Gainesville, briefly
Gainesville, first known as Mule Camp Springs, was chartered in 1821 as the seat of Hall County, which had been created in 1818. The 1953 damming of the Chattahoochee River created the 38,000-acre Lake Lanier on Gainesville's shore. Those facts set the scene; they don't change how paint behaves on a wall. We have no weather station figures for Gainesville, so this page makes no claim about the local climate. What follows is the practical side of hiring a painter for a house here.
Decide what the job really is
"Paint the house" can mean several quite different projects, and each is priced and scheduled in its own way:
- a colour change in a few rooms;
- a full interior refresh covering walls, ceilings, trim and doors;
- an exterior repaint of siding, trim, soffits and porch;
- cabinets, a deck or a fence, which are specialty work.
Before anyone visits, walk through the house with a notepad. List each room or side of the house, what surfaces you want done, and anything you already know is wrong: a water stain on a ceiling, a cracked corner, a door that sticks. A painter who receives that list can quote the same scope as the next painter, and you get proposals you can actually set side by side.
Interior: where the hours hide
Most of the time on an interior job goes into getting ready. Furniture is moved to the middle and covered, floors are protected, outlet plates come off, and nail pops, dents and cracks are filled, sanded and spot-primed. Trim and doors take far longer per square foot than walls because every edge is cut in by hand. Ceilings are slow too, especially where a crew has to work from planks or tall ladders.
If you want walls, ceilings and trim in three different colours, expect more time than one colour throughout. Our interior painting page explains the order a good crew follows, and the drywall and preparation guide shows what proper patching involves.
Exterior: preparation sets the lifespan
Fresh paint over a dirty, chalky or flaking surface fails early, whatever the product. A sound exterior job usually includes washing, scraping loose paint, sanding the edges smooth, priming bare wood and metal, caulking open joints and replacing any rotten boards before colour goes on. Ask the painter how they plan the schedule around rain and cool nights, and how they follow the product label's temperature limits. The exterior painting page goes through each step.
Colour and sheen
Paint chips are tiny, and colour shifts with light. Buy sample pots and paint large swatches on two or three walls, then look at them morning and evening before you commit. Sheen matters as much as colour: flatter finishes hide flaws, glossier ones wipe clean. Our guide to sheens and finishes explains where each one fits.
Georgia's consumer office on painters
Georgia's Consumer Protection Division says certain specialty occupations, such as roofers, painters, drywall contractors and repair handymen, are exempt from state contractor licensing, and that most contractors are also subject to county or city licensing requirements. That is the state office's own wording, and we repeat it unchanged. This page makes no claim about any Gainesville or Hall County rule.
Reading a proposal
A useful written proposal names:
- every room or elevation, and every surface within it;
- the preparation steps, not just "prep included";
- the primer and the finish products by name, with the number of coats;
- who moves furniture and who handles repairs found along the way;
- how the site is cleaned each day and at the end.
If something on your list is missing from the proposal, ask before you sign rather than after the crew has left. The pricing guide explains what makes one proposal cost more than another.