Are you looking to paint your house but not sure who to hire? There are a lot of painters out there. That is a fact. I heard a sales rep at Sherwin Williams once say that a new account is setup with them every single day. Keep in mind, they are not the only supplier. That means that there is at least one new painting company created daily. That is a lot to sift through, no doubt. If you want the greatest possible paint job for your money, how do you navigate through all these businesses, and narrow down to the best house painters in Surrey, BC?
Eight Factors to Consider in Selecting The Best House Painters in Surrey, BC
Let me start by telling you how most painting businesses start out.
- The owner of the business started out as a painter for another company, learned the trade well, but lacks knowledge of estimation, communication, and business skills that make for a good experience for the customer.
- The owner of the business started out working for a student painting company as a manager, learned how to run the business side of things, but lacks the practical painting knowledge and training, unable to deliver best quality paint job.
- Years In Business
Both above scenarios are positive, they are great launching pads for someone just getting started but are both lacking critical elements that comes with experience and continued learning. The best house painters in Surrey, BC will put all of that together. Which means that the amount of time that a company has been in business is important.
Blue Chip Painting was launched in 2006 out of a student painting franchise background, and we have over the years honed our craft, and painted hundreds of projects ranging from custom renovations to new house painting, to everyday repaints, to specialty epoxy coatings, to refinishing kitchen cabinets, to warehouses, to strata complexes, to being on a reality TV show called Property Brothers (we’ve got video footage and pictures to prove it ).
- Worksafe BC Coverage
Worksafe BC coverage covers the painter if he is injured on your property. Sometimes providing a portion of the their income and rehabilitation costs. If you hire a painter without this coverage, there is potential for you to get sued. According to the law firm Warnett Hallen LLP, who can be found on the web:
“Occupiers’ liability means that people who are harmed due to an unsafe condition on another’s property can demand compensation for their injuries.”
Better safe than sorry I would say. And in all sincerity, you would be shocked at how few painting companies carry WorksafeBC coverage. To find out whether or not a painter has coverage, click here. WorksafeBC makes it easy to get a clearance letter and see who has coverage.
- Liability insurance
You might be thinking, “How could painters, damage my house to the point of needing insurance?”
I have heard stories of painters power-washing the stucco right off of a house, over spraying paint on a fleet of airplanes when painting an airport, dropping white oil primer on a red brick driveway, over spraying paint on cars, the list goes on…
The best house painters in Surrey, BC are not going to take the chance. They will have liability insurance, because the number of years that they have been in business will tell them that accidents happen.
- Website
Today, can you imagine a legitimate company of any kind not having a website? It is a digital business card that lets people know they exist and what services they offer. A painting business that hasn’t invested in a website is likely not in it for the long-haul. If that is the case, then they are not likely concerned about you recommending them to your friends, and therefore not overly concerned about the quality of the paint job.
The best house painters in Surrey, BC are proud of their craft and the projects they have done. A website helps them to show that off and tell potential customers how they can transform their vision for their homes into a practical design, and reality.
Check out our website here.
- Written Estimate
Imagine that you and your family went out for dinner, and as you were looking at the menu, you noticed that there was no description of what foods were in the various items on the menu. Would you order something just based on the name of the item? Probably not, you would likely call the waiter over and ask for a rundown of what was included. If you ordered a hamburger, you would want to know if it came with pickles, onions, ketchup, fries… right?
Well, painting isn’t any different. There are many components of a house that need to be painted. Interior painting, for example, might include the ceilings, walls, doors, window trim, door trim, baseboards, crown moldings, paneling, etc… As you can imagine, to paint all of those items would take substantially more time than just one of them.
Providing an estimate in writing is something that the best house painters in Surrey, BC will always do. It will detail which surfaces are going to be painted, what kind of prep work will be done on those surfaces, and how many coats of paint. Painting something twice takes longer than painting something once .
A written estimate protects both you and the contractor. So, before you accept a painter’s proposal, insist that they provide it to you in writing, and in detail. If they argue, move on!
- Price
Within reason, would you honestly expect someone who is a professional at what they do, to charge the same as someone who isn’t? I have taken our vehicles to various mechanics over the years. At times I have had more money than others, so that of course is a factor, but to say that the mechanic whom I now use who we never have an issue with, ought to lower his prices to match the mechanic that worked on our company van and completely miss diagnosed the transmission issue because of lack of experience, and charged me money for the work that he did which didn’t help at all, is not logical.
Someone who is at the top of their game is going to charge appropriately to make sure that they can make a living and that the customer receives what they were promised.
- Written Warranty
How long should a paint job last? How long should it be warrantied for?
If someone claims that they and their team are the best house painters in Surrey, BC, then clearly, they shouldn’t have an issue providing a written warranty. Either included with the estimate or detailed on their website.
Most legitimate painting companies will guarantee their work (labour only) for two years. Depending on the quality of paint that a customer decides to have us use on their project, we will guarantee our work (labour and materials), for 3-5 years. Three years for mid-grade paints, five years for premium paints. For more information on our warranty click here.
- Online Reviews
You wouldn’t really be thorough if you weren’t checking up on what others have had to say about their experience with the painters that you are getting estimates from. Obviously, reviews are important. They are kind of like word of mouth, but once removed.
So, I won’t go to deep into this, but maybe to give you some caution.
Consider quality over quantity. In my experience, most people don’t leave reviews unless you ask them to, and only if you make it easy for them. Larger companies are likely to have more reviews because they are practiced at asking for reviews, and have more customers, but that doesn’t mean that a smaller company, that has fewer reviews is going to give you an inferior experience or paint job. Some of the best house painters in Surrey, BC prefer to keep things small and offer incredible value.
Another thing to consider about reviews is that they are easy to manufacture. So, they are not necessarily equal to an honest opinion from your friend.
The most reliable online review site is YELP! They have a policy that you cannot ask for reviews. The idea being that all reviews that you do see on Yelp, are genuine and trustworthy. If you compare how many reviews companies have on YELP! compared with how many reviews they have on Google, you will get a picture of what I mean.
I say this while at the time of writing this article, we have zero reviews on YELP! And we have been in business since 2006. Check out our YELP profile here.
There are many other factors that could be considered, like social media presence, do they have a blog, did they show up on time for the estimate, etc…, but if you utilize these eight things, you have a strong chance of finding and hiring the best house painters in Surrey, BC.
If you would like a FREE ESTIMATE on your painting project, we would like to help. Fill out our form or give us a CALL.
-Jeremy