Exterior Painting General Information

General Information & Standard Procedures for Exterior Painting
*items are optional or may not be standard and may result in a price increase

Colors
Preparation
Caulking
Wrought Iron
Rain
Follow-up

Protection
Chalky oil garage
Doors
Clean-up
Payment

Power Washing
Stucco Patching
Painting
Pricing
Time of Completion
Guarantee

Colors: We give you a color chart to choose from, pick colors that you think might work & we will bring you samples painted on card-board.
Color charts are deceiving, the color often looks lighter once its on the wall.
The first four samples are free, there-after it is $10 per sample.

The standard sheen for exteriors is flat, while doors & windows are usually semi-gloss.

We do not recommend painting a currently light colored stucco a dark color, when things hit the stucco & bits fall off the lighter original color shows brightly through.

We do not recommend red or black doors. Red paints have too much color & not enough stickum. The weather strip will often pull the paint off.

Power washing: We typically power wash before starting, this is a quick rinse which usually takes an hour or two. We go around windows & doors to minimize leaking. As long as the windows are shut no one needs to be home for this.

Protection: We pull the dirt back from around the house. In landscaped/lawn areas we can mask the grass.

We cover everything. For delicate plants we stake & individually wrap them with paper. We build a tent around patio covers to keep spray & dust contained

Preparation: We pull & replace rusty nails & gutter screws. We apply rust block to rusty items that we cannot replace. We prime gutters, stucco patches and raw wood.

Stucco patching: We first stucco patch big missing chunks. After we paint, we then address big cracks. By patching the cracks after painting it helps eliminate ugly texture differences which can often look worse than the original crack (see example below). We use masonry glue in the stucco for excellent adhesion.

Chalky old oil garage doors: We sand, wash, prime & convert oil finishes to water-based paint. Water-based paint is flexible & doesn’t break down, turning chalky like oil.

Caulking & Back brushing: We caulk loose seams where the stucco meets wood around doors & seams on the fascia boards, etc. Caulking the under-eaves* is a nice touch for aesthetics, especially if you have a light or white color where your eye can quickly go to imperfections. We spray the paint on the wood & under-eaves, then use a brush to push the paint into the cracks. Your trim should look like plastic that is impervious to water penetration (see before & after pictures below). We sand thoroughly, prime raw wood, caulk the cracks and keep applying coats of paint until it is smooth. (NOTE: Caulking the under-eaves is NOT included in a standard bid and is an EXTRA cost)

Painting: Whenever possible we paint two sides of the house at a time, that way all your windows are not covered at the same time.

Clean-up: We do our best to pick up all of our paint chips before we leave. We squeegee the windows. It may not pass moms inspection, but we get the big chunks (we do not remove screens).
We inspect the roof for broken tiles and can replace the old broken ones*.

Wrought iron: We paint iron with oil, this should be done every few years, in order to stay on top of the rust and catch it before it turns chalky.

Your job is our #1 priority, we do no leave until the job is complete.

How we come up with the price: Exteriors are about $2/sq ft, but there are factors that can change this such as how much peeling paint there is, the density of plants around the house, if you have wood windows, etc.
Patio covers require a lot of preparation & paint. Most cost around $1000-$2000.
Wrought iron is about $40 per 10ft section, per coat. Oil is usually just one coat because you do it every few years.
Extra work added later is billed at our hourly rate of $45 per/hr
Wood replacement is billed time & material at $45 per/hr

Estimated time of completion: Most 2-4000 sq ft homes take 4-7 days, we usually run crews of 3 men per job.
Do you need to be there? The only day we need someone home is the day we paint the doors. This can often be scheduled for a weekend.

Rain: We paint year round, if there is bad weather forecasted those are the days we schedule prep work.

Payment: For most houses (jobs completed within a week), you pay when we are done and you are happy. We are usually paid by check, we can take credit cards, but charge an extra 3% convenience fee. (a $4000 job will cost $120 in fees)

Follow up: We leave you a roll of orange tape to mark any touch-ups and after 1 week we will return to take care of them.

Guarantee: We guarantee our work for 3 years against peeling. Excludes patio covers and french windows.

*items are optional or may not be standard and may result in a price increase

Accept Nothing Less!