Not all painting contractors are built the same. For the most part, any painter can start a painting project, but it takes a professional with the proper knowledge, equipment and team members to complete a project and leave with a satisfied customer.
Many times you will receive estimates that differ by hundreds, even thousands of dollars, usually due to differences in the cost of overhead, labor and materials. However, sometime this is due to nothing more than a person thinking, “how much money do I need to pay my mortgage this month.”
More times than not, the lowest estimate you will receive will be due to one of the following reasons;
- Provided by someone who cannot properly estimate a painting project and will need to come back to you for more money during the project increasing your overall costs. Many times adding up to be higher than the other original estimates from competing companies.
- Provided by someone in another trade who is not a professional painter but needs the money and agrees to estimate the project. While you may save a few bucks, the end product is usually not what you were expecting for your hard earned money.
- Provided by a “Fly by Night” outfit that usually turns out to be not only unlicensed and uninsured, but may run off with your deposit without ever showing up to open a can of paint.
This is not to say that every time you get a low bid that it is not a valid bid by a professional, but you should always question the painting contractor as to why they are so much lower than the competition.
We have been the low bid on projects in the past and after reviewing the competing estimates provided by the clients, had found that excessive labor charges and incorrect estimation of materials by competitors has increased their estimates by as much as 20% in comparison to ours. In the end, each of these situations has proven our ability to properly estimate the projects and come in on or under budget saving our clients thousands of dollars in the process.
