Straight answers
The questions people ask on the phone, written down so nobody has to ask. No tips lists, no trends, no paint of the year. Just the things that decide what a job costs and how long it takes.
What does a job cost?
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The six things that move an exterior price
Exteriors
Square footage is only one of them, and it’s not the biggest. Height, how much of the house is trim, what the old paint is doing, repairs, how many colors, and access.
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What moves the price of an interior?
Interiors
Rooms, ceilings, trim and doors, what’s on the walls now, and the one choice that regularly adds a coat.
What the work is like
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An exterior job, day by day
Exteriors
The order the work goes in, from wash to final walkthrough.
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When is it too cold to paint outside?
Weather
If the overnight low is 35 or under, it doesn’t get painted that day. Why the night decides it and not the afternoon.
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Do I need to be home? Do I move the furniture?
Interiors
For exterior work you generally don’t need to be home at all. Inside, it’s the furniture and the closets that are worth settling first.
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Do you fix wood rot or paint over it?
Repairs
We fix it. Where to check on your own house before anyone comes out, and how the repair gets priced.
By town
What a paint job has cost, town by town.
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Painting in the Northland
Northland
The nine ZIPs it covers, and what a paint job has run up there.
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Painting in Lee’s Summit
Jackson County
Where the office is, and what a paint job has run on this side of the metro.
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Painting in Parkville
Platte County
What a paint job has run in Parkville, inside and out.
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Picking the color
Color
How the color gets settled, and what a dark wall costs you in coats.
From the archive
We have been writing these since 2018. Here are the ones people read most.
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What kind of paint do you use on a handrail?
Handrails
The most read thing on this site, by a long way.
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Is it better to paint doors with a brush or a roller?
Doors
Why the answer is usually neither.
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Front door colors and what they mean
Color
What a yellow door is supposed to say about the people behind it.
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Updating honey oak cabinets
Cabinets
Lacquer as an option, and when it is the wrong one.
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Can you paint outside if it freezes at night?
Weather
The longer version of the 35 degree rule.
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Window color and where black trim goes
Exteriors
Black trim looks right on some houses and wrong on others. Which is which.
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Cabinet staining in Lee’s Summit
Cabinets
Staining rather than painting, and what it does to the grain.
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Can you paint a house after snow?
Weather
How long the siding has to dry out first.
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Ceiling first or walls first?
Interiors
The order a room gets painted in, and why it is not the one most people guess.
All 221 posts, or by subject: interior design, paint, exteriors, interiors, windows, color, cabinets, wood rot.
Would you rather just ask somebody?
Call 816-500-7759, or send the job through and we call you back within one business day.
