Common Questions to Ask A House Painter
When it comes time to hiring a house painter in NJ, you want to make sure you get someone reliable, professional and someone that has experience in this industry. It’s just like hiring a babysitter for your kids, your home hopefully isn’t as important as your kids, but you still want to use the same caution. You want to make sure that this professional has years of experience painting. You also want to see how many jobs they have done and if they are willing to share references with you so you can call old customers up and see how happy they were with the job. You also might want to consider other important facts such as reviews/testimonials, being licensed and insured and if they offer any kind of a warranty on the paint. Here is a list of questions you should ask Any house painter in NJ before hiring them to paint your house for you.
Business Age
It doesn’t matter if someone has their own business, works for someone else or just does this in their free time as a freelancer, you are definitely going to want to ask how long the person has been in business or has been doing this. Most of the time if you find someone who has been doing this for 5+ years, you are going to find someone that is successful for a reason i.e.; they know what they are doing, they have great customer support, and they give people what they really want. It’s not to say that a business that has been open for less than 5 years is automatically a bad business, but it’s something to consider with the rest of these questions.
Sub-Contractors
In some cases, sub-contractors are a good thing. But, when it comes to something important like painting your home, you do not want this option. Instead, you want someone from the business you are dealing with to paint your home. Sub-contractors can sometimes result in sloppy work, delayed estimated times of deadlines, unprofessional workers, disorganized chaos and more. Always make sure that you get a painter from the company you are talking to.
Warranties, Insurance, License
Painters don’t always have to be licensed, but the really good ones that have their own businesses tend to be licensed. Being insured means that if anything happens to them on the help, you are not held accountable, but it also means that if anything happens to your home while they are painting, you are not held accountable for it either - they are, or their business is. A warranty is something you are most likely already aware of what it is, but in this case it’s all about the paint. Do they offer cracking, peeling and chipping of their paint jobs? If so, how long is the warranty for? Exactly what does it cover? Is the warranty a money back guarantee or a free paint job, etc.? These are the things you want to ask.
Testimonials and Reviews
Testimonials and reviews don’t necessarily have to be given to you by the business, you can actually find these right online, but I thought I would mention them anyway. Testimonials and reviews are usually written by people that have gotten work done by the company in question. I say usually, because some businesses that have bad ethics, will actually pay someone to write a review, when they never even dealt with the business. Some sites to check out for reviews are Yelp and YP.com but there are many others as well. Use your common sense - competitors can also leave negative reviews Just to lead people away from a business. So if you see 100 positive reviews raving about how amazing the business was; they painted perfectly, customer support was great, the prices were good, etc. and you see one or two bad reviews - just ignore them, or don’t let them weigh out your decision as to if you are going to use that business or not.
Business Age
It doesn’t matter if someone has their own business, works for someone else or just does this in their free time as a freelancer, you are definitely going to want to ask how long the person has been in business or has been doing this. Most of the time if you find someone who has been doing this for 5+ years, you are going to find someone that is successful for a reason i.e.; they know what they are doing, they have great customer support, and they give people what they really want. It’s not to say that a business that has been open for less than 5 years is automatically a bad business, but it’s something to consider with the rest of these questions.
Sub-Contractors
In some cases, sub-contractors are a good thing. But, when it comes to something important like painting your home, you do not want this option. Instead, you want someone from the business you are dealing with to paint your home. Sub-contractors can sometimes result in sloppy work, delayed estimated times of deadlines, unprofessional workers, disorganized chaos and more. Always make sure that you get a painter from the company you are talking to.
Warranties, Insurance, License
Painters don’t always have to be licensed, but the really good ones that have their own businesses tend to be licensed. Being insured means that if anything happens to them on the help, you are not held accountable, but it also means that if anything happens to your home while they are painting, you are not held accountable for it either - they are, or their business is. A warranty is something you are most likely already aware of what it is, but in this case it’s all about the paint. Do they offer cracking, peeling and chipping of their paint jobs? If so, how long is the warranty for? Exactly what does it cover? Is the warranty a money back guarantee or a free paint job, etc.? These are the things you want to ask.
Testimonials and Reviews
Testimonials and reviews don’t necessarily have to be given to you by the business, you can actually find these right online, but I thought I would mention them anyway. Testimonials and reviews are usually written by people that have gotten work done by the company in question. I say usually, because some businesses that have bad ethics, will actually pay someone to write a review, when they never even dealt with the business. Some sites to check out for reviews are Yelp and YP.com but there are many others as well. Use your common sense - competitors can also leave negative reviews Just to lead people away from a business. So if you see 100 positive reviews raving about how amazing the business was; they painted perfectly, customer support was great, the prices were good, etc. and you see one or two bad reviews - just ignore them, or don’t let them weigh out your decision as to if you are going to use that business or not.