If you’re thinking about hiring a painting contractor, it’s important to take a few moments to read the following article, which could end up saving you both time, money, and frustration. The truth is, paint contractors range in quality from highly-affordable, but only capable of providing a poor quality paint job, through to expensive, but capable of doing the job right and making sure that it last for many years to come.
It’s important to remember that there are many unqualified and unlicensed companies that sell themselves as professional painters. The problem is that most homeowners are so concerned with how much a paint job is going to cost, that they forget to ask a few questions before hiring a contractor.
So, with that in mind, we’ve put together this list of 5 important questions to ask your painting contractor.
- What Type of Materials Do You Use?
When hiring painters, such as Foothills Painting Longmont, it’s important to remember that the materials used for your project will have a major impact on how it turns out and how long it will last.
Just like there are many different paint colors, there are also many different levels a quality when it comes to paint and paint products. More expensive paint products usually have additives in them, such as resins, binders, and wax, which will cause the finished products too look significantly better and last much longer.
The key takeaway here is that you need to ask your contractor for details about the products they’ll be using and insist they only used high-quality products on your job.
Read more about the different types of paint here.
- Are You Insured?
As a paying customer, you should never consider hiring a contractor if they don’t have a valid and up-to-date insurance policy.
When asked, an unqualified contractor will probably try dodging your questions about insurance. On the other hand, a reputable contractor will always be willing to provide you with proof that they are in fact, insured.
Just make sure that the contractor of your choice has both comprehensive liability and workmen’s compensation. This protects both your home and personal property, as well as the employees who will be working there.
- Are Your Workers Employees or Sub-Contractors?
To save money, many disreputable painting companies will use sub-contractors, as opposed to actually hiring and training their own employees. Then, the company will likely only pay their sub-contractor a flat fee, while charging you top-dollar for their service, even though they’re not actually doing any of the work.
Additionally, you’ll be putting yourself at risk by hiring a company who uses sub-contractors, since you won’t actually know who will be doing the work on your project.
Regardless, hiring a company who sub-contracts their work is almost guaranteed to have an impact on the quality of the work being done. Therefore, it’s always better to hire a contractor who employs their own employees.
Read about some of the most common paint contractor scams here: https://www.angieslist.com/articles/how-some-interior-painters-cheat.htm
- What Type of Training Do Your Employees Have?
Another reason to avoid hiring a company that sub-contracts their work is that you’ll have no way of knowing what sort of training and experience their workers have.
But, even hiring a company who hires their own employees doesn’t necessarily mean that their employees will be properly trained. The fact is that proper training just isn’t in the budget for a lot of smaller painting companies.
So, make sure to ask about the type of training that your contractor provides their employees. This could include either field training, in-class training, or a combination of both.
Regardless, making sure that the people working on your project are properly trained helps reduce the number of mistakes, as well as ensures a high-quality job in a timely and efficient manner.
- Does Your Company Provide Warranty Coverage?
If you’re hiring a contractor to paint either the interior or exterior of your home, then you’re going to want to make sure they provide some sort of guarantee or warranty coverage.
Knowing this, less reputable companies will sometimes give you an unrealistically long warranty, say 15 or 20 years, knowing that they won’t actually be coming back to fix their work.
With that said, always avoid a contractor if they offer extremely long or lifetime warranties but just aren’t willing to give it to you in writing.
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