What should my painting project cost?

I talk to customers regularly who are struggling to find out how much they should budget for their painting project. These are some of my recommendations:

1. Get a professional estimate: Most painters will do a free estimate. (write down what you want done so that you will have consistency with both prices)



2. Define area, number of coats and specific products to be used.



3. Be clear about your priorities and then ask you professional for cost saving strategies. (Remember that quality still counts be clear that it is waisted time or inefficiencies that you are cutting out.)

Some assumptions about pricing that I see regularly.

1. Many customers think the exterior should cost more than the interior, but that is rarely the case. This is because people imagine that they could paint their own interior, but have a harder time imaging themselves tackling their exterior. The truth is that other then heights the interior is much more labor intensive because the details never end.



2. The the price should be the same whether I use one color of ten. Extra colors means extra labor and material and adds up quickly.



3. If you have painted once or twice you can't fully understand all that goes into painting professionally so learn from your painting professional. When you understand the process you can understand where the cost come from.

Happy Painting!

Ethiopia - checking out how they paint

I spent the past three weeks in Ethiopia. Of course I was interested to see how they paint in Ethiopia. I was in Addis Abbaba so it was a big city and not in the country where I'm sure things are quite different.

The first thing I noticed was that there were many advertisements and billboards throughout the city advertising paint. New high rise buildings are going up everywhere. The most common Buildings are UN and government and private housing (apartments). Plaster and stucco abound. It was not until I moved into the Ghion Hotel that I was able to see a painter. He was doing maintenance painting with a five inch brush. Painting walls with a five inch brush patiently and consistently. Dipping into a fresh new bucket of paint. I smiled at my fellow painter and he smiled back with a great big grin. I blurted out, "salaam!" and he smiled even bigger.

I couldn't help falling in love with Ethiopian people. One painter to another joined by a common profession. God bless Ethiopia!