Choosing among the best commercial painters in Lathrop is not a small and simple decision to make. Your residential or commercial property is important to you, so you must be aware of the things that would happen if you hired a contractor who turned out to be ill-fitting for the job. The implications would be far-reaching, costly and most likely to be irreparable. What if they paint the interior or the exterior of your building and the outcome would be poor – paint that fades away fast, or splotchy application of paint, or the wrong choice of color.

If you own a business or company, a bad paint job can also affect your customers’ views of your business or tenant occupancy. Potential and existing customers and tenants would have a poor view of you as the owner, especially if you are leasing a trendy space for the office or business.

To avoid these problems, it starts with finding the right contractor. You have to be diligent when you are looking for a professional painting contractor. It takes patience, asking lots of questions and research – in other words, you have to go through a lot before choosing the perfect commercial painting contractor for the job.

1. Training and experience – which of them is more important?

The list of potential painters you want to work with is endless. Some contractors are less than a year in the paint service industry, while others who have decades of experience behind them.

The newer contractors may not have a lot of years of experience, but they may be nevertheless skilled, sufficiently trained, and already receiving praises and gaining a reputation for their quality work. They can even compete with long-time players. Some of these “veterans” may only rely on their name nowadays to attract clients but may not be delivering the same quality of service like what they used to do years before. Another advantage of hiring newer contractors is that they are likely to be more up to date about the latest paint products, paint tools, and paint techniques.

However, long-time contractors have years of experience to back them up, such as familiarity with weather conditions and their effect on exterior paint. If a contractor doesn’t have an idea of how extreme weather conditions can negatively affect the adhesion of paint on exterior surfaces, this can be problematic. This can cause fading and cracking due to extreme heat, or splotches due to high moisture and humidity.

The best way to determine whether you prefer experience overtraining, or vice-versa, is to review every company profile of each contractor you’re considering hiring. Look for their portfolio and customer testimonials. Go to Better Business Bureau’s website to look for any possible customer complaints. Ask for their references and contact them – this is one of the most reliable ways of knowing whether this or that certain contractor is worth hiring, despite years of experience (or lack of it thereof).

2. Job references – they are very important!

Any reputable commercial painting contractor provides references. This can help ease down worries over engaging in a contract. If you find out that this certain contractor whom their previous customers have hired in the past and respect is also the one you’re considering for a job, then you’re on the right track.

3. Work completion turnaround

Another thing that you should be concerned about is whether or not a contractor completes his work on time. If you hire contractors with understaffed workers, they may fall behind schedule, which would create big problems.

But it should be noted, too, that overbooked contractors can prove to be problematic. While some delays are inevitable – such as bad weather or lack of building preparation from the owners or tenants – prolonged delays are not the standard of reputable paint contractors. Overbooking or lack of proper planning of painting jobs is usually the biggest factor for this problem.

A painting contractor who has the reputation of making proper plans for a painting project is more likely to complete it on schedule. This is another consideration you should not ignore. You should discuss your expectations and need for timing with your potential contractor before any contract is settled.

4. Request for a job estimate

As you are looking to hire the right painting contractor, you should ask for a written estimate of a project after your candidates are done inspecting your property. A complete, accurate and realistic estimate is crucial because it helps you to avoid any misunderstandings regarding the billing or possible “surprise” expenses. Like all other businesses, your own business has allocated a budget for things like renovation and re-painting, that is why having a list of the complete and accurate estimates is very important.

It is highly recommended that businesses looking for a painting contractor opt to hire the right candidate, based on the written estimate. Once a contractor is hired, a written contract should be signed and finalized by both the contractor and the client (the property owner).

A proper contract should contain the following:

1. The cost of the project to be completed.
2. The scope of the project.
3. The paint, tools, and materials to be used.
4. The starting date of the project.
5. The outlined timeframe for the completion of the project.

Business owners who are looking for the best commercial painters in Lathrop must also find out about the types of paints to be used. However, they should put more significance on exterior paints for commercial painting. It is because certain types or brands of paints are less durable than the others and offer less resistance to unwanted outside heat and moisture.