Cost to paint house??

[speeder]

Originally Posted by dipso

Post a picture. I'll tell you.

I doubt it's 7,000. I have never painted an exterior for 7,000. I have done interiors for upwards of 10,000. Exteriors are usually easy. Maybe 5,000 to 6,000 tops.
Average around here is about 4,000 something and I am high.

Really? I've done a $25k exterior in L.A. And it was a one-story house. Massive amount of stripping/renovation/prep, obviously but I see houses everyday that would be at least that much to refinish properly. The house that I posted pictures of here recently where I restored the garage/motor court area would be ~$30k to paint and it's brick, so just the trim would be that much. Huge house, 3-stories, very high work, etc.. He spent $7500 just on the garages with me.

I've also painted entire houses for ~$2500, little stucco houses in the valley, etc... My cousins in MN. spent ~$30k on the trim of this house a couple years ago and it wasn't even that great of a job:

[Can't seem to post a pic right now, but it's a big brick house w/ a lot of trim]

[aigel]

Get some scaffolding and get going.

George

[Paul T]

Originally Posted by aigel

Get some scaffolding and get going.

George

I might just do that after reading all this!! It's nothing I need to tackle immediately, I think I've got some time.

Interesting to hear to wide variances in pricing all over the country...

[aigel]

I have a friend who owns a similar house in VA. He painted the house over the course of 2 years with his son. Going at his leisure with a simple scaffolding that was a neighborhood shared piece of equipment. Worse things to do with your time IMHO.

George

[Zeke]

Spraying with back brushing is not only acceptable, it's preferred. The spray drives paint into the the small cracks and brushing works the paint into the surface. BTW, if preparation is perfect, spray will adhere chemically better and may not need brushing. Brushing ensures that paint is well worked into surfaces that may not be that well prepped. It also works paint behind things like the sand surface of stucco or the porous surface of masonry. A perfectly prepped smooth surface will take a good spray job nicely.

[Paul T]

Originally Posted by milt

Spraying with back brushing is not only acceptable, it's preferred. The spray drives paint into the the small cracks and brushing works the paint into the surface. BTW, if preparation is perfect, spray will adhere chemically better and may not need brushing. Brushing ensures that paint is well worked into surfaces that may not be that well prepped. It also works paint behind things like the sand surface of stucco or the porous surface of masonry. A perfectly prepped smooth surface will take a good spray job nicely.

Good to know Milt, thanks. BTW, I've always enjoyed your carpentry posts on this board, you are a true craftsman! Not enough of that type of workmanship and skill is around anymore...

You can't tell from the pic, but the siding is somewhat rough, it's definitely not a sanded smooth surface. Woodwork and paint has always been my weaker side, I'm more of a "mechanical" guy...

[masraum]

Here in Houston the guy that owned our house before us said that he'd paint one side of the house every years which meant that it had a fresh coat every 4 years. I guess he's a better man than me. We've been here about 12 years and had it painted twice. I guess we'll be due for another paint soon, but it still looks pretty good.

[ben parrish]

Originally Posted by milt

A perfectly prepped smooth surface will take a good spray job nicely.

Good point Milt; I have seen too many "professional paint crews" make things a lot worse with a sprayer. If the crew is competnet, they will properly prep the surface for spraying and provide a great, durable finish.

[rattlsnak]

3800' Sq Ft stucco, 3 story, with two different trim colors, $2,800 just over a year ago.

And I thought that was high.

[Paul T]

Originally Posted by Eric Coffey

Here you go. I even put on a new roof for you. That will be $21,567.53

Nice photoshop skills, I tried to experiment with different shutter colors and it looked like a kid attacked the house with a crayon.

[KFC911]

How you apply the paint seems to be up for debate, I personally will only use a brush (either by myself or hired out), but the cost of the paint is insignificant imo compared to the labor involved. Three words come to mind: Sherwin Williams Duration, and absolutely accept NO substitute (even from SW). The "Duration" isn't cheap, I pay between $45-50 per gallon, but it will FAR outlast any others, and is simply the best imo. No way would I even consider anything else. The cost of the paint is insignificant compared to the labor involved, do NOT skimp, get the best, you won't regret it in the long run.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Paul T

Good to know Milt, thanks. BTW, I've always enjoyed your carpentry posts on this board, you are a true craftsman! Not enough of that type of workmanship and skill is around anymore...

You can't tell from the pic, but the siding is somewhat rough, it's definitely not a sanded smooth surface. Woodwork and paint has always been my weaker side, I'm more of a "mechanical" guy...

I was a union painter for 4 years and a painting contractor for the next 6 years. I went into general contracting and later into the work you may have seen here. Lots of windows and doors and a good bit of finish carpentry. I still have my painting tools including an airless and a HVLP.

Most of the time I just break out a brush and roller. Clean up is faster and there's no masking. I prime a lot of work for the customer so that if they don't get to it right away, there's some protection.

Sherwin Williams is indeed good paint. Behr got [i]Consumer Reports[/u] top spot last I looked. Benjamin Moore always had the top spot. What I like about Sherwin W is that it's regionally formulated. In Las Vegas it has a lot of UV protection and in the South it has more mildewcide. At least that's what they've been telling me.

[LakeCleElum]

I paid $2,800 to have this house (2,500 sq ft house/1,600 garage) painted a few years ago:




and paid $3,100 last year or this one (2,200 house - 1,000 ft garage:

[speeder]

It just depends on so many things. If there was little to no prep required, those low prices are in the right ballpark. I do jobs where I prep for a month and paint in 4 days. The prep is ~90% of the job and the $$.

Here are some pics of the $7500 garages:






Etc., etc... Three double garages with guest houses above, lots of human doors besides the 1927 carraige doors that needed massive repair, all done in oil color-matched to original paint from 1927.

I'm lucky in that I do work that cannot be done by college kids or Mexicans from outside of Home Depot. I lost my ass on those garages but he gave me one of them to use indefinitely as my storage/shop so it's all good.

[speeder]

I've also worked as a laborer on a $300k interior painting/decorative/refinish job on Bill Cosby's apt. in NYC. I recently heard a (completely true) story of a half million dollar decorative job in OC. (Laguna). Obviously it was more than simple painting, what decorative artists do is art. And the best ones get paid like brain surgeons. There is no limit to what rich people will pay to decorate their homes when the hedge funds were kicking down or the TV show you own goes into syndication for 500 million dollars.

[KFC911]

Speeder was on "Pimp my house" . I've posted my opinion on paint selection, (as did Milt), what do some of you other guys with VAST experience use? Personal experience, and from Milt's post: I strongly disagree with Consumer Report's Behr rating...I was VERY disappointed with Behr the one time used it...never again. "Duration" is the only exterior paint I will ever use again, and a few folks in the "biz" directed me to that particular selection.

[Dottore]

Originally Posted by speeder

I've also worked as a laborer on a $300k interior painting/decorative/refinish job on Bill Cosby's apt. in NYC. I recently heard a (completely true) story of a half million dollar decorative job in OC. (Laguna). Obviously it was more than simple painting, what decorative artists do is art. And the best ones get paid like brain surgeons. There is no limit to what rich people will pay to decorate their homes when the hedge funds were kicking down or the TV show you own goes into syndication for 500 million dollars.

Love that Volvo. Is that yours?

[ben parrish]

Sherwin Williams is probably the best paint available; as others have stated. Just sit outside and SW store around 7:30 am. You will see just how many pro crews are there buying their supplies. Now bo to a Benjamin Moore, Lowes, Home Depot, etc. paint depts. and look who is there; homeowners or "painting crews"(covered in paint drips and splatter) buying their supplies.
For solid or semi-transparent stain, Silkens and Cabbott make a good product.
A real pro will choose the best materials and supplies becuse they know that the finished product they supply will be their calling card for years to come.
I personally have painted a lot of the projects I have built or remodeled. Partly because I am very picky and will not accept an OK job, and partly because I have not been able to find a painter in my area that is worth what they charge.
Ben

[speeder]

Originally Posted by Dottore

Love that Volvo. Is that yours?

No, it belongs to a friend. It's rarely driven so he asked me to do some work on it. I said yes since I have my snazzy new shop space.

It's a pretty nice one but really in "nice driver" condition up close. Needed a lot of work on brake hydraulics from neglect. I'm picking up the proportioning units from shop today. They are pretty cars but not much to drive. Like a farm tractor compared to modern cars. Here is another shot of it:

[Paul T]

I'll agree on the SW Duration paint, I had used Behr in the past, but we just got done doing some interior painting and I went to the local SW store and picked up a gallon of Duration. Man, what a difference! That is nice paint!

I'm trying to frequent the local hardware/whatever stores wherever I can and stay away from the big box behemoths. Just makes me feel better..