These days, we’re all tightening our belts and trying to save a few pennies here and there. However, when your paint is cracked and peeling off your front porch, it’s time to call a painter even if your budget’s tight.
The only trouble is that your usual painting job, whether it’s one room of the house or the entire outside, is going to run you more than a couple of bucks. Some folks try to get around this by heading to the paint supply shop, picking a few colors that look alright and whatever tools the guy at the shop says are needed, and tackles the job themselves. This is a terrible idea for two reasons:
1. You don’t know anything about painting. Or maybe you know a few things about painting, but you’re not a professional who can make a house really look good.
2. It’s a lot of darn work. Seriously, if you’ve tried painting a tiny portion of the house, you know that you’re going to be sore the next day after you’ve spent 8 plus hours slathering paint.
It’s time to hit the yellow pages or get online and look for a professional painter. But the big question is – How much does a painter cost?
How Painters Decide What To Charge
Painting jobs range in price from the very small to the very, very large. The key to what makes the price is, of course, the amount of work to be done. The walls of a small room are going to cost way less than a full house job. Here is how the cost breaks down:
– Labor. Labor is the biggest part of the charge, varying from around 75 to 85 percent of the whole job. It’s a lot of work! And, as we mentioned before, a good painter knows how to mix those colors and apply them just right to make it look great.
– Paint. Paint price is figured on a per gallon basis. It’s not cheap. Quality is also a big factor. The cheap stuff usually costs 30-40 dollars a gallon, but the good, high quality stuff can run anywhere from 70-100 dollars. Remember, high quality doesn’t just mean that it looks good, but that it’ll last a long time.
– Tools and supplies. This is a smaller part of your price, but it’s important. They’ll charge you for the brushes, rollers, drop clothes and other stuff they use.
So, How Much We Talkin’ Here?
To give you a VERY ROUGH idea, a medium sized room of 12 by 12 feet, including walls and ceiling, could run as much as 100 dollars. For a whole house job, you’re looking at anywhere from 2,000-6,000 dollars, and we’re talking about a medium-sized house.
However, the only way to get an accurate estimate for the work you need done is to call a painter and have them come out and look. There really is no ballpark way to figure how much it costs otherwise. Decide how much you can spend, and then call a few local painters, have them look and talk it over with them. You’ll have some choices, like quality of paint, how many coats and other things that will affect price as well.
A good painter can turn your cracked and peeling house into a beautiful work of art. It may not be cheap, but it’s well worth it!