Apartment Painting Tips - NYC Edition

July 24, 2016 7:32 PM

My wife and I are in the process of buying an apartment on the upper west side in Manhattan and would like to have it painted just after we close (in a couple weeks) and before we move in. Neither of us have ever hired painters before - she's painted herself, and I've just never painted. Some help would be welcome!

A couple questions:

(1) The place is about 1000 square feet, 2 bedroom 2 bath. What should we expect to pay? And do we buy the paint ourselves and just pay for labor or do we do everything through the painters?

(2) About how long will the job take? We're thinking a few days, but is that right? And will we be able to schedule it in advance to occur pretty precisely after our closing?

(3) Very open to recommendations for painters who work in the area. Anyone you've used and can recommend, we'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!

posted by slide to Home & Garden (3 answers total)

Check Yelp and, if you want to pay for a membership, Angie's List. Also, your realtor probably has some great recommendations (I'm a real estate broker on the opposite coast and we all call on each other for favorite contractors since we need their services so much). I'm happy to call someone in an office local to you to see who they'd suggest.
posted by bendy at 8:09 PM on July 24, 2016

Also, in my own experience hiring painters for myself, they go to the store and buy the paint but it's part of your cost. I was surprised at how little time it took - a day, possibly two if you need many coats, which is rare.
posted by bendy at 8:11 PM on July 24, 2016 [2 favorites]

You might also ask the management office for your building if they can recommend someone.

We are also on the UWS, and planning to have our apartment painted soon. I am in the process of gathering estimates, so I can't recommend anyone yet based on the actual painting job. But if that happens soon, I will re-post here.
posted by merejane at 9:21 AM on July 26, 2016