How to Read a Painting Quote

What a painting quote should list

Collecting quotes from painters in Ottawa this winter? Lay them side by side before you look at a single total. Consumer Protection Ontario says an estimate should describe the work and give an itemized list of the products and services, with their prices. A painting quote that does this has these lines on it:

• Rooms and surfaces. Which rooms, and whether the walls, ceilings, trim, doors and closets in each are in or out.
• Prep. Washing, filling holes and cracks, sanding, caulking and spot-priming, each named rather than implied.
• Coats. How many on each surface. A big colour change can take an extra one.
• Paint. The maker, the product name and the sheen for walls, ceilings and trim.
• Protection and clean-up. What gets moved, covered and masked, and who cleans up at the end of each day.
• Dates. A start date and a finish date.
• Payment. The total, the tax, the deposit and when the rest is due.

Ontario’s checklist for a renovation contract covers the same ground: the contractor’s name, address and contact details, the work and the materials, any warranty, the total and the payment terms, the start and completion dates, the deposit, who cleans up, and any work handed to sub-trades.

“Premium paint” is not a line you can compare

It names nothing you can check. Ask for the maker, the product name and the sheen, then read that product’s technical data sheet. It gives the minimum temperature, the recoat time and the VOC content. Our guide to Canadian paint brands explains who makes the paint on the shelf in Ottawa and Gatineau.

How to compare painting quotes line by line

Ontario tells homeowners to get written estimates from at least three contractors, and never to accept one over the phone or from someone who has not seen the area. Once you have three, work through them in this order:

1. 1. Make one scope sheet. List the rooms and surfaces down the side and each painter across the top, then tick what each quote covers. Gaps show up at once.
2. 2. Match the prep. If one quote names filling, sanding, caulking and priming and another says only “prep included”, ask the second painter to write the steps out.
3. 3. Count the coats on each surface. One coat against two on the same walls is a different job, whatever the totals say.
4. 4. Match the paint. Same maker, same product, same sheen. Otherwise the totals are pricing different products.
5. 5. Read what is left out. Ceilings, trim, doors, closets, drywall repairs and moving furniture are the lines a quote can drop without saying so.
6. 6. Put the tax on the same footing. One total with tax and one without is not a comparison.
7. 7. Compare the payment terms. The deposit, the schedule, and what is owed at the end.

Drywall repairs are where quotes split

“Minor patching included” and a quote that names each repair are not the same job. If your walls have cracks, dents or nail pops, ask every painter to write the repair on the quote. Our page on drywall repair in Ottawa shows what a proper repair involves before any paint goes on.

HST in Ottawa, GST and QST in Gatineau

Check whether each total includes tax. The Canada Revenue Agency’s rate table puts Ontario at 13% HST. A home in Gatineau is in Quebec, where it is 5% GST plus 9.975% Quebec sales tax (QST). In Ottawa, a quote shown before tax and one shown after it can look 13 per cent apart for the same work.

Consumer Protection Ontario also warns against cash deals: if anything goes wrong, you have no proof of payment without a receipt.

Why the lowest painting quote can cost more

The lowest total is often the quote that covers the least. Ontario puts the risk plainly: if something is not written in your contract, you may not get it, and you should be ready to pay for extra materials or work the contract leaves out.

So a low quote that skips the ceilings, the trim or the drywall repairs does not stay low once those come up halfway through the job. Comparing the scope first is how you find out which quote is actually the cheaper one.

Keep the deposit small

Consumer Protection Ontario recommends a down payment of no more than 10 per cent, and never paying the full amount before the work is done. Its list of renovation scams describes the contractor who asks for a large deposit to pay for materials, then never finishes the job or never starts it.

What Ontario law says about a written estimate

Under Ontario’s Consumer Protection Act, a written estimate that is part of your contract caps the final price at 10 per cent above it, unless you agree to new work or a new price and sign a change to the contract. The cap only protects you if the estimate is in the contract, so ask for it to be. The other rules worth knowing:

• In writing: any home renovation contract worth more than $50 must be in writing.
• Signed at home: a renovation or repair contract of $50 or more signed in your home has a 10 calendar-day cooling-off period. You can cancel for any reason, with no cancellation fee.
• Work already started: you can still cancel inside those 10 days, but you owe reasonable compensation for the work and materials provided.
• Charged over the cap: if the bill comes in more than 10 per cent above a written estimate you did not agree to change, you can demand that the final price be adjusted.

These are Ontario’s rules. For a home in Gatineau, Quebec’s consumer law applies, and the Office de la protection du consommateur is the place to check it.

Questions to ask before you sign

Our page on a full interior and exterior repaint sets out five questions for choosing a house painter. These are the ones that belong to the quote itself:

• Will my estimate be part of the contract? It is on Ontario’s own list of questions, because the 10 per cent cap depends on it.
• Is your workplace insurance coverage in place? Ontario says workers and independent operators in construction must carry it, with some exceptions, and points you to the WSIB to check. A WSIB clearance is issued only to registered businesses in good standing and is valid for up to 90 days.
• Can I see your liability insurance certificate? Ask every painter on your list for the same document, so the answers compare.
• How will we settle a disagreement? Ontario suggests writing the answer into the contract.
• On a house built before 1960, how will you contain the dust? Health Canada says such a house probably contains lead-based paint. The answer you want describes lead-safe practices, not a power sander.

What goes on our estimate

Ottawa Luxe Painting quotes from your actual rooms and surfaces, not a flat rate. The estimate is free, written and itemized line by line, so you can lay it beside any other quote and run the steps above. A few photos with your request usually mean a faster, more accurate price.

For interior painting in Ottawa, that page sets out what the prep line on an interior quote should list, which is the part of any quote worth reading twice. If you want published market rates to set against the quotes you collect, our house painting cost guide lists them with their sources.