Hiring a licensed painting company doesn’t guarantee that the company you hired has the best quality or the nicest service. Having a license isn’t about one person being ‘better’ than the other person. What a contracting license means for a homeowner is protection under the law for a list of issues from unsatisfactory workmanship to personal liability from accidents.
In Arizona, the AZ registrar of contractors mandates a two year warranty on workmanship for all paint jobs completed by a licensed company. This isn’t like the ‘promised’ warranties that the paint companies salesmen try to sell you when they come to your home. What good is a 5 or 10 year warranty from a company that’s been in business for less than 2 years. Is that salesman going to come back and fix your house when he’s working for another company 6 months later. The 2 year warranty from the AZ registrar of contractors is guaranteed by the state government and is paid for by a fully funded trust. That means if the company you used went out of business, then your repaint is still paid for. Each licensed company pays into this fund as a percentage of revenue and is a requirement of staying in good standing. Companies that aren’t licensed do not pay into this trust and therefore their work has no guarantee.
I know what your saying, this is paint. From what I save using the unlicensed guy I can repaint the place twice, so I don’t need a warranty. First off, the cost savings is minimal if any. Second, what if the job is never completed at all. This what if has a million different directions it could take but here are a few. The contractor takes your deposit and never comes back. The contractor comes in and partially paints the house, then realizes they under bid the job and will lose money if they complete it. They paint your house the wrong color, sheen, product. They walk in and spill a gallon of paint on your carpet, cabinets, drapes, couch, tv. All of those scenarios are protected using a licensed contractor.
Lastly and by far the biggest, is the personal liability you have for the safety of unlicensed contractors working on your property. Licensed companies are liable for the safety of their employees on any and all work sites. To pay for the injuries that may and occasionally do happen, they pay workman’s compensation insurance. This insurance is like the warranty on your home and is paid into a trust, but it also extends one more benefit. Workman’s compensation makes sure Homeowners are exempt from liability for the injuries. When an unlicensed contractor gets injured, the liability falls solely on the homeowner. And depending on the injury this could mean big bucks. In extreme cases you could be paying for that ‘cheaper’ paint job for the rest of your life.
On a lighter note, Paint Kings is a licensed contractor and 9 times out of 10 we can use our systems and buying power to still get you the lowest price. So contact us today at 322-5181 for a free quote.