It’s fast. It’s cheap.  It’s the most impactful quick renovation you can do before you sell your home – and it’s got a proven 55% ROI.  And it’s not hard.  It’s painting.  A study by property marketplace Zillow found that sellers number one renovation for upping their sale price was a humble lick of paint. 

What Buyers Feel is Different to What they See

What a buyer sees, is the details that register in their minds – a checklist.  Bedroom sizes.  Kitchen appliances.  Carparking.  They see those things.  They might see a specific piece of furniture that makes its way to their conscious thought – oh I like that table, I must see if I can find it online…  but that’s not the goal, to sell a table. Every element of property staging has one goal – to make buyers feel something.  That feeling is at the core of the offer they make.  Wall paint isn’t something they see. They don’t look into a room and say “well, that looks like a quality acrylic”.  They “feel it”.  They feel that the room is perfectly finished and flawless.  It feels opulent.  It feels quality.  It feels solid. That feeling is what triggers the “ballpark” offer.

Good Painters, Good Paint

Good house painters are hard to come by and good paint costs a little more but the return on investment is exponentially worth it.  A good paint job gives an instant refresh, a new feel, a “well maintained” feel to your property.  A bad paint job doesn’t.  It gives the buyer an instant impression: cheap.  Cheap means “lowball offer”.  The Zillow study found that the quality of paint and application both played a pivotal part in reaching maximum sale price.

What kind of paint job feels bad?

A tiny mismatch in colour can throw the whole feeling off.  The wrong gloss level for the space can waste valuable natural light.  A poorly chosen paint can highlight every flaw in the walls.  The buyer won’t turn down the home because there’s a dent in a wall.  But they’ll feel the imperfection, and their instinct will be to lower the offer.

When you need more than a “good painter”.

“When you’re becoming a painter, you learn how to deal with scratches, holes and the like but knowing how to do something, and having the experience to complete it flawlessly, those are completely different things.  There are good GPs and great GPs.  There are lawyers and great lawyers.  Same goes for painters.  It takes learning, experience and diligence,” said Stephen Cochrane, owner of the longest running painting company in Perth.

A good painter will get the job done on time and on budget using the paint you tell them to use.  It’ll be a quick job and deliver a perfectly acceptable result.  How are the walls in question?  Have they withstood decades of bumps, scratches, wall hangings and childhood shenanigans?  Recreating a perfectly smooth wall is an art and is what sets good and great painters apart.  If your walls are rough, it might cost a little more to get a great painter in to do remedial work but again, the ROI will be impacted greatly.  

Painter Vs Decorator

The right paint colour can add a massive $5K to your expected sale price. A great painter will also have a decorator option that allows you to choose the EXACT shade and gloss levels for walls, ceilings, trims, doors and beyond… to produce that opulent final product.  The flow between rooms, the transition from matte to gloss, featured paint jobs including balustrades, beamed ceilings, carved plaster ceilings or cornices – all of these need expert decorator advice to create the right feeling in the room.