Curious about how to prepare for the arrival of your residential painters?

Here are some answers to commonly asked questions from homeowners before their interior painting project is about to begin.

1. Arrival Time for Crew

For interior and exterior paint jobs, the crews usually arrive between 8am – 9am Arrival times for the crews are generally between 8-9am.

2. Windows & Doors

If we are painting the moving part of your windows and doors, please make sure all of your windows and doors are functional and can easily open and close prior to our arrival. If you do not have the ability to get them opened and closed, they are most likely painted shut, and we can attempt to get them to open and close at an additional hourly cost. If we cannot get them unstuck, we will have to paint them in place.

3. Wall Hangings

Before the first day of your job, start thinking about anything on the walls that will not be going back up. Take the item down and pull the fastener from the wall if you are able to do so without causing major damage to the wall. Otherwise, write “remove” on the wall in pencil below the fastener and the crew will know to remove the fastener and patch the area. Please remove all other wall hangings. We are happy to cover them up along with the furniture, or you can remove them from the work space. We also ask that you remove any irreplaceable items out of the work space, such as family heirlooms or anything that could not be replaced by insurance.

4. Furniture

We will move all the heavy furniture to the middle of the room. We ask that you clear off the top surfaces so we don’t have to handle a lot of your personal items. Please empty out bookcases and china cabinets so they are easier for the crew to move. We will protect all of your furniture, countertops and floors so as not to get paint on them. We will remove all of the switch and plug plates, and light fixtures will be covered, but they will not be removed. We will not remove televisions off the wall; we can typically paint around them to the best of our ability. If you would prefer to take the television down yourself, feel free to do so. Otherwise, the television will be covered in place.

5. Curtains & Blinds

We can take down and put back up your curtains and blinds since we are well-rehearsed on the hardware. We usually lay the curtains and blinds across your furniture and cover them with plastic. If you would like to remove them yourself or take them to another area, you are welcome to do so. Due to the volatility of older hardware, if we take them down we cannot be responsible for the hardware breaking.

6. Paint Colors

If you are changing any of your paint colors, have your new colors picked out before the first day of the job. We do not buy any paint before the project starts. Remember that a professional color consultant is available to you as well. The foreman or crew leader will go over what colors go in what rooms with you on the first morning of the job, prior to commencing work.

7. Parking

Please make sure that our team has a place where they can park their van. If there’s not a place to park in the immediate vicinity of your property, make sure there is somewhere nearby where they can access parking.

8. Initial Walkthrough

We highly recommend that you be there on the first day of the job for a couple hours to do a walkthrough and make sure we are all on the same page about the scope of work. If you cannot be there the first day or at any point during your project, please arrange with the field manager or foreman proper access and lock-up procedures.

9. Bathroom

The crews will need access to at least one bathroom. Please let the crew know which bathroom or bathrooms are accessible to them for use.

10. Pets

Please make us aware of any pets that may get out so we can be as vigilant as possible in making sure they stay within the house. Also, please keep them out of the work areas.

11. Workflow

We typically like to work in a top-down manner, starting at the top and working our way down. The foreman will coordinate the flow of work with you based on your routines and individual situation. If we are working in a bedroom, we will try our best to get that room finished by the end of the day. If that is not possible, we will make sure you have access to personal items and the bed if needed; otherwise we suggest you sleep in another bedroom if at all possible.

12. Kitchen Cabinets

If we are painting your kitchen cabinets, we ask that you remove the cabinet contents since some dust will be created from sanding the cabinet frames. If you have opted to have your cabinet doors sprayed instead of brushed and rolled, the crew will need an area in the home to spray them since we do not do them offsite.

13. Thermostats

Our crews are instructed to not remove the thermostats and they will paint around them. Our crews are also instructed to never change the setting on your thermostat.

14. Dust

Unfortunately, dust can be airborne during most remodeling projects. We will make our best attempts at dust control by covering things, keeping doors shut and plasticing off open areas in adjacent rooms we are not working in. The crew will clean up behind themselves, but be aware dust may settle even after we are gone. This isn’t always the case, but it does happen. If you have a cleaning service, you may want to consider having them out after the job is complete or you may have to contend with some residual dust yourself.

15. Change Orders

A change order is an unforeseen condition that changes or expands the scope of work for home painting. For example, if we are matching the existing paint colors, they typically will cover in one coat. But if new colors are chosen it is hard to predetermine whether the new color will cover the old color in two coats or if it will need three coats.

A majority of new colors will cover in two coats, but this is not always the case. We may also get on the job and find that some scope of the work is unnecessary or you want to opt out of, in which case we will create what we call a negative change order for you to sign off on and will be taken off the final invoice.

Change orders are never desirable for the customer or a goal for our company, but it can be the nature of the beast when it comes to contracting. Change orders are a reality for an interior painter and generally involve additional realistic costs. Also, be aware no additional change orders will take place without your written permission and you can always opt out of having the additional work done.

16. Final Walkthrough

We ask that you try to be around on the last day of the job to perform a walk-through of the work with the job foreman. And don’t worry if you later find something later that was missed – in the unlikely event that something was missed or fails, your job is backed by a 2 year warranty.

If you have any additional questions about your upcoming painting project, you will always have an assigned Field Manager for any questions or concerns you may have – before, during, or after your residential painting project. 

All American Painting Plus can also help with your exterior painting requirements, so if you are looking for a top quality house painter in Fairfax County or Northern Virginia, get in touch on 703-620-5563, we’d love to hear from you.