One of the most common points of confusion on an exterior painting estimate is what is in the base price and what is going to show up as an add-on. Here is a clear breakdown of how Color Masters Painting structures estimates for exterior painting projects in the Daytona Beach and Port Orange area.
What Is Typically Included
Pressure washing the full exterior is included. Prep work, which means caulking around windows and doors, sealing hairline stucco cracks, scraping loose paint, spot-priming, and masking, is included. Two coats of paint on the main stucco body is included. Trim, fascia, soffits, and accent areas that are part of the exterior are included. Front doors, shutters, and garage doors are typically included in our exterior estimates.
Minor wood repairs on fascia or soffit where it is practical for our crew to handle are generally included or quoted as a small addition to the main job. If we see something that needs carpentry work during our walkthrough, we tell you.
What Gets Quoted Separately
Driveways, pool cages, and fences are quoted separately. These are distinct projects with their own prep requirements and materials.
Night and weekend work, if required by the homeowner's schedule or an HOA restriction, is quoted separately as well. We can accommodate it, but it carries a premium.
Major wood rot repair that goes beyond minor touch-up, and structural carpentry, are typically handled by a separate contractor we can refer. We do not build the cost of a major soffit replacement into a paint estimate and hope for the best.
HOA Color Approval: Whose Job Is It?
We can help you choose colors that work within your HOA's approved palette, and we are familiar with the color approval process. But submitting paperwork and managing the approval process with the HOA is typically left to the homeowner. We do not want to be the bottleneck in your approval timeline.
What to Ask When Comparing Estimates
If you are comparing estimates from multiple painters, the most important question to ask is what is and is not included in the prep scope. A low estimate that does not include caulking, crack sealing, or primer on bare areas is not a comparable estimate. You will either pay for those things as extras, or they will be skipped and the paint job will fail ahead of schedule.
Ask about coats as well. A one-coat estimate on a color change is not the same as a two-coat estimate, regardless of what the per-square-foot price looks like.
Get an Honest Estimate
Color Masters Painting does not cut scope to win a bid. Contact us and we will walk your property, tell you exactly what we see, and give you a clear line-item estimate.