Don’t Make the Mistake of Working With These Chesapeake House Painters!

When you’re hiring house painters, knowing what to avoid is just as important as knowing what to look for. The unfortunate reality is that some companies try to take advantage of unsuspecting homeowners. If you want to avoid scams, poor results, and stressful experiences, make sure you keep an eye out for these red flags.

Requests for Upfront Payment or Cash Payment

Though scammers are rare, it’s still something you need to be cautious about. The most common scam will involve a company requiring you to pay upfront and then completely disappearing. While it’s normal for painters to ask for a partial deposit, you should never work with a company that wants the total price at once.

Likewise, you should be suspicious of painters who require you to pay in cash. They’re often doing this because they have shady business practices and don’t want to give you a way of recovering stolen money. Make sure to confirm that you can pay with a check or cash since it’s easier to get your money back if they don’t do the work.

Vague Estimates and Verbal Contracts

Don’t end up in a nightmare situation where a painter finishes the job and then tries to charge you double. For your financial safety and peace of mind, make sure you choose a home painting business that will give you a clearly defined estimate. A detailed estimate helps confirm your pricing, and it also shows the company runs an organized business.

Of course, a painting company might provide you with a verbal estimate in a chat or let you know that the cost of supplies may vary slightly. However, if they’re legitimate, they’ll always be willing to write up a contract for you as well. This contract should be a clear document that states the price, the timeline, and the areas to be painted.

Lack of Business Insurance

Make sure to ask any prospective exterior painting company whether they have proof of insurance. In many regions, business insurance is a legal requirement. However, even if it’s not, any reputable business will have insurance.

If something goes wrong, like a bucket of paint falling on your new car, the company’s insurance covers the cost of repairs. Any company that doesn’t have insurance should be avoided. Not only are they less likely to pay you if something goes wrong, but their lack of insurance also indicates they aren’t making smart choices and following standard business practices.

Working With Inferior Products

Any good Chesapeake VA painter will be passionate about the paints, brushes, and sprayers that they use. They’ll spend a lot of time discussing their products because they know that different brands provide vastly different results. For example, Hughes Painting prefers Sherwin-Williams and Porter Paints, because we get great coverage and smooth finishes with these products.

If a contractor tells you that paint brands don’t matter or suggests using a generic brand, it can be a big warning sign. This tends to mean the painting business doesn’t really care if your paint job looks good or lasts for years.

Workers Without Any Experience

A general rule of thumb is that the best exterior painting companies are ones with years of experience. They’ve had time to really refine their skills and streamline the painting process. Brand new companies are more likely to make mistakes, work more slowly, or do a bad job. Therefore, it’s generally a good idea to avoid inexperienced painters.

Just keep in mind that experience is about more than the years the company has existed. It’s pretty common for people to work as a painter for years and then eventually open their own company. So in some cases, it might be worth going with a new company, as long as the owners and workers still have a background in the house painting industry.

A Lack of Reviews

Pretty much any legitimate painting company will have at least a few reviews. This can be a good way of learning a little about the company’s background and services. If a business has been up and running for a while but has zero reviews, you should be suspicious.

If the painting company doesn’t have much of an online presence, try asking them for references. They should at least be able to show you images of past work and connect you to past customers who are willing to vouch for them. Being unable to do this often indicates they either do bad work or aren’t a real company.

Find the Right Chesapeake Painter for the Job

If you want to avoid all these issues, choose Hughes Painting. As one of the leading Chesapeake VA home painting companies, we provide customer service you can count on. Our team of trained professionals works hard to make sure you get quality painting at a fair price. We want to make things as easy as possible for our clients, so we even offer extra services like color selection. Schedule a free consultation now to learn more about our services.