Hiring a painter is mostly a matter of getting the area and the finish written down before the price, because a painting quote with those two left vague can be made to mean anything. Here is what to ask, what to watch on the first morning, and what a fair quote looks like.
On the phone: five questions that sort the professionals
- "How do you quote: per sq ft of wall, or a lump sum?" Per sq ft of wall and ceiling area, with the measurement shown, is the only honest answer for a flat. A lump sum over the phone, before anyone has measured, is a guess that will be adjusted on the last day.
- "What is included in the rate: putty, primer, two coats?" Make them say it. A repaint at ₹16 per sq ft includes putty touch-up, spot primer and two coats; full putty at ₹24 includes two coats of putty, sanding, a full primer coat and two coats of paint. A rate that does not include primer is not a rate.
- "Labour only, or with material? Which brand and grade?" Both are fine; the brand and grade must be named either way, with sealed tins and a bill if they buy.
- "How many people and how many days?" Two painters do a 2 BHK repaint in five to seven days. One painter promising three days has a plan that involves one coat.
- "Have you done damp walls? What do you do when you find one?" The right answer mentions finding the source and a mason, and a wait for the wall to dry. "We put a waterproof coat and paint over it" is the answer that comes back next monsoon.
On TheHire the profile answers most of these before the call: verified ID, the jobs done, the reviews, and the rate card the painter has agreed to.
At the door: what to look for on day one
- A tape. The first thing a professional does is measure and write the area down, deducting doors and windows. Compare the figure with yours: three to three and a half times carpet area.
- The walk-through. They should touch the walls, look at corners and below windows, and point out damp, cracks, chalking or old distemper before quoting a single rate.
- Dust sheets and masking tape. Furniture pulled to the middle and covered, floors sheeted, switchboards taped. A team that starts rolling without covering anything will leave you cleaning for a week.
- The tins. Sealed, with the agreed brand and grade on the label. Open drums with faded labels are decanted paint.
- Sanding. You should hear sandpaper on day one and between coats. Silence means the putty went on and the paint went straight over it.
Red flags
- A rate before a measurement, or a measurement they will not show you.
- "Paint" in the quote with no brand or grade.
- Three days for a whole flat, or a finish date that ignores drying time.
- Primer not mentioned, or described as unnecessary because "the paint has primer in it".
- A waterproof coat offered as the cure for a damp wall without any mention of where the water is coming from.
- A large advance for labour. Material against a bill is reasonable; labour is paid per stage.
- No helper. Painting a flat is a two-person job at minimum, and a solo painter on a per sq ft rate will rush.
What a fair quote looks like
A quote for an 800 sq ft 2 BHK, repaint grade, from a painter who has measured, reads something like this:
| Line | Detail | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Wall and ceiling area | 2,600 sq ft measured, doors and windows deducted | — |
| Repaint, putty touch-up, spot primer, 2 coats | 2,600 sq ft | ₹16 per sq ft |
| Bathroom ceilings, anti-fungal primer | 80 sq ft | ₹6 per sq ft |
| Damp wall, bedroom 2 | 60 sq ft, after mason | ₹35 per sq ft |
| Three doors, enamel both sides | 3 doors | ₹800 per door |
| Window grills | 4 | ₹500 per grill |
| Material | listed by brand, grade and quantity, or "customer supplies" | — |
| Days | 6 working days, 2 painters | — |
| Payment | 25% on start, 50% after first coat, 25% after walk-through | — |
Each line has an area or a count, a rate, and a finish. If the quote is one number with "painting work" next to it, send it back.
What to agree before work starts
- The measured area, in writing, with deductions.
- The finish for each wall: repaint, full putty, distemper, ceiling only. Not every wall needs the same, and the price should say which.
- The brand, grade and shade codes, and who buys. Keep the shade codes for touch-ups.
- Drying time and the number of coats, including a third coat where a dark colour is going light.
- Damp walls: that they are the mason's first, and the painter's rate for them is ₹35 per sq ft after the wall has dried.
- What is moved and covered, and who cleans up: dust sheets off, floors mopped, tape off the switchboards.
- Payment by stage, with the last quarter after you have walked every room in daylight.
- Working hours, especially in a society with rules on noise and lift use for material.
After the work
Walk every room in daylight, not under a bulb. Look along each wall towards the window for roller marks and missed patches. Check the cutting-in at the ceiling line and around switchboards. Open a window and look at the frame. Count the empty tins against the bill if the painter bought the material. Keep one sealed litre per colour with its shade code. Then release the last payment.
A review on the painter's TheHire profile, with a photo, is what the next customer will read; painters who get the walk-through right collect them.
When you need more than a painter
Three jobs sit next to painting and are different trades. A damp wall, a cracked terrace or a leaking bathroom is a mason's: the painter's damp treatment at ₹35 per sq ft only holds after it. A false ceiling or POP cornice goes in before the paint, and its own trade quotes it. A colour scheme for a whole flat, with the curtains and the furniture considered, is an interior designer's hour and is often worth it before buying forty litres of a shade that fights the sofa. The guides for those three trades pick up where this one stops.