The Home Ownership Thread - Page 30

For a yellow pages company, 2k sounds about right depending on where you live.



It being $$ doesn't guarantee a good job.

My cousin is a home builder, he recommended the guy I mention above to me, he's independent. I hired him for a few small jobs and ended up giving him all the drywall, paint and molding in an addition I built a few years ago which I managed. Did a really solid job for $200 a day and a guy he brought with him at $140. My cousin uses him all the time for renal property repairs.

Granted, you're not always going to get value for $ in these situations, but I've been fortunate.

This guy has been back to do a number of small jobs and always does well, is responsible, clean and doesn't say yes to stuff he can't do. Great situation that I hope continues. I take the risk of warranty and other things a formal company brings but for $200 a day it's worth it. And to him, no overhead, its good money.

I have some remodeling on a bathroom and some coffering I want on the ceiling of a couple of rooms which he's going to do for me.

I cannot imagine paying someone to paint a room. It must be my middle class mentality but that's one of those jobs I absolutely do myself.

Truth

I struggle here. On the one hand, I think I should do it and reckon I do a fine job at that. On the other hand, I lack that kind of patience, and have cringed when seeing my past work down the road. However, I may have turned the corner on this: We re-sided two sides of the garage, I painted them and did a decent job. Maybe even a good job. But it took a while.

Keep the power tools unplugged.

My father has always bartered for paint jobs. His house is immaculately painted and so is the painter's car. (My dad owns a car repair and body shop).

Me on the other hand, I buy the paint and the girlfriend paints. I am happy with white walls, she bitches so I told her to do it herself. I think it is a good compromise.

I think a good result down the road a ways has alot to do with good prep work, that can be something worth paying for if you are inexperienced and have little interest in becoming experienced, or if your work generally turns out like a Gerhard Richter painting (and it wasn't intentional).

I detest painting; I spent a few summers drywalling and painting. For some reason I don't mind hanging gyp rock, actually enjoy mudding and sanding, but detest painting.

I agree. Times where I have painted were some of the worst in my life. It makes sense why good jobs are always expensive. It is harder than you think.

^^ I wont do it just because I cant stand the monotony of it.

Painters are notorious alcoholics, its really grunt work. I've done some shit jobs like spending 2 summers in HS doing cement. I rather like doing electrical work, and similar jobs but painting? No way. Its worth the money to avoid.

Whoever mentioned prep is spot on. A good drywall guy can contribute as much to a good paint job as the painter.

It really depends what you are looking for.

If you are the OP who was asking about an online estimator tool, then a lefty-style paint job is probably not right.

I can do a decent job painting myself. I probably put in more prep-work than the cut-rate painters but I also don't paint very often so my brush work isn't always great right away (and I try to hand paint my edges...screw tape-lines). Using good paints and making sure to not try and stretch them too far is key.

For the most part, what I am doing is a huge improvement over the shit that's on the wall in a rental. If I were in lefty's place, I probably wouldn't be satisfied.

The worst part about painting, to me, is cleaning the brushes and rollers. Then you have to clean the sink, clean the faucet, etc. If you're doing a little at a time it gets old really fast.

I kind of regret putting a $200+ Kohler faucet in the utility room.

HB, are you a notorious alcoholic?

Being a sales rep for one of the big paint companies, I can say that it depends on the quality of work. A general rule is 1/3 for materials and 2/3 for labor. This is a standard number for pretty much any "quality" painter. Of course all situations are different but this is a good estimator for how painting and coating contractors price work. Just my .02

If you are just doing it a little bit at a time, you can probably also just wrap them tightly in cling wrap and place in fridge. Pull them out tomorrow and let them warm up to room temp before using.