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Painter charging by hour or by job?

15 years ago

We had a quote and it was a per hour price, said it would take 3-4 days. Do painters generally charge by the hour or by the whole job?

I can see it both ways. If it is by the hour, we can ask him to do other things along the way, fixing a wall, etc; but per job, it is just "what the contract says."

Is charging per hour risky because we really don't know how long it will take? I have no reason to think that he would work slower. He did give a range of 3-4 days. Thanks!

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Comment (1)

paintguy22
15 years ago
Most painters bid by the job. Bidding jobs by the hour is a sure way to lose work because nobody wants a bid presented that way. They want to compare one painters bid with the others. Not only that, bidding by the hour is risky like you say....the guy can stretch the job the job out as long as he likes. It's also unprofessional...it's like coming right out and saying to your potential customer, "I have no idea how long this job will take because I don't have that much experience painting so I'm bidding your job by the hour so I can't lose."
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