How to compare painting quotes without regret

Why one quote is half another

The instinct when two quotes are far apart is to assume one painter is overcharging. Occasionally that is true, but far more often the two bids are for different jobs that happen to share an address. Painting a room is mostly labor, and labor is mostly prep: filling, caulking, sanding, priming and protecting. The paint itself is a small part of the total. So the fastest way to cut a price in half is to cut the prep in half, and prep is invisible on the day the job finishes.

A low number is not a gift. It is a description of a smaller amount of work, and the work it leaves out is usually the work that makes paint stay on the wall. The bid that looks generous today is the one you notice again in a year when the patches flash through and the trim starts shedding.

The line items a real quote names

A quote you can actually judge spells out what is being done, not just what it costs. You are looking for the specifics that separate a thorough job from a quick roll-over. If a bid is a single number with the word painting next to it, you have no way to compare it to anything, and no way to hold anyone to a standard later.

• Number of coats, and whether a primer or block coat is included on repairs, stains or a color change.
• Which surfaces are in scope: walls, ceilings, trim, doors, baseboards, crown and closets, each named, because each takes real time.
• The prep described: filling holes, cutting out and replacing failed caulk, sanding, deglossing trim, and spot-priming.
• The product and sheen, by name and line, not good paint, with a washable sheen in kitchens, baths and hallways.
• Who moves and protects furniture, how floors are covered, and what cleanup and touch-up are included.

Make the bids apples to apples

You cannot compare two quotes that describe two different scopes, so the useful move is to make the scope the same before you compare the price. Write down exactly what you want done, these rooms, these surfaces, two coats, this much trim, and ask each painter to quote that same scope. When the description is identical, the price difference finally means something, because it is the only variable left.

If one painter then comes in much lower on an identical written scope, ask them directly how. Sometimes there is a fair answer, such as a lighter schedule or a smaller crew. Often the answer reveals that something you asked for is not really in their number, and it is better to find that out across a table than halfway through the job.

What a cheap job actually costs later

The reason a skipped-prep job is a false economy is that paint fails in predictable ways when the surface underneath was not ready. Patches that were not primed flash through as dull spots. Glossy trim that was not sanded sheds its new coat at the first knock. Humid Georgia summers open the joints at trim and crown, and caulk that was never redone cracks within a season.

When that happens you are not touching up. You are paying a second painter to do the prep the first one skipped, and then to repaint over it. Paying once for work that lasts is cheaper than paying for a bargain now and a correction later, which is the whole case against choosing on price alone.

Deposits, payment schedules and the warranty

The money terms are part of the quote too, and they carry their own warnings. A modest deposit to hold a date and cover initial materials is normal. A demand for a large share of the total in cash before anyone has arrived is not, and neither is a reluctance to put the job in writing at all.

Ask what happens if something is not right after the job. A written workmanship warranty means the painter stands behind the application rather than disappearing once the check clears. We back our work with a two-year workmanship warranty for that reason, and a reader comparing quotes should weigh whether each bid comes with anything similar, because a warranty is part of the price even when it is not a line on the page.