Professional painter vs DIY painting project: Which should you choose?

When it comes to giving your home a fresh coat of paint, you may face a conundrum—do you hire professional painters or undertake the project yourself?

While it’s tempting to just buy a bunch of supplies and complete the job yourself, you should consider several things—like your skill level, the tools you have at your disposal, the budget, the details of the project, and how much prep work needs to be done—before opting out of hiring a professional. 

So, how do you choose between hiring a professional painter vs DIYing your project? Here are a few key questions you’ll need to ask yourself before making the big decision.

How much time do you have?

Good painters know that a good paint job isn’t just about the painting itself—it’s also about the preparation. 

In fact, preparation work takes the majority of the time in any paint project. You should be willing to shelve out a good amount of time if you decide to take on this project yourself. 

You’d also have to do extensive research about how to fix any faults in your walls, correct any mistakes that you might make, and clean up before starting to paint. 

Any house that requires a lot of preparation is probably not the best project to undertake by yourself. Instead, hiring a professional painter would be a much more effective option, as they would know exactly what to do and would be able to complete the job much quicker. 

But, if you have plenty of time on your hands and enjoy getting down with the hard work required in prepping, then DIY away! 

Do you have the right tools?

Even if you are not a pro, you really shouldn’t be skimping out on tools, as the quality of the tools matters when it comes to the final finish. 

There is often a distinct difference between projects completed by a professional painter vs DIY paint jobs, and it’s often because people tend to cut costs by procuring lower-quality materials. 

For instance, quality paint tends to dry better and look better on your walls, especially if you’re not a professional painter. Your paint job will still suffer if you use low-quality paint and tools.

So, if you choose to do a DIY painting project, ensure that you have quality tools and paint that meets industry standards—or simply hire a professional painting company!

Do you have high ceilings? 

While painting the ceiling seems like just another location to paint, if you have a high ceiling, you’re going to be quite disadvantaged—especially if you don’t have the right experience or the tools. 

Most often, safety is something that people don’t think about in DIY projects, but if you can’t comfortably reach your ceilings with a stepladder, it could lead to accidents and a much higher chance of making some messy mistakes. 

It’s not worth putting your paint job and especially yourself in danger when there are professionals to do those tasks for you. 

There could also be other issues such as water damage that you might not know how to deal with—but a professional painter would. 

What is your budget?

If you have a flexible budget, it’s better to opt for a professional painting service, as they come with the skill, licenses, and experience to do the best work on your paint project. They’ll also be using high-quality materials and will finish the job in a short amount of time.

A professional service would be able to get the job done exactly as you want it, especially as they can also help you with choosing the colors, design, and paint brands. 

A professional paint job can also last longer than a DIY job and will cost less in the long run since you won’t need to repaint often. 

A professional painter vs DIY paint job: What matters to you?

The common consensus in the debate about hiring a professional painter vs DIY is that it all depends on your personal situation. 

If you’re less concerned with details, have enough time on your hands, and have a relatively simple paint job ahead of you, you can go with a DIY project. 

However, if you have a fairly extensive job that you need to complete with superior quality, attention to detail, and a shorter time span, you should always opt for a professional painter.