What To Bid

cynthiann

My partner and I have been hired to paint a house who is having it re-drywalled. The owner is suing the builder for bad drywall and we are to paint it. It will be furnished and the family will still be living there. We normally bid 1.25/sf and new construction, but of course circumstances are a little different here.

Thanks guys,
cindy

Bill

I'm not a painter, but if I had to do it I'd double my normal fees for the agrevation of working around furniture, cabinets, carpeting and homeowners!

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Woz the Painter

Doubling the price per sq. foot may not be enough, think about if you will have to remove and or cover up furniture, carpet etc. Also when you are ready to paint a bedroom, bathroom, or kitchen will they tell you you'll have to wait till they take a shower, get dressed, finish eating etc. Working in a occupied home is much more challenging and time consuming than blowing out an empty house!

ron schenker

If this homeowner is suing the builder for bad drywall, there's a good chance that they're picky about quality. You'd better plan on doing a flawless job

slickshift

"Run Forrest, run!"

Any work stemming from a lawsuit should be considered a "red flag" and eyed with suspicion

Most litigious-happy H/Os in this situation will not want to pay you until they "get their money" from the builder, which could be years or never

There is a good chance they will try and have some wacky payment plan, or outright try and stiff you

I would not consider any work stemming from a lawsuit w/o payment in full in advance

I probably would not consider it even then
I'd need some references
Ha ha, there's a switch, the contractor wanting some references from the H/O
Lol

....I'm not kidding though...really

slickshift

Then there's that, yeah

slickshift

Whups, sorry, didn't realize you signed the contract yet
Hope it's a beefy mofo and CsYA
Yes
If you are asking for advice on occupied dwellings, I'd strongly recommend a more of a T&M type estimate...
Wait, now I'm confused...you have a chance for a job? or you have a job?
They hired you w/o a price?
Well, regardless....

Occupied dwellings have a lot of....non-painting issues which eat away at your time
1.23sq is not enough for new dw occupied

People issues, access issues, one-room-at-a-time issues, gotta have the bathroom usable by 5 issues, tons of their crap now in the center of the room issues...
I'd recommend a more T&M-type estimate
Figure you can't spread yourself out as much, one room at a time
If you can squeeze out one room a day, then that's your 'day rate' + materials and sundries
Whether it takes you 5.5 hours or 9
Doesn't really matter, it's gotta get done, and if you finish the bathroom at 3:30, you can't start the bedroom, do one wall and pack up for the day
And if you don't finish the bathroom, you gotta put it back together @ 5 anyway-can't leave it un-usable
So you might as well stay the extra hour or two and finish it