If you are looking to paint your home, or have any home improvement project completed, during slow economic times, you can save a significant amount of money. Many service companies and contractors are impacted substantially when consumer spending is down, and when people are watching their discretionary income more closely, non-essential expenses such as painting a bedroom or applying a faux finish to the kitchen are typically things that are put on the back burner for a better day.
When demand for these services is down, labor costs also drop quite a bit. As a consumer, you can take advantage of the down economy to negotiate a better price for your project because many painting contractors need the work right now. Sure, it is a catch 22 because many people do not feel comfortable spending money on these services at the same time. But if you have work that needs to be done, and have the funds set aside to do the work, then there probably has never been a better time to take advantage of the situation. Many of our members have suggested that they have dropped prices as much as 40% just to keep their paint crews working, all but eliminating any gross margin on the jobs.
If you are looking for an interior painting project in the northern United States during the winter, for example, you may be able to secure a terrific deal on your painting project, especially if you are flexible as to when you would like the work to be done. Contractors in cold weather climates are limited to indoor only work this time of year, and with those prospects being less frequent, there is a good chance that you can find an outstanding painting contractor willing to do your project during a time when his or her crew would otherwise be down. Many times, the contractor will take the project at cost just to keep the crew busy during that time.
Of course, there is more risk involved during down economic times as there are many more shady and fraudulent contractors out there looking for an easy payday. We’ve recently posted an ad on Craigslist looking for someone to help with an interior painting project. Literally within minutes of the post being available for people to see, we had over 50 emails asking to do the work for us. We pursued these emails and found that 24 out of 53 - almost 50% – were what we would classify as high risk contractors. These painters used fictitious names or asked for 100% of the money up front (Ed. note – one wanted the funds sent via Western Union immediately – please NEVER send money via Western Union to someone you do not know personally). We also had several emails from people that didn’t have much or any painting experience, but the economic climate recently forced them out of a job and they were willing to do the work to help make ends meet, which is an unfortunate situation in its own right.
Of those emails that we would classify as worth pursuing, we had price quotes ranging from $200 to $4,000 to paint the perimeter of an unfinished 2,500 square foot basement. Many of these prices that came in included notes from the owner indicating that they just wanted to keep their crew working and there was no profit in it for them. I know from my own experience which of these people were likely telling me the truth and which were likely just using that as a line they hoped I would believe. Bottom line… during these times, it is even more important to work with a trusted resource to help you find legitimate contractors. Craigslist is great for finding a used sofa for a college student to take off to their apartment, but I think there is a high risk in using services such as that for finding home improvement professionals. Considering a service such as HousePaintingEstimates.com is completely free to you to use, there is no justification in risking your money and your project with anyone else.
In summary, now is a great time to do that home improvement project that you have been putting off, as long as you take the necessary precautions to protect yourself from potential scam artists. If you want to find free painting estimates from a trustworthy resource, you are sure to find a great project price from a trusted painting contractor – all while doing your part to help get the economy back on its feet.
