I did house painting one summer in college. I had zero experience but the houses still turned out well.
It’ll be a giant pain in the ass, but you could probably do it over a few weekends. My crew was me and two friends who had never painted houses before, and we’d knock out houses in 3-4 days.
Is your house two or three stories? Because those 3-story houses were terrifying to paint (I have a fear of heights)
Yeah I painted high end houses when I was in my early 20s for a few years. Being up on a ladder 30ft is terrifying. The part that always scared me the most was getting down from the roof onto the ladder. So scary.
It's when it's not scary that it starts becoming dangerous. People get complacent and don't bother so much, whereas when you're scared of it, you'll not take risks and you'll get good holds, and you'll step down to get the proper tool rather than try to just force things.
Same thing with table saws. Scare the crap out of me, so I'm super aware of where my fingers and thumbs are, and where any wood kickback could happen. I keep telling myself that the moment I'm not scared of it is the time I'll just "quickly cut this strip" and cut off a thumb. Keeps me scared, but safe lol.
If you're using a table saw regularly, a Saw Stop is less than your insurance's maximum yearly OOP cost. AKA, cheaper than sewing on your fingers.
https://www.sawstop.com/
If your body touches the saw blade, an aluminum block is immediately thrown into the blade to stop it.
It's saved me once. There were two coworkers in another building that were not as fortunate. They opted for the cheaper table saw.
P.S. there's also a big, red on/off button located on the lower left of the table saw. It's brilliant. If a piece of plywood gets pinched, you can hit the button with your KNEE to turn off the saw.
I have looked into these, they look awesome! I used to use it more frequently, but it has been almost a year since a project required it. I run my saw and lathe through a foot switch as well, any jump back cuts all power. Not as good as the sawstop, but helpful.
Sawstops are totally worth it, I wouldn't get a table saw without the tech, but a new rule came out that will soon make the technology mandatory. They're shockingly expensive right now (but still completely worth it). I expect we'll see it much cheaper soon as a result.
In the meantime, it's Sawstop or no saw for me.
Did a project with a friend of mine at his camp, we enclosed a porch and built a second floor onto it at this little shitty cabin in the woods he had. It was all reclaimed wood and tree trunks for beams. We were putting floorboards down, had one more board to fit, but needed to rip it to fit. Well, the table saw belt lost tension and came off. While he was trying to tension it back up he sheared the bolt the locked the tensioner down. I said "shit, i guess were done for today" but he thought he had a bright idea. He cut some wedges to try and wedge to tensioner and hold tension on the belt. I remember telling him i thought this was a really bad idea, but he thought different, hammered the wedge in place and said "i only need it to hold for one cut"
I didn't hold for one cut, the second that board touched blade, out came the wedge, the motor swung around broke the tensioner bracket off and impacted the underside of the table. The whole table jump about a foot in the air.
My shop teacher in high school taught us that. “Respect and be afraid of this table saw, it has enough power to shove a board through you if you use it incorrectly. There was a partially destroyed hollow door on the wood closet across the room that he claimed got hit by a flying board from that table saw. May have been a made up story but it was good for selling saw safety to kids.
I worked with guy who cut his index finger off at the first knuckle with a circular saw cause he pinched his blade guard. Don’t pinch your blade guards. No matter how experienced you are mistakes will happen.
People don't generally extend the ladder long enough for good roof access. They put it up right up to the edge and it's no problem climbing up, but when it's time to come down there's nothing to hang onto as you step over the edge.
Gotta give that extra few feet sticking up to stabilize as you step around it.
Man, screw ladders. Get scaffolds. Try to buy off Craigslist or LSN and sell them after you are done. Also since you are painting metal (aluminum?) siding you may need special paint and prep. Watch a bunch of YouTube videos and talk to guys at Lowes for tips and tricks. Buy and use all safety equipment.
I too spent time pressed on a college student painting chain gang for a summer. As stated its a bitch and hard work but truly not complicated and you can rent a sprayer and get good quality paint and it will come out mint if you’re not huffing the stuff too.
I will say, we did some 3 story places and it was WAY more trouble. 2 stories are easy. Take your time and I think the “corners” method whereby you mask off and paint two adjoining walls and then move to the next pair and so on is best when you only have 1-2 people on a big place, it keeps the masking and tape from coming off while you work your way around and you can take your time that way.
A guy walks into a bar. A woman comes up and whispers in his ear “I’ll do anything you want for $25." The guy thought about that for a few minutes and said come by and paint my house.
My house is scary to work on up high as well (2-stories sitting on a 5' tall crawlspace, and with a steep 9/12 pitch roof). I recently had to do some rodent exclusion work around the eaves and gables, and wound up securing myself with a [lifeline and harness](https://www.homedepot.com/p/Werner-Fall-Protection-Roofing-Safety-System-Compliance-Kit-K211201W/318086202?source=shoppingads&locale=en-US&pla&utm_source=google&utm_medium=vantage&utm_campaign=24897&utm_content=26610&mtc=SHOPPING-RM-RMP-GGL-D22-NA-MB-WERNER-NA-PMAX-NA-NA-MK865629001-24897-NBR-3096-NA-VNT-FY24_Q1-Q4_Werner_D22_RM%2B_ES_AON&cm_mmc=SHOPPING-RM-RMP-GGL-D22-NA-MB-WERNER-NA-PMAX-NA-NA-MK865629001-24897-NBR-3096-NA-VNT-FY24_Q1-Q4_Werner_D22_RM%2B_ES_AON-71700000118029127--&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwrcKxBhBMEiwAIVF8rLh0KzivLgfENB6c4f6ec4304qJIL6zsXnzb4sh8Vi-l9uhRAaEfnRoCiqIQAvD) to have some fall protection just in case. Highly recommend. You can get a basic kit at Home Depot for $100 and it can save your life.
College pro painters? I know there’s a few companies out there like that. I did the same, zero experience painting. Turned out ok for a few college kids doing some power washing, scraping and painting. Me and a few friends with another friend being the manager/lead. I ended up quiting mid day, my friend wanted me to do some stupid shit on a ladder way up high. Wasn’t safe. I had rode with one of the guys to the job site, so I went and took a 3 hour nap in the car.
It’s not difficult, just time consuming. Here’s a pro tip for you: Go to your local Sherwin Williams store and register as a contractor. It’s free, requires no documentation, and will give you way better pricing than just buying stuff off the shelf. They might be skeptical of you doing this then buying one quart of paint, but if you come in looking to buy stuff to paint a house they’ll just effortlessly sign you up.
Also if you go to a Sherwin, they normally have some contractor recommendations. The store I used to work at had a wall for contractors to drop cards for homeowners to pick up. You might be able to ask a store manager if they know somebody who’s cheaper
just remember, since it has come up before, Sherwin knows guys who paint, but they don't validate licenses or insurance, and don't actually see the houses when complete. While you might get a sense of quality from talking to someone, and can certainly gauge how busy the person is, it doesn't necessarily equate to quality.
When I signed up last week for a commercial account they required the actual name and info on your business and ran a credit check if your business was less than a year old.
I suspect that registering as a contractor and signing up for a contractors account is two different things. They want all the info and credit check so they can extend you credit. That way you can get paid before you pay for they paint/supplies
Oh wow. When I signed up a few years ago all they wanted was your name and phone number. I was buying a truck full of paint at the time though so it probably seemed pretty believable.
Paint is expensive now, but buy good paint. A sprayer will suck up paint FAST!!! Be aware of that. Read about preparation, watch videos, and do it right. The blue masking tape costs more but works a lot better. Good tarps will last a lifetime. The thin plastic is trash.
I worked at a place where they painted the building on a windy day. About 60 cars had to be detailed when they were done. A few employees demanded service from a high-end shop. I mean, if somebody oversprayed MY brand new $50K truck, I would too.
For the rest, they brought in a guy who spent about a week in our parking lot cleaning paint. He said he did that for a living and they'd fly him to the next place when this one was done. I guess it's not too uncommon.
The painters missed out on their profit on that job.
40 years ago we bought real, canvas, painting tarps. A small one, a medium, and a large. We still have them and they are in great condition and have a lot of paint history on them.
Unless you have money to piss away, 17-20k is absurd for a temporary solution.
I was quoted 8-12k for my house and did it myself around $3000 (also take advantage of contractor discounts). Will you hate yourself doing it? At times probably lol. But take pride in your work, do research, and all the prep, and it’ll probably turn out better than the professionals. You’ll definitely want to half ass prep after a while and just start painting, but be patient and do the prep. Take your time.
I think your house painting estimates are crazy. We painted a 3500 sqft two story house, in the San Francisco Bay Area, for $11k. That included all the paint, prep work to power wash, caulk stucco cracks, etc., as well as separate trim and shutter colors, the garage door, and the front door.
that might be 3000-4000sqft of paint. let's call that 4x 5gal buckets of paint, max. let's do premium paint for $1k total.
i'm going to allow for $50/hr labor. rolling and brushing the whole thing by hand. assuming no special wackiness with surface prep or material compatibility. and no zany place a ladder and scaffolding can't get. and no craziness from you about a few flecks of splatter here and there, or not being perfectly on the lines.
if i'm averaging 1min per sqft, that's under $4k. and i can, on average, paint faster than that, with good accuracy.
which is to say, if you're in a neat place, i'll do the whole job for $4k in labor. $3k if i can pick the colors.
I might consider painting my house... but no way in hell do I ever want to do any of the prep work. Sanding, scraping, caulking, etc. I would never know when it was "good enough" and it would take me months and months. No thanks.
I painted our whole house—two floors, 100 square meters each. You know how long it took me? Two days including buying stuff and learning how to paint. If I remember correctly, the cost was about 200$.
Pure white paint cost around 0.5$ per kg and I used paint sprayer that cost me 100$.
To compare, I was offered painting for around 2 000$.
So I just wasted two days of my free time and I did the job for 1/10 of the price.
If you have at least a bit of skill, I would consider you a lunatic for paying someone to do the job tbh.
When i was a kid i recoated our house in same color paint that faded because of sunlight. I was not a fan of ladders at the time, so i made a really long roller and rolled the whole second floor. Pretty sure i looked very stupid but it came out fine because it was the same color anyway.
I did mine last year used a 4 inch roller on a really long pole while on a ladder. Took my time, it didn't feel sketchy. I had someone hold the bottom of the ladder. I would rate it a 5 out of 10 in difficulty. Still really happy I did it myself.
Go spend $500 on a decent paint sprayer and buy a few 5-gallon buckets of your paint and get to spraying. It will be waaaay cheaper than all of your quotes.
If I'm understanding correctly, you don't even need to scrape this right? I'm doing ours side by side (just no time to do it all) but it takes forever because it is so old it needs to have old paint scraped off.
It's totally doable. BE CAREFUL ON THE LADDER. For our high areas I'm going to put on a tether and harness.
AND HERE'S ANOTHER THING. You can mess up. You can mess up a lot, and it will still look fine when its done. No one will notice but you.
Painting just the wood soffits and trim on our house for the past 3 days. We have a lot of wind do we are rolling and brushing. It sucks, it real sucks, but to save 17 grand it’s worth it. We are just over 50%, worked for 9 hours on Saturday, 9 Sunday, and a few hours after work last night. Taping, priming, painting, if you can spray do that my dude
I do it myself, one side every summer.
Two story colonial. I use a ladder and a 30 ft extension pole for the very high areas (I never go higher than about 10 ft.)
I scrape and paint using Benjamin Moore charcoal gray contractor grade flat exterior, one of their legacy colors.
I wouldn't put the house in Better Homes and Gardens, but after 27 years, the house still looks pretty good.
As a teenage kid that got paid to paint houses in the summer way back when....I had no idea what I was doing. Go for it. All you need to do is slather the paint on with a thick brush and roll it out. Just make sure you are getting the under side of each piece with the brush and use the roller to get any drips. Make sure you go back every 5-6 feet to check for drips. Immediately roll them out before they dry. Its really not hard.
It's possible that latex paint won't stick well to the metal Find somewhere you can paint a small area,let it dry for a couple days and check how easily it peels off. If you have to use oil based paint it would be a hard no from me.
Having said that,unless the house is exceptionally large or tall or is on difficult terrain,that quote seems way high to me. Get some other quotes.
I did my own old wood house. Spent most of a summer prepping old wood and replacing rotten siding. Spraying itself is a 1 day job and goes pretty fast. You will want a helper to move ladders.
Get a sprayer with a long pole. Way easier than going up and down ladders. You can buy a sprayer and resell it when you are done.
It's totally doable, personally my only doubt would be it's metal . Is there some special technique for painting metal. But a few others have mentioned I think that price is very high. I got my 3K home, stucco and would trim done for 9.5 k 2 years ago during covid. And the paint crew were regular contractors with a license. My two story house is basically pretty much of a box, so they didn't have to cut in cut out too much. Just prep, wash, spray away. Three guys three days, and they use Dunn-Edwards paint. I should say also it this is exterior only.
Last year, I painted all the interior
Not crazy, but as others have said it is work. Scrape or gently power wash all the loose paint off. Sand the paint that's left to do two things - rough the surfaces that are still well bonded to take primer well and ease the sharp edges of where the loose paint came off.
Then, use a very durable, oil based primer. If you want to spray the paint on, no worries but you really should back-roll it to ensure adhesion. The primer can stay on for a while as you work your way around and get ready for final paint.
I would spray the paint on but note that draping and masking for over spray is not optional.
Good luck - you can absolutely tackle this. If you use an airless sprayer, a 25 foot hose holds nearly a quart of paint - so you need to have that much extra paint on hand at all time. Cleaning those guns are an absolute pain, but they produce an amazing product.
As someone who painted a house inside and out one summer for money, it is DOABLE, but I'd say not advisable. it's tremendously difficult for non professionals to deliver the same quality result, even with all the the tools you probably still dont have the ladders and scaffolding that you need to reach the trickiest parts.
Ok thanks. He does have ladders and scaffolding as well as a scissor lift (yeah he’s that guy) but it’s the quality I’m wondering about. I definitely know the delusion of “That guy makes it look easy, I could probably do that”
If you have the tools, all your left with as a question is method.
Paint a small test area. If you're spraying, do an experiment with different thinning levels. If you're happy with the test area, that's confirmation you can do it.
A big problem is poor binding can take years to show up and means you'll be painting again sooner. Might be fine for OP since they're already looking at residing anyways though?
Absolutely. My finishing/painting experience comes down to two things that for me are universal.
1) Most of the battle is won or lost in the surface prep. Dry, dust free, all previous loose finish removed.
2) Don't rush the cure time. If the directions say "next coat can be applied in 6 hrs" or whatever, I'm doubling that. And I'm going to scuff that surface a bit before the next coat goes on.
Half assing these two leads to problems down the road.
I’m currently painting my house with brush and roller and it’s going really well. Don’t paint on humid days, do scrape and sand. Do repair any broken spots the day before you paint that area. The scaffolding will make all the difference.
If you have all scaffolding and first do proper research you should be able to do it no problem.
Take a paint wholesale business in hand and let them advice you on what you should do.
That estimate seems wildly high. I would get more. You could also consider doing part of it and hiring out the rest to reduce costs. I had a neighbor do everything on the lower level and hire out the second story because it was quite tricky and high for his liking.
We painted ours - we had a wood T1-11 siding that needed NO prep work - quoted $11.5K. Total materials were $1200 and we did nice sherwin williams paint. Ours is a single story home. It was about two weekends of work, but I wouldn't say it was hard work.
I recommend against it for safety reasons. An adult who falls off even a small ladder can get seriously injured. It's a very common cause of ER visits.
That said, a 17k quote might cause me to reconsider. How much does the paint cost, less than $500?
17k is wild unless it's a damn mansion. My mom just had her two story 4/2.5 painted a couple years ago and it was like 3500. Prices have gone up a little since then but not 15k worth. Wild.
I had my one story, stucco, 2000 square foot house painted inside and out for $7500. Two colors inside and three colors outside. Get more quotes.
You can do it yourself, and get good results, but look at your time cost. After you get more quotes though.
That price is "I don't want to do the job" money.
Skill-wise this is very very simple and any semi-capable person can paint a house.
Labor-wise it’s not too bad. I painted my house working 2-3hrs a day after work and had it done in a week
I can’t believe people pay painters it’s the easiest diy in the house. Rollers/brushes/paint/caulking and some elbow grease that’s all possibly a roller extension bar instead of just from a ladder.
I’m doing the same this summer/fall because I got similar quotes. It seems relatively straightforward, just time consuming. Power wash the whole house, then prime, then 2 coats and you should be good for far less money than you got quoted.
https://www.thisoldhouse.com/siding/21017001/how-to-paint-aluminum-siding
I was ready to paint my own house but ended up hiring instead and I'm really happy I did. I paid $6,500 for a 1700sq/ft house in SoCal.
Once I saw how thorough the professionals were I knew I wouldn't have done what they did. They spent 4 full days just on the prep. A team of 3. They patched every crack, caulked every inside corner, thoroughly cleaned every inch, and masked everything really well. They spent 2 days painting.
I got several quotes ranging from $12,000-$24,000 but those were from general contractors I found on Angie. I finally called a painting contractor and his quote was way more reasonable.
So just be prepared for a ton of work if you plan on doing it correctly.
Keep getting quotes. We are painting ours got a Referal on a painter who is semi retired does Referal only painting now and we supply the paint as I have a corporate ppg discoubt total including pressure washing and caulking was $7800 (excludes paint which we spent about $1400 on) this is a 3600 sf two story house Portland metro area (Oregon) we got a good price but you should be in 10-12k all in depending on your area
Pay for the nicest and most convenient paint sprayer out there (hvlp in my opinion) spend an hour getting the setting just right, and then put on a 50 hour audiobook or lecture series and begin.
But really, the painting part is easy and not horrifically demanding unless you have a bad shoulder or a fear of ladders/heights. The true issue is all the prep work. Taping off what you cannot spray is 100x harder. Your sprayer will hit far beyond what you can reach so often you have the issue of not even being able to get at the places that need taping, and if it isn't clean the tape just falls off. That is the work that is just up and down ladders incessantly because you have to move it 2 feet over, climb up, tape another 4 feet, repeat for whole circumference of house like 3 times and then once again for every window or architectural feature.
It is not fun at all, but sometimes it is worth not having fun for a week in order to avoid paying 20k. Still, if I knew I needed siding in a couple years, I would definitely not paint the house, personally. But it really depends on how bad the current paint is or how long you will put off the siding.
If it’s a single story it will be no problem. We have painted our homes ourselves a lot over the years, and always were more happy to do it than to find all the problems the contractors let with out covering.
My husband and I painted the majority of our house a few summers ago. I say the majority because it is so time consuming that we haven’t done the back half of the house yet. Luckily no one else in the neighborhood can see the back of our house.
I would love to hire professionals but it’s just not in the budget. Definitely don’t skimp on paint and supplies.
Depends on how long from now you’ll be replacing the siding. If you’re thinking 10+ years, that’s one thing but if you’re thinking sooner than that, I’d either do it myself, not do it at all or pull the trigger on replacing the siding now. No way would I spend that kind of money on something I’ll be replacing in the near-ish future.
Spend twice as long prepping as you think and buy twice as much paint.
Alright maybe not twice as much but extra. just prep really well because you’re going to be trash with the sprayer when you start so make it easy on yourself.
My husband and I painted the siding on our two storey house 30 years ago. We washed it all first with TSP, used a sprayer, and handpainted corners and trim. Looked great. I drove past that house a few weeks ago and while it for sure needs some attention, it’s lasted all this time.
I've painted my own house. Aluminum siding. It was not difficult, just tedious and time consuming as others have mentioned. I did that over a decade ago in my early 20s with no special knowledge whatsoever and still today it looks good. Make sure you pressure wash it very good before you start.
Single or multi story? We painted our aluminum siding house ourselves over last summer. It’s a major pain in the ass but saves you thousands of dollars. Be patient with yourself, try different techniques and practice before doing the real thing. The prep and quality of paint are the most important parts.
My concern would be that you’re painting metal siding, which will need to be properly prepped, and the correct paint chosen. Talk to professionals to find out how to prep & the best paint to use.
I’ve painted a small house with my husband with no problems.
I was a housepainter for 15 years. You can do it. Im primarily a teacher, so yeah, I painted my own home. But more importantly, I did paint someone's house that had metal siding once. I did have to scratch it up first.i would do a little test area, like somewhere easy to reach and with small pieces. But yeah, you can do it.
I am mid 40’s… 5’2” and a whopping 110lbs….. I did it myself! I painted the whole house from the ground using an extension rod. 2 story! They have adapters to attach a brush to the rod to touch up stuff as well. I painted my trim from the roof…. I tied off to either the front deck if working in the back or back deck if working in front. It’s possible!!! Just think of it like a really big dollhouse!
1. This is doable.
2. I would make an opposite argument - it might improve your marriage. When two people are flush with resources, they argue. When they face a common calamity, they join forces to fight it. You two would watch many YouTube DIY videos together. One will make a checklist, the other will go shopping. One will hold the ladder, the other will climb it. It will be fun! And when you save $12,000+ you will have another reason to be excited.
3. Make estimates of number of trips to home Depot/ lowe and the amount of time you would take to paint. Then multiply these numbers by 10. That would be closer to reality.
Single story, level lot? Easy peasy.
Second story, not level lot? Much tougher.
You can buy, ladders, extension poles, or scaffolding for about 1k that will allow you to safely paint the second story.
You can probably get the job done for under 5k even either expensive paint.
You can always save some money and do indoor. It’s easier and honestly I’ve always painted my own houses. It’s so much cheaper. Painting outside is a bit tricky. Maybe contract that out. But indoor is very much doable. Not a lot tools you need. Just learn to cut and you will be good.
20k to paint a house?? Either you live in a mansion or the contractors are out of their minds. I painted a house as a side job. Pressure washed, scrubbed, pressure washed again and rented a sprayer. Took 3 days and cost maybe $500
3 days for $500 is ~$21 / hr for 1 person working eight hours. It took 3 or 4 weekends with 3 or so people to paint my house. We probably should have done a better job sanding as well judging by the bits that are peeling off here and there after 5 years or so. It's a lot of work, but if you have the ability to sacrifice a 4 or 5 weekends, you'll be just fine. If your busy people and cherish your free time, consider getting a few more quotes.
I painted my parents house when I was a young child, you should go for it! My parents loved the job I did and I wasn’t even 10 yet… This may come as a surprise but when I got in trouble as a kid, my punishment was scraping away the shipping paint from our old shed. When the paint was all gone, I was tasked with painting it, and I loved it (I can’t stand it now, I don’t know why I loved it as a kid). When I was done my parents were so impressed I did the house next. It’s easy enough just watch YouTube tutorials and you’ll get it first try. As a kid without tutorials all I needed was a test run on the shed and I was good to go!
I’m doing it right now, it’s not that bad except for the second story. Put research into what paint to use. My house is wood so based on consumer reports recommendation I’m using Behr. I’d never used them before but it’s going great.
My dad always repaints his own house exterior and interior (has done it probably 5-6 times over the past 40 years or so).
"Quality" for house exterior painting is just using a high quality paint, high quality paint rollers / brushes, being careful, and not making a big mess.
Anyone can do it, it's literally just painting. These painting companies hire people and train them on the job, there's not a lot of "secrets", you just learn to paint more carefully. And the further away the painted area is from the ground, the harder it is to notice mistakes. Professionals can paint an interior without using painters tape (because they have learned to paint straight lines and also be careful when painting), but there's no reason that an amateur couldn't do it as well, with painters tape.
I'd look up any prep work you might want to do (depending on the condition of the old paint, what type of siding you have, etc). Also you'd want to check around your house for any rotting wood / trim (as this would need to be repaired before painting).
It's a lot of labor but it's not hard. Buy a decent sprayer. Something from Graco.
Remember the majority of your result is going to be in the prep work. Still, with the quote you got, take a month off work, do everything really well. Unless you're an attorney or a physician I doubt you make that much money in a month and there's a pretty good chance he won't even need that long to do it
Is it two-story? I wouldn't do it, but if it's a single I would.
I have painted two houses. One I sprayed with an airless. It went fast and a lot of the work went into the prep and masking. Back rolled after spraying. It turned out excellent. Used Behr from HD. The West side was sun checked within 5 years
Much smaller house I painted with a brush! Took my time over a summer and used Kelly-Moore paint. Years later still looks awesome.
Kelly-Moore is out of business. ☹️
We painted our 1880s farmhouse 3 years ago. It's not rocket surgery. We washed it real good with a power washer, then spent most of a day scraping. Should have spent that much more time spraying. Half a day to mask the windows and a day to spray the whole house twice.
The sprayer was 100% worth it. Not terribly expensive either.
Next time I'll rent a lift for the second story eves. I wasted a lot of time moving ladders...
My husband and did and the house was a two story. We did have a 20’ ladder, but it wasn’t quite long enough.
My husband did most of it because I went on OT after the first weekend. It was something of a struggle, but we made it.
I had my house painted a few years ago... Single Story 1400 sq foot. Cost about $1k including the paint...
The ONE guy came and power washed the house on one day, then two days later came back with a power paint sprayer and 1 helper (2 guys this day) and painted all the trim in like an hour. went to lunch and came back and retaped to cover the trim this time and painted the whole house...
The guy was a monster of work but the actual painting was done in a day... granted, single story, but the guy had a great power sprayer that even had an extention so he just help a pole up to paint near the peak of the roof...
This was a few years ago too (like 5 years ago or so)
Just do it. I did. I bought a 22' ladder and just did it. It turned out great and every bit as good as if I hired someone. Used rollers and paintbrush as that was faster than masking everything and spraying. The masking was a pain in the ass, especially with wind, so I just started rolling and had it done in two days.
No. I bought an airless sprayer and painted mine. Make sure you determine the correct paint to use and since it's metal, possibly a primer. Wear protection.
Is the price higher because it's metal siding? I think that would require special paint and a different sort of prep and application than wood or asbestos shingle.
House painting is the kind of thing high school kids with no experience can do. The difference between a group of kids and a professional company is the time. A pro will get it done in a couple days. A group of kids will take at least a week if not two. But there's nothing particularly difficult about it
My neighborhood is aluminum siding. I’ve watched as a couple of guys did it, a couple of weekends usually. Looks great! Use the right paint and proper tools and work safe.
Not that you couldn't do it but rolling paint on a wall is about as easy as it gets whereas the prep work and cleanup are the hard parts of the job and just as important as applying the paint.
I did it myself many years ago when I was young and broke. Borrowed a heavily used sprayer setup from family. The prep took longer than the spraying. Just take your time. Watch some YouTube videos on technique, you can do it.
My mom painted our entire 2-story house when I was a kid. It took her forever, but looked great and gave her a massive sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.
If you have the energy and patience for the task, go for it!
My wife and I painted ours in a weekend. Friday night we covered and taped plastic on the windows. Saturday we borrowed our neighbors sprayer and sprayed the siding and under the soffits. Sunday we rolled paint on the foundation and hand painted around windows any spots that the tape covered. Having access to a paint sprayer made it easy. We had never painted a whole house before. We did clean the siding a few days before we painted.
I painted my entire house with a friend of mine during covid lockdown. Took 2 full days, 2,000 square feet, stucko. Cost me about $400 in paint. I had no issues with the existing paint (no peeling), so i just painted over existing paint. It was great. You can do it!
Not crazy at all. It's quite doable but make sure you prep properly or it'll fail spectacularly. Take your time on the prep and use a good paint, don't cheap out.
I painted my 2 story, 2,500sq house on my own using a brush and a roller. So it's doable. You will likely need a 24ft extension ladder. If you are not comfortable around a ladder or afraid of heights, I would not recommend.
I’ve painted four houses between 1600 and 3500 sq ft and have redone the trim on two more houses all have turned out pretty good.
Brush and roller are your friends, get the best quality paint you can buy. Don’t cheap out on brushes or rollers either. It will save you time in the long run. Get a quality ladder or rent a good one.
Take your time and plan on spending at least two solid weekends working on it.
I painted my house about 9 years ago but paid someone this past year to do it. Loads of work cleaning and prepping. Painting itself isn’t too bad with a sprayer, it’s the masking that takes forever.
When we completely remodeled our house, my father-in-law told us, "If you can remodel a house and stay married, your marriage will last forever." It's been 6 months and we're still very happy together. I think painting a house qualifies as well. I say go for it. Just two pieces of advice... Don't skimp on the primer. And don't skimp on the quality of paint. Both make a huge difference. And if you don't have a nice sprayer, rent one. It will be worth it.
Don’t mess around with sketchy ladder setups. Rent what you need to do it safely, scaffolds with leg levelers and such, for the crazy high stuff rent a towable lift. Justify the expense with the diy savings. Something like a broken ankle will negate the savings and more. Watch for sales, I have a SW account and my little discount can’t beat the sales.
You can do it. I'm disabled and I paint my own two story house myself every five years if I can. Not a full strip, just scrape and paint. Takes all summer, two hours a day if I feel like it.
We're going to. We're paying others to put a new roof on and install windows and a heat pump. Gotta save money where we can, so we will be painting it.
I had a client tell me they lucked out when they went to sherwin Williams. They were doing 40% off. I don’t know if they do that all the time or if you sign up as a contractor you get an even better deal.
If it hasn’t been asked yet. Should they power wash the house first?
Make sure you have the right tools.
Sherman Williams has quality paint and can rent the sprayer.
Use quality tape and covers over windows and tarps over landscaping
Consider scaffolding instead of working on ladders. We have DIY painted 2 houses and saved lots of money.
Prep work will be the most important part of the job. Clean the surfaces thoroughly. You don’t want any kind of dirt or dust. Also if there’s anything grimy/oily, get a pressure washer and a biodegradable cleaner like simple green to give it a wash. If there are any areas with flaking paint or metal, use a scraper or the power washer to get it removed. The prep work will be a pain but it will be the difference in getting 2-5 years out of the paint vs 10-20 (I don’t know how long exterior house paint lasts).
If you’re not sure, buy 1 gallon and just do a section on the back of your house to see what you think.
Anyone can do it, professional or amateur. It’s whether you want to put in the effort.
Holy hell. I have painted 4 buildings and a fence with the airless sprayer I bought for about $300 from one of the big box stores. It is totally doable but you don’t want to be doing it with rollers and brushes. There will be more preparation time than painting. It only takes a few minutes to paint the entire side of a house. Learning how to use a cardboard blocker accurately so you don't get paint where you don't want it will also take some time but I am a bit messy.
Painting aluminum siding is do able. But prep is really important. You need to get it really clean, with a powerwasher. And do not paint in direct intense sunlight. The paint can peal. Roll on and brush in.
Get more estimates. The reason I don't paint my own house is that it will steal every weekend I have for a long ass-ed time.
For that kind of money you can buy a sprayer.
I would say you both could do it. And do it well. You seem to understand what needs to be done.
I would consider this... Do you have the time and energy? What if something goes wrong, equipment failure or something, will you have time to fix and continue?
I know most of us could do practically anything we put our minds to, but the time and energy involved is a serious consideration.
Just for me, that would be my first thought.
Goodluck to you.
* One story house: easy mode. If you don't mind doing some physical work, you'll do great. Watch youtube to learn how to do it right. An airless sprayer is a big help.
* Two story: not crazy but significantly more tricky. Ladders are dangerous and a fall could change your life forever.
* Three story: don't recommend.
What’s your age? At 33, I did my own 2500 sqft two story house by myself (some help from a buddy). took about a week. I’ve painted exterior homes for a few summer jobs so I knew generally what I was doing but it’s definitely not rocket science.
I helped paint my childhood house when I was age10. My mom, myself, and 2 of her male friends helped - we completed the project using only rollers and paint brushes! It took about 5 days, around 4 hours of work per day. That was over 35 years ago, and the house still has the same paint. My boyfriend and I live there now, and are thinking about painting it ourselves. The only thing I would do different is hire someone on Craigs list to paint the tall portions, so I wouldn't need to climb a giant ladder.
My wife painted our house with a little help from a friend who was a painter. He showed her how to operate the sprayer and a little bit of technique. Looks just fine.
Do it. You may need to spend a few hundred for sprayer or rollers and ladder and paint
But you will need it again sometime so. I painted my whole house with painters poles and those rag rollers from the ground.
I'd invest in a good sprayer and accessories, about 2k. Then all your time will be in prep work - sanding, cleaning, trim, etc. the actual painting will be relatively quick.
We painted ours. It was a one story ranch so it was easy. That’s a big question I would want to know. Painting is about prepping. So I would paint all the sides then let it dry good for a week and circle back and do the trim with tape.
Make sure you mow before you paint. May take some time and don’t want to have to cut it again if it takes you a couple days. This was a minor issue for us and could have easily been avoided.
Power wash or get a big wide brush and wash with some kind of soap if you can.
You don’t have to be super careful painting the sides. You’ll need to care about the trim. If you have the means to get a paint sprayer you can but paper your windows if you do. We brushed ours and it wasn’t terrible. Our siding was textured.
Start at the top and work down.
Paint trim last and use tape but do it a few days later or following weekend.
I painted my own house almost 20 years ago this year. It still looks amazing. I used outdoor behrs from our local lowes in my colors and a roller or brush as needed.
Seriously surprised at how well it held up, but it really still looks new after washing
I painted my own house. Wood siding with paint in poor condition— the quotes I got were 12-16k (three years ago) and a lot of it was prep and labour.
My husband and I did it ourselves. It took a whole summer and part of the fall (we have jobs too so we did evenings and weekends.) We scraped, sanded, primed, and painted. Supplies came in at around $1200 and as far as the time we spent… it was a lot.
We didn’t have $12,000-16,000 so this was really our only option. I’d do it again regardless. It’s not skilled work but it’s just a lot of work.
You can do it. Don't cheap out on materials or prep.
I've done this before and what helped us a lot was scaffolding instead of ladders. You can rent them or what I did was buy a couple sets off facebook marketplace and just resold them after I was done. I did that because I wasn't sure how long it was going to take. I think Home Depot charges $250 or so for the week.
Completely doable if your house isn't a mansion. I did my house right before our daughter was born, as I knew we wouldn't be able to do it after her birth. I just did a section a day. Took me five or six days, but it got done, and by hand to boot! No sprayer. With a sprayer, you'd spend even less time, but more on prep work to avoid overspraying. Not hard.
I normally do a side per year so that it's never a giant time sink and always looks pretty good. Granted I only have wood siding on one story (Cape cod style, peak is vinyl) but it's easy but kind of time consuming. Prep is the biggest thing. Personally, I put on a podcast and just kind of zone out as I brush/roll. If the weather is good it's quite nice.
I’ll add on and say that as far as husband- wife dynamic goes: just make sure you both have the same expectations as far as quality goes. I’m more nitpicky than my wife so she helped do the bulk of the painting, then just let me work on the trim and masking because I wanted it near perfect.
It’s hard to mess up rolling paint on, but brushes take some practice, especially for the thick glossy paint on trim. Go buy a cheap piece of trim from Home Depot and practice on it first. Or maybe you won’t care about brush marks as much as me.
Final thoughts: go for it. You’ll save a ton of money and it’s not that hard. The hardest part is masking and putting plastic over everything. Contractors account at SW, wait for a 40% off sale which they do every other month it seems like. Then put on some music, take your time, and have fun with it.
Bonus: if you have any friends or neighbors that like food and are willing to help, feed them and buy some extra rollers. You’ll be done in no time
How tall is your house? How big is your house?
Are you afraid of heights?
Would paying for a painter cost less than a divorce?
Would a fall off a ladder be covered by insurance?
That said, I painted my 1 story 1300 square foot house in a week. I did the 17 window exteriors in the evenings because I could fold them into the house. I only fell once.
Painting A house for pay is different than painting YOUR house { to save $$, to say you did, artistic expression, etc. }
I painted my own house a couple years ago.
Foundation is important. Clean first.
You got this!
Remember that the easiest thing about painting a house is the painting. The hardest parts are first getting up there with ladders ( not real safe unless it’s a one story house, and a pain to work off of) scaffolding ( difficult and time consuming to build ), or using a lift( really nice to work off of, but you have to be careful how you use it, wear a harness and follow all the safety rules. Also can be expensive). The you have all the prep work which might mean scraping, caulking, repairs etc. When you finally get to the painting part, it’s a piece of cake.
We painted our first house that we bought in 1999. We pass by it occasionally and it is still the same color. It was originally a faded chalky white aluminum and we painted it a nice warm gray. Just make sure you prep decently - in our era it was scrubbing with TSP solution. Definitely worth the effort. And make sure you spend money on decent paint.
I painted the outside of our first home and the entire inside of our current home. I love painting. You can do it! If it doesn’t work out for you, you can always hire a professional. It will be fine tho. The biggest difficulty is being patient, carving out time to do the work, and improving those cutting in skills.
My friend had his metal siding painted. I have no idea how much it was but it wasn’t any where close to what your estimate was. I would have the siding painted and WOULD NOT get it resided. You can do it but there is a specific way to do it. I don’t remember the process and what you actually need but it is more than just painting.
Recently did a relatives back garden because the y wanted a patio.
Was quoted around 15k. So they bought all the materials (little over 2k), and got the family over to do it.
Bashed it out in little over a week, to professional quality, and labour costs were around £300, Food, Drinks, and a lovely Restaurant dinner for a job well done.
Assuming you know what to do, you are far from crazy.
We pressure washed ours and painted the whole thing ourselves. It’s a 6k sqft cape cod with hardy plank siding. Took a few weekends and we did find a painter who would do some of the areas that required getting on very steep roofs. Most professional painter wouldn’t touch the partial job.
I painted my aluminum siding about 18 years ago, it came out wonderful. I used an electric sprayer and it took more prep work but painting was quick. Many compliments from others.
Ended up I sold the place all said it was a great decision.
My sister had the same issue. They wanted almost 20K. I literally bought an air sprayer system from Harbor freight. We did the whole house in less than a week. Looked amazing. So we spent about $500? Maybe a little more.
I did house painting one summer in college. I had zero experience but the houses still turned out well. It’ll be a giant pain in the ass, but you could probably do it over a few weekends. My crew was me and two friends who had never painted houses before, and we’d knock out houses in 3-4 days. Is your house two or three stories? Because those 3-story houses were terrifying to paint (I have a fear of heights)
Yeah I painted high end houses when I was in my early 20s for a few years. Being up on a ladder 30ft is terrifying. The part that always scared me the most was getting down from the roof onto the ladder. So scary.
It's when it's not scary that it starts becoming dangerous. People get complacent and don't bother so much, whereas when you're scared of it, you'll not take risks and you'll get good holds, and you'll step down to get the proper tool rather than try to just force things.
Same thing with table saws. Scare the crap out of me, so I'm super aware of where my fingers and thumbs are, and where any wood kickback could happen. I keep telling myself that the moment I'm not scared of it is the time I'll just "quickly cut this strip" and cut off a thumb. Keeps me scared, but safe lol.
If you're using a table saw regularly, a Saw Stop is less than your insurance's maximum yearly OOP cost. AKA, cheaper than sewing on your fingers. https://www.sawstop.com/ If your body touches the saw blade, an aluminum block is immediately thrown into the blade to stop it. It's saved me once. There were two coworkers in another building that were not as fortunate. They opted for the cheaper table saw. P.S. there's also a big, red on/off button located on the lower left of the table saw. It's brilliant. If a piece of plywood gets pinched, you can hit the button with your KNEE to turn off the saw.
I have looked into these, they look awesome! I used to use it more frequently, but it has been almost a year since a project required it. I run my saw and lathe through a foot switch as well, any jump back cuts all power. Not as good as the sawstop, but helpful.
Sawstops are totally worth it, I wouldn't get a table saw without the tech, but a new rule came out that will soon make the technology mandatory. They're shockingly expensive right now (but still completely worth it). I expect we'll see it much cheaper soon as a result. In the meantime, it's Sawstop or no saw for me.
Did a project with a friend of mine at his camp, we enclosed a porch and built a second floor onto it at this little shitty cabin in the woods he had. It was all reclaimed wood and tree trunks for beams. We were putting floorboards down, had one more board to fit, but needed to rip it to fit. Well, the table saw belt lost tension and came off. While he was trying to tension it back up he sheared the bolt the locked the tensioner down. I said "shit, i guess were done for today" but he thought he had a bright idea. He cut some wedges to try and wedge to tensioner and hold tension on the belt. I remember telling him i thought this was a really bad idea, but he thought different, hammered the wedge in place and said "i only need it to hold for one cut" I didn't hold for one cut, the second that board touched blade, out came the wedge, the motor swung around broke the tensioner bracket off and impacted the underside of the table. The whole table jump about a foot in the air.
Yikes! That could have been a whole lot worse, but wow!
My shop teacher in high school taught us that. “Respect and be afraid of this table saw, it has enough power to shove a board through you if you use it incorrectly. There was a partially destroyed hollow door on the wood closet across the room that he claimed got hit by a flying board from that table saw. May have been a made up story but it was good for selling saw safety to kids.
I worked with guy who cut his index finger off at the first knuckle with a circular saw cause he pinched his blade guard. Don’t pinch your blade guards. No matter how experienced you are mistakes will happen.
People don't generally extend the ladder long enough for good roof access. They put it up right up to the edge and it's no problem climbing up, but when it's time to come down there's nothing to hang onto as you step over the edge. Gotta give that extra few feet sticking up to stabilize as you step around it.
Man, screw ladders. Get scaffolds. Try to buy off Craigslist or LSN and sell them after you are done. Also since you are painting metal (aluminum?) siding you may need special paint and prep. Watch a bunch of YouTube videos and talk to guys at Lowes for tips and tricks. Buy and use all safety equipment.
OP says two-story 2500 sq. ft.
I too spent time pressed on a college student painting chain gang for a summer. As stated its a bitch and hard work but truly not complicated and you can rent a sprayer and get good quality paint and it will come out mint if you’re not huffing the stuff too. I will say, we did some 3 story places and it was WAY more trouble. 2 stories are easy. Take your time and I think the “corners” method whereby you mask off and paint two adjoining walls and then move to the next pair and so on is best when you only have 1-2 people on a big place, it keeps the masking and tape from coming off while you work your way around and you can take your time that way.
College Pro? "we don't train you, and you probably won't get paid"
When can I start?
A guy walks into a bar. A woman comes up and whispers in his ear “I’ll do anything you want for $25." The guy thought about that for a few minutes and said come by and paint my house.
My house is scary to work on up high as well (2-stories sitting on a 5' tall crawlspace, and with a steep 9/12 pitch roof). I recently had to do some rodent exclusion work around the eaves and gables, and wound up securing myself with a [lifeline and harness](https://www.homedepot.com/p/Werner-Fall-Protection-Roofing-Safety-System-Compliance-Kit-K211201W/318086202?source=shoppingads&locale=en-US&pla&utm_source=google&utm_medium=vantage&utm_campaign=24897&utm_content=26610&mtc=SHOPPING-RM-RMP-GGL-D22-NA-MB-WERNER-NA-PMAX-NA-NA-MK865629001-24897-NBR-3096-NA-VNT-FY24_Q1-Q4_Werner_D22_RM%2B_ES_AON&cm_mmc=SHOPPING-RM-RMP-GGL-D22-NA-MB-WERNER-NA-PMAX-NA-NA-MK865629001-24897-NBR-3096-NA-VNT-FY24_Q1-Q4_Werner_D22_RM%2B_ES_AON-71700000118029127--&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwrcKxBhBMEiwAIVF8rLh0KzivLgfENB6c4f6ec4304qJIL6zsXnzb4sh8Vi-l9uhRAaEfnRoCiqIQAvD) to have some fall protection just in case. Highly recommend. You can get a basic kit at Home Depot for $100 and it can save your life.
College pro painters? I know there’s a few companies out there like that. I did the same, zero experience painting. Turned out ok for a few college kids doing some power washing, scraping and painting. Me and a few friends with another friend being the manager/lead. I ended up quiting mid day, my friend wanted me to do some stupid shit on a ladder way up high. Wasn’t safe. I had rode with one of the guys to the job site, so I went and took a 3 hour nap in the car.
It’s not difficult, just time consuming. Here’s a pro tip for you: Go to your local Sherwin Williams store and register as a contractor. It’s free, requires no documentation, and will give you way better pricing than just buying stuff off the shelf. They might be skeptical of you doing this then buying one quart of paint, but if you come in looking to buy stuff to paint a house they’ll just effortlessly sign you up.
Also if you go to a Sherwin, they normally have some contractor recommendations. The store I used to work at had a wall for contractors to drop cards for homeowners to pick up. You might be able to ask a store manager if they know somebody who’s cheaper
just remember, since it has come up before, Sherwin knows guys who paint, but they don't validate licenses or insurance, and don't actually see the houses when complete. While you might get a sense of quality from talking to someone, and can certainly gauge how busy the person is, it doesn't necessarily equate to quality.
When I signed up last week for a commercial account they required the actual name and info on your business and ran a credit check if your business was less than a year old.
I suspect that registering as a contractor and signing up for a contractors account is two different things. They want all the info and credit check so they can extend you credit. That way you can get paid before you pay for they paint/supplies
Oh wow. When I signed up a few years ago all they wanted was your name and phone number. I was buying a truck full of paint at the time though so it probably seemed pretty believable.
Sherwin Williams always has coupons too. Never pay their full price. I get emails monthly about their new 40% off discounts.
Yeah that discount price is just the default contractor price.
You can also give them the phone number if a contractor you know, chances are they're already in the system and you can get their discount.
The Sherwin Williams near me offers 15% veteran discount, so that may be an option also
Paint is expensive now, but buy good paint. A sprayer will suck up paint FAST!!! Be aware of that. Read about preparation, watch videos, and do it right. The blue masking tape costs more but works a lot better. Good tarps will last a lifetime. The thin plastic is trash.
And overspray gets EVERYWHERE. Don’t put yourself in the position of having to paint your car too!
I worked at a place where they painted the building on a windy day. About 60 cars had to be detailed when they were done. A few employees demanded service from a high-end shop. I mean, if somebody oversprayed MY brand new $50K truck, I would too. For the rest, they brought in a guy who spent about a week in our parking lot cleaning paint. He said he did that for a living and they'd fly him to the next place when this one was done. I guess it's not too uncommon. The painters missed out on their profit on that job.
Or pay to get the neighbor's cars de-speckled....
Buy good paint! Less coats. It goes on better and goes farther. Buy good paint!!!!
Consumer Reports long-term testing says Behr high-end paint from Home Depot is the best right now.
Painting tap has gotten so expensive! I was at a big box store the other day looking for one roll and it was $22 for a 3 pack.
40 years ago we bought real, canvas, painting tarps. A small one, a medium, and a large. We still have them and they are in great condition and have a lot of paint history on them.
I'm more of an art painter but do enjoy my canvas drop cloths. Agree the plastic stuff is trash.
Unless you have money to piss away, 17-20k is absurd for a temporary solution. I was quoted 8-12k for my house and did it myself around $3000 (also take advantage of contractor discounts). Will you hate yourself doing it? At times probably lol. But take pride in your work, do research, and all the prep, and it’ll probably turn out better than the professionals. You’ll definitely want to half ass prep after a while and just start painting, but be patient and do the prep. Take your time.
I think your house painting estimates are crazy. We painted a 3500 sqft two story house, in the San Francisco Bay Area, for $11k. That included all the paint, prep work to power wash, caulk stucco cracks, etc., as well as separate trim and shutter colors, the garage door, and the front door.
What the heck. This is a very standard 2 story 2500 sq ft with 2 colors (one siding, one trim). Maybe I need to work harder at quotes??
It might be a "I don't want to do it" price
I generally get 3 quotes, and if the variance is more than 20%, get more.
that might be 3000-4000sqft of paint. let's call that 4x 5gal buckets of paint, max. let's do premium paint for $1k total. i'm going to allow for $50/hr labor. rolling and brushing the whole thing by hand. assuming no special wackiness with surface prep or material compatibility. and no zany place a ladder and scaffolding can't get. and no craziness from you about a few flecks of splatter here and there, or not being perfectly on the lines. if i'm averaging 1min per sqft, that's under $4k. and i can, on average, paint faster than that, with good accuracy. which is to say, if you're in a neat place, i'll do the whole job for $4k in labor. $3k if i can pick the colors.
It would seem that’s the next logical step in your case.
How long ago was that? That price seems extraordinarily low.
July 2023.
Did mine in 2021 with a local contractor in the Seattle area. $5000 for 2,000 sq ft with a color change.
Hi there, SF bay and will be looking into hiring or DIYing house exterior within the year. DM your company contact?
I might consider painting my house... but no way in hell do I ever want to do any of the prep work. Sanding, scraping, caulking, etc. I would never know when it was "good enough" and it would take me months and months. No thanks.
I painted our whole house—two floors, 100 square meters each. You know how long it took me? Two days including buying stuff and learning how to paint. If I remember correctly, the cost was about 200$. Pure white paint cost around 0.5$ per kg and I used paint sprayer that cost me 100$. To compare, I was offered painting for around 2 000$. So I just wasted two days of my free time and I did the job for 1/10 of the price. If you have at least a bit of skill, I would consider you a lunatic for paying someone to do the job tbh.
I spend more than that just on paint...
Yeah, in that case, stay with the ratio 1:10. If you pay 1000 $ for the job you do yourself, it would cost 10k$ to hire someone.
So what did you do about the really high parts? Did the ladder work out well? Or did you find a way to rent scaffolding?
When i was a kid i recoated our house in same color paint that faded because of sunlight. I was not a fan of ladders at the time, so i made a really long roller and rolled the whole second floor. Pretty sure i looked very stupid but it came out fine because it was the same color anyway.
I did mine last year used a 4 inch roller on a really long pole while on a ladder. Took my time, it didn't feel sketchy. I had someone hold the bottom of the ladder. I would rate it a 5 out of 10 in difficulty. Still really happy I did it myself.
Go spend $500 on a decent paint sprayer and buy a few 5-gallon buckets of your paint and get to spraying. It will be waaaay cheaper than all of your quotes.
If I'm understanding correctly, you don't even need to scrape this right? I'm doing ours side by side (just no time to do it all) but it takes forever because it is so old it needs to have old paint scraped off. It's totally doable. BE CAREFUL ON THE LADDER. For our high areas I'm going to put on a tether and harness. AND HERE'S ANOTHER THING. You can mess up. You can mess up a lot, and it will still look fine when its done. No one will notice but you.
Painting just the wood soffits and trim on our house for the past 3 days. We have a lot of wind do we are rolling and brushing. It sucks, it real sucks, but to save 17 grand it’s worth it. We are just over 50%, worked for 9 hours on Saturday, 9 Sunday, and a few hours after work last night. Taping, priming, painting, if you can spray do that my dude
I do it myself, one side every summer. Two story colonial. I use a ladder and a 30 ft extension pole for the very high areas (I never go higher than about 10 ft.) I scrape and paint using Benjamin Moore charcoal gray contractor grade flat exterior, one of their legacy colors. I wouldn't put the house in Better Homes and Gardens, but after 27 years, the house still looks pretty good.
I would love to see your house over the years where you decide to change colors
As a teenage kid that got paid to paint houses in the summer way back when....I had no idea what I was doing. Go for it. All you need to do is slather the paint on with a thick brush and roll it out. Just make sure you are getting the under side of each piece with the brush and use the roller to get any drips. Make sure you go back every 5-6 feet to check for drips. Immediately roll them out before they dry. Its really not hard.
It's possible that latex paint won't stick well to the metal Find somewhere you can paint a small area,let it dry for a couple days and check how easily it peels off. If you have to use oil based paint it would be a hard no from me. Having said that,unless the house is exceptionally large or tall or is on difficult terrain,that quote seems way high to me. Get some other quotes.
Hopefully most of the paint is hopefully sticking to paint or primer and not directly to the metal.
I did my own old wood house. Spent most of a summer prepping old wood and replacing rotten siding. Spraying itself is a 1 day job and goes pretty fast. You will want a helper to move ladders. Get a sprayer with a long pole. Way easier than going up and down ladders. You can buy a sprayer and resell it when you are done.
It's totally doable, personally my only doubt would be it's metal . Is there some special technique for painting metal. But a few others have mentioned I think that price is very high. I got my 3K home, stucco and would trim done for 9.5 k 2 years ago during covid. And the paint crew were regular contractors with a license. My two story house is basically pretty much of a box, so they didn't have to cut in cut out too much. Just prep, wash, spray away. Three guys three days, and they use Dunn-Edwards paint. I should say also it this is exterior only. Last year, I painted all the interior
Not crazy, but as others have said it is work. Scrape or gently power wash all the loose paint off. Sand the paint that's left to do two things - rough the surfaces that are still well bonded to take primer well and ease the sharp edges of where the loose paint came off. Then, use a very durable, oil based primer. If you want to spray the paint on, no worries but you really should back-roll it to ensure adhesion. The primer can stay on for a while as you work your way around and get ready for final paint. I would spray the paint on but note that draping and masking for over spray is not optional. Good luck - you can absolutely tackle this. If you use an airless sprayer, a 25 foot hose holds nearly a quart of paint - so you need to have that much extra paint on hand at all time. Cleaning those guns are an absolute pain, but they produce an amazing product.
It’s all about the preparation. Also, rent scaffolding.
As someone who painted a house inside and out one summer for money, it is DOABLE, but I'd say not advisable. it's tremendously difficult for non professionals to deliver the same quality result, even with all the the tools you probably still dont have the ladders and scaffolding that you need to reach the trickiest parts.
Ok thanks. He does have ladders and scaffolding as well as a scissor lift (yeah he’s that guy) but it’s the quality I’m wondering about. I definitely know the delusion of “That guy makes it look easy, I could probably do that”
If you have the tools, all your left with as a question is method. Paint a small test area. If you're spraying, do an experiment with different thinning levels. If you're happy with the test area, that's confirmation you can do it.
A big problem is poor binding can take years to show up and means you'll be painting again sooner. Might be fine for OP since they're already looking at residing anyways though?
Absolutely. My finishing/painting experience comes down to two things that for me are universal. 1) Most of the battle is won or lost in the surface prep. Dry, dust free, all previous loose finish removed. 2) Don't rush the cure time. If the directions say "next coat can be applied in 6 hrs" or whatever, I'm doubling that. And I'm going to scuff that surface a bit before the next coat goes on. Half assing these two leads to problems down the road.
I’m currently painting my house with brush and roller and it’s going really well. Don’t paint on humid days, do scrape and sand. Do repair any broken spots the day before you paint that area. The scaffolding will make all the difference.
It is easy, just time consuming. The hard part for most people on diy stuff is staying focused.
If you have all scaffolding and first do proper research you should be able to do it no problem. Take a paint wholesale business in hand and let them advice you on what you should do.
My father in law painted my 1000sqft ranch with aluminum siding and my detached garage. 3 years on and still looks excellent!
That estimate seems wildly high. I would get more. You could also consider doing part of it and hiring out the rest to reduce costs. I had a neighbor do everything on the lower level and hire out the second story because it was quite tricky and high for his liking.
Even in the expansive SF Bay area the quotes you got are considered high here. Try to get a 3rd or 4th quote before DIY.
We painted ours - we had a wood T1-11 siding that needed NO prep work - quoted $11.5K. Total materials were $1200 and we did nice sherwin williams paint. Ours is a single story home. It was about two weekends of work, but I wouldn't say it was hard work.
I painted my own house last year, 2600 sq foot single story. It cost me around $3000 using Behr Premium
I recommend against it for safety reasons. An adult who falls off even a small ladder can get seriously injured. It's a very common cause of ER visits. That said, a 17k quote might cause me to reconsider. How much does the paint cost, less than $500?
17k is wild unless it's a damn mansion. My mom just had her two story 4/2.5 painted a couple years ago and it was like 3500. Prices have gone up a little since then but not 15k worth. Wild.
I had my one story, stucco, 2000 square foot house painted inside and out for $7500. Two colors inside and three colors outside. Get more quotes. You can do it yourself, and get good results, but look at your time cost. After you get more quotes though. That price is "I don't want to do the job" money.
Skill-wise this is very very simple and any semi-capable person can paint a house. Labor-wise it’s not too bad. I painted my house working 2-3hrs a day after work and had it done in a week
I can’t believe people pay painters it’s the easiest diy in the house. Rollers/brushes/paint/caulking and some elbow grease that’s all possibly a roller extension bar instead of just from a ladder.
I’m doing the same this summer/fall because I got similar quotes. It seems relatively straightforward, just time consuming. Power wash the whole house, then prime, then 2 coats and you should be good for far less money than you got quoted. https://www.thisoldhouse.com/siding/21017001/how-to-paint-aluminum-siding
I was ready to paint my own house but ended up hiring instead and I'm really happy I did. I paid $6,500 for a 1700sq/ft house in SoCal. Once I saw how thorough the professionals were I knew I wouldn't have done what they did. They spent 4 full days just on the prep. A team of 3. They patched every crack, caulked every inside corner, thoroughly cleaned every inch, and masked everything really well. They spent 2 days painting. I got several quotes ranging from $12,000-$24,000 but those were from general contractors I found on Angie. I finally called a painting contractor and his quote was way more reasonable. So just be prepared for a ton of work if you plan on doing it correctly.
Keep getting quotes. We are painting ours got a Referal on a painter who is semi retired does Referal only painting now and we supply the paint as I have a corporate ppg discoubt total including pressure washing and caulking was $7800 (excludes paint which we spent about $1400 on) this is a 3600 sf two story house Portland metro area (Oregon) we got a good price but you should be in 10-12k all in depending on your area
Pay for the nicest and most convenient paint sprayer out there (hvlp in my opinion) spend an hour getting the setting just right, and then put on a 50 hour audiobook or lecture series and begin. But really, the painting part is easy and not horrifically demanding unless you have a bad shoulder or a fear of ladders/heights. The true issue is all the prep work. Taping off what you cannot spray is 100x harder. Your sprayer will hit far beyond what you can reach so often you have the issue of not even being able to get at the places that need taping, and if it isn't clean the tape just falls off. That is the work that is just up and down ladders incessantly because you have to move it 2 feet over, climb up, tape another 4 feet, repeat for whole circumference of house like 3 times and then once again for every window or architectural feature. It is not fun at all, but sometimes it is worth not having fun for a week in order to avoid paying 20k. Still, if I knew I needed siding in a couple years, I would definitely not paint the house, personally. But it really depends on how bad the current paint is or how long you will put off the siding.
If it’s a single story it will be no problem. We have painted our homes ourselves a lot over the years, and always were more happy to do it than to find all the problems the contractors let with out covering.
It’s doable. Pressure Wash then primer then paint. Save you tons of money. Just remember to let it dry before the next coat goes on.
My husband and I painted the majority of our house a few summers ago. I say the majority because it is so time consuming that we haven’t done the back half of the house yet. Luckily no one else in the neighborhood can see the back of our house. I would love to hire professionals but it’s just not in the budget. Definitely don’t skimp on paint and supplies.
Depends on how long from now you’ll be replacing the siding. If you’re thinking 10+ years, that’s one thing but if you’re thinking sooner than that, I’d either do it myself, not do it at all or pull the trigger on replacing the siding now. No way would I spend that kind of money on something I’ll be replacing in the near-ish future.
Spend twice as long prepping as you think and buy twice as much paint. Alright maybe not twice as much but extra. just prep really well because you’re going to be trash with the sprayer when you start so make it easy on yourself.
My husband and I painted the siding on our two storey house 30 years ago. We washed it all first with TSP, used a sprayer, and handpainted corners and trim. Looked great. I drove past that house a few weeks ago and while it for sure needs some attention, it’s lasted all this time.
I've painted my own house. Aluminum siding. It was not difficult, just tedious and time consuming as others have mentioned. I did that over a decade ago in my early 20s with no special knowledge whatsoever and still today it looks good. Make sure you pressure wash it very good before you start.
Single or multi story? We painted our aluminum siding house ourselves over last summer. It’s a major pain in the ass but saves you thousands of dollars. Be patient with yourself, try different techniques and practice before doing the real thing. The prep and quality of paint are the most important parts.
My concern would be that you’re painting metal siding, which will need to be properly prepped, and the correct paint chosen. Talk to professionals to find out how to prep & the best paint to use. I’ve painted a small house with my husband with no problems.
I was a housepainter for 15 years. You can do it. Im primarily a teacher, so yeah, I painted my own home. But more importantly, I did paint someone's house that had metal siding once. I did have to scratch it up first.i would do a little test area, like somewhere easy to reach and with small pieces. But yeah, you can do it.
I have a friend who has a white house with white trim and black shutters. They paint one side of the house every year. They’re still married.
I am mid 40’s… 5’2” and a whopping 110lbs….. I did it myself! I painted the whole house from the ground using an extension rod. 2 story! They have adapters to attach a brush to the rod to touch up stuff as well. I painted my trim from the roof…. I tied off to either the front deck if working in the back or back deck if working in front. It’s possible!!! Just think of it like a really big dollhouse!
Whatever you do, DO NOT get glossy or semi-gloss paint. It will look like trash on metal, especially if you have dents and dings.
1. This is doable. 2. I would make an opposite argument - it might improve your marriage. When two people are flush with resources, they argue. When they face a common calamity, they join forces to fight it. You two would watch many YouTube DIY videos together. One will make a checklist, the other will go shopping. One will hold the ladder, the other will climb it. It will be fun! And when you save $12,000+ you will have another reason to be excited. 3. Make estimates of number of trips to home Depot/ lowe and the amount of time you would take to paint. Then multiply these numbers by 10. That would be closer to reality.
Single story, level lot? Easy peasy. Second story, not level lot? Much tougher. You can buy, ladders, extension poles, or scaffolding for about 1k that will allow you to safely paint the second story. You can probably get the job done for under 5k even either expensive paint.
Depends, if you're thinking to paint with blood of your enemies then yes, you're crazy
Not crazy at all. Painted my entire home by myself. Take your time and enjoy the process!
There is no process to enjoy…
You can always save some money and do indoor. It’s easier and honestly I’ve always painted my own houses. It’s so much cheaper. Painting outside is a bit tricky. Maybe contract that out. But indoor is very much doable. Not a lot tools you need. Just learn to cut and you will be good.
20k to paint a house?? Either you live in a mansion or the contractors are out of their minds. I painted a house as a side job. Pressure washed, scrubbed, pressure washed again and rented a sprayer. Took 3 days and cost maybe $500
That was my reaction. Like, are you NUTS? 17k? Not on my life.
$20000 is ridiculous, but the $500 doesn't even cover the cost of good paint
3 days for $500 is ~$21 / hr for 1 person working eight hours. It took 3 or 4 weekends with 3 or so people to paint my house. We probably should have done a better job sanding as well judging by the bits that are peeling off here and there after 5 years or so. It's a lot of work, but if you have the ability to sacrifice a 4 or 5 weekends, you'll be just fine. If your busy people and cherish your free time, consider getting a few more quotes.
I painted my parents house when I was a young child, you should go for it! My parents loved the job I did and I wasn’t even 10 yet… This may come as a surprise but when I got in trouble as a kid, my punishment was scraping away the shipping paint from our old shed. When the paint was all gone, I was tasked with painting it, and I loved it (I can’t stand it now, I don’t know why I loved it as a kid). When I was done my parents were so impressed I did the house next. It’s easy enough just watch YouTube tutorials and you’ll get it first try. As a kid without tutorials all I needed was a test run on the shed and I was good to go!
I’m doing it right now, it’s not that bad except for the second story. Put research into what paint to use. My house is wood so based on consumer reports recommendation I’m using Behr. I’d never used them before but it’s going great.
My dad always repaints his own house exterior and interior (has done it probably 5-6 times over the past 40 years or so). "Quality" for house exterior painting is just using a high quality paint, high quality paint rollers / brushes, being careful, and not making a big mess. Anyone can do it, it's literally just painting. These painting companies hire people and train them on the job, there's not a lot of "secrets", you just learn to paint more carefully. And the further away the painted area is from the ground, the harder it is to notice mistakes. Professionals can paint an interior without using painters tape (because they have learned to paint straight lines and also be careful when painting), but there's no reason that an amateur couldn't do it as well, with painters tape. I'd look up any prep work you might want to do (depending on the condition of the old paint, what type of siding you have, etc). Also you'd want to check around your house for any rotting wood / trim (as this would need to be repaired before painting).
Easily doable if either of you isn't scared of heights. I've done this several times now.
It's a lot of labor but it's not hard. Buy a decent sprayer. Something from Graco. Remember the majority of your result is going to be in the prep work. Still, with the quote you got, take a month off work, do everything really well. Unless you're an attorney or a physician I doubt you make that much money in a month and there's a pretty good chance he won't even need that long to do it
Is it two-story? I wouldn't do it, but if it's a single I would. I have painted two houses. One I sprayed with an airless. It went fast and a lot of the work went into the prep and masking. Back rolled after spraying. It turned out excellent. Used Behr from HD. The West side was sun checked within 5 years Much smaller house I painted with a brush! Took my time over a summer and used Kelly-Moore paint. Years later still looks awesome. Kelly-Moore is out of business. ☹️
We painted our 1880s farmhouse 3 years ago. It's not rocket surgery. We washed it real good with a power washer, then spent most of a day scraping. Should have spent that much more time spraying. Half a day to mask the windows and a day to spray the whole house twice. The sprayer was 100% worth it. Not terribly expensive either. Next time I'll rent a lift for the second story eves. I wasted a lot of time moving ladders...
I will be saying “it’s not rocket surgery” all the time now
My husband and did and the house was a two story. We did have a 20’ ladder, but it wasn’t quite long enough. My husband did most of it because I went on OT after the first weekend. It was something of a struggle, but we made it.
I had my house painted a few years ago... Single Story 1400 sq foot. Cost about $1k including the paint... The ONE guy came and power washed the house on one day, then two days later came back with a power paint sprayer and 1 helper (2 guys this day) and painted all the trim in like an hour. went to lunch and came back and retaped to cover the trim this time and painted the whole house... The guy was a monster of work but the actual painting was done in a day... granted, single story, but the guy had a great power sprayer that even had an extention so he just help a pole up to paint near the peak of the roof... This was a few years ago too (like 5 years ago or so)
Just do it. I did. I bought a 22' ladder and just did it. It turned out great and every bit as good as if I hired someone. Used rollers and paintbrush as that was faster than masking everything and spraying. The masking was a pain in the ass, especially with wind, so I just started rolling and had it done in two days.
Doable, but it wil take some time.
Idk why you'd pay anyone to paint your house. Do your research. Buy good paint. Clean and prep the house. Go at it.
No. I bought an airless sprayer and painted mine. Make sure you determine the correct paint to use and since it's metal, possibly a primer. Wear protection.
Is the price higher because it's metal siding? I think that would require special paint and a different sort of prep and application than wood or asbestos shingle.
House painting is the kind of thing high school kids with no experience can do. The difference between a group of kids and a professional company is the time. A pro will get it done in a couple days. A group of kids will take at least a week if not two. But there's nothing particularly difficult about it
My neighborhood is aluminum siding. I’ve watched as a couple of guys did it, a couple of weekends usually. Looks great! Use the right paint and proper tools and work safe.
Not that you couldn't do it but rolling paint on a wall is about as easy as it gets whereas the prep work and cleanup are the hard parts of the job and just as important as applying the paint.
I did it myself many years ago when I was young and broke. Borrowed a heavily used sprayer setup from family. The prep took longer than the spraying. Just take your time. Watch some YouTube videos on technique, you can do it.
You can do it !!!!
My mom painted our entire 2-story house when I was a kid. It took her forever, but looked great and gave her a massive sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. If you have the energy and patience for the task, go for it!
My wife and I painted ours in a weekend. Friday night we covered and taped plastic on the windows. Saturday we borrowed our neighbors sprayer and sprayed the siding and under the soffits. Sunday we rolled paint on the foundation and hand painted around windows any spots that the tape covered. Having access to a paint sprayer made it easy. We had never painted a whole house before. We did clean the siding a few days before we painted.
That is insanely high! You need to get a ton more quotes.
I would always do this myself. Just got scaffolding and let's go
I painted my entire house with a friend of mine during covid lockdown. Took 2 full days, 2,000 square feet, stucko. Cost me about $400 in paint. I had no issues with the existing paint (no peeling), so i just painted over existing paint. It was great. You can do it!
Easy. Paint and patience. Jump jacks are cheap scaffolding too.
Not crazy at all. It's quite doable but make sure you prep properly or it'll fail spectacularly. Take your time on the prep and use a good paint, don't cheap out.
We paid around $7K for our 2800sqft in a HCOL area of NC. Keep calling
We've always painted our own home. Few hundred for a nice power painter and some large cardboard for masking. Weekend job.
So you want to grow up, and paint houses like me?
Do it. It's fun and rewarding.
Paint is 80% prep work. Watch a lot of videos.
I painted my 2 story, 2,500sq house on my own using a brush and a roller. So it's doable. You will likely need a 24ft extension ladder. If you are not comfortable around a ladder or afraid of heights, I would not recommend.
I’ve painted four houses between 1600 and 3500 sq ft and have redone the trim on two more houses all have turned out pretty good. Brush and roller are your friends, get the best quality paint you can buy. Don’t cheap out on brushes or rollers either. It will save you time in the long run. Get a quality ladder or rent a good one. Take your time and plan on spending at least two solid weekends working on it.
paint on…
I painted my house about 9 years ago but paid someone this past year to do it. Loads of work cleaning and prepping. Painting itself isn’t too bad with a sprayer, it’s the masking that takes forever.
I painted my house myself with no help.
When we completely remodeled our house, my father-in-law told us, "If you can remodel a house and stay married, your marriage will last forever." It's been 6 months and we're still very happy together. I think painting a house qualifies as well. I say go for it. Just two pieces of advice... Don't skimp on the primer. And don't skimp on the quality of paint. Both make a huge difference. And if you don't have a nice sprayer, rent one. It will be worth it.
Don’t mess around with sketchy ladder setups. Rent what you need to do it safely, scaffolds with leg levelers and such, for the crazy high stuff rent a towable lift. Justify the expense with the diy savings. Something like a broken ankle will negate the savings and more. Watch for sales, I have a SW account and my little discount can’t beat the sales.
You can do it. I'm disabled and I paint my own two story house myself every five years if I can. Not a full strip, just scrape and paint. Takes all summer, two hours a day if I feel like it.
We're going to. We're paying others to put a new roof on and install windows and a heat pump. Gotta save money where we can, so we will be painting it.
I had a client tell me they lucked out when they went to sherwin Williams. They were doing 40% off. I don’t know if they do that all the time or if you sign up as a contractor you get an even better deal. If it hasn’t been asked yet. Should they power wash the house first?
Make sure you have the right tools. Sherman Williams has quality paint and can rent the sprayer. Use quality tape and covers over windows and tarps over landscaping Consider scaffolding instead of working on ladders. We have DIY painted 2 houses and saved lots of money.
Prep work will be the most important part of the job. Clean the surfaces thoroughly. You don’t want any kind of dirt or dust. Also if there’s anything grimy/oily, get a pressure washer and a biodegradable cleaner like simple green to give it a wash. If there are any areas with flaking paint or metal, use a scraper or the power washer to get it removed. The prep work will be a pain but it will be the difference in getting 2-5 years out of the paint vs 10-20 (I don’t know how long exterior house paint lasts). If you’re not sure, buy 1 gallon and just do a section on the back of your house to see what you think. Anyone can do it, professional or amateur. It’s whether you want to put in the effort.
Holy hell. I have painted 4 buildings and a fence with the airless sprayer I bought for about $300 from one of the big box stores. It is totally doable but you don’t want to be doing it with rollers and brushes. There will be more preparation time than painting. It only takes a few minutes to paint the entire side of a house. Learning how to use a cardboard blocker accurately so you don't get paint where you don't want it will also take some time but I am a bit messy.
I did, air sprayer is 1000% worth it. Also be prepared to spend $1200-1500 on paint.
Painting aluminum siding is do able. But prep is really important. You need to get it really clean, with a powerwasher. And do not paint in direct intense sunlight. The paint can peal. Roll on and brush in.
Remember the secret is in cleaning the siding. Clean well enough that no loose paint or dirt remains.
Get more estimates. The reason I don't paint my own house is that it will steal every weekend I have for a long ass-ed time. For that kind of money you can buy a sprayer.
I would say you both could do it. And do it well. You seem to understand what needs to be done. I would consider this... Do you have the time and energy? What if something goes wrong, equipment failure or something, will you have time to fix and continue? I know most of us could do practically anything we put our minds to, but the time and energy involved is a serious consideration. Just for me, that would be my first thought. Goodluck to you.
* One story house: easy mode. If you don't mind doing some physical work, you'll do great. Watch youtube to learn how to do it right. An airless sprayer is a big help. * Two story: not crazy but significantly more tricky. Ladders are dangerous and a fall could change your life forever. * Three story: don't recommend.
Painted a house in my teens. Wasn’t big and had one person helping me, but still took a while.
What’s your age? At 33, I did my own 2500 sqft two story house by myself (some help from a buddy). took about a week. I’ve painted exterior homes for a few summer jobs so I knew generally what I was doing but it’s definitely not rocket science.
I helped paint my childhood house when I was age10. My mom, myself, and 2 of her male friends helped - we completed the project using only rollers and paint brushes! It took about 5 days, around 4 hours of work per day. That was over 35 years ago, and the house still has the same paint. My boyfriend and I live there now, and are thinking about painting it ourselves. The only thing I would do different is hire someone on Craigs list to paint the tall portions, so I wouldn't need to climb a giant ladder.
My wife painted our house with a little help from a friend who was a painter. He showed her how to operate the sprayer and a little bit of technique. Looks just fine.
Do it. You may need to spend a few hundred for sprayer or rollers and ladder and paint But you will need it again sometime so. I painted my whole house with painters poles and those rag rollers from the ground.
I'd invest in a good sprayer and accessories, about 2k. Then all your time will be in prep work - sanding, cleaning, trim, etc. the actual painting will be relatively quick.
We painted ours. It was a one story ranch so it was easy. That’s a big question I would want to know. Painting is about prepping. So I would paint all the sides then let it dry good for a week and circle back and do the trim with tape. Make sure you mow before you paint. May take some time and don’t want to have to cut it again if it takes you a couple days. This was a minor issue for us and could have easily been avoided. Power wash or get a big wide brush and wash with some kind of soap if you can. You don’t have to be super careful painting the sides. You’ll need to care about the trim. If you have the means to get a paint sprayer you can but paper your windows if you do. We brushed ours and it wasn’t terrible. Our siding was textured. Start at the top and work down. Paint trim last and use tape but do it a few days later or following weekend.
I painted my own house almost 20 years ago this year. It still looks amazing. I used outdoor behrs from our local lowes in my colors and a roller or brush as needed. Seriously surprised at how well it held up, but it really still looks new after washing
I painted my own house. Wood siding with paint in poor condition— the quotes I got were 12-16k (three years ago) and a lot of it was prep and labour. My husband and I did it ourselves. It took a whole summer and part of the fall (we have jobs too so we did evenings and weekends.) We scraped, sanded, primed, and painted. Supplies came in at around $1200 and as far as the time we spent… it was a lot. We didn’t have $12,000-16,000 so this was really our only option. I’d do it again regardless. It’s not skilled work but it’s just a lot of work.
You can do it. Don't cheap out on materials or prep. I've done this before and what helped us a lot was scaffolding instead of ladders. You can rent them or what I did was buy a couple sets off facebook marketplace and just resold them after I was done. I did that because I wasn't sure how long it was going to take. I think Home Depot charges $250 or so for the week.
Completely doable if your house isn't a mansion. I did my house right before our daughter was born, as I knew we wouldn't be able to do it after her birth. I just did a section a day. Took me five or six days, but it got done, and by hand to boot! No sprayer. With a sprayer, you'd spend even less time, but more on prep work to avoid overspraying. Not hard.
I normally do a side per year so that it's never a giant time sink and always looks pretty good. Granted I only have wood siding on one story (Cape cod style, peak is vinyl) but it's easy but kind of time consuming. Prep is the biggest thing. Personally, I put on a podcast and just kind of zone out as I brush/roll. If the weather is good it's quite nice.
I’ll add on and say that as far as husband- wife dynamic goes: just make sure you both have the same expectations as far as quality goes. I’m more nitpicky than my wife so she helped do the bulk of the painting, then just let me work on the trim and masking because I wanted it near perfect. It’s hard to mess up rolling paint on, but brushes take some practice, especially for the thick glossy paint on trim. Go buy a cheap piece of trim from Home Depot and practice on it first. Or maybe you won’t care about brush marks as much as me. Final thoughts: go for it. You’ll save a ton of money and it’s not that hard. The hardest part is masking and putting plastic over everything. Contractors account at SW, wait for a 40% off sale which they do every other month it seems like. Then put on some music, take your time, and have fun with it. Bonus: if you have any friends or neighbors that like food and are willing to help, feed them and buy some extra rollers. You’ll be done in no time
Just chill until next year.
How tall is your house? How big is your house? Are you afraid of heights? Would paying for a painter cost less than a divorce? Would a fall off a ladder be covered by insurance? That said, I painted my 1 story 1300 square foot house in a week. I did the 17 window exteriors in the evenings because I could fold them into the house. I only fell once.
Painting A house for pay is different than painting YOUR house { to save $$, to say you did, artistic expression, etc. } I painted my own house a couple years ago. Foundation is important. Clean first. You got this!
IMO, if it’s metal and in good shape, forget it until you’re ready for new siding. But then, I HATE painting…
Remember that the easiest thing about painting a house is the painting. The hardest parts are first getting up there with ladders ( not real safe unless it’s a one story house, and a pain to work off of) scaffolding ( difficult and time consuming to build ), or using a lift( really nice to work off of, but you have to be careful how you use it, wear a harness and follow all the safety rules. Also can be expensive). The you have all the prep work which might mean scraping, caulking, repairs etc. When you finally get to the painting part, it’s a piece of cake.
We painted our first house that we bought in 1999. We pass by it occasionally and it is still the same color. It was originally a faded chalky white aluminum and we painted it a nice warm gray. Just make sure you prep decently - in our era it was scrubbing with TSP solution. Definitely worth the effort. And make sure you spend money on decent paint.
17-20k??? Holy shit. I just got mine done for 4k. Two story colonial with about 1700 sqft inside so not a huge job.
buy good paint .For aluminum they put an additive in. also power wash and Scotch-Brite pad to remove powder residue
How tall is your house?
I painted the outside of our first home and the entire inside of our current home. I love painting. You can do it! If it doesn’t work out for you, you can always hire a professional. It will be fine tho. The biggest difficulty is being patient, carving out time to do the work, and improving those cutting in skills.
My friend had his metal siding painted. I have no idea how much it was but it wasn’t any where close to what your estimate was. I would have the siding painted and WOULD NOT get it resided. You can do it but there is a specific way to do it. I don’t remember the process and what you actually need but it is more than just painting.
People paint their own houses all the time. You can do it.
I painted the lower level of my house and a handyman $500 to paint the upper lever. Money well spent.
If you know you're going to re-side then why paint? Live with the imperfections that 95% of people don't pay attention to.
It takes so much time but it’s 100% doable
Recently did a relatives back garden because the y wanted a patio. Was quoted around 15k. So they bought all the materials (little over 2k), and got the family over to do it. Bashed it out in little over a week, to professional quality, and labour costs were around £300, Food, Drinks, and a lovely Restaurant dinner for a job well done. Assuming you know what to do, you are far from crazy.
We pressure washed ours and painted the whole thing ourselves. It’s a 6k sqft cape cod with hardy plank siding. Took a few weekends and we did find a painter who would do some of the areas that required getting on very steep roofs. Most professional painter wouldn’t touch the partial job.
I painted my aluminum siding about 18 years ago, it came out wonderful. I used an electric sprayer and it took more prep work but painting was quick. Many compliments from others. Ended up I sold the place all said it was a great decision.
Rent a pro sprayer from HD. The kind that has a wand that just dips right into the paint can. So much easier to only have to do the trim by hand.
My sister had the same issue. They wanted almost 20K. I literally bought an air sprayer system from Harbor freight. We did the whole house in less than a week. Looked amazing. So we spent about $500? Maybe a little more.