How to Hire a Painting Contractor in Ontario: The Walk-Through, the Written Scope, Products Named, Coats Counted, WSIB, Deposits and the Light at the End

Drywall, Taping & Painting

How to Hire a Painter: Five Things a Good One Does at the Estimate, Four Things in the Contract, and One Light at the End

Painting is the easiest trade to get into and the easiest to do badly, and the homeowner usually cannot tell the difference until the second winter. I have hired a lot of painters. The good ones are not hard to spot if you know what to look for at the estimate: they measure, they ask about the drywall, they name products, they count coats, and they want to know who is inspecting the walls before they prime. The bad ones say “about six grand” from the doorway. Here is how to tell them apart and what to put on paper.

Ontario, where a home-renovation contract over $50 has to be in writing and you have ten days to cancel it, by law. That law is linked at the bottom.

At the estimate

  1. They measure. A tape or a laser, every room, walls and ceilings written down. A painter who prices from the doorway is guessing, and the guess has a margin in it for being wrong.
  2. They look at the walls with a light. On a repaint: the patches, the old oil trim, the stains, the wallpaper under the paint. On new drywall: the finish level and whether it has been inspected. If they do not ask who signs off the drywall, they have not been burned by it yet or they are planning to blame the taper.
  3. They name products. Primer by name. Wall paint by line and sheen. Trim enamel by name. “Benjamin Moore” is a company, not a specification.
  4. They count coats and say what is included. Walls, ceilings, trim, doors, closets, each yes or no. Two coats, three on dark colours. Caulking, nail holes, moving furniture, protecting floors.
  5. They talk about the schedule honestly. A 2,000 sq ft house is two painters for a week to ten days. One painter in three days is one coat.

Before you sign

  • References you can see. A house painted two or more years ago, not last month. Ask the owner whether it touched up and whether the painter came back.
  • WSIB clearance certificate, current, in the business name. If a painter falls off a ladder in your stairwell with no coverage, you are the employer. Free to check on the WSIB site.
  • Liability insurance, a certificate naming the company, $2 million is standard. Paint on a hardwood floor is a claim.
  • A written contract with the scope by surface and room, products, sheens, coats, exclusions, start and finish dates, price, HST, and the payment schedule. The Consumer Protection Act requires it in writing over $50 and gives you ten days to cancel after signing at home.
  • Deposit of 10% or less, never more than the paint costs. Progress payment at the halfway point if it is a big house. 10% held until the walk-through.
  • Who inspects the drywall before primer, in writing, if it is a new house. Who is responsible.

The red flags

Cash only. A price that expires tonight. No company name on the truck or the estimate. A deposit of a third. “Paint and primer in one, so no primer needed” on new drywall. Any estimate for a whole house that fits on a business card. A painter who will not say which paint. A painter who says the drywall is fine without looking at it with a light. None of these is fatal alone; two together and you keep looking.

The walk-through

Before the last cheque, walk every room with the painter and a work light, in daylight and then with the lights on. Coverage, cut lines, roller marks, drips, touch-ups, trim, cleanup. Blue tape on anything that needs doing. The inspection checklist has the list. A good painter expects this and brings the brush; a bad one says the light is unfair. The standard is the room’s own lighting, so be fair, and hold the 10% until the tape comes off the wall.

Questions people ask

How much deposit should I pay a painter?

10%, or the cost of the paint, whichever is less. A painter who needs a third up front is financing the last job with your money. Progress payments on a big house are normal; 10% held to the end is normal too.

Should a painter have WSIB in Ontario?

Yes, if they have any employees, and most sole operators carry optional coverage too. Ask for the clearance certificate and check it on the WSIB website; it takes a minute and it is free.

What should a painting quote include?

Every surface by room, products by name and sheen, the number of coats, prep (filling, caulking, sanding, priming), protection and cleanup, exclusions, dates, price with HST, and the payment schedule. The grid.

What if the painter leaves the job unfinished?

The written contract and the holdback are your protection. Document it with photos, send a written notice to complete, and if they do not, the Consumer Protection Act and small claims court are the route. Do not pay ahead of the work and this mostly does not happen.

Write the scope first

The painting calculator writes a surface-by-surface scope you can hand to three painters. If the quotes come back in three different formats, the $99 review puts them on one grid.

Price my paintingThe contract checklist

Sources and further reading