Hire a Painter or Do It Yourself? What You Actually Pay For

Painting a room yourself looks cheap on paper: a few gallons, a roller, a free weekend. Then the weekend turns into two, the cut lines along the ceiling wander, and the second coat shows every lap mark from the first. Before you decide, it helps to know what you are really paying for when you hire a painter, and which jobs are fine to do on your own.

What goes into a professional painter’s price

When you get a quote from a painting company, you are not paying for paint and hours alone. The price usually covers:

• Prep. Moving and covering furniture, masking, patching nail holes and small cracks, sanding, caulking gaps in trim, and priming stains or repairs. On most jobs prep takes as long as the painting.
• Materials. Paint, primer, caulk, tape, plastic, drop cloths and patching compound. Professional lines of paint cost more per gallon but cover better and last longer.
• Equipment. Ladders and planks for stairwells, sprayers for large or empty rooms, and the right brushes and rollers for each surface.
• Labor. Two coats with even coverage, straight lines where walls meet ceilings and trim, and cleanup every day.
• Insurance and warranty. If someone gets hurt or something gets damaged, an insured company covers it. A written warranty means the painter comes back if the work fails.

How much does it cost to hire a painter?

There is no honest flat price, because the same “one room” can be a two-hour touch-up or a two-day job. These are the things that move the number most:

1. Wall area and ceiling height. Tall stairwells and two-story rooms need more time and equipment.
2. Wall condition. Holes, old patches, water stains and peeling paint all add prep.
3. Number of colors. Each extra color means more cutting in. Deep colors often need an extra coat.
4. Trim, doors and ceilings. Walls only is the fastest job. Adding baseboards, doors and ceilings adds detail work.
5. Furnished or empty. Empty rooms go faster. Furnished rooms take time to move, cover and work around.
6. Paint line and sheen. Better paint costs more and usually lasts longer.

A good painter will look at the job in person before giving a price. Be careful with quotes given over the phone with no visit: they tend to grow once work starts. At ProGeneralService, every job starts with a free on-site visit and a firm written quote, so the price you agree to is the price you pay.

What DIY really costs

Doing it yourself saves the labor, but it is not free:

• Supplies add up. Good brushes, rollers, extension poles, a ladder, drop cloths, tape, patching compound, primer and paint. For a first project, the tools alone can cost as much as a gallon of paint per room.
• Time. Most people underestimate prep. A room a crew finishes in a day can take a homeowner a full weekend or more.
• Redo risk. Skipping primer over patches, painting over glossy surfaces without sanding, or rolling a second coat too soon leads to peeling, flashing and lap marks. Fixing those costs more than doing it once.
• Safety. Ladders on stairs and work at height are where most DIY injuries happen.

Jobs that are fine to do yourself

Not every project needs a crew. These are reasonable weekend jobs:

• one small room with walls in good shape and no ceiling work;
• touching up scuffs with leftover paint from the same can;
• a single accent wall on a low wall with no tricky edges.

Jobs worth hiring out

• Tall walls, stairwells and ceilings, where ladders and planks are needed.
• Whole floors or the whole house, where a crew finishes in days instead of weeks.
• Cabinets and trim, where a smooth, even finish matters most. See cabinet painting.
• Exterior painting, where prep, weather and ladders all come into play. See exterior painting.
• Walls that need repair first, such as water damage or large holes. See drywall repair.

What to check before you hire

Ask for a written quote that lists the scope, the number of coats and the paint brand. Ask whether the company is insured and what the warranty covers. In Texas, painters do not need a state license, so insurance and a written warranty are the real protection for you and your home. Our checklist, how to choose a house painter, goes through the questions one by one.

Getting a quote in Fort Bend County

ProGeneralService paints homes in Richmond, Katy, Sugar Land, Rosenberg, Fulshear and Missouri City. Our lead painter has more than 35 years in the trade, we use Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore paints, and all of our work carries a 2-year workmanship warranty, with 5 years on exterior paint. Call (713) 489-3811 or schedule a free quote.