Renovation tip: The most important part of painting a house
As part of a $20,000 renovation project, Smart Property Investment’s Phil Tarrant decided to do a full internal painting for his three-bedroom property in Kingston. What’s the first and most important step he should take?
Based on the initial quote, Mr Tarrant will be spending more than $5,000 for the painting of his property — a good quote, according to Right Property Group’s Steve Waters.
Among the many variables to consider when calculating painting costs are the surface condition, materials to be used, the number of coatings you want as well as the colours needed.
The property professional said: “This is a four-hour subject, literally. When people ask how much is painting going to cost, there are so many variables to it — [are surfaces] straight? What’s the materials? How many coats? How many colours? There’s just so many variables to it.”
Mr Waters encouraged investors to be deliberate about the whole process of painting their property and choose a good painter. After all, unlike other renovation processes where you can settle for bargains, you usually get what you pay for in paint jobs.
According to him: “Ceilings are [a] different colour from the walls, the walls are a different colour from all your trims, such as your skirts and architraves.
“Don’t get a renovator’s paint job where they just paint everything one colour because it looks like rubbish. It’ll look good for about five minutes, but it will also look a little bit clinical as well.”
A good painter will know that, before anything else, the most important step to take is preparation.
Some painters will simply paint over your walls without doing surface preparation, and before you know it, the walls are back in their original situation and you will have to pay once again for yet another paint job.
The same goes for other simple renovation processes such as patching roof, according to Mr Tarrant, which is why it’s important to engage reliable professionals when renovating your property.
The avid investor said: “If you think the quote is too cheap, it probably is. It means you’re probably going to get a crap job.
“The secret to painting in terms of getting a good job is preparation.
“The actual painting part of it — anyone can paint a wall… It’s how you prepare it [that] is important.”
Tune into Phil Tarrant’s portfolio update on The Smart Property Investment Show to know more about the thought process behind transforming his property.
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