San Diego, CA · Member since 2015 · 273 posts · 226 votes
It's 10pm. I'm about to start washing gross bathroom walls in the apartment we're renovating to prepare to sand and paint. I'm on BP because I don't want to do it...
I see people talk about hiring painters that can knock out a job in a couple of days all the time. However, the prices I've gotten for painting are so expensive! Hence I do it myself. The only solace is the amount of money I'm saving. Where do you guys go to get it good and inexpensive painters? I've been quoted from $2000-$3000 for a 750 square-foot apartment ( that includes ceiling, trim, doors, walls). I don't doubt they are worth it, but that's money that goes into the non-DIY line panel replacements.
Side note, I love doing DIY while listening to podcasts about scaling up and hiring out; oh, the irony!
Rental Property Investor · East Wenatchee, WA · Member since 2014 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes
9y
If you can cut in free-hand, do it. I don't even bother getting interior brush and roll painting bids anymore. I would if I lived in Akron, though. Sheesh that's cheap! Exterior spraying I do hire.
I do all I can to make sure I'm cutting in as much as possible. That's my highest and best use. I hire my 2 boys and their buddys for washing, floor protecting and first coat rolling. Gives them experience and the all important principle that work = money. They will NOT end up in my basement :)
Rental Property Investor · Plant City, FL · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 379 votes
9y
I'm in the same boat as you in the idea that I enjoy most DIY but scaling is hard. That sounds Very expensive, but it could be your market. It took me a while to find a good handyman. I found him while I was working on a rental and he was doing a massive rehab next door, I got to see his work in progress.
Criagslist is an option, I haven't had great luck here. You need to filter people and don't pay until the job is done.
Good luck!
Investor · Akron, OH · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 4k+ votes
9y
I pay $125/room with my paint for walls. If they are doing 4-5 rooms they'll usually throw in a ceiling or two and maybe trim in one room. Most recently, I paid $625 for a 650 sq ft apartment this included walls in living/dining/kitchen/hall/bath/bedroom, ceiling in living room, and trim in kitchen. Reasonable painters almost never wash the walls first. I've found it's cheaper to hire a cleaner to wash greasy walls or dusty walls and for everything else there's primer. I could probably get it done even cheaper but real painters don't splatter and make a mess so it's worth it to me not to have to worry about my flooring and wood trim. I remove all hardware before hand (towel racks, doorknob plates, mirror hinges, etc) whatever I don't want painted around. They remove switchplates and outlet covers. I got a bunch of quotes before I found these guys back when I had my house painted.
Rental Property Investor · East Wenatchee, WA · Member since 2014 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes
9y
If you can cut in free-hand, do it. I don't even bother getting interior brush and roll painting bids anymore. I would if I lived in Akron, though. Sheesh that's cheap! Exterior spraying I do hire.
I do all I can to make sure I'm cutting in as much as possible. That's my highest and best use. I hire my 2 boys and their buddys for washing, floor protecting and first coat rolling. Gives them experience and the all important principle that work = money. They will NOT end up in my basement :)
Investor · Wilmington, NC · Member since 2016 · 211 posts · 262 votes
9y
One thing to consider is how fast can you get the job done vs hiring out, and is your rental available dependent on when the painting is done?
I had to repaint the majority of my house before renting it out, but I had plenty of free time and I was waiting on some appliances anyway so no hurry. I mildly enjoy it, listen to some music, save a good amount of money, doesn't bother me at all but if I had multiple rentals and was busy I would probably suck it up and hire it out.
San Diego, CA · Member since 2015 · 273 posts · 226 votes
9y
@Steve Vaughan Cutting in has saved me so much time! My kids are too young to hire yet, but I am looking forward to that day. And yes, if I could find good and affordable labor like Akron I would hire it out in a heartbeat; that is crazy cheap!
@William Walker I definitely factor in time vs cost. It really comes down to whether the extra time for me to do it will cost more in lost rent than hiring it out. Generally, the answer is no (much to my dismay!). Having said that, it took me about 30 minutes to do the wall prep so I really shouldn't complain! And once all the prep is done the painting goes really quickly.
Contractor · Escondido, CA · Member since 2017 · 14 posts · 5 votes
9y
Definitely do your own painting if you have the time!
Especially with most units requiring 3 different paints/colors: walls, ceiling and base/trim/doors. That is a lot of masking and or cut-in time, which is where you really win on the labor. Given the labor rates here in SoCal, we usually do the painting on our own projects unless we are too crunched for time and have to sub it out. A complete house repaint can make sense to contract, but for smaller projects, if you don't want to do them yourself, the best bet is a hourly handymen type of service.
Investor · Richmond, VA · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
9y
The big secret with painters-- amazing spray guns! If you plan to continue investing, I'd strongly suggest a good spray gun! We do interior and exterior painting ourselves, and it comes out great! It takes a lot of prep work to make sure areas are covered, but then the actual painting only takes a few hours.
Investor · Los Altos, CA · Member since 2014 · 942 posts · 1k+ votes
9y
@Sarah D., what I do is buy my own paint and tools, then head over to the Day Labor Center and ask for people with painting experience. These are usually the same guys who are working on painting crews for the professional paint companies... You tell them exactly how many hours you need for that day and the type of work and the pay for that work. Everything is set up there at the DLC, so there is no confusion at the end of the day and there is a record at the center. I will usually paint along side the guy for part of the day to see if he knows what he is doing. If he is good, I will ask him to come back the next day. If he is not that great, I ask the center for a different person. This is usually an all cash transaction, so you won't get any receipts. I have found that the work is just as good as the professional painting crews. ALL of the guys that I have hired through day labor centers have been extremely hard working, polite and professional and usually tip and provide lunch. YMMV
I am not going into the legal, safety or political points of hiring these guys and using them. I am just pointing out another option for you that has worked well for me.
I'm with you, I hate painting. I used to help my cousins in Australia when I was in high school and University, and I had the glorious job of prep-work. Never got to use the guns. I have to say though, I learnt a lot on how to get a high quality job from working on some new build, million dollar homes. It all comes down to prep work, like others mentioned, cutting in, getting grease off the walls, etc. One thing I didn't read from anyone is about ways to hack some tools to make light work of some of the cleaning. Here's what I do (and mind you, painting an already trashed ghetto house vs the million dollar homes I worked on is a little different, but it all comes down to prep)
Grease on walls: Get on Amazon and buy yourself a big container of Purple Power. It's a commercial grade degreaser. Go to a one of those dollar stores and get one of those flat floor mops, the one with the sponge on the end, or go to Home Depot and get a better one if you want to keep it, or if you have tall ceilings. Mop those walls. Get two and race your partner around. Time this takes, 1hr max on a 1500 sqft house with a partner.
No grease, just dirty walls: I like to do this after the grease stage too, but I get a drywall sanding head attachment for my long painters pole, it one of those attachments that swivel and you put in a rectangular piece of sandpaper. Normally, this is used for the drywall repairs but I like to do a quick once over all the walls and doors. Quickly, not focusing too much on any one area, but sweeping the entire wall at least once all over.
Baseboards and trim: Hated this too, but it's easy work. You just need a few tubes of filler, a caulking gun and rag.
Primer: Forget it. Unless you are doing an A grade area, just get a better quality paint that covers in one coat.
Cutting in: This I've always hated, but the job is easier if you get a nice wide, quality brush and a bucket you can hold in the other hand. Take care of this brush, this is your baby, wash it well and it will last a long time. You need to learn to cut in one, two strokes max. You will start off going slowly, but once you get experienced at it, your lines will be straight and you will be doing it quick. If you try draw a line with a pen, do you go slow or fast? Is the fast way giving you a straighter line? It should be, and that's how you should cut.
Finally, go to a nice steakhouse with your partner, or being that you are in SoCal, some fancy vegan place.
My painter usually charges me $900 plus materials to paint the inside of a 1500 sqft home, $400 if I do all this prep work. I save $500 plus the $120 my cleaner would charge to basically want to do the same thing that takes me a couple of hours, tops. I only do this on the homes that I need to save $$$ because they've gone over budget or I have nothing better to do. Oh, and never in summer! Ha!
Also, I hate the cleaning afterward, so I've never been able to bring myself to buying my own sprayer. Most things are paint and throw except for my cutting brush.
I didn't think this would turn into such a long post, but I hope that helps somewhat.
Rental Property Investor · Orange County, CA · Member since 2014 · 49 posts · 80 votes
9y
@Sarah Dumm Some great comments regarding whether you have more time or more money on your hands. If you have more time, then painting is one of the easier and best ways to save money on a rehab, for many people who are somewhat handy and looking for a DIY project where they can get some value.
Ive tried many different ways to get properties painted as quickly as possible and agree with @Steve Vaughn on minimizing prep, cutting in, and marshalling family and friends (if willing;) to help with the task.
Most recently we have added an airless sprayer to our tool box ($120.00 for the unit new), and you can prep and spray an entire SFH (single story, 1800 sq feet) exterior in about 2 days. Its really wasn't that hard and we had very good results saving us over $1.5k on exterior painting for this unit. We will be scraping popcorn ceillings and afterwards will be painting the entire interior of this property as well with the airless sprayer hoping to save a tremendous amount of time and money as well.
I know there are pros and cons to spraying vs rolling and I am by no means a professional painter. (Actually Id love to hear any pro painters chime in on this) but I hope to be able to save a LOT of money on labor / time with the sprayer. Good luck with your project!!
Investor · Fort Lauderdale, FL · Member since 2016 · 1 post · 3 votes
9y
Hi Sara,
An approach that has worked for me has been to post the job on Craigslist and be very specific about the details of the job - pictures, dimensions, - as many details as you can provide and then ask that they provide their experience level, tools they have and will need, their bid for the job, and when they're available to start.
I typically receive at least 10 useful bids. Anyone who doesn't follow directions - asks me to call them, doesn't provide specific answers - estimate, experience, any additional materials they need me to purchase, I weed them out. I assume that if they're not going to be thorough when responding to the ad, they're not going to be detailed about the job. I then pick 2 or 3 from the 10 that I think are viable (based on price, experience) and call them. If they seem knowledgeable and responsible, I'll then pick the one I want to and go from there. The benefit of having them send you bids is that you can get a broader spectrum of cost and experience that you can choose from depending on the quality of job you need.
It's 10pm. I'm about to start washing gross bathroom walls in the apartment we're renovating to prepare to sand and paint. I'm on BP because I don't want to do it...
I see people talk about hiring painters that can knock out a job in a couple of days all the time. However, the prices I've gotten for painting are so expensive! Hence I do it myself. The only solace is the amount of money I'm saving. Where do you guys go to get it good and inexpensive painters? I've been quoted from $2000-$3000 for a 750 square-foot apartment ( that includes ceiling, trim, doors, walls). I don't doubt they are worth it, but that's money that goes into the non-DIY line panel replacements.
Side note, I love doing DIY while listening to podcasts about scaling up and hiring out; oh, the irony!
Never DYI. Train to be an investor and learn to effectively delegate, not a painter.
That said, starting out, you should learn how everything is done so you can hire people who know what they're doing and you pay them fairly.
FYI: I can get a 2,000+ sq ft, 4 br painted for $1,500 in 5 different cities where I own property.
San Diego, CA · Member since 2015 · 273 posts · 226 votes
9y
@Lucas P. Thanks for the great info! Especially the cleaning tips, which should make it go faster.
@Linda S. This is our first property, in an expensive market. We have more time than money right now; if I'm still painting in a couple years I've made a lot of mistakes. But right now, this is the best way to maximize the property and minimize our rehab costs. I agree with you, what we've learned doing things ourselves will make easier to hire out good people going forward.
Rental Property Investor · Orange County, CA · Member since 2014 · 49 posts · 80 votes
9y
@Sarah D. suggested, I find that there are many laborers with the skills to do jobs at very good rates, but lack the proper tools. I like to stock cheap equipment (this airless sprayer, jackhammer, rotohammer, saws, drills, hand tools, etc etc.) so that if and when they are used by various tradesman and laborers on my projects, it isn't the end of the world if the tool gets abused and destroyed. Its all disposable.
I believe we use a Grecco, it was around $200. The only thing to be aware of, is using the sprayer is a 2 person job, 1 to paint, the other to carry and move the bucket and cord around. Also, make sure you get a good face mask! It's very important you either do the paint first, or do an A+ job covering everything and anything before you paint. I'd suggest try painting a few things outside to get the hang of the sprayer, and then go in. Next weekend we'll be painting out 1500 sq. ft house, should have the entire thing done in 2-3 days, only cost us paint.. good luck!