Our Painting Services in Calgary

House Painters Calgary provides interior and exterior painting, cabinet refinishing, specialty surface work and the drywall repair that comes before it — for houses, condos, townhouses and small commercial properties across Calgary, Alberta.

Which service do you need?

Most people arrive knowing roughly what they want done but not which category it falls into. A rough guide:

• If you want rooms repainted — walls, ceilings, trim, doors or a basement — start with interior painting.
• If you are thinking about the whole property rather than specific surfaces, or you are moving in or selling, start with residential painting.
• If it is the kitchen that looks dated but the cabinets are structurally fine, that is cabinet painting.
• If it is the outside of the building — stucco, siding, trim or fascia — see exterior painting.
• If it is an office, retail unit or rental, see commercial painting.
• If there are cracks, holes or nail pops to sort out first, that is drywall repair.

Not sure? Say what you are trying to achieve when you get in touch and we will work out the scope with you. Plenty of projects cross several of these categories — a basement development typically needs drywall repair, ceilings and walls together, and a pre-sale refresh often means interior work now and the exterior in spring. We quote those as one project with the parts priced separately.

Seasonal availability

Interior work — walls, ceilings, trim, cabinets, garages and drywall repair — runs year-round, and the colder months are often easier to book than peak summer.

Exterior work — house exteriors, decks and fences — runs roughly May to September, because coatings must be applied and cured within their temperature range. We will not coat an exterior outside that window.

What every quote includes

Whatever the service, the estimate is written and itemised by area and by task, with preparation included in the price and repair work shown as its own line rather than folded in. Two finish coats are standard unless there is a reason to do otherwise, and we say so when there is.

Specifically, an estimate from us sets out the areas and surfaces in scope, the preparation included for each, the number of coats priced, the products being used, any repair work as separate lines, and a day-by-day schedule showing which parts of the property are affected when. The point of that detail is that you can change it — drop a room, add the trim, defer a repair to next year — instead of being handed a single number to accept or reject.

How to compare painting quotes

Estimates for the same job routinely differ by a large margin, and the gap is almost never the hourly rate. It is scope. Three questions will explain most of the difference between any two quotes you are holding.

• What preparation is included? Filling, sanding, caulking, scuff-sanding glossy surfaces and spot-priming patches are the bulk of the labour on most jobs, and they are the first things to disappear from a cheap price. A quote that does not mention them has either absorbed them or omitted them, and it is worth knowing which.
• How many coats? Two is standard. One-coat coverage offered as a selling point occasionally works on a same-colour refresh over sound walls, but as a general policy it is where thin, patchy finishes come from.
• How is repair handled? If drywall work is folded into a general painting figure, it is either padding every job or waiting to reappear as a change order once the furniture moves.

A fourth applies to any exterior job: ask what happens if the weather turns mid-project. A quote with no answer has not planned for an Alberta summer.

Getting your property ready

A little preparation on your side shortens the job and keeps the cost down, because time we spend moving your belongings is time we are not painting.

• Clear the surfaces. Take down pictures, mirrors, curtains and shelving brackets in the rooms being painted. Wall fixings are easier to fill properly when nothing is hanging off them.
• Move what is fragile or valuable. We move and cover furniture as standard, but anything irreplaceable is better relocated by you before we arrive.
• Empty the cabinets. For a kitchen refinish, boxes need to be clear so the frames and visible edges can be masked and coated.
• Clear access outside. For exterior, deck or fence work, cut back planting against the walls and move vehicles, furniture and bins away from the elevations being coated.
• Plan for pets and parking. Doors get propped open and equipment gets carried in and out. Tell us about pets, and about anything we need to know regarding parking or building access.

None of this is mandatory. We will work around whatever is there — it simply costs less if we do not have to.

What we don't take on

Being clear about the edges of our scope saves everyone time. We are painters who prepare surfaces properly, not a general contractor, so there are jobs we will point you elsewhere for rather than do adequately.

• Garage and basement floor coatings. These need moisture testing and mechanical surface preparation, and they are a genuine specialty.
• Full drywall installation. Boarding out a new basement or an extension is a different trade. We repair, patch and finish drywall as preparation for painting.
• Roofing, windows and structural repair. Where preparation uncovers a problem behind a surface, we will show you and tell you what it needs — but the fix belongs to another trade.
• Exterior work outside the season. No coating applied below its temperature range will last, and we would rather book you for spring than take money for a finish that fails.