We just had 14 6-panel primed wood doors installed in our home to replace our old doors. They need 2-coats of semi-gloss paint on both sides. What should I expect to pay per door to have a painter come in and paint them, I really don't have time to do the job myself. Also, how much could I expect to pay per square foot to have an outdoor deck washed, sanded and painted? Thanks for your help!

 

Are you fussy and want the locksets removed so that you don't see brush marks going circular around the locksets?

I can paint 6-panel doors fairly quickly with brush and roller. I cut in those recessed areas around each panel. Then roll the rest. The trick is, for speed, that when you roll, you want to load up the roller...yet not have it run down at the panel edges. So what I do is sort of pat the roller on the big flat areas before straddling the panels, because otherwise when the roller hits the edge of the panels it can cause runs. The doors done this way are basically absent of brush marks.

The first coat of each door will take the longest because more care must be taken to ensure coverage...especialy with the brush.

I would make out okay, in my neck of the woods, if I charged someone about $12 a door for the first coat and about $9.50 for the second coat...and you would take off and put back on the locksets.

What about the jambs?

I'd like to see other estimates because I am not a painter, per se. Also, what someone might charge that doesn't live in a low wage midwest area the way I do. But I do do painting because of being in the rental property maintenance business. We use a lady painter and I think speed wise, I have done these doors faster than her.

I like to have the roller tray sitting there with the brush on a wet sponge next to it, with something under the bottom of the door, like cardboard. I cut in the recesses with the brush, by dunking into the shallow paint tray (easier-quicker than dunking down into a gallon of paint), usually wiping off one side of the brush across the paint roller in the tray on the way out. It's a very quick almost non-stop motion. If after the roller application is done and there is a run or something in the corner of one of the panels or something, it is very easy and quick to half-dry reroller areas of the door again while it is still wet.

 

Hi 10TIMBER
This site is really for DIYers needing advice on projects
The best way to find the going rate in your area is to get a few quotes
As most of the cost is labor, that will vary by region, or even by city/town within a region

That being said, if none of the other Mods object, I'll try and answer your question

I would be surprised if you find any professional painters come in at less than $100 a door for two coats
Most I know are around the $130 mark

As for the deck, there are way to many factors that could come into play, mostly dealing with access and ease of cleaning/staining for me to give a sq. ft. pricing
Condition of the deck can greatly affect the price also
I do a lot of "Deck Recovery", and it's much more work to bring a deck back from the dead than to lay a maintenance coat of paint on one

Even if it's small, I can't paint it in the afternoon if I powerwash it in the morning, so that's two trips and must be considered in the price
Maybe someone will post-up with a sq. ft. price, but for me to give you an accurate estimate I'd have to lay an eyeball on it
I only measure the sq. ft. on them to check my estimate on how much paint/stain to buy

I could have the same size decks, and one be $450, and one $1200 (I am thinking of two I did last year) due to access and condition issues

 

$100-130 per door sounds like a very fair price. Does that include the jamb and trim?

Recently, I did a job that included a hallway with 5 six-panel doors. I factored $400 into the job for 5 doors, two sides/two coats (with jambs and trim). Of course, since I'm only a "semi-pro" I can't charge top dollars.

 

Not usually
That would be considered trim as opposed to door

 

What application method would you two guys use to do the doors? And what part of the country are you in? Obviously prices can vary greatly depending on what market you are in.

The low price I gave is for the door only. Labor only. At 14 doors at the $100 a piece door range, ($1,400) I could paint these doors and take the next month off of work and still be able to pay my bills. I'm not kidding. Then again I am single and live very cheaply and have no mortgage, credit card bills, no car payment...no debts.

 

If the door has wood grain, I use a good brush, and brush with the grain. If the door is smooth, I use a foam mini-roller.

My price for 5 doors (including jambs and trim) was a bargain for the Philadelphia, PA suburbs. I'm sure a pro in my neighborhood would charge much more. The cost of living here and the wage scale are relatively high. And, after all, all things are relative.

 

Brush
If it was a bunch, I might bring them back to the shop to spray them
It'd have to be a bunch though
It's under my username
The northeast does have higher labor costs, and a higher cost of living then some other area
However, the $130+/- is from this area and my contemporaries all across the country
San Francisco may be the +, and Wisconsin may be the -
I have been surprised that some painters in areas with lower housing costs and wages charge more than me

Well, there's more to it than that DaVeBoy
Out of the 1400, 30% has to go right to the government
Then I've got to pay my liability insurance
Then there's the van, gas, paint, sundries, tools, etc...
That ladder, that sprayer...
Then there's the answering service, oh yeah phone/fax
Office/shop space
Lawyer, Accountant, bookkeeping software
...advertising
I need to make enough to pay myself, sick time, vacation
Medical insurance
Hazardous waste disposal

All the things that someone with a job gets or gets paid for, or the company pays for w/o the someone realizing it

Instead of collecting a paycheck, I am running a company
It's a very small company
lol
But it's a company

The company's income can't be treated like it was a paycheck
It just doesn't work that way
Well, for long anyway

 

Read your post, slickshift. I can't disagree with what you say. Actually I was more of a true contractor once, myself, with the better vehicles, equipment, insurance, etc.

But I decided I got tired of meeting with people after hours and on weekends only to give people ideas and then he and the brother in law decided to do my ideas themselves. Or, the case where me and my ex-partner met with this couple 11 times about 5 miles out, haggling over designs and how-to's...only to never get the job.

Now I primarily work for landlords who trust me and I just put in my time. And when the day is done, that is it. Nobody to meet with. I don't even meet with the landlords hardly! They trust me so much they just call me up with the work order and I go there. Ahhhh. Love it. Not as much money, but a lot freer lifestyle.

I recently painted about 4 6-panel doors down a hallway and these didn't take me hardly any time at all (like maybe an hour and a half) with the combination brush and roller method I spoke of. No brush marks. You will get that slight stipple effect though. But I would pick that over brush marks. That slight orange-peely type texture the roller leaves is not all that dissimilar to how even new vehicles paint jobs often look.

 

Yeah, and always factor in time to run out for the estimate, pick up paint and supplies, prep time, setup and clean up time, two coffee breaks ... I'm still not factoring in enough time for these things.

I lost money on the "6-panel door/trim, two-coat" job I mentioned. Five doors and two sides took me the better part of two days to do the job. At $400 it was not enough to pay the bills, but I'm still learning (the hard way).