Exterior House Painting Questions

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Networkn
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#2157095 9-Jan-2019 15:07

rb99:

Plus I guess taking annual leave (or whatever) to spent all day doing that doesn't really appeal...

Not cost effective I wouldn't imagine.

timmmay

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#2157096 9-Jan-2019 15:10

rb99:

I know its easy for me to suggest, but still, I find the cost of painting a house here horrendous. I lived in South Africa a decade-ish ago and I used to do a reasonable job applying two coats of decent paint for a decent size (admittedly single story) house for about 2500 rand. Even at the ex-rate then, thats 500 bucks.

Labour (obviously) isn't cheap.

How much is that in NZD, and how long did it take?

Painting is generally quick and easy. It's the preparation that's both time consuming and most important.

My house paint will be about $16K from memory. I expect it to take 6 guys 2 - 3 weeks, but stripping to bare wood is a lot of that time. That's a lot of labor.

wellygary

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#2157111 9-Jan-2019 15:26

rb99:

I know its easy for me to suggest, but still, I find the cost of painting a house here horrendous. I lived in South Africa a decade-ish ago and I used to do a reasonable job applying two coats of decent paint for a decent size (admittedly single story) house for about 2500 rand. Even at the ex-rate then, thats 500 bucks.

Labour (obviously) isn't cheap.

The cost of painting is basically labour + H&S - The actual cost of the sloshy stuff in the buckets is a pretty minimal part of the job

Comparing labour costs between NZ and SA (which only implemented a minimum wage of 20 rand an hour this year,) is a total apples and oranges comparison...

networkn

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#2157114 9-Jan-2019 15:30

Wow $2.13 an hour minimum wage, that's horrifying!

rb99

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#2157115 9-Jan-2019 15:30

timmmay:

rb99:

I know its easy for me to suggest, but still, I find the cost of painting a house here horrendous. I lived in South Africa a decade-ish ago and I used to do a reasonable job applying two coats of decent paint for a decent size (admittedly single story) house for about 2500 rand. Even at the ex-rate then, thats 500 bucks.

Labour (obviously) isn't cheap.

How much is that in NZD, and how long did it take?

Painting is generally quick and easy. It's the preparation that's both time consuming and most important.

My house paint will be about $16K from memory. I expect it to take 6 guys 2 - 3 weeks, but stripping to bare wood is a lot of that time. That's a lot of labor.

Its quite a while ago now so details are hazy. Tins were big though, like this -

https://www.pricecheck.co.za/offers/139766481/Paint+Weatherguard+Dulux+-+20L+Chalk+Stone

and like I say, two coats so maybe 4 tins, so thats 5000 rand today, but back then it was at most half, maybe a third of the price. Also the ex rate now is about 10 to 1, whereas back then when I was actually doing the painting it was maybe 4 or 5 to one. So nowadays that amount of paint would be about, as mentioned 500 bucks, and probably the same back then.

Not much prep though, the houses we owned (and painted), were all single storey, plastered double brick, so wash the bird poo off and get stuck in (mostly just me, with some help from other half for windows).

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99

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#2157117 9-Jan-2019 15:32

networkn:

Wow $2.13 an hour minimum wage, that's horrifying!

True, especially considering they've had some pretty high inflation I believe since we left, and obviously wages never keep up with prices, but for me it was still DIY.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99

jonathan18

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#2157118 9-Jan-2019 15:37

When we got our house painted a couple of years back (not in Akld; and a single-story 1920s villa, much of it needing to be stripped back to wood, wooden windowframes - so prices not relevant) I was amazed at the variation in price between painters, so I'd recommend getting a few quotes (or at least, initially, estimates). For our place, just the painting it was a difference between the highest and lowest of nearly 50% - and both of these were master painters.

I'd suggest trying to go with one you've had personally recommended, as that person can vouch to the quality of their work (and you could likely inspect it yourself). The line about it being 90% preparation may be OTT, but I've heard of many jobs that just haven't lasted due to shortcuts at the prep stage. Also, I suggest you don't get taken in by someone offering to do it cheaper by spraying, as that's another sure way to reduce the lifespan of the job. (Another thing to be mindful of is that darker colours won't last as long, and are far more prone to bubbling - making the prep even more important.)

Scaffolding - we used a different company to repair, re-screw and paint the roof, and they provided their own scaffolding, but interestingly it would have been about the same price to have used a scaffolding company. The problem of organising it yourself can be trying to coordinate the timing, given painters can be affected by bad weather (which is why Feb-Mar is the best time; you may be pushing it to get it booked in for that period, though).

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networkn

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#2157120 9-Jan-2019 15:38

rb99:

networkn:

Wow $2.13 an hour minimum wage, that's horrifying!

True, especially considering they've had some pretty high inflation I believe since we left, and obviously wages never keep up with prices, but for me it was still DIY.

Heh, and here I was thinking they had abolished slavery!

rb99

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#2157133 9-Jan-2019 15:46

networkn:

rb99:

networkn:

Wow $2.13 an hour minimum wage, that's horrifying!

True, especially considering they've had some pretty high inflation I believe since we left, and obviously wages never keep up with prices, but for me it was still DIY.

Heh, and here I was thinking they had abolished slavery!

Wasn't slavery renamed 'the gig economy' ?

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99

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#2157135 9-Jan-2019 15:47

jonathan18:

When we got our house painted a couple of years back (not in Akld; and a single-story 1920s villa, much of it needing to be stripped back to wood, wooden windowframes - so prices not relevant) I was amazed at the variation in price between painters, so I'd recommend getting a few quotes (or at least, initially, estimates). For our place, just the painting it was a difference between the highest and lowest of nearly 50% - and both of these were master painters.

I'd suggest trying to go with one you've had personally recommended, as that person can vouch to the quality of their work (and you could likely inspect it yourself). The line about it being 90% preparation may be OTT, but I've heard of many jobs that just haven't lasted due to shortcuts at the prep stage. Also, I suggest you don't get taken in by someone offering to do it cheaper by spraying, as that's another sure way to reduce the lifespan of the job. (Another thing to be mindful of is that darker colours won't last as long, and are far more prone to bubbling - making the prep even more important.)

Scaffolding - we used a different company to repair, re-screw and paint the roof, and they provided their own scaffolding, but interestingly it would have been about the same price to have used a scaffolding company. The problem of organising it yourself can be trying to coordinate the timing, given painters can be affected by bad weather (which is why Feb-Mar is the best time; you may be pushing it to get it booked in for that period, though).

Just wondering why spraying would mean reduced durability ?

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99

alasta

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#2157136 9-Jan-2019 15:47

Out of interest, how does the cost of re-staining cedar compare with the cost of re-painting weatherboards? I'm guessing it's much cheaper due to needing less preparation, although it needs to be done more often which is a huge pain if it requires scaffolding every time.

jonathan18

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#2157148 9-Jan-2019 15:58

rb99:

Just wondering why spraying would mean reduced durability ?

Sprayed paint, I have been told, goes on thinner and less evenly than brush-applied paint, especially around tricky areas (despite it using more paint); there's certainly not unanimity on the superiority of brush vs spray, but I was happy to trust the advice I received (including from a friend who was a former house painter).

I also wasn't keen on the idea of drift, which is basically inevitable. They roof guy sprayed our roof and clearly did a poor job of prep, eg there's overspray on the porch's clearlite .

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#2157154 9-Jan-2019 16:07

Thanks, that makes sense.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

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mdf

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#2157166 9-Jan-2019 16:48

alasta:
Out of interest, how does the cost of re-staining cedar compare with the cost of re-painting weatherboards? I'm guessing it's much cheaper due to needing less preparation, although it needs to be done more often which is a huge pain if it requires scaffolding every time.

Yes, exactly right. Less prep but required more often.

alasta

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#2157167 9-Jan-2019 16:50

mdf:
alasta:

Out of interest, how does the cost of re-staining cedar compare with the cost of re-painting weatherboards? I'm guessing it's much cheaper due to needing less preparation, although it needs to be done more often which is a huge pain if it requires scaffolding every time.

Yes, exactly right. Less prep but required more often.

Any idea of which works out cheaper over the long term? Is staining easy to DIY?

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