About how much would this paint job cost?

[mai...@cpacker.org]

My stepdaughter's boyfriend, a construction
worker, agreed to paint the exterior
of our house...
http://cpacker.org/a1.jpg
in return for us bailing them out of about
$2000 of financial difficulties. I haven't
the slightest idea how much a professional
painter would charge for the job. Would
I be getting my money's worth? The exterior
woodwork consists of 11 windows, the porch
and the eaves. Note that the faux brick
siding will NOT be painted, but the concrete
walls of the lower story will, as will the
brick parts of the front porch. Assume standard
surface prep work beforehand.

[KLS]

That's a reasonable price if it includes materials, in my view:
windows are a lot of work if prepped correctly (scraped thoroughly,
reglazed, primed, painted with 2 coats), and I'd insist on 2 final
coats of paint on top of the surface priming. Draw up a contract
where you hold back some $$ at the end to assure your satisfaction
with the final job.

Based on your homepage, it looks like you are in the metro DC area,
which means for that area, the price is reasonable. Why not ask a
professional painter for a ballpark reference?

[roger...@yahoo.com]

Yes, that's definitely a decent price IF they really do the prep right.

[niel...@hotmail.com]

Don't do business with family membes. What if he does a bad job and you
have to pay someone else to fix it? What if he breaks something and
refuses to pay for it? What if he falls off the ladder and you are
stuck with his medical bills? What if, after any of those, he marries
into the family? There will be hard feelings forever. Just give your
step-daughter the money as a gift.

[roger...@yahoo.com]

This is a good point, esp if you have some money to your name. Never
let anybody do anything on your house unless they are bonded and
insured with PROOF of insurance issued to you by their insurer. Don't
let the neighbor kid mow your lawn, some stranger clean your gutters,
etc. It ain't worth it.

[mai...@cpacker.org]

KLS wrote:
> Based on your homepage, it looks like you are in the metro DC area,
> which means for that area, the price is reasonable. Why not ask a
> professional painter for a ballpark reference?

I didn't feel it was right to do this if
I had no intention of engaging a painter.

As for the caution expressed in another followup
about lending to relatives, I agree on general
principles, but it's the sort of situation
where I never say never.

[jerry...@optonline.net]

Any good paint job is dependant on 3 ingredients. You need all 3 and
if any are missing you will not have professional grade results.

Proper prep
Quality paint
Experienced Painter

This is the outside of your house, not a closet. This is a job that if
done poorly will decrease the value of your home when it should be
increasing it. If you want to help this guy out give him some jobs
that are not so important. For $2K you should can get a professional
that will provide professional results.