What's a house painter worth?

[saluki9]

Around Chicago it runs about $40 and hour for a decent interior painter. I've seen people pay a lot more than that without getting much better results.

 

[lswswein]

A question Nords - Do you have liability insurance in case they decide to sue you? Once they pay you, they might have expectations about the work too...

-h

 

[eridanus]

I paid $37/hour for a painter and her assistant (aka, her daughter on summer vacation). I bought the paint, caulk, and tape.

 

[Zipper]

I do other stuff and take cash only.

 

[Westernskies]

Have built from the ground up, and/or added onto, or extensively remodeled three different homes, probably did 80%-90%% of the work on both. Footings to roofing, the only thing I contracted out was the plumbing- (it's a $hi++y job no matter how much you can save), and the carpeting, because I didn't have the specialized tools or the desire to learn that skill.

Made ~130K on the first one, ~160 K on the second and ~180K on the third. Some of that was market appreciation, but most of it was sweat equity. Either way, the labor investment definitely helped put me in a position to ER.

I work a white-collar job and travel a lot on business. I did all the planning and pre-built all three houses in my mind while sitting on long airline flights. (a better ROI than the in-flight movie) Having a mentally challenging, physical labor project to look forward to when I return really helps me unwind. I know a lot of people can't fathom roofing, wiring, or framing as relaxation (my ex-wife would be at the top of that list) but I really look forward to strapping on a tool belt on the weekends. Part of it is learning new skills, (welding, wiring, etc)
but the biggest part of it is the mental aspect- it is a completely different kind of work than what I do for a living. Vacations?-I can't imagine taking a cruise or just sitting on the beach- I would be bored out of my mind and probably end up working in the ship's engine room or driving the bulldozer grading the beach...

Gotta go, I have roof trusses to order for a garage addition on the mountain cabin.

 

[Martha]

I wish Nords was my neighbor.

 

[MikeD]

Don't Know Why

My father always told us that it didn't matter what we did for a living as long as we were happy. He would say, you can even be a garbageman. Anything, as long as it's not a house painter.

Mike D.

 

[FreeAtLast]

I had the inside and outside painted about 4 years ago and was charged about $3500. They just bid most of the job incuding materials so I did not know what they were actually being paid.

Two men were here for the better part of two weeks. I think there was some extra charge for replacing some small sections of sheet rock and removing wall paper in a small bathroom.

I had painted the exterior of my home a few years earlier and just the paint and other things that I bought for the job were close to $1000 at Home Depot. I think I went through 45 gallons of paint.

My painting days are over. I am happy to delegate the task.

 

[HFWR]

Have built from the ground up, and/or added onto, or extensively remodeled three different homes, probably did 80%-90%% of the work on both. Footings to roofing, the only thing I contracted out was the plumbing- (it's a $hi++y job no matter how much you can save), and the carpeting, because I didn't have the specialized tools or the desire to learn that skill.

New plumbing is a breeze. Old plumbing, however... At the end of the day, dirt and grime from head to toe.

 

[Khan]

I pay my neighbor to do yard/garden work and some exterior house stuff. He enjoys working, he can use the money, he has the tools, and he knows his limitations.

I will not have him do stuff that has a risk of physical harm (2nd story gutters).

 

[Nords]

The same logic applies to changing your oil, fixing your car, mowing your grass, etc. Inadequate tools and low productivity levels have made outsourcing these tasks to specialized labor "efficient" for many consumers.

My problem is the hassle factor-- either getting someone to come out for an estimate (let alone to do the work) or the delay. If you go to [-]Jiffy Lube[/-]their place, by the time you've driven back & forth and enjoyed their waiting-room coffee you would've been done an hour ago.

We spend a lot of time trying to reduce the number of times we need to change the oil, fix the car, mow the grass, and so on. Our teenager has caught on to this gambit, however, and I'm afraid she's going to move out as soon as she can.

My time is DEFINITELY worth more than $25 an hour. Anyone want to come paint my house

The catch is that pesky "work" concept. See, you only get paid as long as you keep your job. In ER I get the same direct deposit in my account every month whether I feel like working or not!

My father-in-law feels that his time is worthless, so he'll spend hours on drudgery that no contractor would ever touch. OTOH his attitude pays off in searching for lost objects, tracking down the source of the ant trail, researching questions on the Internet, looking for leaky water faucets, and so on.

A question Nords - Do you have liability insurance in case they decide to sue you? Once they pay you, they might have expectations about the work too...

We carry an umbrella liability policy on our gross worth, and I offer to keep at the job until I get it right. I don't tackle anything I can't handle. Or at least think I can handle.

I once practically field-stripped their electric oven to "fix" a problem with the self-cleaning latch, only to discover on reassembly/test that the housecleaner had switched two knobs. So I know they have a sense of humor.

I wish Nords was my neighbor.

Well, I could come up during the summer to do a few jobs-- I forget, is that the 16th or the 18th of August?

I've lost every "winterizing" skill that I ever had...

 

[Marquette]

Having a mentally challenging, physical labor project to look forward to when I return really helps me unwind.
....
Vacations?-I can't imagine taking a cruise or just sitting on the beach- I would be bored out of my mind and probably end up working in the ship's engine room or driving the bulldozer grading the beach...

I often joke that I want a big yard, a pile of dirt, and a Bobcat when I retire. I'll go out in the morning and move the dirt from one side of the yard to the other. Then I'll go out the next morning and moving it back... it's just like my current job but I'll feel like I actually accomplished something at the end of the day.

I love painting. It lets my mind wander to other places, gives me a solid task to do, and I know when I'm done. I don't need to tape off any more but I still don't trust myself to work without a dropcloth (don't need it for splatters, but you never know when you or the dog is going to step in the paint tray). It's helped that my wife is color-choice challenged. I painted some walls in our bedroom 13 times and did the whole interior twice (including learning how to skim coat to fix bad drywall).

 

[harley]

A painter had won the contract for a large tract of homes. Half way through the project he realized he had underestimated. In an effort to remain solvent he resorted to thinning his paint.​

Months later while asleep, he was tossing and turning. In a vision an angel came to him.​

"What do you want of me?" asked the painter.The angel's only reply was, "repaint you thinner."​

 

[Khan]

A painter had won the contract for a large tract of homes. Half way through the project he realized he had underestimated. In an effort to remain solvent he resorted to thinning his paint.​

Months later while asleep, he was tossing and turning. In a vision an angel came to him.​

"What do you want of me?" asked the painter.The angel's only reply was, "repaint you thinner."​

Repaint, and thin no more.

 

[harley]

I always screw up the punch line

 

[Marquette]

Well, I could come up during the summer to do a few jobs-- I forget, is that the 16th or the 18th of August?

I've lost every "winterizing" skill that I ever had...

Nords, you wouldn't even know you weren't in Hawaii right now... 70s-80's with steady tradewinds from the west and a heck of a lot of blue water off starboard.

Oh, but it does get down in the 50's at night by Martha. Bring a jacket for the luau.

 

[HFWR]

I'll do the thinnin' around here...

 

[laurence]

Help me out here- I have never been able to figure out this line of thought-

Let's say it takes 40 hours for the painting. Nords would charge me $25/hr for it. If I do the job myself, I save $1000 . (Real money that I didn't have to take out of my ER account and put into Nord's ER account.)

If I operate under the premise that my time is worth more than that, then I will pay Nords $1000 to have him paint the house for me while I eat Cheetos and watch the Playboy Channel. Did I actually earn that $1000 during the time he took to paint the house? NO-I wasn't earning any offsetting amount while Nords was painting for me. So how can my time be worth more than what Nords is charging me to paint?

I have heard a similar analogy that say Bill Gates can't afford to stop and pick up a $100 bill on the sidewalk. because he makes a so many millions per hour...

Although I well-compensated in my professional career, a lot of what I have today I made working in my "free" time- building, remodeling, and general sweat equity. My net worth is a couple of million, but I have always enjoyed doing a the concrete, framing, roofing, siding, electrical and drywall on my projects. If I had tried to put a fair-market dollar value on these tasks and contracted all of them out at those prices, my net worth today would be substantially less. Not spending the money for tasks I can do myself is the key for me. Every hour I am not paying someone else is, in essence, money I am paying myself. So for me, the net effect is more than double the hypothetical $25.00- I figure the boost in equity at a minimum of $25.00 (or I wouldn't be doing it in the first place) and add the $25 that I earned working somewhere else that I didn't have to spend on the project.

Anyone else use the same logic on pricing their sweat equity?

We use that logic for DW, not for me. DW has a consulting business, and can always run the ATM machine that looks just like a laptop - she has more work than she knows what to do with.

I'm salaried, so last week I was on vacation and I painted, hung cabinets, refinished the play structure, cleared brush, fixed sprinklers, trenched....

 

[Westernskies]

I often joke that I want a big yard, a pile of dirt, and a Bobcat when I retire. I'll go out in the morning and move the dirt from one side of the yard to the other. Then I'll go out the next morning and moving it back... it's just like my current job but I'll feel like I actually accomplished something at the end of the day.

I love painting. It lets my mind wander to other places, gives me a solid task to do, and I know when I'm done. I don't need to tape off any more but I still don't trust myself to work without a dropcloth (don't need it for splatters, but you never know when you or the dog is going to step in the paint tray). It's helped that my wife is color-choice challenged. I painted some walls in our bedroom 13 times and did the whole interior twice (including learning how to skim coat to fix bad drywall).

I used to own a Bobcat.. with a backhoe attachment- and 130' of lakefront property I was building on in Eastern Washington that needed a lot of dirt moved....almost every weekend...It was better than sex, which probably explains the subsequent divorce....