About
We know hiring a painting contractor can be a big decision...
It's good to see a long history and solid track record. Check out their Google reviews or touch base with past clients. It’s nice when they have in house staff versus subcontracted workers so they have more control over the quality, processes, and procedures. You should also look for someone who is asking the right questions. We can all put together a painting quote but without asking deep questions there may be a ton of assumptions made. Ultimately you want to feel you can trust the person you are dealing with and not end up with any surprises at the end of the job.
While many full time professional painting companies and painters get their start in Student Painting, none of the Pro Works Franchisees are students. As for the team of painters, the bulk of the all year round core crews are not students either but it is common for us and many other painting companies to bring on the odd extra workers during peak times in the summer. Some of these new painters may be students as we do not discriminate when hiring, but make sure to fully train them to our systems and processes.
As much as we call it an estimate we like to provide a final contract price to do your work at the initial visit. This is a price that is final and includes all of the components you are looking for. Many contractors like to provide an estimate and it may fluctuate up or down (usually up) after the job is done. We don’t like surprise costs and assume you don’t either. This is also the problem with people who charge hourly. There is no incentive to do it quickly. We mitigate that by providing a full price up front with no changes unless you change the scope of the project.
It really depends on the surface we are painting, the weather conditions, exposure and several other factors. That being said, depending on what products we use the average paint job should last anywhere from 10-20 years. Of course certain surfaces like decks and fences may only last 1-3 years but siding and trim when done correctly often lasts 10+ years.
This is the hardest part of the paint job and pretty much the only job the customer has! Once colours are selected we take care of the rest. As for choosing them, we do help with narrowing down colours based on either popular/common colour trends or what may suit your home in your neighbourhood. Often we recommend reaching out to a paint store or colour consultant if you are going for something new and want an expert opinion. We have close relationships with the paint stores and can help guide you down that path. Once you select a colour we will always do a test patch. We buy the first gallon of product, apply it on the surface and we check it for colour, coverage & sheen. We want to make sure it's exactly what you want before we start the project.
This really depends on the size of the home and what work is involved. At Pro Works we do have skilled in house staff that are trained to do things a specific way which can often be more efficient than others. We tend to have 2-3 painters on a crew and work full days between 7-10 hours depending on the job and region. We like to work on consecutive days when possible to make sure we get your project done as quick as it can be without sacrificing quality. This way you can get on with having things put back together sooner rather than later. We are not that company that starts a project and finishes it months later.
We start with an initial call to figure out the scope of the project and make sure we are a good fit. Then we plan a site visit to go through the details with you and make sure we include everything in our measurements. We then type in the details into our proprietary estimating software based on our standards of over 30 years to figure out an accurate cost to do the project. After figuring out the cost we present a detail agreement that lists out everything you could want to make sure we are all on the same page about the project. In 99% of cases we are able to provide a detailed estimate on the initial visit.
Not at all! We are very confident in our estimating abilities and because of our thorough estimate process we are able to come up with a firm price to get everything done.
Yes it does! Our Franchisees and Sales Reps are trained to help you keep costs down and be respectful of your budget by recommending specific paint colours and options. If you are going the same colour on your exterior, you may be able to do 1 coat depending on the paint selected and the previous condition. Often with a colour change you need a minimum of 2 coats. With dark or vibrant colours along with big colour changes you may need a primer coat and 2+ coats. Some very bright colours can need upwards of 7+ coats. We always do a test patch before starting so that we are able to help you know exactly how many coats you would need before commencing a project. This way you have the option to change colours or budget accordingly.
No we don't. We use all in house staff that we have recruited and trained to the Pro Works systems. This way we have much more control over the process and finished outcome. These workers work for us and this has been our winning strategy since the beginning.
With us, we provide a compressive 3 year warranty on all paint, labour & materials. Often others provide a warranty on just labour, or just paint. We know that if a job is going to have a problem it is usually going to show in the first 3 years and we are happy to fix it! Either reach out to the Franchisee or our head office to start a claim and then someone will be out to take a look.
We like to be as upfront and transparent as possible and the best way to do that is to see what we are quoting. When we come by for a quote we will measure out everything that is to be painted and use our custom standards that we have developed over the last 30 years to fine tune the exact cost for paitning. We are incredibly accurate to do the job at a fair price for both you the customer, and us as the business. We ask detailed questions to make sure we aren't missing anything so that there are no surprises at the end for either party. We often hear that "we are the most detailed and professional quote" people have ever received.
When it comes to exterior projects in Canada it is ideal to paint between April and Septemeber depending on the weather and which part of the country you live in. Most of the products we use outside need to be applied at over 10 degrees celcius. That being said, we do have options for low temp products that extend the season and allow us to paint when it is 2-4 degrees celcius outside. For interiors, any time of the year is adequate as long as we have proper heating and airflow.
We are happy to use any products that you want but we have strong relationships with Sherwin Williams, Dulux, and Cloverdale Paints. We find that the service and products they offer are top notch and after using them thousands of times we have had tremendous success. We get a hefty discount at all of the suppliers and we pass that on to our customers. If you have a specific product in mind we are always happy to discuss your options.
You bet! We do jobs that vary in size drastically. From a front porch or fence to a baseball stadium or multifamily condominum, we can do it all and have! We have the knowledge and experience to take on a variety of paint jobs. As a Franchise we tend to paint well over 800 different jobs every year from new construction or renovations to residential repaints of varying size. We would be happy to take a look at your project and provide a quote.
A lot of companies just visit your project for 5 minutes and then go home to email a quote a few days later. We find that it is much more beneficial for everyone if we spend time with you learning about your wants and needs, describing your options, and measuring things perfectly while we are there. Once we calculate the details for the project we want to make sure we go through tit with you in person so that we are all on the same page and haven't missed anything. We understand your time is valuable and we want to be as efficient as possible. If we need to we can make changes to the quote right then and there and this allows us to save on the back and forth.
The main thing we need from you is to choose a colour. On top of that typically we need you to just move things away from the walls (interior & exterior) so that our team has access to what we are painting. We will work with you to notify you of the schedule and other items that may need to be moved in order for us to have proper access. For interiors, we are able to help with moving large furniture items but often recommend you move the small items and breakables/valuables so that we do not damage or misplace them.
Online reviews are a great way to gauge a painting companies quality and the potential experience you may have. Anytime you work with companies that have dozens of reviews it's often a good sign. Everyone can have a great job, and everyone will have some bad jobs. We have many mechanisms in place to help our clients have a great experience throughout their project as a means to help lead to a great review. If you see a negative review online it's important to read the review and see how we handled it with our response. One thing we take pride in is trying to solve all issues and make sure our clients are happy, regardless of what happens. We get a lot of work from referrals and that is due to how we treat our customers.
