Paint it yourself or hire a painter?

When you can do it yourself

Rolling a wall in a bedroom or study is something you can learn. With good paint, a decent roller, masking tape and patience, you can get a neat result. Small rooms with few frames and doors in particular lend themselves to a weekend job. Do allow more time than you think, though: clearing the room, covering up, filling holes, applying two coats and tidying up easily take a whole weekend.

When hiring a painter is the wiser choice

• Exterior work: window frames, doors and woodwork protect your house, and a mistake leads to wood rot.
• Height: working on scaffolding or long ladders without experience is dangerous.
• Gloss work: glossing a door or frame without runs or brush marks takes a lot of practice.
• Large areas: a whole home or a stairwell is finished faster and more evenly with spraying.

With exterior painting there is something else: the preparation. Anyone who paints over a poor surface will see the paint come loose again within a few years. A professional painter recognises wood rot and repairs it before any paint goes on. Read about this in common mistakes when painting.

An honest comparison of the costs

Doing it yourself seems cheaper, but add up the paint, the tools, any scaffolding hire and above all your own time. Premium paint costs considerably more per litre than DIY-store paint, and so do good brushes and rollers. A professional painter also works faster and does not have to do anything twice. For a home more than two years old, you usually pay the reduced VAT rate of 9% on a painter's labour; check the current rate on belastingdienst.nl. As a market indication, a painter charges roughly €40 to €60 per hour excluding VAT. Oranje Kwast does not work by the hour, but with fixed prices per m² and per item, such as €17 per m² for walls, excluding VAT and with a minimum charge of €300 per job. More on this in how much a painter costs per hour.

Weigh up the lifespan too. An exterior paint job that is already flaking after three years because of poor preparation ends up more expensive than a professional job that lasts much longer.

A middle way

You can also combine the two. Leave the exterior work, the frames and the gloss work to a professional and tackle a room yourself that you wanted to freshen up anyway. Feel free to discuss it during the free consultation, and you will hear where professional work makes the biggest difference in your home. See interior painting and exterior painting for what Oranje Kwast can do for you.