When considering Surrey painting services, you’ll find that there are many companies to choose from. Faced with so many choices, a home owner or commercial property owner may find it difficult to confidently come to a decision about which company to engage. While your instincts about a painting company have merit, relying on instinct alone might not be your best bet.
Assessing companies using a simple tool, such as a criteria checklist, and grading each company, is a more objective approach that takes gut feeling or guesswork out of the equation. You’ll find that a checklist rating system helps narrow the field of painting services contenders and makes it much easier to see which painting company stands out from the crowd.
The Checklist
Before signing on the dotted line, take some time to assess prospective West Van or North Van painting companies you contact. Grade their painting services, picking a score from 0-10 for each item in the list.
0 = No rating. 10 = Best rating.
- Experience
- Gallery of homes painted Guaranteed workmanship and paint products
- Strong testimonials
- High rating with the Better Business Bureau
- Clearly written “scope of work” summary
- Clearly documented materials and supplies
- Liability insurance
- Courteous and friendly service
Experience
As the adage goes “Experience is the best teacher”. Generally speaking, a painting company that has been in business for several years and has successfully completed hundreds of jobs will likely do a better job than a company with minimal experience. Like fine wine, a painting company gets better over time. Experience teaches painters the subtle nuances of their craft, and time on the brush hones their skills. Experience is the difference between “OK” work and “Hurray!” work.
On a scale of 0-10, how experienced are the Surrey painting companies that you’re considering?
Gallery of Homes Painted
Visit the painting company’s gallery and make an assessment of the quality of their work based on the photos. A few things you might look for include high resolution photos that clearly depict their work; the number of jobs represented in the gallery; and, the type of work (e.g. commercial, residential, apartment, interior, or exterior, depending on what you need painted).
On a scale of 0-10, rate the company’s photo gallery.
Guaranteed Workmanship & Paint Products
Ask what guarantees the company provides, if any, and see if they provide their labour warrantee in writing. What is the guarantee on the paint products they use?
On a scale of 0-10, grade the painting company’s guarantees.
Testimonials
Testimonials, particular those that cite the full name of the testimonial author (which are more legitimate), are an excellent indicator of the quality of work the painting services company provides.
On a scale of 0-10 (0 being no testimonials and 10 being many positive, cited comments) grade the testimonials. Give less weight to “generic” testimonials or testimonials that don’t cite the author. Give more weight to testimonials that seem bona fide and have an author and/or company cited.
In part 2, we add to this assessment checklist and provide you with a free assessment checklist PDF.