House Painting: Upfront Cost vs. Long-Term Value

MOUNTAIN VIEW — When choosing a contractor to paint your house, it’s important to weigh upfront cost against long-term value. As you look at different bids, you’ll likely see a wide range of cost estimates and naturally be attracted to the lower ones. However, in terms of long-term value, you may actually save money by choosing a higher-priced contractor.

In many cases, low bids are low for a reason. To undercut competing bids, a painter needs to cut costs, and the simplest way to do that is to take shortcuts on the job. This may consist of using inferior paint products, neglecting proper prep work and/or only applying one coat of paint (a quality job should have two). All of these shortcuts can cause a paint job to fail prematurely.

Let’s say you hire the cheapest contractor at an upfront cost of $5,000. Seems like a good deal, right? However, if they do a subpar job and the paint fails four years later, it won’t seem like such a bargain in hindsight. By contrast, if you pay $10,000 for a quality job that lasts 10 to 14 years, you’ll save money in the long run. In this way, a job with a higher upfront cost may actually be less expensive than a lower-priced one, due to the long-term value it provides.

Regardless of whether their bid is low or high, you shouldn’t hire a painting contractor based on price alone. Here are a couple of additional steps you should take before hiring:

Read bids carefully. Look for a detailed breakdown of the work to be performed and materials to be used. This tells you the contractor has done their homework and gives you a clear expectation of what you’ll receive. In contrast, a vague, bare-bones bid not only leaves the contractor’s thoroughness in question, it also gives leeway for shortcuts to be taken, as the thoroughness and quality of the job are left unspecified.

Do your research. Look at a company’s online reviews and check with the Better Business Bureau to see if it has many complaints on file. A company’s reputation will tell you a lot about the quality you’re likely to receive.