If you are new to real estate investing, I’m guessing you will be doing some work yourself. That’s great! This has truly been the biggest learning curve of my life. We have been rehabbing our triplex for 5 months now, and I can say with certainty that I’ve found the task that I would like to hire out, as soon as possible—painting.
Painting is the worst.
It is repetitive on your wrist and wearing on your back. You have to tape and lay down drop clothes. You need to designate an outfit for ruin. The worst part is how long it takes! This is especially true if the room requires multiple coats. One room we painted required 5 coats! Remember those custom colors?…
If you’re like me and you can’t quite afford to hire the job out yet, head this advice. I learned the hard way.
- Buy good paint brushes. Cheap brushes will shed. Better brushes are easier to clean.
- Buy one of those 14-in-1 paint tools. I’m not sure what all 14 functions are for but I use it a heck-of-a lot.
- Clean you brush after every use!
- Clean your paint rollers after every use. They are reusable. Seriously… I didn’t know this.
- Buy drop clothes, preferably the cloth kind. Do not use table clothes—despite how free they may be. The paint will leak through.
- Pick neutral paint colors and stick with it. This will save money and headache in the long run.
- Take a picture of your paint color, brand and sheen. Keep it on your smart phone until you’ve memorized it! This way, you know you’re buying the exact same paint each time.
- Buy paint in 5-gallon buckets instead of gallon cans. You’re going to go through more than you think. If you’re using the same paint colors, you know it will be used at some point. It’s cheaper in the long run, and you can use the empty buckets for so many things.
- Buy the cheap paint. It doesn’t matter how expensive it is, you are going to need at least 2 coats.
- Don’t leave the door open if it’s raining outside. It will cause paint blisters on your wall.
- It’s easier to scrape paint from finished floors than sand them from unfinished floors.
- Do not use painter’s tape on finished hardwood. It will take the top layer of polyurethane right off!
I’m sure this doesn’t cover all of the painting mishaps that I’m doomed to encounter. If you have other bits of advice, please enlighten us all.
Disagree with buying cheap paint. Cheap paint runs easier, doesn’t cost as well and just overall makes it more of a hassle. Especially don’t buy cheap when hiring it out. When doing the work ones self we, and I have a lot of experience here, think “it will be a but more hassle but I’ll save a little money and it all adds up!” While its true it adds up, in my experience the headache isn’t worth it. I refused to pay $15 for a sponge mop at the big box store the other day thinking it was ridiculous since I would only use it once. So I got I may car, drove to the local dollar store to pay $5. Boom, saved $10 right? No, I got hit-up by a homeless man for money, I sat in line for what seemed like 10mins, and the store didn’t take my Amex so I had to pay with a card I don’t like using. At the end of the day it cost me an hour of my life and a bunch of hassle. I like to think I’m worth more than $10/hr so in this instance I was the real loser. Week later I needed another mop (in the middle of a big clean-up on a flip house) and I didn’t honk twice about paying $15.