Do I need to be home? Do I need to move my furniture?
For exterior work you generally don’t need to be home at all. Inside, it depends on your house and on what you want, so both questions get settled when we come look.
Why isn’t there one answer?
An empty house being painted before a move is not the same job as a lived in house with a nursery and a dog. Who moves what, who is home, and how a crew gets in all change with it. Any company that answers this the same way for every house has not asked about yours.
So we answer it at the walkthrough.
Being home: what to settle
- Whether somebody needs to be there at the start of the first day, to walk the rooms and agree on what’s getting painted.
- How the crew gets in on the days you’re at work, and who holds a key or a code.
- Who you call during the day if something comes up, and who calls you.
- Pets. Which doors stay shut, and which room the cat isn’t coming out of.
- Nap times, people working from home, and anything else that makes part of the day quiet.
- Parking and where a ladder or a truck can sit.
Furniture: what to settle
- What gets moved to the middle of the room, and who moves it.
- Anything heavy, fragile or valuable, which is usually the part worth agreeing on out loud.
- Pictures, mirrors, shelves, curtains and curtain rods, and whether they go back up.
- Switch plates and outlet covers.
- Closets. Full ones get painted differently from empty ones, and emptying them is work somebody has to do.
- Where you’ll be sleeping and eating while the work runs, if it’s the whole house.
Outside is easier
What matters outside is access: gates left open, cars moved off the drive, pets inside, and anything breakable away from the walls. The first day conversation is still worth having in person. How an exterior job runs, step by step.
Get it in the quote
Whatever you agree, get it written down with the price rather than left in somebody’s memory. That goes for whoever you hire.
Next
What it costs: inside the house, outside the house.
Have somebody come look
Tell us which rooms, and send a few photos. The answers on this page get settled then.