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12K to paint interior of house?
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Anonymous
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We were given an estimate of 12K to paint the interior of our house (that includes the paint). This would cover four bedrooms, one powder room, kitchen, family room, living/dining room, playroom, and all hallways. Total square footage maybe 2500? Does that sound appropriate? We are planning to get other estimates, but I really liked the person who gave this estimate, plus this person has stellar references from several people we know.
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Anonymous
| RIDICULOUS...we got a similar quote from a company we had come out and look at our house (similar size) and I couldn't imagine putting that amount of money into painting when I could use that same amount to redo a couple of bathrooms from top to bottom. We decided to paint ourselves. SO SO easy and just took a couple of weekends. |
Anonymous
| Definitely get at least 2 other estimates, and compare apples to apples--that they are all including the same work, like coats of paint, prep work etc. |
Anonymous
OP here--thanks! You know, I had been thinking the same thing--that we should just do it ourselves, but we have never painted before. Is it fairly easy to do if you have never done it before? Any good website or something for learning how? Thanks. |
Anonymous
| That sounds very high. About 4 years ago, I paid $1400 for my entire first floor: LR, DR, FR (w/ vaulted ceiling), kitchen, hallway/foyer, office and powder room - walls, trim, ceilings and doors. They spent an entire day prepping the walls (fixing nail holes, sanding, priming, etc.) then brought in a small army of Spanish guys on day 2, a bunch of huge fans, and knocked out the painting. Day 3, 2 guys came back for inspection, touch up, and to rehang the window treatments. This price included the paint. The prep work made all the difference in the quality of the paint finish. I had no idea how much time the would take jus prepping the walls. Am so glad they did. I found these guys on Angie's List. |
Anonymous
I've done a lot of painting myself and it appears easy but it is such drudgery and a mess. Its takes longer to do when you are not a professional I'm happy to hire someone. OP - on any big purchase always get at least 3 bids/prices. You will always save money and make a better decision. |
Anonymous
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Keep looking. We got two bids the first time - our house is bigger, and both estimates were in the $16K range. So we negotiated and cut down the list, and got a lot (maybe half-ish) of the house painted for $8K (this included a lot of PITA wallpaper removal and then subsequent patching of the walls).
Several years later, we asked our picky neighbors for a painter rec. He was fabulous and charged $3K to paint the rest. Please don't pay $12K - you can do better! |
Anonymous
| Way too much. Paint it yourself. The prep work is a pain, but so necessary. I only hire people to do it when I just can't--i.e. my 2-story living room. |
Anonymous
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Paint is easy. Prepping is not. What shape are your walls in? Yeah, you perhaps could do the prep if you have drywall, but you probably wouldn't do as good a job as the pros.
The estimate probably is high. |
Anonymous
| My DH is a painter and that estimate may not be high depending on the amount of prep work needed and the amount of trim work. The painting is the easy and quick part. The prep is the messy, time-consuming, and hard work. If not done correctly the paint job will not look as nice, nor last as long. Get other estimates, but like everything else, you get what you pay for. |
Anonymous
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RIDICULOUS
We just did our house...2,400sq feet, trim doors, walls, cielings....different colors, over some UGLY messed up walls. 4 bedrooms, 2.5BA, office, living, dining, kitchen, and family room, front door, back door, around windows for 5K. They did an excellent job (I paid for paint 1K extra). 12K? That is criminal. I can't believe people fall for that. |
Anonymous
I totally agree- painting is a PITA, but it is not complex- you can do a great job. For the tape, we find that the kind that is not allowed to stay on the walls as long (it has a higher "stickiness" content) works better than the blue paint. I will say - my in laws paid to have their house painted, and it looks fine, but DH and I commented that there were still some tiny imperfections, and we would also have ended up with those. To me, I'd rather endure the PITA of painting than pay someone else to do it. But trust me- you will hate doing it! But you will save loads of cash. |
Anonymous
Seems ridiculously high unless you having it painted in gold and silver with platinum highlights. I'd get some other estimates. |
Anonymous
| Prep work is a pain, when I say prep I mean taping off and taking off the switch plates but it's not THAT bad. Once it's prepped you can zip through the room in no time. Really it won't take you that long. You can always prep one day and paint the next. If you get some paint on the moulding you can touch it up later as you'll probably want to repaint all your moulding anyway. |
Anonymous
| Don't necessarily listen to the people who are telling you to do it yourself. Yes, painting is not complex, BUT there is a big difference between painting a room or two vs. and entire house. And if you both work and/or have young kids, having someone come in and do it quickly and right is well worth the money IMO. That said, the $12K estimate is way too high. We had someone paint most of the interior of our home 5 years ago before we moved in, including ceilings and trim and some pain-in-the-ass louvered closet doors, and I believe it was in the $2,800 range, maybe $3,000. Our house is smaller though -- probably about 1,800 sq. ft. Definitely get a couple more estimates. |