Whenever you hire a person or company to come to your home and do work, it’s important that you do your due diligence. The same is true for house painters. As we mentioned before in this blog post, there are a lot of things to look for in a San Diego house painter, but here are three ways to make sure you hire the right company.
Experience, Experience, Experience
Just like location is key when you’re buying a home, experience is key when you’re hiring a painting company. Sure, anyone can pick up a paintbrush and call himself a painter, but it takes experience and training to be a good painter. A good painter will give you clean lines, full coverage, and a paint job that will last for many years to come.
Go to the Contractors State License Board (CSLB) website and type in the business name of any San Diego house painter you are considering using. Not only will you find out if that company is licensed, bonded, and insured, but you will also learn how many years the company has been in business. If a painting company has been around for a while, that usually is a good indication that they do good work. Painting companies in San Diego that do poor work don’t usually last that long with all the competition in the area.
You also want to make sure the actual people who will be painting your house are experienced and have received training. When you are getting quotes from house painting companies in San Diego, make sure to ask them what type of training their employees go through.
Hire a Company You Trust
Not only do you want to hire a company that will do a good job and that will hopefully improve the look and value of your home, but you also want to make sure the company is trustworthy. These people will be in your home, and it’s unreasonable to think you can keep an eye on them at all times. They will have easy access to any of your belongings that aren’t locked away.
Do some research about the reputation of the company. See if there are any complaints about them on the Better Business Bureau website or on other review sites like Yelp. Ask the company themselves about the people who work for them. Do they vet their employees? Are new employees supervised? Do they use subcontractors who aren’t accountable to the company you’re hiring?
Don’t forget to trust your gut. If you get a bad feeling about a company when they come to your house to provide you with an estimate, move on—even if they give you a great price that feels too good to pass up.
Referrals Are Gold
Sites like Yelp, Google, and Facebook are great for reading reviews on companies, but you need to take them with a grain of salt. These are referrals from strangers. They may be friends of the company owner, or they may be actual customers who have been paid by the company or offered a discount to leave a good review. You really have no way of knowing. If the painting company has a good amount of stellar reviews, you can be pretty confident that the company is reputable, but even still, those reviewers may not have your same standards. One person may look at a paint job and think it looks great, while you might see multiple flaws.
The best referrals are those that come from people you know. That referral is even more valuable if you can go to the home that was painted and see the work for yourself.
At PaintGreen, we get a good amount of our work from referrals. People are happy to refer us to their friends and neighbors because we do the job right and provide them with great customer service. There are no surprise charges after the work is completed and we treat their homes with respect. All of this goes a long way with our customers.
If you’re ready to start getting estimates from San Diego house painting companies, contact us at PaintGreen to set up a consultation.
