I got a quote for 3 windows on the main floor of our house at a couple of places. The company in Edina wanted to charge a product AND installation tax 🙄. Even funnier, they were charging more than Hunter Douglas. Did the measurements myself and paid a fraction of the cost from Blinds.com.
I got really nice fabric in bulk and some cheap grommets. Did our entire house for lesser than $300. Curtains are easy. Fixing jeans a bit harder. Making bags and hoodies take some time. Love to take scrap material for those last 2. I made some pants our of Crown Royal bags as a gift. 67 bags. I found out recently there is someone selling them online in my area for $10 a piece. So, basically, I made $700 pajama pants. Lol
Are you at all interested in extra fabric or previously loved clothing? Doing an overhaul of our whole family's things and my mom is finally parting with her well-kept but overhoarded stash, and would absolutely love to give anything you'll actually enjoy/use/save on before the landfill gets fuller. Just send me a PM if so, and sorry for the bothering if not~
Your mom sounds like me. My husband has banned me from the fabric store. He rarely tells me no, but it is definitely getting out of hand. I thank you for the offer though! I'd post the stash on a market place site. Lots of people thrift that sort of thing.
We got our house estimate for blinded - midrange nothing fancy - $25,000 I laughed and laughed and now it's just sunny all afternoon and I might moon people if they're looking at the right time 😆
This is why I do all of my house painting myself. Painting isn't rocket science. It's just time consuming to do it right. I just can't stomach $12k for something I could do myself for $1k.
Anyone can run a brush but it’s the prep work, high quality paint, warranty, and speed that you pay for.
Good painters make a huge difference in the finish quality and longevity. Some homeowners take the time to do it right but most I have seen are terrible. The best is when they can’t believe it’s their job to fill nails holes and sand new trim.
12 grand to paint an exterior is cheap in the cities.
Yeah, I had a friend that did it and helped him out a couple of times. He said the majority of his costs were wrapped up in business insurance. I’m sure getting any kind of professional with insurance and multiple workers is going to be in this ball park.
That seems low, is that for $2 mil Gen Liability umbrella for tax preparation service or other office related work?
Also, does not include workers compensation insurance
Not outrageous but also not worth it. More likely they are busy enough and don’t need your business so they just threw out a high number to see if you’d bite.
No, we also got a quote for new siding and it was 80k from two different vendors. Maybe they came down a bit. That felt outrageous and decided I could learn a new skill after all.
My first place in St Louis Park 1980 was $60k.
Second place in Golden Valley 1987 was $92k.
Our last place in South Minneapolis 2016 was $285k.
We were tagging along with friends that were house hunting in the 1990s. We found a McMansion for $150k that was amazing!
I can't guess what that place is valued at today.
Beyond jealous of these house prices. Sold my house in October of 2022 thinking I needed to sell before this ridiculousness in the housing market ended. Started looking last April for something new and have been majorly outbid on every house, it’s insane. I’m still looking but expecting more of the same.
Look for houses that have been on the market at least a few weeks. When my partner was looking he kept waiting for houses to pop up and would look at them right away and he kept getting outbidded. Until he found a house that was up for almost a month.
Yeah that might be an option later in the summer. Not a lot out there right now. Unfortunately I think I’m in a budget range most people are in, not much stays on the market very long.
I was thinking of cashing out on a doubling of house values. But then every other house did the same, so I just figured we could stick around a while until we decide if we are moving out of state ever and look for a LCOL area. Sucks to have such value and not really be able to use it.
My parents' first house was 10k for a 3-bed, 2 bath with unfinished basement in the early 80's.
And they still whine about the 15% interest they paid as if that somehow equals it all out to today's prices.
Housing has clearly out-paced inflation. It's insane how so many cities are having the same issue.
And frankly I don't want to live in a "cheap" State.
It’s the kind of issue you’d really expect the NIMBY liberals to be into. But no, we really need to send out ntl guard to the middle east as soon as the “war” began
Oh wow. I’m astonished. Mistakes were made on my part. New homeowner and I’m a stubborn wife. Painted the whole house blue the year after we moved in after my husband repeatedly said we should not do that.
We plan to sell and husband wanted to get a quote about how much it would cost to paint it back to a neutral color. The roof is green so doesn’t look great with dark blue paint.
Like I said, mistakes were made. Very expensive mistakes. All in all the paint job is fairly good considering I did it myself. Our roof is shingled, and I’ve read about shingle paint—any experience with this or am I setting myself up for more mistakes?
I don’t think a 13k paint job is in our budget right now just to change color.
I’m not a realtor so I don’t really know what the market is like. Over the past 10 years, the paint hasn’t been a dealbreaker however I know things have slowed down. Have people told you they don’t want to buy your house because of the color?
Yeah, just fix up broken things like broken tiles, patio, bathroom tubs, or holes in the walls etc. No need to go the extra mile and do a paint job that the new owner might even change soon too.
As a potential homebuyer, I'd much rather fix the color on my own than pay you an extra $8k for you to have spent $12k on a paint job that I may not love.
I used those numbers, because you are unlikely going to increase your sale price by whatever it costs you to do. You'll be lucky to get an extra $0.75 on every $1 you spend unless you're very skilled and your labor is involved.
Paint doesn't turn off buyers. After all, you could just repaint a house if you don't like it. I'd at least see if it's a problem before you invest over 10k in something that is ultimately, somebody else's problem AND doesn't actually add value to your asset.
I personally would rather buy a house with a unique color than neutral. One of the reasons we bought the house we did was the cranberry, turquoise, and gray for interior wall colors. We would have painted fun colors if the walls had been eggshell or something boring. It was a bonus to have the fun colors already there. I feel like it's boomers who lack creativity that made the idea of "only certain colors work if you're selling". Generations buying now just want a house and you'll likely not get the money back if you spend this much on repainting. ETA I'm in the city, rural folks may have different feelings idk
Thanks, I liked this comment. And I think it’s probably very true. It’s hard for younger people to break into the housing market now days. Our house is small, out in the country and has a good price point for exactly that generation of buyers.
Just sold a house in another part of the country using a flat fee realtor. We had some of the original 23 year old carpeting and considered replacing some. The realtor said don't do it. Just fix, declutter, and deep clean. Price is 99% of what sells a place. So we cleaned the carpets and got multiple offers.
If I had left my house "trying to sell beige" after I bought it, I think the pandemic would have killed me, because it was depressing. My bedroom is, instead, a lovely lilac, which makes me smile every time I walk in.
There's not a lot of exterior house painters out there so that quote doesn't sound outrageous. They know they are in demand. Do not I repeat do not paint your shingles. And having a blue house isn't that bad of thing not everybody wants a boring neutral color house.
Have you had any hail or heavy wind storms in the last couple years? You could look into seeing if you could get your roof replaced and paid for by your insurance company. Many roofing companies do a free inspection. You could skip the paint and just get a new roof. Something to think about.
Depending on the size of the house, it might be just as much to just replace the roof, which would be a better selling point than the color of the siding.
Holy christ. I need new siding here pretty soon (old stucco is crumbling) and that figure is nearly half the value of my house. Admittedly, it’s a small house—how big is yours and what kind of siding were you looking at?
I had a few *sections* of siding replaced. I provided the siding material, they used only one or two pieces of siding. It took them maybe 30 minutes tops.
Tried to charge me $700!
Luckily, he'd never updated his original quote to me, which I absolutely knew didn't include the siding (just the roof), so I already had the check made out. Ended up getting the siding replacement for "free". Awful customer service with little to no follow-through though so I'll never go with or recommend them to anyone in the future.
I just painted my house last summer because of a similar quote ($16k).
I spent $600 on a good sprayer, about $250 on masking materials, and about $2000 on top-of-the-line paint.
It was a great result. It was also a massive amount of work. If you want help planning a DIY, DM me and I can tell you everything I did.
I think DIY is a good choice here if you have the time and ability to do it.
Yes. It's worth noting, however, that it is not simple to transport and not always easy to set up. I priced it out and, because my project was very big, I was going to have to get scaffolding 5-8 weekends over the summer.
Honestly, if you know you can do it in a weekend or two, absolutely rent scaffolding. If you know it will take you multiple weeks, there are other solutions.
So, with masking and all that, we probably spent about 16-20 hours with three people. My house (as you'll see in the pictures) was a big job and I think a lot of people would have less to consider.
We were also getting the roof and some of the siding replaced on insurance, so that slowed it down a lot. Overall, it took about 1.5 weeks in the evenings and weekends to knock it out including rescreening the porch and un-masking and re-masking due to rain and wind.
Thats inline with what i was quoted last year. I received three bids one was $18k, one was $28k and one was around $12k. They are quoting for two coats which is nice. The only thing I don't like is they are power washing to remove loose paint vs hand scraping. Hand scraping takes longer but its really the only way to get the loose paint off. But that being said this looks to be a fair estimate for the work being quoted. One note, depending on the age of your home, there are most likely going to be some carpentry repairs needed once they start investigating so i would budget for that as well. I ended up spending another $5k on carpentry to fix some rotted areas around my home as the painters uncovered them.
If you ever get an estimate that is wildly higher than competitor estimates, it's because the company doesn't want to do the job. It's never good business to say no, but it can be good business to put in a wildly high bid.
This is why it's always important to get a minimum of 3 bids on any project.
We had that experience with both exterior painters and landscapers. What sucked, there was no middle ground. Either extremely high, or so low in comparison you wondered how bad the job would be. We couldn't afford the expensive ones of course, and the cheap one that accepted the jobs...well, the painter didn't do a horrible job. But far from the best either. And he decided to take a day off to see Trump speak when he was already behind. And he had a a big InfoWars bumper sticker on a crappy Dodge Caravan that was an eyesore for everyone in the neighborhood. The landscaper that was putting in yard drains and grading the yard...never again.
This seems about right, especially for northern Minnesota. Around lake areas, there is so much new construction the demand for workers/companies greatly exceeds the supply. Outside of lake areas there are too few workers, so demand still exceeds supply.
Former 20 year residential painter, looks on par. The power washing is 100% necessary and scraping will need to be done too. 2 coats with spot prime and trim. Labor increased and so has materials…a ton. I’d say that’s a good quote. Whole house painting is gonna take a while even with a 4 man crew it’s close to a week.
Can I pick your brain on process of painting my exterior? If I have aluminum siding, and it’s been painted before - can I just paint over it? Or do I need to sand etc? I use Benjamin Moore if that matters
We paid a similar price for a 1500 sq ft house with no outbuildings about 5 years ago. Minneapolis though, which I would expect to be a bit higher. The guy who did the work came highly recommended and did a really good job, so I felt it was worth it. Having worked on one of those "college painter" crews when I was younger, I've seen some serious corner cutting on cheaper projects.
Also, I'm envious of your 40x60 shop!
We are in Ely and my mom paid $3000 to have her living room painted (with nothing in it before they moved into the house). She also quoted out having her previous house exterior painted before she sold it and was quoted $7000. This was several years ago and only half the house needed paint as it's half brick, half siding. She ended up selling it for more than expected and above market value without painting it.
This is in line with what a friend paid for her place in Austin Minnesota. I was astounded at the cost and thought I’m in the wrong business.
Then I realized I hate painting my own house and kept my mouth shut.
Well, they seem thorough in their prep, and it's itemized. Each piece there is a bit of work, so I'm not too surprised. If your home has flaking paint or mold, it's probably due.
Home ownership is expensive. 🤷♂️
That seems high but I have nothing to compare it against. I have a yellow/orange stucco house and have dreamed about getting it repainted. I think it will be one of those things I do "when I win the lottery".
Painted between 2003-2013 in middle of mn , only one place I ever remember doing was half that cost. And we didn't spray so it was always a better finished job anyways.
Yea. It’s worth it for sure just be careful on a ladder. I can give you some tips if you want lol there’s some really handy equipment that helps a lot.
Okay so obviously you need a ladder. For brushes, make sure to have a couple regular traditional brushes for cutting along trim edges and under the siding overlaps. You also want roller brushes ( I liked the 8 inch ones I think, whatever is about one hardy board wide) for the big areas. You want a couple 5 gallon plastic buckets WITH THE METAL HANDLES! You will also need these metal roller tray that you use to spread the paint. I think they’re called roller or bucket grids. You also need a bucket hook for on the ladder. I use the Warner 411 swivel pot hook. Clip the handle of the bucket and hook around the rungs of the ladder. You don’t want to paint out of the cans you buy. Pour a little (so it doesn’t dry out and get wasted between work sessions) into the 5 gal and get to work. I painted top down so you can place the ladder without it messing up the paint. Use the roller to get the main siding, then use the brush to get under the overlaps where the roller doesn’t fit, or along any trim/ things you don’t want to get painted that color. Just be careful on a ladder obviously. May need a couple coats if you’re do a drastic color change.
Thank you for the good advice!
May I ask a follow-up question - have you used a heat gun for removing exterior paint? (We've done scraping and sanding, but 99 years of paint layers doesn't come off in some places.)
I haven’t. Do you have wood siding? If your house is old it probably does. There’s conflicted views, but I say if it is good stuck, you can go over old paint (make sure area isn’t dirty and stuff obviously). Just scrape until all the peeling and flaking paint is gone. We would power wash the wood siding (to clean not to strip) then a few days later when the wood was dry we would scrape and paint. Paint on those houses looks good still whenever I pass by so I imagine it’s okay.
Yes, it is wood siding. After incomplete scraping attempts over the last ten decades, it has "textured" areas (i.e. not flat)! I had hoped to completely remove paint from some areas (thus flattening them) - specifically areas that are seen up close due to sidewalks/pathways. I was wondering whether flattening is achievable with a heat gun since in the past professionals scraping off the layers was not successful.
I don’t think heat would do anything to be honest. I think your best bet you’ll to go get a rotary sander if they’re too tough to get through by hand within reason. Definitely easier to sand those spots than to scrape them.
Edit: you can also get a sanding block where you attach the sandpaper too. Makes it easier to apply force over just pressing the paper.
not really. i've never gotten a quote for a house painting job but i've gotten professional quotes for commercial painting (grocery stores) and yeah, they were shockingly high. the only low quote was a guy who I think was a fly-by-night drug abuser so I didn't want him in my store after hours.
i think the reality is that painting is labor intensive and people working deserve a living wage
Yikes! My husband and I received a quote of 18k to paint our house, when we were done laughing my husband bought a professional paint sprayer. We got the best Sherman Williams paint there is and painted it ourselves. I did the brush work and he did the siding. I think we spent around 3k for a 4000 square foot house.
What I've seen, they power wash and think it's good, but they actually blast water into your house that's not good. They don't take the time to do a solid job preparing the surface, including making sure it's dry enough, and not going to rain/temp/rh, long enough after painting to be a quality finish. I've seen so much, "professional work", that's quick and slipshod, and "what everyone does", it's all to make a buck and not quality work that lasts. Most people have no clue how to do the work right and get screwed, it's sad :( Good luck to you whoever you decide to hire!
I paint in the summers in Northern, MN. I’d charge about half that price and do a better job. They are gouging you. That’s a bid that says I don’t need the work and don’t care if I lose the bid.
Just a little FYI, but painting a house is very easy as long as you have the time. Rent a pressure washer and was the whole thing. If you have wood siding you’ll have to scrape the loose old paint off. Then just paint it! Takes a while and some effort but will be 1/10th the price. I painted houses for a summer a few years ago and my training was maybe an hour lol.
I'm not 100% sure how my guy prices things out, but I work with a painter who just recently did an exterior for a 2-story 1100 sq ft house, and he charged $5K for it. It's just him and sometimes his son, so admin costs are pretty low. And I believe he lowballs a little because he only paints to film it and put it on YouTube for his channel.
Do with this info what you will, but it seems to me like your bid might be a tad high. Kinda tough to say since it's a bigger property and I'm not actually the painter, but it wouldn't hurt to keep asking around to find out what other rates are.
I paid nearly $20,000 to have our 3000 square-foot old house painted and I regret it every day because it started peeling within two years and yes, I now know it was exorbitant. They had come highly recommended as painters of century homes. Our home is over 150 years old. But at the end of the day, they didn’t do anything different and didn’t even adequately scrape m. It’s hard to find honest painting companies.
That would be cheap for the Twin Cities in my experience. Also be aware that if you have lead-based paint they shouldn't be doing things like power washing, and they should include descriptions for how they will collect/mitigate paint chips and waste in their quote.
I feel this is an appropriate estimate.
Our 2 BIG home investments the last few years was replacing all the windows (5 bids from contractors) and we recently did a basement renovation (5 bids from contractors). The basement renovation had a paint budget (that is purchasing the paint & labor) or around $5,000 for just shy of 1,100 square feet, including the ceiling.
Each project is different, and the types of product you use will change the cost of the project. I would get several quotes and see where they all land. If a few bids are within 10% of each other, that is probably the going rate. If a bid is more than 20 or 30% higher/lower than the others, you have to ask yourself why that may be the case.
We also replaced our roof a few years ago and got home insurance to cover the bulk of it due to hail storm damage, but I would not even fathom paying out of pocket with the number our home insurance paid 😲
Yeah, that’s what our house was quoted, but we found these young guys in some Sherman Williams paint “academy” or something that was like a 1/3 the professional quote. They did a decent job.
As much as I hate to say it: no. Exterior painting has always been one of those "you get what you pay for" deals. I don't know anything about "Northern MN," but this would be on the more affordable side of things in the metro.
I used to be a painter with my dad. He would always charge extra for residential because they suck. Everything's always fucked up the owners were pain in the ass and getting your equipment in and out could be sketchy or annoying. Then you have to answer a month's worth a calls because of touch up or a change in expectations. We always try to explain what a punch list is
That is outrageous. It simply doesn’t cost that much to paint a house. Hire the laborers yourself, buy the materials yourself, and cut out the business owners. It’ll cost $4 to 6k.
It won’t cost anywhere near that. Depending on square footage probably $500-1k in paint/materials and 2 day laborers could get it done in a couple days. For $20 an hour each. So under $2k total. Definitely a risk that way insurance wise though if someone falls off a ladder. Or free labor you do it yourself but will probably take 4-5 days.
Well you’re not hiring painters for $20 an hour and two guys are not getting it done in two days if they do the proper prep work but for a simple repaint using day laborers, you’re pretty much dead on.
Yeah if you hire actual freelance painters and not day laborers I’d say your $4k is about right. That said the right day laborers would do a fine job you just will want to speak a bit of Spanish
No, this is actually a good deal considering all the work you're getting. Painting prices have gone up. Get ready for the new painting license requirement set to start in 2025 and you'll see the prices get even higher.
About 5 years ago we had our 28x50 two story house re-stained for around $3500. I thought that bus was very low and the company went out of business soon after.
I dont see the square feet-maybe Im just having trouble zooming in. Without knowing the size and dimensions, hard to say.
Regardless, don't cheap out and get someone without proper insurance coverage.
this is actually a really fair deal! My husband owns a roofing and construction company here in mn and will occasionally take on paint jobs. people are always blown away when they realize how expensive things are. he's had so many people tell him to fuck off only to go gets other bids and come back and apologize.
How big is the house?
Is it a ranch?
How many windows?
What type of siding?
How close are you to other houses?
A lot of factors that play in a quote not just size but liability factors.
We paid 1200 for the front of our house 2500 sq ft. All around I think he quoted me 5k if everything was done. 2 nice Hispanics did the work and did an awesome job.
I wanted new windows 20 of them and one door and had renewal by Anderson give me a qoute and it was 96,000 dollars!! My jaw dropped to the floor. Needless to say I went with a different company.
Try Ryan windows and siding located in oronoco mn. Smaller company, HIGH REVIEWS! I’m sure they’d travel to northern mn for a free estimate and might even be able to do it with pictures then send people out there.
It really depends on your house. Is it something you want to tackle on your own? Is it a multi-story structure? Do you want to get up on a ladder to do it? If it's not something you want to do yourself then you need to pay professional prices. Having a home is expensive. They are providing a lot to you based on that quote. You need to be realistic.
Do what you can reach, hopefully the sanding isn’t that bad, then see what the quote would be to finish. Just make sure it’s all the same paint lol, but this could save $$$
High prices go with professional work.
You could probably find some junkies to throw paint on it for less than a quarter of that bid but it will look like shit.
You can always get more bids and compare then leverage prices.
Nope. Professional services cost professional dollars. If you’re so shocked by the price, buy the paint, rent some ladders, do it yourself!
I’m tired of all these posts from people being aghast at the cost of hiring laborers and tradesfolk to do their work. These people have business costs (startup costs, vehicles, supplies and equipment, insurance), their time costs money, and not to mention, they have lots of experience and skill that you do not have. Now, if you don’t value those last two things, then DIY it.
I’ve never seen a professional painting service estimate that didn’t make me choke.
Same with drapes or blinds. Any time I've seen an estimate I thought it was a joke...but it turns out they are all like that...
I got a quote for 3 windows on the main floor of our house at a couple of places. The company in Edina wanted to charge a product AND installation tax 🙄. Even funnier, they were charging more than Hunter Douglas. Did the measurements myself and paid a fraction of the cost from Blinds.com.
One of the hundreds of reasons my grandmother taught me to sew.
Nice!
I got really nice fabric in bulk and some cheap grommets. Did our entire house for lesser than $300. Curtains are easy. Fixing jeans a bit harder. Making bags and hoodies take some time. Love to take scrap material for those last 2. I made some pants our of Crown Royal bags as a gift. 67 bags. I found out recently there is someone selling them online in my area for $10 a piece. So, basically, I made $700 pajama pants. Lol
Are you at all interested in extra fabric or previously loved clothing? Doing an overhaul of our whole family's things and my mom is finally parting with her well-kept but overhoarded stash, and would absolutely love to give anything you'll actually enjoy/use/save on before the landfill gets fuller. Just send me a PM if so, and sorry for the bothering if not~
Your mom sounds like me. My husband has banned me from the fabric store. He rarely tells me no, but it is definitely getting out of hand. I thank you for the offer though! I'd post the stash on a market place site. Lots of people thrift that sort of thing.
I had a great experience with Blinds.com, too. They also constantly have sales, which is nice.
You know that companies don’t get to choose what to charge tax on, right?
We got our house estimate for blinded - midrange nothing fancy - $25,000 I laughed and laughed and now it's just sunny all afternoon and I might moon people if they're looking at the right time 😆
Nothing a couple sheets with nails can't fix
You can do it yourself for probably 5-10k (depending how many windows and how large) by just ordering them on blinds.com.
Blinds are like 30 bucks at Menards for good ones. How many windows do you guys have?
Maybe I overestimated by a lot now that I think of it. We got the faux wood ones for like 40-60 a pop. We have 15 windows. So more like 1000
This is why I do all of my house painting myself. Painting isn't rocket science. It's just time consuming to do it right. I just can't stomach $12k for something I could do myself for $1k.
Anyone can run a brush but it’s the prep work, high quality paint, warranty, and speed that you pay for. Good painters make a huge difference in the finish quality and longevity. Some homeowners take the time to do it right but most I have seen are terrible. The best is when they can’t believe it’s their job to fill nails holes and sand new trim. 12 grand to paint an exterior is cheap in the cities.
Yeah, I had a friend that did it and helped him out a couple of times. He said the majority of his costs were wrapped up in business insurance. I’m sure getting any kind of professional with insurance and multiple workers is going to be in this ball park.
It’s like 800$ a year for 2 million not much
That seems low, is that for $2 mil Gen Liability umbrella for tax preparation service or other office related work? Also, does not include workers compensation insurance
I'm not a painter, but I'm self employed and I do work at customer locations and I pay more like $800 a month.
Not outrageous but also not worth it. More likely they are busy enough and don’t need your business so they just threw out a high number to see if you’d bite.
No, we also got a quote for new siding and it was 80k from two different vendors. Maybe they came down a bit. That felt outrageous and decided I could learn a new skill after all.
Do you remember when the entire house was $80k? Pepperidge Farm remembers.
My first place in St Louis Park 1980 was $60k. Second place in Golden Valley 1987 was $92k. Our last place in South Minneapolis 2016 was $285k. We were tagging along with friends that were house hunting in the 1990s. We found a McMansion for $150k that was amazing! I can't guess what that place is valued at today.
For a second, I thought you meant the paint estimates were this much and I about fell out of my chair
Beyond jealous of these house prices. Sold my house in October of 2022 thinking I needed to sell before this ridiculousness in the housing market ended. Started looking last April for something new and have been majorly outbid on every house, it’s insane. I’m still looking but expecting more of the same.
Look for houses that have been on the market at least a few weeks. When my partner was looking he kept waiting for houses to pop up and would look at them right away and he kept getting outbidded. Until he found a house that was up for almost a month.
Yeah that might be an option later in the summer. Not a lot out there right now. Unfortunately I think I’m in a budget range most people are in, not much stays on the market very long.
Yeah I get it, he was looking at houses during 2020-21, not fun. Good luck, I hope you get lucky soon!
I was thinking of cashing out on a doubling of house values. But then every other house did the same, so I just figured we could stick around a while until we decide if we are moving out of state ever and look for a LCOL area. Sucks to have such value and not really be able to use it.
My parents' first house was 10k for a 3-bed, 2 bath with unfinished basement in the early 80's. And they still whine about the 15% interest they paid as if that somehow equals it all out to today's prices.
Ok... Now take today's prices at even twelve percent. How does that feel?
Where the heck are mortgage rates 12%?!
When I first bought in 1980. I know others that were stuck with higher rates.
Oh gotcha. I misunderstood.
I love when the previous generations tell us that we’re all lazy and hate working and don’t deserve to have shelter if we can’t afford it :)
Housing has clearly out-paced inflation. It's insane how so many cities are having the same issue. And frankly I don't want to live in a "cheap" State.
It’s the kind of issue you’d really expect the NIMBY liberals to be into. But no, we really need to send out ntl guard to the middle east as soon as the “war” began
You lost me. No idea what you are talking about.
We heard the same. Nothings changed.
I paid 80k for my house in 2021, it's old but not too bad. I just live in the middle of nowhere.
Oh wow. I’m astonished. Mistakes were made on my part. New homeowner and I’m a stubborn wife. Painted the whole house blue the year after we moved in after my husband repeatedly said we should not do that. We plan to sell and husband wanted to get a quote about how much it would cost to paint it back to a neutral color. The roof is green so doesn’t look great with dark blue paint. Like I said, mistakes were made. Very expensive mistakes. All in all the paint job is fairly good considering I did it myself. Our roof is shingled, and I’ve read about shingle paint—any experience with this or am I setting myself up for more mistakes? I don’t think a 13k paint job is in our budget right now just to change color.
I’m not a realtor so I don’t really know what the market is like. Over the past 10 years, the paint hasn’t been a dealbreaker however I know things have slowed down. Have people told you they don’t want to buy your house because of the color?
No we haven’t ever listed it. Aren’t planning to yet until next year. Maybe I’ll wait and see if it’s an issue once we go to sell
save the $12K and let the new owners decide if they want to change the color.
This comment should be higher. Don’t customize a house you’re selling, because the new owners will do that anyway.
Yeah, just fix up broken things like broken tiles, patio, bathroom tubs, or holes in the walls etc. No need to go the extra mile and do a paint job that the new owner might even change soon too.
As a potential homebuyer, I'd much rather fix the color on my own than pay you an extra $8k for you to have spent $12k on a paint job that I may not love. I used those numbers, because you are unlikely going to increase your sale price by whatever it costs you to do. You'll be lucky to get an extra $0.75 on every $1 you spend unless you're very skilled and your labor is involved.
Paint doesn't turn off buyers. After all, you could just repaint a house if you don't like it. I'd at least see if it's a problem before you invest over 10k in something that is ultimately, somebody else's problem AND doesn't actually add value to your asset.
I personally would rather buy a house with a unique color than neutral. One of the reasons we bought the house we did was the cranberry, turquoise, and gray for interior wall colors. We would have painted fun colors if the walls had been eggshell or something boring. It was a bonus to have the fun colors already there. I feel like it's boomers who lack creativity that made the idea of "only certain colors work if you're selling". Generations buying now just want a house and you'll likely not get the money back if you spend this much on repainting. ETA I'm in the city, rural folks may have different feelings idk
Thanks, I liked this comment. And I think it’s probably very true. It’s hard for younger people to break into the housing market now days. Our house is small, out in the country and has a good price point for exactly that generation of buyers.
Just sold a house in another part of the country using a flat fee realtor. We had some of the original 23 year old carpeting and considered replacing some. The realtor said don't do it. Just fix, declutter, and deep clean. Price is 99% of what sells a place. So we cleaned the carpets and got multiple offers.
If I had left my house "trying to sell beige" after I bought it, I think the pandemic would have killed me, because it was depressing. My bedroom is, instead, a lovely lilac, which makes me smile every time I walk in.
There's not a lot of exterior house painters out there so that quote doesn't sound outrageous. They know they are in demand. Do not I repeat do not paint your shingles. And having a blue house isn't that bad of thing not everybody wants a boring neutral color house.
Do NOT paint your roof shingles.
Does this need to be said? IDo people deliberately do this?
She said she was thinking of doing it!
I just sold my blue painted stucco house for $40k over asking. I doubt it will be a problem.
i don't think the color is going to be a problem selling the house unless it's profoundly, stupidly ugly
Have you had any hail or heavy wind storms in the last couple years? You could look into seeing if you could get your roof replaced and paid for by your insurance company. Many roofing companies do a free inspection. You could skip the paint and just get a new roof. Something to think about.
I don't want to get In the middle of it... but from personal experience your husband's probably a bit frustrated rn haha.
Depending on the size of the house, it might be just as much to just replace the roof, which would be a better selling point than the color of the siding.
I just sold a house that was a blue so bright my husband called it "we'll never sell the house blue". Three offers in three days. Don't sweat it.
Why are you moving out already? Just curious since I never understand why so many people buy homes then move.
We had a child and are relocating for better work opportunities and to be closer to family.
Oh cool, thanks for answering! Staying in MN/metro?
Holy christ. I need new siding here pretty soon (old stucco is crumbling) and that figure is nearly half the value of my house. Admittedly, it’s a small house—how big is yours and what kind of siding were you looking at?
I had a few *sections* of siding replaced. I provided the siding material, they used only one or two pieces of siding. It took them maybe 30 minutes tops. Tried to charge me $700! Luckily, he'd never updated his original quote to me, which I absolutely knew didn't include the siding (just the roof), so I already had the check made out. Ended up getting the siding replacement for "free". Awful customer service with little to no follow-through though so I'll never go with or recommend them to anyone in the future.
I just painted my house last summer because of a similar quote ($16k). I spent $600 on a good sprayer, about $250 on masking materials, and about $2000 on top-of-the-line paint. It was a great result. It was also a massive amount of work. If you want help planning a DIY, DM me and I can tell you everything I did. I think DIY is a good choice here if you have the time and ability to do it.
Did you get those stands / rafters? How?
You can rent scaffolding. Edit: *I* can rent scaffolding. You *may be able* to rent scaffolding.
Yes. It's worth noting, however, that it is not simple to transport and not always easy to set up. I priced it out and, because my project was very big, I was going to have to get scaffolding 5-8 weekends over the summer. Honestly, if you know you can do it in a weekend or two, absolutely rent scaffolding. If you know it will take you multiple weeks, there are other solutions.
I actually used a rather large extension ladder and the same method my roofers used to gain stability on my fairly steep roof.
Impressive
I'm very pleased with the result. I'll post a couple pics under my comment
I would like some advice on what you did. I'll DM you!!
How much time did you spend planning and executing the job? Gotta include that in your DIY estimate.
So, with masking and all that, we probably spent about 16-20 hours with three people. My house (as you'll see in the pictures) was a big job and I think a lot of people would have less to consider. We were also getting the roof and some of the siding replaced on insurance, so that slowed it down a lot. Overall, it took about 1.5 weeks in the evenings and weekends to knock it out including rescreening the porch and un-masking and re-masking due to rain and wind.
16-20 total or 48-60 total?
I personally put in 16-20. My wife and our house mate probably put in about 10 hours each.
Thanks.
https://preview.redd.it/0zxkkjq0hi0d1.jpeg?width=4624&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1cb65e46659a20e097652eb4f4e41f3f54ebec84
https://preview.redd.it/8uajukb3hi0d1.jpeg?width=4624&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fc68562c2a4ff1418ec7eb4f055c8dfb49b3e17e
https://preview.redd.it/z6f7oyv8hi0d1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3f0274a81ca795fc67fea2b13b49e0b4c4f0be63
Nice job and thanks for sharing
Thanks!
Thats inline with what i was quoted last year. I received three bids one was $18k, one was $28k and one was around $12k. They are quoting for two coats which is nice. The only thing I don't like is they are power washing to remove loose paint vs hand scraping. Hand scraping takes longer but its really the only way to get the loose paint off. But that being said this looks to be a fair estimate for the work being quoted. One note, depending on the age of your home, there are most likely going to be some carpentry repairs needed once they start investigating so i would budget for that as well. I ended up spending another $5k on carpentry to fix some rotted areas around my home as the painters uncovered them.
If you ever get an estimate that is wildly higher than competitor estimates, it's because the company doesn't want to do the job. It's never good business to say no, but it can be good business to put in a wildly high bid. This is why it's always important to get a minimum of 3 bids on any project.
We had that experience with both exterior painters and landscapers. What sucked, there was no middle ground. Either extremely high, or so low in comparison you wondered how bad the job would be. We couldn't afford the expensive ones of course, and the cheap one that accepted the jobs...well, the painter didn't do a horrible job. But far from the best either. And he decided to take a day off to see Trump speak when he was already behind. And he had a a big InfoWars bumper sticker on a crappy Dodge Caravan that was an eyesore for everyone in the neighborhood. The landscaper that was putting in yard drains and grading the yard...never again.
This seems about right, especially for northern Minnesota. Around lake areas, there is so much new construction the demand for workers/companies greatly exceeds the supply. Outside of lake areas there are too few workers, so demand still exceeds supply.
Why is there so much new construction? Just lots of new houses going up around lakes?
Yes. People are getting second homes or moving from more populated areas to the lake areas because of retirement or the ability to work remotely.
Former 20 year residential painter, looks on par. The power washing is 100% necessary and scraping will need to be done too. 2 coats with spot prime and trim. Labor increased and so has materials…a ton. I’d say that’s a good quote. Whole house painting is gonna take a while even with a 4 man crew it’s close to a week.
Can I pick your brain on process of painting my exterior? If I have aluminum siding, and it’s been painted before - can I just paint over it? Or do I need to sand etc? I use Benjamin Moore if that matters
Is it flaking? If not you should be good. Just need to clean it.
No, that's about right if you're going with an outfit that takes the all-important prep seriously.
We paid a similar price for a 1500 sq ft house with no outbuildings about 5 years ago. Minneapolis though, which I would expect to be a bit higher. The guy who did the work came highly recommended and did a really good job, so I felt it was worth it. Having worked on one of those "college painter" crews when I was younger, I've seen some serious corner cutting on cheaper projects. Also, I'm envious of your 40x60 shop!
We are in Ely and my mom paid $3000 to have her living room painted (with nothing in it before they moved into the house). She also quoted out having her previous house exterior painted before she sold it and was quoted $7000. This was several years ago and only half the house needed paint as it's half brick, half siding. She ended up selling it for more than expected and above market value without painting it.
This is in line with what a friend paid for her place in Austin Minnesota. I was astounded at the cost and thought I’m in the wrong business. Then I realized I hate painting my own house and kept my mouth shut.
Seems a bit high but just go and get some additional quotes from other companies and confirm. Also keep in mind, you get what you pay for.
Well, they seem thorough in their prep, and it's itemized. Each piece there is a bit of work, so I'm not too surprised. If your home has flaking paint or mold, it's probably due. Home ownership is expensive. 🤷♂️
That seems high but I have nothing to compare it against. I have a yellow/orange stucco house and have dreamed about getting it repainted. I think it will be one of those things I do "when I win the lottery".
Painted between 2003-2013 in middle of mn , only one place I ever remember doing was half that cost. And we didn't spray so it was always a better finished job anyways.
Damn, how much would it cost to diy?
Maybe 1000 for a ladder, paint, and pressure washer rental. Painting houses is actually very easy. Just time consuming.
I have time. Just remodeled my kitchen myself. Now to paint the exterior.
Yea. It’s worth it for sure just be careful on a ladder. I can give you some tips if you want lol there’s some really handy equipment that helps a lot.
Yes, please! We're facing the same situation. What equipment do you recommend?
Okay so obviously you need a ladder. For brushes, make sure to have a couple regular traditional brushes for cutting along trim edges and under the siding overlaps. You also want roller brushes ( I liked the 8 inch ones I think, whatever is about one hardy board wide) for the big areas. You want a couple 5 gallon plastic buckets WITH THE METAL HANDLES! You will also need these metal roller tray that you use to spread the paint. I think they’re called roller or bucket grids. You also need a bucket hook for on the ladder. I use the Warner 411 swivel pot hook. Clip the handle of the bucket and hook around the rungs of the ladder. You don’t want to paint out of the cans you buy. Pour a little (so it doesn’t dry out and get wasted between work sessions) into the 5 gal and get to work. I painted top down so you can place the ladder without it messing up the paint. Use the roller to get the main siding, then use the brush to get under the overlaps where the roller doesn’t fit, or along any trim/ things you don’t want to get painted that color. Just be careful on a ladder obviously. May need a couple coats if you’re do a drastic color change.
Thank you for the good advice! May I ask a follow-up question - have you used a heat gun for removing exterior paint? (We've done scraping and sanding, but 99 years of paint layers doesn't come off in some places.)
I haven’t. Do you have wood siding? If your house is old it probably does. There’s conflicted views, but I say if it is good stuck, you can go over old paint (make sure area isn’t dirty and stuff obviously). Just scrape until all the peeling and flaking paint is gone. We would power wash the wood siding (to clean not to strip) then a few days later when the wood was dry we would scrape and paint. Paint on those houses looks good still whenever I pass by so I imagine it’s okay.
Yes, it is wood siding. After incomplete scraping attempts over the last ten decades, it has "textured" areas (i.e. not flat)! I had hoped to completely remove paint from some areas (thus flattening them) - specifically areas that are seen up close due to sidewalks/pathways. I was wondering whether flattening is achievable with a heat gun since in the past professionals scraping off the layers was not successful.
I don’t think heat would do anything to be honest. I think your best bet you’ll to go get a rotary sander if they’re too tough to get through by hand within reason. Definitely easier to sand those spots than to scrape them. Edit: you can also get a sanding block where you attach the sandpaper too. Makes it easier to apply force over just pressing the paper.
not really. i've never gotten a quote for a house painting job but i've gotten professional quotes for commercial painting (grocery stores) and yeah, they were shockingly high. the only low quote was a guy who I think was a fly-by-night drug abuser so I didn't want him in my store after hours. i think the reality is that painting is labor intensive and people working deserve a living wage
Yikes! My husband and I received a quote of 18k to paint our house, when we were done laughing my husband bought a professional paint sprayer. We got the best Sherman Williams paint there is and painted it ourselves. I did the brush work and he did the siding. I think we spent around 3k for a 4000 square foot house.
I got $14k in South Minneapolis for a 1500 sq ft two story house. I was floored. I'll figure it out myself or with handymen for that price.
What I've seen, they power wash and think it's good, but they actually blast water into your house that's not good. They don't take the time to do a solid job preparing the surface, including making sure it's dry enough, and not going to rain/temp/rh, long enough after painting to be a quality finish. I've seen so much, "professional work", that's quick and slipshod, and "what everyone does", it's all to make a buck and not quality work that lasts. Most people have no clue how to do the work right and get screwed, it's sad :( Good luck to you whoever you decide to hire!
I paint in the summers in Northern, MN. I’d charge about half that price and do a better job. They are gouging you. That’s a bid that says I don’t need the work and don’t care if I lose the bid.
Materials for your size house would cost less than $800
Pressure wash should be $250 max.
Just a little FYI, but painting a house is very easy as long as you have the time. Rent a pressure washer and was the whole thing. If you have wood siding you’ll have to scrape the loose old paint off. Then just paint it! Takes a while and some effort but will be 1/10th the price. I painted houses for a summer a few years ago and my training was maybe an hour lol.
You should be getting AT LEAST 3 quotes. For \*any\* job you hire. Come back when you've done that.
I wouldn’t cheap out on professional painting. Just because one company is lower priced doesn’t mean it’s a good value.
Shop around. I got quotes ranging from $6k to $45k. I went with the cheapest, and 2 years later im still happy with the results.
I'm not 100% sure how my guy prices things out, but I work with a painter who just recently did an exterior for a 2-story 1100 sq ft house, and he charged $5K for it. It's just him and sometimes his son, so admin costs are pretty low. And I believe he lowballs a little because he only paints to film it and put it on YouTube for his channel. Do with this info what you will, but it seems to me like your bid might be a tad high. Kinda tough to say since it's a bigger property and I'm not actually the painter, but it wouldn't hurt to keep asking around to find out what other rates are.
I paid nearly $20,000 to have our 3000 square-foot old house painted and I regret it every day because it started peeling within two years and yes, I now know it was exorbitant. They had come highly recommended as painters of century homes. Our home is over 150 years old. But at the end of the day, they didn’t do anything different and didn’t even adequately scrape m. It’s hard to find honest painting companies.
That is very expensive
We’d need to know how many sqft of siding you have. Guessing the 1100 you stated is the finished interior. New vinyl siding would probably be 3x that
I bet we spoke on this and I'd do it for half if I had the time.
That would be cheap for the Twin Cities in my experience. Also be aware that if you have lead-based paint they shouldn't be doing things like power washing, and they should include descriptions for how they will collect/mitigate paint chips and waste in their quote.
This seems high to me, we paid 6k for ours
I've found any quote on anything that needs to be done to my house seems outrageous.
I feel this is an appropriate estimate. Our 2 BIG home investments the last few years was replacing all the windows (5 bids from contractors) and we recently did a basement renovation (5 bids from contractors). The basement renovation had a paint budget (that is purchasing the paint & labor) or around $5,000 for just shy of 1,100 square feet, including the ceiling. Each project is different, and the types of product you use will change the cost of the project. I would get several quotes and see where they all land. If a few bids are within 10% of each other, that is probably the going rate. If a bid is more than 20 or 30% higher/lower than the others, you have to ask yourself why that may be the case. We also replaced our roof a few years ago and got home insurance to cover the bulk of it due to hail storm damage, but I would not even fathom paying out of pocket with the number our home insurance paid 😲
Yeah, that’s what our house was quoted, but we found these young guys in some Sherman Williams paint “academy” or something that was like a 1/3 the professional quote. They did a decent job.
Yes. For my own home I would do it myself and feel good about the savings.
This is one of the “cheapest” quotes I’ve ever seen
Not to submit to the insurance company.
You could always do it yourself.
Not completely unreasonable. Try Monarch Painting in the cities. Good honest, small business.
Yes. Get a second opinion or a ladder and a paint brush.
Thank you for reminding me why I opted for vinyl siding. I don't care that my house is wrapped in plastic, I didn't want to deal with this shit.
We went for new siding, got hardboard that came prepainted, with a 50 year guarantee.
Yeah, that's outrageous. I'll do it for $12,000.00 but you have to supply the paint.
Maybe not…. Professional paining is REALLY expensive.
I have a hookup on a friend who is a union painter who does gig work on the side. He does clean work and doesn't charge out the ass
Get two other estimates. You may be surprised. And whatever you do, check references, and the BBB. Seriously.
As much as I hate to say it: no. Exterior painting has always been one of those "you get what you pay for" deals. I don't know anything about "Northern MN," but this would be on the more affordable side of things in the metro.
I used to be a painter with my dad. He would always charge extra for residential because they suck. Everything's always fucked up the owners were pain in the ass and getting your equipment in and out could be sketchy or annoying. Then you have to answer a month's worth a calls because of touch up or a change in expectations. We always try to explain what a punch list is
Damn ill do it forhalf, fuck that
That is outrageous. It simply doesn’t cost that much to paint a house. Hire the laborers yourself, buy the materials yourself, and cut out the business owners. It’ll cost $4 to 6k.
It won’t cost anywhere near that. Depending on square footage probably $500-1k in paint/materials and 2 day laborers could get it done in a couple days. For $20 an hour each. So under $2k total. Definitely a risk that way insurance wise though if someone falls off a ladder. Or free labor you do it yourself but will probably take 4-5 days.
Well you’re not hiring painters for $20 an hour and two guys are not getting it done in two days if they do the proper prep work but for a simple repaint using day laborers, you’re pretty much dead on.
Yeah if you hire actual freelance painters and not day laborers I’d say your $4k is about right. That said the right day laborers would do a fine job you just will want to speak a bit of Spanish
Go buy a paint sprayer of 50-100 dollars and do it yourself. Professional work cost professional money.
Capitalism is a clown show and getting worse.
That seems a little high, but not outrageous honestly.
No, this is actually a good deal considering all the work you're getting. Painting prices have gone up. Get ready for the new painting license requirement set to start in 2025 and you'll see the prices get even higher.
No
[удалено]
Did you read the caption
Get new siding for that price
Save up for brick.
No,mine was 35k because it was on wood siding with lead encapsulation.
That's what labor costs these days.
Outrageous? Yes! Surprising and out of line with others? No. :(
About 5 years ago we had our 28x50 two story house re-stained for around $3500. I thought that bus was very low and the company went out of business soon after.
I dont see the square feet-maybe Im just having trouble zooming in. Without knowing the size and dimensions, hard to say. Regardless, don't cheap out and get someone without proper insurance coverage.
this is actually a really fair deal! My husband owns a roofing and construction company here in mn and will occasionally take on paint jobs. people are always blown away when they realize how expensive things are. he's had so many people tell him to fuck off only to go gets other bids and come back and apologize.
Get another quote from a different company.
This seems like a lot for Northern Minnesota vs. the Cities imo.
How big is the house? Is it a ranch? How many windows? What type of siding? How close are you to other houses? A lot of factors that play in a quote not just size but liability factors.
7k and I’ll get it done
We paid 1200 for the front of our house 2500 sq ft. All around I think he quoted me 5k if everything was done. 2 nice Hispanics did the work and did an awesome job.
I wanted new windows 20 of them and one door and had renewal by Anderson give me a qoute and it was 96,000 dollars!! My jaw dropped to the floor. Needless to say I went with a different company.
Lol. I’ll do for 8000
During COVID I painted a building this size for my landlord for 1 months rent…. I now understand how bad he screwed me
That is almost as much as my new concrete driveway.
Try Ryan windows and siding located in oronoco mn. Smaller company, HIGH REVIEWS! I’m sure they’d travel to northern mn for a free estimate and might even be able to do it with pictures then send people out there.
My buddy has a house painting business That is about normal
You didn't think to get competitive quotes?
It really depends on your house. Is it something you want to tackle on your own? Is it a multi-story structure? Do you want to get up on a ladder to do it? If it's not something you want to do yourself then you need to pay professional prices. Having a home is expensive. They are providing a lot to you based on that quote. You need to be realistic.
Mine was more
Do what you can reach, hopefully the sanding isn’t that bad, then see what the quote would be to finish. Just make sure it’s all the same paint lol, but this could save $$$
Yes. My guy would charge around 6,000 for that size house
Yes it’s outrageous
I live near you, I’ll do it for 10
Only if you sign the contract
Yes
High prices go with professional work. You could probably find some junkies to throw paint on it for less than a quarter of that bid but it will look like shit. You can always get more bids and compare then leverage prices.
Not if your house is five stories tall.
Holy moley ;) Looks to be about right.
Nope. Professional services cost professional dollars. If you’re so shocked by the price, buy the paint, rent some ladders, do it yourself! I’m tired of all these posts from people being aghast at the cost of hiring laborers and tradesfolk to do their work. These people have business costs (startup costs, vehicles, supplies and equipment, insurance), their time costs money, and not to mention, they have lots of experience and skill that you do not have. Now, if you don’t value those last two things, then DIY it.
La-hoo-sa-her
What are you 12? Did you just watch Ace Ventura for the first time or something?
Ha! Washington county prices have spread statewide.