Is there any one who paints professionally? I want to know typically how much you would charge, as I have a few side jobs lined up. I am not at all in the industry so I have no idea how much to charge.
Last summer I painted a barn, it was about 35ish by 20 and I got paid $600. It was two story high old boards. No scraping.
The same guy wants me to paint his other barn which is about 40x60, pictures below. He is giving me a grand to do that. One coat of sherwin williams stain, brushed on. He doesnt want it sprayed…
Seems like a good deal to me, thoughts? I figure it will take me 3 or 4 solid days…
Also, how much would a regular 2 story house be approx? scraping vs non…
Thanks
I’d roll and back brush it. A $1000 isn’t too terrible if you can bust it out in 4 days. Exteriors I shoot for $25 / hour. Keep in mind you’re going to have a fuck of a time getting a ladder up to the sides with the windows. Theres a ton of shrubs and uneven terrain to deal with. That’s going to chew up a ton of hours.
Is it water based or oil based stain? Have you powerwashed the barn yet? Is $1000 including the cost of the stain or is that your labor pay?
As far as a “regular” 2 story house, I’d still shoot for $25 / hr for the scraping, priming, and painting.
No, the guy buys the stain and no power washing. The last time there was a little mildew so he sprayed a bleach/water combo on it a few days before I painted, but this was just built last summer, and it looks pretty good. what exactly is the purpose of power washing?
I dont understand how it will be hard to paint where the windows are, unless you mean all the way down the sides?
I think rolling it will be a little of a pita because of the texture of the t1-11, especially with the grooves, and he is paying and he wants it brushed… I have a pretty decent system from the last time that doesnt leave a horizontal dry edge
And as for the uneven terrain, I figured I would shovel out a flat spot then put a 2x10 down to set the ladder on.
one last thing, lol. I have to ‘bid’ on it and agree to a final price before work starts. Which is nice in a way, but I almost lost the job because someone else put a bid on it, but I guess it was a little higher than mine, plus the guy already knows my work ethic and painting skilz. I just hate doing it that way because I have no idea where to price it. I dont want to shoot myself in the foot and unknowingly low ball. and I don’t want to lose the job because I went too high. Initially I started at 1200 and he said he would let me know. I called back a week later and he asked if I could do it for a grand. Of course I hesitated a little to make sure I don’t sound overly eager.
Hopefully I can bust it out in 3 or 4 days, as I am on vacation that week and have to move out of my apt and into another one as soon as that’s done.
thanks for the input btw…
powerwashing cleans the dirt, etc off the building. more importantly it helps remove the grayed wood, which is dead wood fibers on the surface. what’s the point of staining dead wood fibers ya know. but since its just a barn the guy probably doesn’t care.
from the pictures it looks like the ground is very uneven and will make for a pita to set up the ladders on a sound surface, must be just the pics.
if you’re setting up 2 ladders with a plank between you bet ur ass i’d roll and back brush. roll out a section 4’x4’ with a super thick napped roller, then quickly run your brush over it and move on. you dip the roller twice as opposed to a brush 8 times.
you know how fast you can work so as long as you’re making a decent hourly wage with $1000, then do it.
it will only be one ladder leaned against the building. I can paint about 4’ away from the ladder, so I do that for a foot or two high then move down then slide the ladder over and do it again. It does sound really sketchy using 2 ladders with the plank inbetween, I wouldnt try that on this job, lol.
Got started saturday. I had like 10 sq feet painted at the top and they decided to change colors, so I didnt actually start this until 11:30, took about 45 mins for lunch and stopped at 630ish. I also had to stop a few times for rain.
not bad for 6.5 hours of work I suppose.
edit: picture was taken with my cell phone too, not bad quality for a cell phone
lol, why ya using a drop cloth? looks good, thats a bitch about the color change, you can see where you went over it. oh well, not ur fault.
drop cloth is to protect the concrete pad right outside the door and I stick it up underneath the bottom the t111 to cover the rock wall.
The bastard wants me to do a second coat because once it drys it leaves a few white spots here and there from the paint gaping a low spot then it pops leaving no paint. any ideas how to prevent that? possibly shorter bristles?
roll and back brush 
you should read the can, most stains can’t be double coated because they’ll get shiny as hell.
damnit, you are wrong about the double coat, I was hoping I could get away with it.
from the can:
A second coat will uniform appearance
I was thinking about rolling and back brushing, but idk how I can do that atop a 25’ ladder with out making a mess or wasting a lot of paint and time
got the second half done today, it is spotty as hell. I am going to have to paint it again. I figure I need to charge, as the last barn I did for him was only one coat, so thats the base line ya know.
I am thinking 150/side is fair as its 250 for the first go around
how much are you makin an hour?
break it down hourly, see if you’re making more than mexican wages. that’ll tell you if it was worth it.
well I am like ten or eleven hours into it and I have the one side done. so thats 22-25/hour. And I am fine with that, I just dont know what to do about it needing the second coat.
Do I paint it again out of the goodness of my heart or do I try to get him to pay me more? Its not like I am doing a shitty job, its the paint gaping the t111. I am going to bring a roller tomorrow. I should be able to reach it pretty well along the sides, but the ends its too tall.