[tbill618]

My mother has a bad habit of hiring men who are nice to her to do major repairs on her house. Because her neighbor had her house painted she now wants her house painted and, of course, the same guy has offered to do the job. He wants $5000 to patch some stucco and paint the exterior of a 1800 s.f. home plus a trellis in back. And he is giving her a much better price than her neighbor.

Sound good to you?

[vtvette]

We were quoted right about $5500 to paint our 3100sq ft home with a pretty large RV garage off the side and a fairly large overhang off the back. We also have a two car garage door and a 10 or 11 ft RV garage door that was going to be painted as well. Our house was built in 1985 so, there is some minor repair work to do on the stucco here and there. No major repairs though. We do have two balconies with wood posts and trim with chipping paint. All this was included in the quote. We got on to other projects and put this on hold. We are not going to get a few other quote's to gauge if this was a fair price.

Sounded reasonable to me for a house our size. The painter mentioned that this was an "off season" rate as they were slow. Who knows if this is true or not.

$5,000 *sounds* high for 1800 sq ft but, you also mentioned "some stucco repair" which may well influence the quote.

Most any painter will offer free estimates.

[Buzz123]

There's a guy that has painted several homes in our community and he does a great job. Only thing is he ain't cheap. He gave us an estimate of $5500 to repair stucco, and paint both house and block walls. The house is 2460 sq ft., but there is more outside wall space than meets the eye, as there are parapets above each room. (Pueblo Revival style). Everyone else tells me that is way too high. I think my daughter paid under $2000 for her two story, 3300 sq ft house, and it looks great. I had a roofer over the other day and he was saying someone he knew was given a $2000 estimate and he thought that was too much. Last time I had a house painted was about 14 years ago, and it was $1200 for a 2400 sq ft two story. I know I can find a painter for less than $5000, but how much less we won't know until I get the taxes done to see if Obama leaves us any money.

[Buzz123]

BTW: We have a leak, but the roofer said the roof looks great. It's cracked stucco that is leaking along the edge of one parapet. He can fix that for $300 minimum, but it could go to $600 if we want him to do all the minor cracks in the other parapets.

[SportyandMisty]

Sounds high for a 1 story house.

[cre8lite]

Try Angie's List, it'll give you a better idea if this quote is too high/low

[aggrofish]

Buy the paint at Home Depot, rent a sprayer and pick up a couple guys on your way out and save yourself 4k.

[Exaday]

5k is much too high.

[observer53]

Get some more estimates. That sounds WAY high.

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by aggrofish

Buy the paint at Home Depot, rent a sprayer and pick up a couple guys on your way out and save yourself 4k.

And if one of them falls off a ladder, the homeowner is on the hook for the expenses. And don't think for a moment that the guys in front of Home Depot don't know that. Does the homeowner carry workman's comp insurance? A personal liability policy? No? Then that can get expensive in a big hurry.

Is an accident likely to happen? No. That's why they're called accidents. Is saving a couple thousand dollars worth the risk? That's in the eyes of the risk taker. For me, the answer is no.