Painting Your House—Professional or DIY

When you first have your home painted it really makes the house look nice but over time, a combination of moisture, sunlight, and exposure to the elements can cause it to peel away from the exterior of the home and make the home unsightly. It is not difficult for a homeowner to repair or repaint their home but it can be time-consuming, physically demanding, and messy. An alte
ative to doing it yourself is to hire a professional painter. Their services are not cheap and it is not always easy to find one that is reliable. Before deciding to do it yourself or hire a professional painter there are some things to consider.

Size of the job

Before you can apply a new coat of paint to the exterior of your home, you will usually have to scrape all the old paint off. This is not an easy job and you will need to make sure that you are in good physical shape because there are some high obscure areas that you will need to reach. If you are accustomed to jobs that are labor-intensive may be able to scrape and prep an average sized house but anything bigger than average may require that you hire a professional painter and seasoned crew that are used to doing these jobs.

Hidden costs

With house painting, there may be some hidden costs that a homeowner may not have considered. The paint may be inexpensive but you also have to figure in the costs of the sprayers, ladders, brushes, and tools that will be needed to do the job. By the time that you purchase all the extra supplies the cost may be higher than it would be to hire a professional painter. You may be able to rent a sprayer of professional grade for a daily rate. To compare costs visit your home improvement store to check out the price of the tools you will need to see how expensive it is and how hard it would be to use a spray painter. This can be hard, especially if you are on a ladder.

Expertise

One advantage the professional painter has over the homeowner is the expertise to do this type of job. They will often mask off areas like exposed pipes, gardens, windows, and doors that are prone to receive over-spray. A professional painter can also complete the job quicker than a homeowner who may only have the weekends to work on painting the house. If something goes wrong and the homeowner cannot work on the home for several weekends, it could remain half-painted or half-scrapped for several weeks.

Consider these things before deciding to a hire a professional painter or do it yourself.