subject: Paint Your Home To Color Your Life [print this page] The first question home owners ask is "How Much Does It Cost To Paint My House?". It is a great question and I am going to try and walk you through the factors that will help you to not only determine the answer to this question also to make the right decisions on where you spend your money .
The first thing that gives a home owner "sticker shock " is the cost of a gallon of paint. Quality paint cost between $20 to $50 a gallon. In light of the high price of gasoline, this seems outrageous for anything outside of prescription drugs! Still, in the cost breakout of a house painting project, the paint, brushes, and anciliary supplies only represent about 20% of the overall budget. The labor is what makes up the rest. Armed with this information , home owners then start to ask if they can do it themselves. Ill have you run through a few questions before you come to that determination .
1) Are you good at finishing projects in a timely manner?
2) Are you affraid of heights?
3) Do you have basic handyman skills to take off light covers, remove shutters, and other basics?
4) What is your opportunity cost for the time spent ? Could you make more money focusing on what you are good at and pay someone who is a professional painter?
5) Are you any good at painting?
If you are comfortable with your answers to these questions, then you might want to consider painting your home yourself. Still, if you are looking for an advanced finish or are not the best at these types of projects, it is likely worth your while to have a professional paint your home.
Some of the downsides of painting your own home are getting injured, damaging your interior or exterior via paint spills, having a poor result, and not finishing the job. If you do a poor job and have to pay a professional to come redo the work, you will have lost the cost of paint.
A couple of alternatives approaches you can take are to take on a single room and see how it comes out. You can also do something small but hard like a linen closet or even a regular closet. If you get in the groove and enjoy this type of project, you can advance on to a larger room.
Also, you will want to spend some time at several different paint stores exploring different types of paint and different types of finish. The subtleties of a paint can make all of the difference in the world.
When you get your painting estimate, have them separate paint and materials from labor. An interior painting estimate for a 3,000 square foot home will likely cost $4500 or more. You will want to seek several estimates so that you have competing bids. If any one bid is low or high, ask questions as to why it is so different from your other estimates. You will want to guard yourself from an inexperienced painter who doesn't know how to bid a project or one that is simply trying to "zip code" you and charge a higher price because you live in a nice neighborhood.
