Cost of painting living room vs. do it yourself???

[IDoDis]

Check craigslist.com for your city. Look under "services" and then click on "skilled trade." You can also check in the Trifty Nickel or Quik Quarter newspapers if you have those or something similar where you live. They are usually located in store lobbies next to the apartment and real estate magazines.

I found someone this way several years ago. It was a man and his son. He gave me two quotes -- one w/out taping off stuff and one with and we bought all of the paint. It was about $1000 less than what I was quoted from established companies.

 

[eliza61]

DH & I did it one time, never again. In Southern NJ last summer I paid $950 to have the foryer painted. We have a two story landing with curved windows.

 

[mickeyfan2]

You will have to rent some scaffolding to paint the ceiling and high walls. That is an added cost.

Not sure how large the room you are painting is. Does that price only include the labor?

If it was me I would pay to get it done. Too much climbing and chances to get hurt.

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

for that amount of money i would invest in an extension wand and a scaffold ladder!!!

 

[tink2dw]

Call your friends and have them bring their friends, we painted the outside of one Friends house in 1 day with a faulty sprayer!!!

Then just last fall we Painted my friends new home, the bedroom very large, and her slanted wood beamed living room in an Afternoon and Evening. The short people painted what they could reach the taller people did the top of the wall, we finished the bedroom in 2 hours, then moved to the living room. We used the extension rods and rollers and corner paint pads and the trim pads and it was finished in 3 hours with just 1 guy on the big ladder doing the top near the ceiling and beams[the 2 story side of the room].

I was surprised how high up the 2 story wall I could reach with the extension rods from Lowes. We used painters plastic taped to the floors out about 4 ft. from the wall to cover the carpet and tiles, it worked really well. As I'm 5'3 I usually stick to doing the bottom of the walls along the floor. But with the Extension Rod it was easy breezy to do the high open reaches of wall!!

They used the Behr paint. It covers very well and it is really easy to paint with!!

 

[PatsGirl]

The cost of a possible ER co-pay: $100

The cost of a possible divorce: $1200

Coming home after a weekend away to a freshly painted room without worrying about physical or mental injury: PRICELESS

 

[barb969]

But how do you go about finding someone like that???

The other thing I worry about is that we put in new wood laminate floors last fall. So I don't want anything to get on them. I was thinking if we had a painting company and it was in the contract about using floor protection and cleanup, leaving things in state they were found, we would have a better chance of having THEM fix any mistakes.

Maggie

We have laminate floors which I dripped paint on. Of course it can be wiped up when wet. After it dries it can be scraped up with a finger nail.

 

[martikus]

We have found to get painting deals you need the independent person or someone who does it on the side. We've found them through the facebook page of our community (we are a large subdivision) or word of mouth. When we moved from Florida, our Realtor had the name of a painter who worked for a company, but did small jobs in evening or weekend and we paid $500 for our living room, dining room and a large stripe outside.

I would never paint it myself - a bathroom took me an entire weekend, but I agree that $1200 seems steep

 

[disneylove69]

I was redoing my master bath and asked for estimate to paint the bedroom......$900!!!!! I have a co-worker who paints on the side but lives to far to drive where I am. I asked if this sounded right and he said that is about what he charges. I am painting it myself. Will take longer but be cheaper. I hate to paint. I live in Nrth. California.

 

[disneylove69]

Also try your local ACE store. Mine has a book of business cards of various handy-man, painters, gardeners, etc.

 

[PatMcDuck]

We do almost everything ourselves, DH is a union carpenter. Over the last 2-3 years, we have painted the entire house, one room at a time, ceilings too. But, last to get done was the 2+ story foyer, which also has the upstairs hallway and a flight of stairs with a landing and 90 degree turn in middle. DH DID paint it once, about 10 years ago. Built a scaffold and put a STEP LADDER on top of the scaffold. OMG. Had to construct the scaffold at one point to fit over the stairs, with one side longer than the other on the ground, shorter on the stairs themselves. And then the stepladder on top. Well, he is older now, (58) and very busy working in another state most days.

Thankfully, he let me get a painter. FIRST time EVER. In NJ, licensed, $500, I supplied the paint because I already had it. This was for foyer ceiling and upstairs hall ceiling, and all the walls. (no trim, I can do that). And there were cracks and prep work involved. Took 2 days, one guy. The prep work was worse than he expected, we gave him an extra $50 (our idea, he did not ask for it). SO worth it, mostly for the 2 days in and out. And, I have other projects for DH.

This was just a couple of weeks ago.

 

[FINFAN]

Time is money. Ceiling/wall lines up that high, very hard to tell if they are straight or not so if you really do want to take it on yourself, get up close to see what you are up against first. Also , if you mess it up, it costs you to re-do it, if a hired painter messes it up, you usually have a year or 2 guarantee. I would get it done and make up for it with DIY elsewhere (as you have been doing) It isn't the whole 1200 you are saving, it is just the difference from what it costs you vs hiring out. If you do decide to DIY, you have my

 

[azdisneylover]

I would say to check out your state's Board of Registrar's office online and search out any paint company first to see if the company has any problems (disputes, lawsuits, etc). A licensed, bonded and insured company is the only one I would use. This way, if anything goes wrong, you do have recourse through the Board of Registrars.
If you feel you must do it yourself, rent the proper equipment and tools to get the job done. You can rent scaffolds for the day/week, along with other items. Don't forget, prepping out the job is just as important as the actual painting. You mentioned you just put in new flooring, so drop cloths are in order too. You may feel $1200 for a vaulted ceiling is pricey, but the hidden costs are what you need to factor in if you do it yourself. Don't forget your hourly wage too. Then, see how it works out on paper to do it yourself, or pay a licensed contractor.
Oh, with contractors, in general, there are two types, commercial and residential. Get the residential because the commercial painters (in general here) have the 'blow and go' mindset. Meaning, get as much done, as fast as you can, don't worry about how it looks. With residential, they live and die by their reputation so they are more inclined to do a much better job in your home than a commercial painter would.

I wish you much success in what ever way you choose to have your room painted.

 

[barkley]

Zombie thread that I hope the o/p was able to resolve in the 8 years since it was posted.

 

[FINFAN]

Zombie thread that I hope the o/p was able to resolve in the 8 years since it was posted.

lol.....well, I would have given the same answer 8 years ago

 

[pigletto]

Zombie thread that I hope the o/p was able to resolve in the 8 years since it was posted.

What's even worse is I just read through the whole thing and then started texting my husband at work to say I think we need to paint our open concept living room/dining room/stairs/hall/kitchen. This zombie thread just made my husband and I very busy for the next few weekends

 

[maggiew]

Zombie thread that I hope the o/p was able to resolve in the 8 years since it was posted.

Hahaha. Imagine my surprise when I got an alert that there was a response to my thread. And I was like, "What?? I don't remember posting a thread about painting."

Maggie

 

[barkley]

so what ended up happening? do it yourself or hired out?

I gotta say-the prices quoted in this old thread astound me. we just had our home's entire exterior (including rain gutters and doors), and 2 bedrooms done by one of the top companies in our area (not known as the most cost effective-but great workmanship)-and we paid a fraction of what people are quoting all those years back.

 

[mel&me]

I did mine, Had to set up scaffolding. 18 feet to top of cathedral. Use Sherwin-Williams paint. Took 2.5 gallons of primer, 1.5 gallons of paint on ceiling and 2.25 gallons for walls.

 

[mel&me]

Hahaha. Imagine my surprise when I got an alert that there was a response to my thread. And I was like, "What?? I don't remember posting a thread about painting."

Maggie

Thats too funny realized after I relied how old post was