Our home is mostly brick, but the painted bits appear to not have been painted since the house was built. We need to paint our house. First we had to decide if we were going to do it ourselves or if we are planning to hire someone to paint for us. We called every painter in the phone book to get estimates. Only one came out to our house. He is the only one who answered the phone. We left messages for the others and none returned our calls. The one who came out to our house gave us an estimate of $2650 which is about double what we thought. Crap.
We tried to call all the other painters again and after two weeks of no one returning our calls we decided to go with the first guy, the one who actually came out to our house and did an estimate. I called him two weeks ago to give him the good news, dude you got the job. He said, I don't know when I will be able to do your house, let me call you back in a day or two to let you know. That is the last I heard from him.
I think this is a sign we should do it ourselves. The problem is that we have some rot in some of the wood. We have some mold. We have some areas that need to be caulked. We really don't know how to do any of that stuff. Plus the areas that need to be painted are very high up, our ladder doesn't reach. I told Jeff we could rent some scaffolding and rent a power sprayer and paint it all ourselves. We would also have to replace the rotted wood. It is just a couple of pieces.
Jeff's friend Chad who has been living in our garage off and on since November has repeatedly offered to do something for us as a Thank you for our kindness. Jeff doesn't want to ask him to help us. He is picking up the last of his things today. Have any of you guys here painted your own house? Is it normal for people to not return calls? Seems like a sign that they wouldn't be very reliable. Any Advice?
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5 comments:
Definitely don't hire someone who can't even call back - they obviously don't want the job.
If no one is afraid of heights, you can rent (or borrow) an extension ladder. It's not as hard as you think, really - but it does take a lot of sweat & elbow grease! We've painted our 1-1/2 story and our 1 story before, we'd do it ourselves before we hired anyone. Around here, contractors are prone to ripping you off in price and in service.
Gad! I can't even paint my fingernails, much less a house. Good luck!
i tried to paint my own house. i scraped old paint, recaulked (easy, but messy), pressure washed, defoliated, etc. that took six months of all my spare time. after that, we hired somebody to fix the rotten wood and do the actual painting. the prep work is the evil part.
Don't hire someone, you can do it. Get a pressure washer and clean everything. Talk to people at a home improvement store about paint, Kilz is great for mold problems, and they should be able to tell you how to get rid of the mold. Also they will be able to help you with replacing the wood rot. The base has ladders, pressure washers and maybe even paint sprayers to rent. Do your research and read about painting houses. Take your time and it will turn out great and you will save a lot of money. Don't use the ones who do not call back. I think you should mention it to your friend Chad and get his help. He may even know someone who will do a good job for you, if you decide to go that route. Take berore and after pictures!
We hired a handyman friend of ours to paint our old house. He charged a fair price and it turned out beautifully. Good luck!
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