When you’re looking for a professional painting contractor to paint your home or business space, bear in mind that you require two distinct painting services. While it might seem like residential and commercial painting are essentially the same service, their size, equipment requirements, and painting experience set them apart.
Most painting contractors usually provide both residential and commercial painting services. If you’re not sure which service you require, keep reading!
What Is Residential Painting?
Residential painting involves painting both the interior and exterior of your house. A fresh coat of paint can do wonders for the appearance and energy of your home. These days, residential painting is a popular DIY activity, where homeowners take it upon themselves to paint their houses. However, if you’re looking to bring a professional touch to your painting project, you can always hire experienced residential painting contractors.
Before finalizing on a contractor, talk to them about any additional painting services they provide or would be willing to provide. Most residential painting services also include cabinet, deck, and trim painting. Some contractors might even offer garage painting or essential home repair services.
What Is Commercial Painting?
Commercial painting involves applying a new coat of paint to communal, business, and industrial spaces. You need commercial painting services when you’re looking for a painting contractor to work in an office building, apartment complex, warehouse, educational institution, hospital, government office, manufacturing compound, or other such places.
Usually, commercial painting projects require large-scale equipment and materials, depending on the scope of the business. Contractors will also hire a larger crew to work in shifts to meet project deadlines. To get the results you desire, make sure to discuss all the details of your project with an experienced contractor.
Key Differences between Residential and Commercial Painting
1. Size of the Project
Compared to a residential project, the scope of a commercial painting project is much larger. Depending on the size of the business, commercial projects can take a considerable amount of time to plan and execute. They also require more labor and materials that have to be transported on-site and utilized effectively, which means more costs for the contractor.
Residential painting projects, on the other hand, are for houses, apartments, condominiums, townhouses, and other living spaces that are relatively smaller in size. Contractors can spend less than they would for a commercial project and can usually get the job done in less than two weeks.
2. Size of the Crew
Residential painting projects do not require many painters on site, as these projects are smaller in scope. So if you’re thinking of repainting your house, you don’t need to worry about too many people getting in your way. Commercial projects, on the other hand, usually have a lot more space to cover. To paint a hospital or a large warehouse, you will need a large crew to get the job done on time.
This isn’t to say that some residential projects won’t require large crews. For example, if you live in a mansion and want it painted, your contractor may have to hire more painters than a standard residential painting job would require. Commercial painting contractors can also hire a smaller crew if the business occupies a smaller space, like a cafe or a small boutique.
Your contractor will decide on the size of their crew depending on the size of your residence or business.
3. Scheduling
Scheduling can be challenging for commercial painting contracts. Painting can be a loud, long, and disruptive job. It can interrupt everyday operative functions and cause losses to many businesses, which is why most business owners prefer to not have their working hours disrupted by painters on the premises. So most commercial painting contractors are time-flexible, as they work during non-business hours.
Residential painting is easier to plan and execute because the size of the job is smaller. Most residential painters work eight hours a day during weekdays, Monday through Friday. They will take care to not disrupt your home routines, and strive to finish the job as quickly as possible.
4. Materials and Equipment Required
Residential and commercial painting contractors use different sets of tools to deliver satisfactory results to their customers. Residential painting supplies, like paintbrushes, rollers, painting trays, drop cloths, cleaning materials, and step ladders, can be easily acquired by homeowners. On the other hand, commercial painting requires industrial-grade paints, tints, and primers that cannot be bought at your local retail store.
The purpose of residential contracting is to improve the aesthetic appeal of your home. So the paints used on your walls are softer and have a larger color scheme to choose from. Commercial painting is mostly utilitarian and needs to stand the test of time. So the color palette is minimal as businesses prefer a practical, functional look rather than a vibrant, appealing one.
Commercial painting contractors are trained to work on different surface types such as concrete, metal, wood, reinforced plastic, marble, and more. They use paint sprayers, aerial lifts, sandblasters, pressure washers, and other complex tools for the job.
5. Painters’ Experience
Residential and commercial painting require different skill sets. Residential painters are skilled at handling communication with homeowners and understanding their needs. They also have an artistic eye which helps them recommend the right colors and accents to match the interior and exterior furnishings. Residential painters also take precautions to protect your property from damage, making them uniquely qualified to work in your home.
Commercial painting can never be a DIY job. It requires endurance to work long and odd hours, and skill to carry out jobs at great risk to personal safety. Many commercial painting projects involve working in dangerous situations, like painting the exteriors of a tall building. You need to possess the right training, experience, and skill to execute such a job.
6. Additional Service
Most painting contractors offer additional services apart from residential and commercial painting. Commercial painters sometimes offer special surface preparation, epoxy coatings, sandblasting, metalizing, and other business-specific services.
Residential painters are trained to deal with various exterior surfaces such as wood, metal, vinyl, concrete, and stucco. Some contractors also offer wallpaper removal services and plaster and drywall repairs. Talk to your contractor to learn more about the additional services they offer.
If you’re looking for professional painting contractors to execute your residential or commercial painting project, get in touch! At Bob Kunst Painting Inc., we strive to deliver top-quality results to our clients in Marin, Novato, and Sonoma.
Our expert team works hard to protect and beautify any surface and is dedicated to providing quality craftsmanship and customer service. Take a look at the services we offer and get a quick estimate here. You can also contact us at (415) 457-0100.