I want to start up my own painting service. How much should I charge per room? Any house painters out there?

Question

How do I base my rates? Per room size? By how many hours I think it will take? By how much furniture & stuff I will need to remove to paint the room? DO I need a coworker to start in order to help move heavy furniture.? Help!

Answer 1

I'm not a house painter but I'd say have the homeowner move all furniture out of the way, that way you are not responsible for any damage done to valueables.
I want to have our living room painted by a professional, but I'd be more comfortable moving all our stuff.

Answer 2

I agree with LoLo, have the customer prepare the room by moving things out or out of the way. You can drape plastic over it for added protection.

I don't know if you will be able to get sound advice on what to charge through Yahoo Answers. The reason I say that is because such services are very dependent upon where you are. And you will be competing with those in your area.

Maybe do some research in your area of others that are in the same line of work and see where the threshold is. You don't want to under-bid and lose money, but that may not be a bad strategy to begin with so that you can gain a reputation and word of mouth advertising.

Here are some other things to consider:

< The prep work is the most time consuming. Consider how many doors/windows/closets are in the room that will have to be prepared before you can start painting.

< Are you bonded? You might want to look in to this. More upscale homeowners may require this.

< Get yard signs made. That way, while you are at a job you can advertise and those in the neighborhood may become your next customer.

Answer 3

I'm not a housepainter but I'd say that $100 a day is a good rate for a professional painter. Perhaps you could vary it according to room size. You have to take into consideration your time, travel expenses and who woul provide the paint. Wait until you're established up and running before hiring an assistant which could be an uneccesary expense for now. Wait a while until the business expands and workload increases.

Craigslist is an excellent free site where you can advertise. It gets results. Print some leaflets, use your local paper, marketing is important when you start a business. Good Luck!.

Answer 4

I've done some interior and exterior house painting jobs for pay over the years. First, you need to establish how much you will charge per hour for your work. Then estimate how long it will take to do a certain job. You may want to practice estimating and then painting a couple of friend's rooms before you get into it with actual bids to see how close you are to your estimate of time once you're done. Remember some jobs are trickier and may need two coats of paint.
I would advise having the owner be responsible for moving all furniture away from the walls or room. Also, they should have to reimburse you for any paint purchased, but you should do the purchasing.
Then get an ad in the paper and do a couple of bids. Start on the low side first to get customers. Here's a tip: call a couple of painting contractors to bid for a couple of rooms in your own place. Don't tell them who you are. Before they write their bid, write one up yourself for your own rooms and see how close you got to theirs. You'll also be able to see how much they charge for labor. That will get you in the ballgame.
Good luck.

Answer 5

well you should hire a helper for sure because there are some things you shouldn't do on your own such as remove wall paper,move furniture,etc,etc when i worked in a painting company it depended on the size of the jobs sometimes my boss would charge by contract,sometimes by the hour,sometimes by the room depending on the size lets say per room,he would charge a hundred bucks per room,kitchens are more because you usually have to use oil paint,bathrooms should be done with anti mold paint and also cost more because of detailing whatever you decide you will need a vehicle for you re equipment and always always clean up afterwards people love that and usually tip great.

Answer 6

Most homeowners expect the painter to move the furniture - particularly in ritzy neighborhoods - make sure you build in a charge for this in your estimate - the estimate should be based on room size and condition. Yes, you will need a coworker.

Answer 7

Associations may be a good avenue to explore. These organizations will address many of the thoughts, questions and concerns you'll inevitably have as well as many you haven't anticipated yet. See the source box for some relevant links.

Research, research, research – this cannot be stressed enough. Read as much as you can about the industry. Here are some book titles that are relevant:

* Paint Contractor's Manual by Dave Matis
* Painter's Handbook by William McElroy
* Smart Business for Contractors : A Guide to Money and the Law (For Pros, By Pros) by Jim Kramon

There are plenty of free informational resources out there. Check the source box for links to articles.

Hope that helps! I wish you much success & happiness in all your ventures!

Answer 8

Call ever painting service you can and get estimates on painting your own house .This will give you an average for your area.Be sure and ask them if the are bonded and how much liability insurance they carry. Ask them when they could start the job. This will tell you how needed painters are in your area. Ask them for references. Ask them how long they have been in business. To get a good cross section of painters,look in the phone book,newspaper and craigslist (on your computer)

Answer 9

well, if you want to paint small rooms then its ok by yourself but when you start having more customers and bigger rooms to do you should get a co worker.
about the furniture, have the people move it themselves. and the price, i'd say 2$ per square metre so thats like 60cents if its a smaller house. and if its a medium house then 2.80$ per square meter (95 cents per square feet) and if its a big house/room with people who can afford it charge 3.30$ per square meters (1.10$ per square feet.) bu if u have a partner then u divide the pay.

Answer 10

As a painter myself ,the reason why white is worn by painters goes back to when houses were white washed with lime and water, both outside and inside houses, white coveralls were used so when you spilled it on them it could not be seen, the same reason why mechanics wore black coveralls, and people grinding barley wore brown coveralls.