Home Improvement Info

Guest article written by Philip Rudy

When you realize that it is time to apply a fresh coat of paint to your home, it can be difficult to wrap your head around the amount of work that needs to be done. To start, you must scrape off all of the old paint on the exterior – on large houses, this can require dangerously tall ladders and reaching into small areas. With a smaller house, this is not a major problem. However, with a large building, the scraping process alone can take hours if not days. DIY painting vs hiring a painting contractor depends on a variety of factors such as cost, time and the scope of the project. In general, if it is a job that will take you several days to complete, it might be time to consider a painting contractor.

Advantages of DIY Painting Vs Hiring a Painting Contractor

One of the most significant advantages of painting a house yourself is to reduce the cost of painting. While you will still have to purchase the paint, other tasks such as scraping and clean up only require a few basic tools and some time. While a contractor will likely bill you by the hour, some that bill by the job still factor in the time it takes to scrape, prime and clean up. This can add up to hefty bill for larger houses.

Another advantage of DIY painting vs hiring a painting contractor is that you have a great deal more flexibility in both the design options that you have and the time you use to complete the job. For example, you might decide to scrape one weekend and paint the next. With a contractor, this is rare. However, with DIY painting, you can take as long as you like to finish the job during the season and offset the physical challenge of attempting to complete a job on the same day.

Advantages of Hiring a Painting Contractor vs DIY Painting

While it could take you days to complete a painting job yourself, contractors have the staff and experience to complete that same project in a matter of hours. In addition, you might not be familiar enough with some painting techniques to complete the design that you would like to have. Contractors are also skilled in anticipating problems that you might not even think of before you start painting. For example, they can protect bushes and flower beds before the job and erect plenty of scaffolding to make the job simple and save you a great deal of money.

Of course, the prime advantage to hiring a painting contractor vs DIY painting is that you do not need to worry about handling the project. Simply sit back while the contractor does the work and you’re all set. Hiring a painting contractor is especially valuable for those that do not know how to paint or are unskilled in doing so. Nothing is worse to a DIY painter than finishing a job only to find that it must be done again because there were not enough coats or there are visible stroke lines in the paint surface.

About the author:
This article was written by Philip Rudy who helps run and maintain a painting contractor website.

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