7 Questions to Ask When Hiring Someone to Paint Your Historic Boston Home

Photo by David Pisnoy

Originally Posted On: https://didyouknowhomes.com/7-questions-to-ask-when-hiring-someone-to-paint-your-historic-boston-home/

Painting your home is a highly important endeavor that requires extensive knowledge and experience to achieve the best look and to maximize longevity. As you prepare to have the paint of your historic Boston home refreshed, it is crucial to verify the qualifications of potential painting contractors. To assist you in vetting your options, here are the top seven questions you should ask when hiring a contractor to paint your Boston home.

This is one of the most important questions to ask a potential contractor. There are so many options as to which professional painting company you can hire to beautify your home. A potential contractor should be able to communicate what distinguishes them within their industry and give compelling reasons that explain why they are the right choice.

Don’t accept a generic response to this question. Make sure the company provides a genuine answer that demonstrates their dedication to customer service and propensity to complete a project punctually and with excellent results.

This is perhaps the most critical question you’ll be asking potential contractors. When a contractor holds a state-issued license, this verifies their legal standing in the industry, providing you with legal protection. If the contractor does a poor job of painting your home, the state may have grounds to fine or sue them for damages to your house. Additionally, the contractor’s insurance coverage may enhance your protection.

Painting contractors who have policies such as comprehensive liability insurance will be able to reimburse you if your house is damaged during the project. They should also have worker’s compensation insurance in case any workers may be injured on-site. (This way, any lawsuits for injuries incurred on your property will not default to you, but the contractor’sinsurance provider.)

If you plan to remain in the house as the project is being carried out, then it would be wise to get a general timeline for the work. This knowledge will be beneficial to you as the resident, as it will allow you to plan your schedule around the expected time commitment. Additionally, having an outline of the expected timeframe will help you to keep track of whether the company is completing the work in the promised time.

A warranty on the work means that the contractor will fix any issues related to or caused by the paint job they provided. Such problems include any instances of the paint being compromised by any of the following occurrences:

• Blistering
• Peeling
• Flaking

Typically, a warranty will last anywhere between one to three years. Although this is the industry average, not every company offers a warranty. Be sure to get the details of the warranty offer, how long the warranty lasts, and what it covers. Lastly, you should clarify whether potential problems would be your responsibility to identify, or if the company will come back and perform an inspection to verify the longevity of their work.

It is quite common for painting companies to hire subcontractors instead of maintaining their own full-time staff. While this may be financially beneficial for the company, it can pose numerous risks for you. Subcontractors are not often required to pass a background check to work with a given painting company, meaning you will not know the professional and personal backgrounds of all the individuals entering your home.

Additionally, subcontractors are paid a set amount per job, so they are unlikely to have the incentive to complete the work efficiently. (If the contractor fails to pay the subcontractors, the financial burden may potentially fall on you. Subcontractors can file a mechanic’s lien against your property if they are uncompensated for their work.)

If you plan to live in your home throughout the duration of the project, you’ll want to be sure that your contractor is prepared to keep both the interior and exterior of your home clean and free of any damage. Of course, you must be responsible for moving furniture away from the walls and covering vulnerable upholstery. However, these efforts should not fall on your shoulders alone.

What measures will the contractor take to protect your belongings? The painting company should have set procedures to protect your belongings from being damaged. For example, an ideal painting company will use drop cloths, rather than newspapers on the floor, since drop cloths will absorb paint and keep it off the carpet or other items in your home.

This is another important matter to address. Many homeowners are not equipped to inspect their home’s wood structure. So, you may be unaware of the extent of the wear and tear on the structure of your home. This is why your chosen painters must have specific protocols for preparing your home for a new coat of paint.

Prep work is crucial to a high-quality paint job. If the prep work is not done correctly, it can lead to damage down the road, such as the bubbling, blistering, and peeling mentioned above. Further, if the crew leaves any traces of wood rot behind, you will be left with more severe rotting to deal with later. The painting crew’s job is to make sure there are no oversights like this throughout the project!

Hiring a contractor to paint your home is a big decision, one that requires extensive research and proper vetting of potential contractors. If you’re searching for a painting company that exceeds these standards, look no further than Catchlight Painting.

We are the go-to professional painters of Boston who can guarantee beautiful results and an excellent paint job for each home we work on. Get in touch with us to start planning a new paint job for your home with one of the most reliable painting contractors in New England, Catchlight Painting!