Before you buy a painting contract, you need to know this, knowing this will not only save cost but avoid disputes too.

Any customer who wants to get their home painted needs to engage a painting contractor for getting the painting services done. Buying painting contracts or appointing painting contractors, are not as easy, as we buy any other materials, because, here we buy a whole service that includes paints, labour, required tool and equipments on hire, wastages, overruns because of contractor inefficiencies, forego the quality time that we spend in our home by giving the work front for painting etc, theses are a few reasons why even a seasoned builder does not give out the contracts to any tom, dick and harry. So how do we buy?

Simple, clearly define the scope of services, specifications, delivery time and buy fixed price painting contracts and never buy a re-measurable painting contract.

I know you are intrigued, a fixed price contracts means it is a lump sum contract or in other words the value has been mutually agreed and does not change on completion of the work for example, your home has to be painted for 1000 Sq ft and you have agreed for Rs 12,000/-. The contract value remains the same and on completion of the work, you need to pay only Rs 12000/- as mutually agreed.

Re-measurable painting contracts mean on completion of the work, the painted quantities should be re-measured and paid for. On completion of the work, the painting contractor re-measures and give you a bill either for more or less based on the actual area painted, for example, your home has to be painted for 1000 Sq Ft and the agreed rate is Rs 12 per Sq Ft, now at the face of it, you are prepared to pay Rs 12,000/- on completion. The painting contractor will jointly re-measure and arrive at the actual painted area say 1150 Sq ft and shall bill you for Rs 13,800/- ( 1150 Sq ft x Rs 12 per Sq Ft) and he is legally right to do so, as you both have mutually agreed for re-measurable contacts.

I understand where you are coming to, why this variance?
The variance could be genuine, as either party did not have the bandwidth to measure before or the contractor is fleecing knowing pretty well the customer does not have the ability to find his quantity tampering or cannot participate in the process of measurement due to laboriousness or the contractor just to win over the competition, by under quoting the quantities, knowing, he can make the difference on re-measurement.

Any which ways we advise you to buy fixed price painting contracts, as the question of re-measuring the quantities does not arise at all. Whether measuring with device or tapes etc? Finally who is going to measure? It is the same contractor who provided the service. Generally all costs, lost by the contractor due to his inefficiencies, are finally recovered through these jacked up quantities that does not physically exist.

Therefore signup only for fixed price painting contracts with well defined scope of services, specifications and completion time.