How pricing works
How a price is built
On an old house the price follows the wood more than the walls. We give no number before we have seen the house.
What decides the price
Condition and access matter more than square footage.
Height, scaffold and access: alleys, side yards, shared walls
How much wood needs repair, and how much glazing
Coats, and whether bare wood needs priming
How many colors, and how much detail to cut in
Whether color research and an approval packet are wanted
What the estimate includes, and what it doesn't
It lists surfaces by elevation, repairs by location, coats, products and sheens, colors, cleanup, schedule and payment schedule.
Not included: rot we can't see until the old paint is off
Not included: colors added later
Not included: the district's fees
What happens at the visit
Virgil or Danita walks every elevation with you, photographs it, probes the wood at sills and joints and checks the path for the scaffold. Plan on an hour or two.
If the job changes
Rot behind a board, a new color or a change the board asks for goes on a change sheet with its price before the work, and you sign it.
Materials and who buys them
We buy the paint, primer and caulk and name each in the estimate. Matching wood is listed by the piece.
When you get the number
In writing, after the visit. If you want color research, its findings come first so that the estimate matches the scope.
Every figure is in a written estimate, and the estimate is for the work as listed.
Read two estimates side by side
What a written estimate lists, and what a one-line quote leaves out
Put any painter's estimate next to this list.
| Line | A one-line quote | An estimate you can check |
|---|---|---|
| Surfaces | A one-line quote"Paint exterior" | An estimate you can checkSiding, trim, shutters, doors, porch and ceiling, by elevation |
| Repairs | A one-line quote"Minor repairs included" | An estimate you can checkEach soft spot listed by location, with a unit price for more |
| Prep | A one-line quote"Prep as needed" | An estimate you can checkScrape, sand, HEPA vacuum, prime bare wood |
| Colors | A one-line quote"Colors to be chosen" | An estimate you can checkEach color's name, sheen and place |
| Approvals | A one-line quoteNot mentioned | An estimate you can checkResearch and packet as their own lines, the district's fee noted as yours |
| Paperwork | A one-line quoteOn request | An estimate you can checkInsurance certificate and firm number attached |
| Payment | A one-line quoteA deposit and the rest on a date | An estimate you can checkTied to stages of the work |
Price questions
Is there a charge for the site visit?
What the visit and the written estimate cost, if anything, is stated when you book, before anyone comes.
Why are color research and the packet separate lines?
So you can see what they cost and decline them. The paint work is priced with or without them.
How do you pay?
The payment schedule is in the estimate, tied to stages of the work. Any deposit is written there too.
Can you give a price by phone?
Not for an old house. The wood decides the price, and we can only judge the wood in person.
Get a written estimate
We walk the house, write down what we see and send the estimate in writing.