Reasonable painting estimate?

[midwest07]

This is a follow up to my question about which SW paint to use...

I know it is very difficult to tell me if this quote is "fair", but I will give as many details as possible.  I have never hired anyone to paint in our house.  Actually, I have never hired a contractor/tradesperson to do anything other than repairs for HVAC/plumbing.  So I really have no idea what is reasonable for costs of these things.

Area to be painted - 2 story foyer, stairwell, upper hallway, first floor (which is basically all one room - living, eat in area and kitchen).  My very very rough estimate is the wall space to be covered is around 2000 square feet, and contains a fair amount of things to be painted around (cabinets, built ins, windows, etc) to make it kind of annoying to paint.  The contractor estimated he would use 10 gallons of paint, two coats total (no priming needed), if that helps.

He said it would take 2-3 days, depending on whether he used 2 or 4 guys.  They would cover everything with plastic, move furniture, clean, sand the walls, prep, tape as needed, and do two coats.  The only thing I would do is take things off the walls.

The person came on the recommendation of a good friend who is a contractor, he uses him for all of his painting work.  This person seems very thorough, is licensed/insured, etc.  I liked him and trust he would do a good job.

We live in a MCOL area.

Taking the paint cost out of it, the bid for labor is $1800.

WDYT?  Reasonable or not?  I really would rather use this person and not get more bids.  For example, if I got another bid at $1600/1700, I would go with this one.  But if someone else bid under $1500 and had good recommendations, I would probably go with them.

[mrs.jacinthe]

That seems about right to me, unless you're including ceilings in the painting. (Ceilings are a royal PITA and totally worth hiring out.)

I had 1800 sq ft painted in Ohio by a friend (who is a painter - not just some random schmuck), including some trim, but no ceilings - walls only. She brought a 2-person crew, painted for two days, and charged me $1200, which included the gas to drive 2 hours to the house and 2 hours to drive home. We paid for a hotel for her and her hubby (the crew person). However, our house was totally empty - no furniture to move, no cleaning necessary, etc.

[simpsongal]

Get a second bid just to be sure. I think that's about right for 2 coats of quality paint.

We used exterior painters last year and got a few bids. I feel good about this company so I would probably hire them again without getting multiple bids. But if this is your first time working with this company, I'd get another bid.

[midwest07]

Feb 5, 2013 13:22:18 GMT -5 mrs.jacinthe said:

That seems about right to me, unless you're including ceilings in the painting. (Ceilings are a royal PITA and totally worth hiring out.)

I had 1800 sq ft painted in Ohio by a friend (who is a painter - not just some random schmuck), including some trim, but no ceilings - walls only. She brought a 2-person crew, painted for two days, and charged me $1200, which included the gas to drive 2 hours to the house and 2 hours to drive home. We paid for a hotel for her and her hubby (the crew person). However, our house was totally empty - no furniture to move, no cleaning necessary, etc.

No ceilings, no trim (I just finished painting all the trim myself, ugh), just the walls.  But harder than just a plain room, because of the 2 story foyer, lots of things to cut in around, etc.

[mrs.jacinthe]

Then yeah, it seems about right to me. I'm guessing that without my "friend rate", I'd have paid closer to $1500.

[sratsey]

That sounds about right.

[downtoearth]

That's a big area. If it's 2 people for 8 hours per day for 3 days, that is about 48 hours of work for almost $38/hour per person. Seems a little high for a crew of painters, but if they are good it's not bad.

My BIL does finish carpentry work (IMO way more skilled than painting) and charges about $30-$35/hr.

Does that help you at all?

[midwest07]

Feb 5, 2013 14:36:31 GMT -5 downtoearth said:

That's a big area. If it's 2 people for 8 hours per day for 3 days, that is about 48 hours of work for almost $38/hour per person. Seems a little high for a crew of painters, but if they are good it's not bad.

My BIL does finish carpentry work (IMO way more skilled than painting) and charges about $30-$35/hr.

Does that help you at all?

That is helpful.  I had been trying to determine the hourly rate per person, but it varies drastically whether he uses 2 or 4 people, and whether it's 2 or 3 days (and if those are full days).  I would think $38/hour a person is probably too high for painting.

My H has convinced me to get another estimate so I know for sure.  Honestly, part of it is the hassle of getting estimates and then having to tell someone no.  I hate that part!

[whitemerlot]

I'm in the Twin Cities and my painter charges $45 an hour + materials, if that helps.

[lb2006]

I live in NC & we had main areas of our last house painted, plus stairwells so it was probably 1200 sq feet with SW paint and it was $800 for a crew of 3......not sure if i'm helpful or not

[midwest07]

Feb 5, 2013 16:21:24 GMT -5 lb2006 said:

I live in NC & we had main areas of our last house painted, plus stairwells so it was probably 1200 sq feet with SW paint and it was $800 for a crew of 3......not sure if i'm helpful or not

Oh man, that is low...that didn't include paint did it?  I am hoping just labor or mine is way off!

[justinlove]

Hmmm...seems high to me, so I would get a second. We have a 3500 sq ft house with a similar setup. We had the 2 story foyer, 2 story living room, stairwells, upper hallway, dining room and kitchen done for $650 labor (crew of 3 also used SW paint, but paid that separately). Now, I know we got a small discount because we also had them do a few rooms upstairs so they made the deal sweeter so we would do the add ons.

I live in a MCOL area.

[candreco]

When you're looking at the hourly rate, don't forget that they've also got some overhead costs (transportation, insurance, maybe healthcare, etc), and that they also have some of their own equipment like scaffolding to maintain. It's not like the painters are actually taking home the full hourly rate.

That said, $1800 for that much space would be a bargain here, but I'm in a HCOL area. I'd still get at least one more quote on it.

[miniaturemarie]

Lurker chiming in! I live in the Midwest as well and that sounds high to me. We had a 2 story entryway, living room, 2 hallways and 2 bedrooms with closets painted including supplies for right at $1500. Everything looks great and they used a high quality paint.

[Deleted]

Sounds good to me.

We had our home painted with mid-quality paint 5 years ago. It cost $2400 for approx 2700 sq ft, no trim/doors, only one color, no priming, and the house was empty so no furniture to work around.