Guides / Running the work
What to include in a painting contract
A painting contract earns its keep in the three or four disagreements it prevents, and those disagreements are predictable. This is not legal advice and you should have a lawyer in your state review whatever you use — but these are the clauses whose absence causes the arguments.
Scope, stated as surfaces
Not "paint the interior". Room by room, surface by surface: walls, ceilings, trim, doors, baseboards, closets. Both of you believe you agreed on something, and the gap between those beliefs surfaces on the last day.
Say what is excluded as explicitly as what is included. Closet interiors, garage, basement, inside of cabinets, the ceiling in the one room — these are the specific items that come up.
Coats, products and preparation
Number of coats, on which surfaces. The product line and sheen. The preparation that is included — and the preparation that is not, which matters more.
Preparation is the single most common source of dispute, because it is invisible when done and obvious when not. Write the standard down.
Exclusions and what happens if you find something
Rot, water damage, mold, lead paint, failed substrate, structural issues. State that they are excluded, and state the basis on which you would address them if found — an hourly rate, or a change order to be agreed.
A pre-agreed rate turns the worst conversation on the job into an administrative step.
Color selection and approval
Who chooses, by when, and what happens if they choose late or change their mind after you have started. A color change mid-job is extra product and extra coats, and it needs to be a change order rather than a favor.
A deadline for color selection also protects your schedule, which is usually the bigger cost.
Payment terms
Deposit, progress payments tied to milestones, final payment on completion. What completion means. What happens if payment is late.
Check your state's rules on deposits before writing a number — some jurisdictions cap what a contractor may take before work begins.
Completion and the punch list
Define completion as a walkthrough with an agreed punch list, rather than an open-ended standard of satisfaction. "Until the customer is happy" is not a completion criterion and cannot be met.
Do the walkthrough while the crew is still on site. The same list a week later is a return trip and a reluctant payment.
Change orders in writing
State that changes to scope require written agreement before the work is performed. This is the clause that makes the change order conversation easy, because it was agreed before anyone was standing in a hallway being asked a favor.
Warranty
What you warrant, for how long, and what voids it. Be specific about workmanship versus product, and about what you are not responsible for — substrate failure, customer damage, normal wear.
Whatever you write, make sure the estimate the customer actually received says the same thing. A warranty the office believes and the estimate does not state is not a warranty.
Questions
What is the most important clause in a painting contract?
A scope stated surface by surface, with explicit exclusions. Most disputes are two people who each believed they had agreed something different.
How should a painting contract define completion?
As a walkthrough with an agreed punch list. "Until the customer is satisfied" is not a completion criterion and cannot be met.
Do I need a lawyer to write my painting contract?
Have one in your state review whatever you use. Contract and deposit rules vary by state and license type, and this guide is not legal advice.
Where this stops being arithmetic
Aerys prices a job from your own catalog and production rates, sends it with an accept link and the invoice already attached, and then compares what the job actually cost against what you quoted — by task, while the job is still running.