. A perfect finish as opposed to a basic finish will take more time to complete.
For example the patching of the walls on a high end finish is also very critical and attention to detail is important. The walls will need to be inspected with a LED light so any imperfections that need to be fixed will be picked up on and fixed before any painting work is done. A filler that will not shrink once dry should be preferably used. The patched areas with the filler then needs to sanded properly so that it is flat and will not leave any lumps on the wall and or ceilings.
The filler then needs to be undercoated as to make sure that there is no flashing on the ceiling and walls as you apply he first coat. This needs to be done even on a basic finish as well. Once the first coat goes on the walls need to be check again and to make sure that you have picked up all imperfections. If the walls need to be filled, you then have to fill them again with the same process as above, fill sand and undercoat so that you don’t have any flashing between coats.
Once this process is done and all imperfections are addressed as per the specifications of the customer then you proceed to the painting of the walls. The rolling of the walls also have to be done to a certain standard as too have as little stipple on the walls as possible. This will leave a different look. There are different rollers that you can use. There are microfiber roller, there are lamb’s wool rollers and many more. The final look of the wall will depend on the type of roller you pick. The bottom line is that you must leave as little stipple on the walls and ceilings so as to leave the best possible look.
There also a high end spray finish on all surfaces which require a different prep altogether. This process is completely different and specialised as the process is not the same as a bush and rolled finish. All areas will need to be masked in a specific order. The painter must have the appropriate PPE, ventilation and exhaust fans that will have all areas as dust free and clean as possible. He needs to be competent and know how to spray and not leave any runs and even coverage on all areas otherwise it doesn’t look good.
As you can see the estimating process is quite complicated and you have to take into account the expectations of the customer. The paint contractor must looks at the requirements and needs of the customer in order to estimate how long each section of the job will take. The painter must make sure that he has an adequate and complete picture of what the customer wants so as to be able to price his quote as accurately as possible. This can only be done by asking all the right question so as to make sure that he has a full understanding of what the expectations of the client are so he can price the work appropriately without any mistakes. If the expectations of the customer is for example for the doors to be sanded to a matt finish and you have only accounted for a scuff/buff sand, you are in for trouble at the end of the job as the customer is not getting what he wanted from the painting contractor.
So as you can see there is a lot of factors that go into the pricing of a job and giving quote. This needs to be stated and clearly communicated to the customer as well as in the quote acceptance contract that you and the customer agrees and signs. Clear understandings and expectations of what both parties expect from each other is critical and needs to be expressed clearly.
So the final outcome is the price of the quote is dependent on what the customer wants and the ability for the painting contractor to extract the information from the customer in order to deliver the job the customer wants without any complications and arguments with the customer. The painting contractor must ask the right questions that accurately take into account the customer’s expectations and what it will cost to deliver the job both on time and on budget.
The price of the quote will depend on the outcome of the communication between you and the customer and how to interpret that into the quote and make sure that you produce the job in the most accurate and best possible with as little disruptions as possible.
