Dover and the paint question
In 1777 the capital of the newly formed State of Delaware moved to Dover from New Castle, and the town's government was formalized by incorporation in 1829, according to the Delaware Public Archives. Every house in town, whatever its age, eventually needs paint, and every owner faces the same question: do this one myself, or hire it out?
There's no single answer. It depends on the surface, the height, the condition, your time and your patience with preparation. This page sorts painting jobs by how well they suit a homeowner, and explains what you're paying for when you hire.
Jobs that often suit a homeowner
- A single bedroom or office with walls in good shape, a color close to the old one, and a standard ceiling height.
- Touch-ups where you still have the original paint.
- Interior doors, taken off and painted flat on sawhorses.
- A low fence or a small ground-level deck, if you're comfortable with cleaners and stains.
Even these go better with real prep: cleaning, patching, sanding, spot-priming, and good tape lines. Our drywall repair and surface preparation guide explains it.
Jobs that usually go better with a painter
- Anything high: second-storey walls, gables, stairwells, cathedral ceilings. Working safely from tall ladders or planks takes equipment and practice, and the setup alone can eat a weekend.
- Peeling exteriors: scraping, sanding, wood repair and priming take skill and time, and old paint may contain lead.
- Cabinets: the finish has to be smooth and hard, which usually means spray equipment and a dust-free place to work. See our cabinet painting page.
- Dramatic color changes across a whole floor, where coverage and cutting-in skill show.
- Whole exteriors on a deadline.
Drying time: the same for everyone
NOAA's engineering weather data for Dover Air Force Base count about 612 hours in an average year with the wet-bulb temperature above 73°F, and about 1,723 hours above 67°F. Wet-bulb temperature combines heat and humidity, and higher readings mean air that's slower to take up water.
Latex paint dries as its water evaporates, so on muggy days both homeowners and painters wait longer between coats. The difference is that a painter plans the order of work to keep moving: other rooms or sides of the house while one dries. A homeowner with one room often just has to wait. Either way, follow the label's recoat time, and don't rush a second coat onto a film that is still soft.
What you pay a painter for
When you hire, you're paying for more than labor:
- Preparation skill: knowing what to fill, sand, prime and caulk, and what to leave.
- Speed and evenness: clean lines, no lap marks, consistent coverage.
- Equipment: ladders, planks, sprayers, drop cloths, masking tools.
- Protection: floors, furniture, plants and fixtures covered properly.
- Cleanup and disposal.
- Accountability: a written proposal and a final walk-through.
Our pricing guide explains how those add up.
Delaware's registration law
Delaware Code Title 19, Chapter 36 requires a contractor to register with the Department of Labor's Office of Contractor Registration before performing construction services, which the law defines to include all building or work on a building. The card below links to the law. You may want to ask a painter about it when you compare proposals.
A middle path
Some homeowners split the job: they do the moving, the patching of small holes, or the painting of easy rooms, and hire a painter for ceilings, stairwells, trim or the exterior. If you plan to do part of the prep yourself, agree with the painter in writing on exactly what you'll do and by when, so the quote reflects it.
Before you start either way
Decide on colors and sheens with samples on the wall. Our paint sheens guide and our interior painting page can help you plan.