Painting Contractors in Washington, DC

Washington, DC Home Painters

Homeowners are always looking for ways to save money on maintenance projects, and one of the most obvious routes is to cut out the cost of labor by doing the job yourself. While painting might seem like a perfect DIY project (even for those with little experience), there is good reason to hire a professional for your painting job in Washington DC. Home painters are a particularly good option for homeowners with limited mobility or those who simply don't have the time to do the work themselves, but almost any homeowner might opt to hire a professional crew once they know all of the benefits.

Why Hiring a Professional House Painter Is Beneficial
Painting might not seem like a difficult job on the surface, but anyone who has ever painted an entire house (or at least a significant portion of one) knows that this task is not quite as simple as it might first appear. Do-it-yourselfers of all kinds have attempted this job ever since paint was invented, and many of them have realized quickly that it is not the job they thought it was. The preparation can be time-consuming and tedious, the painting itself can get strenuous, and when you deal with exteriors, the prospect of spending a few days balanced on a ladder can be daunting, to say the least. Add in the fact that do-it-yourselfers rarely get the same kind of results as the pros (and generally take much longer to finish the work), and there's good reason to consider hiring a professional crew.

Aside from getting a quality job in without lifting a finger, hiring a professional Washington DC home painter also comes with the benefit of experience. Some products work better than others in certain situations; some brands (or even colors) of paint will hold up longer in a particular area. Washington DC house painters are aware of what products and techniques tend to do well in their area; hiring one will not only bring better results faster, it will also put valuable experience on your side so that your paint job holds up better!

Exterior Painting
In and around Washington DC, exterior painting is a little more difficult than it may be in other areas of the country. First off, cold temperatures are no friend to exterior painting; Washington DC is hardly the coldest area of the country, but since it isn't the warmest, either, there are weeks (even months!) out of the year where outdoor painting projects can simply not be successful. Washington DC exterior painting is also affected by other climate conditions like direct sunlight, moist air, and copious precipitation. Though most professional painters are well trained in working around these conditions and choosing products that tend to hold up in the area, the average homeowner can easily end up either using the wrong paint, painting under the wrong conditions, or not employing the proper surface preparation techniques to keep their paint looking good and performing well for as long as possible.

Interior Painting
While outdoor painting projects involve a whole list of variables that can age your paint job prematurely, with a little research and a bit of patience, most homeowners can achieve near-professional results when interior painting. Washington DC is full of companies who will gladly perform this job for you, but if you take the time to learn good surface preparation and priming techniques and get some professional advice before selecting your paint, there's a good chance that you could save a few bucks doing your own interior painting. Washington DC homeowners should be aware that different rooms of the house demand different types of paint: bathrooms need a paint that holds up to moisture, kitchens need paint that can handle grease and will hold up to scrubbing, brick needs a paint that is designed for adhesion, etc. Most Washington DC interior painting is a bit more forgiving than exterior jobs, but again, good preparation, lots of patience, and proper paint selection can make all the difference in the results you get.

Prices of Hiring a Home Painter in Washington DC
Since the main reason homeowners have for doing a job like house painting themselves is to save money, it is also important to take into account how much you'll actually save in this situation. While labor costs might easily make up 50 percent of what a Washington DC home painter is likely to charge, DIYs still have to pay for materials, purchase equipment, and spend money on gas to transport them. When you add that to the amount of time it will take you to do the job yourself (or the cost of food and drinks it will take to wrangle your friends into helping you), the extra cost of hiring a pro starts making more sense. Even if you get your friends to provide their own food and refreshments, you're still likely to get less than professional results and take up a significant amount of time that you could use to do something more enjoyable.

HomeAdvisor keeps records of every job we process nationwide. When we look at the numbers for hiring a home painter, Washington DC prices are pretty reasonable when compared to our national statistics of $2,200 for interiors and just under $3,000 for exteriors. While we've seen Washington DC house painters charge as much as $7,000 for an exterior job and $6,000 for an interior, we've also seen many jobs come in well under the national averages for both. When you consider all of the benefits that come with hiring a pro, and all of the drawbacks to doing it yourself, it's easy to see why hiring a house painter in Washington DC is so incredibly popular!