Yes, it is normal for a painting company to have employees. If you trust that the boss is qualified, then normally you should trust that he only employs painters that are also qualified. Of course this is not always how it goes. I have always said that my quality as a one man painter will surpass the quality of any painting company that has employees, but that doesn't mean that all painters working for someone else are low quality painters. I would say what you should be looking for is a contractor you can trust to do quality work....how he achieves that quality (with or without employees) is really up to him.

I would say this is normal, as about every job (even plumbing) that I have hired out, ended up being someone else doing the work, other then who came and gave the bid. heck even my yard maintenance guy often sends someone else out!!

But here's what I would be sure to do (in addition to what's stated above). I would NOT be shy about spelling out EXACTLY what you want, what end result you expect what you will not accept etc. Even the most basic things should be detailed/outlined, even if by asking it seems like overkill to state the obvious. I would ask the painter to outline for you exactly what steps he intends to take from beginning to end.

I as reading on the decorating forum about a kitchen redo nightmare (they are renters)and the landlord hired someone who came but did NO prep work, left overspray everwhere, didn't tape off or remove the hardware, painted over it! (this was supposedly a professional painter) There were many other problems with the job, and all of which would seem like a given.

You should search out that thread just for fun, if I can find it I'll come back and post it for you.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/decor/msg1122142117316.html