I was hired to paint a 1,000 sq ft apartment recently, and although I'm not new to painting, it's been awhile since I've done any large jobs, and the first time I've done such a large job by myself (originally they agreed to a second person, but decided I couldn't have help after the first day). It took me a total of 9 days and 98 hours. Even though I worked as fast as I could, my clients are upset. They said that I masked ridiculously slow and the job took much longer than it should have. I'm wondering if anyone could give me any feedback about how long a job like this should have taken.
I started by filling and sanding around 50 holes in the walls, and then cleaned the walls which were covered in cobwebs, and laden with grease in the kitchen. I took all the doors off the hinges, as well as a few cabinet doors, and then had to move them from room to room as I sprayed. I figured a job like that would ultimately be quicker if I rented a paint sprayer, even though that would mean masking off everything except the areas to be painted. They wanted all the ceilings painted white, and the rest of the duplex painted three other colors. This meant spraying the ceilings, then masking off the ceilings (which took forever by myself, having to mask a few feet, then get down from the stool, move it with my one free hand and get back up on the stool). This also meant cleaning out the paint prayer between each color. The paint sprayer that I rented ended up malfuctioning as well which added a day of talking to the rental center and getting it working again, and then redoing the bathroom. I did get the price of the sprayer discounted 50% because of it. They knew before I started that it was my first time doing a job of that size and that I hadn't don't much painting lately and still hired me for $15/hour, which is much less than they would pay elsewhere. However, they still aren't willing to pay me for all the hours worked. I'm simply not sure what I should charge, but I think I should base it on how long it took. Any feedback is very appreciated!
I started by filling and sanding around 50 holes in the walls, and then cleaned the walls which were covered in cobwebs, and laden with grease in the kitchen. I took all the doors off the hinges, as well as a few cabinet doors, and then had to move them from room to room as I sprayed. I figured a job like that would ultimately be quicker if I rented a paint sprayer, even though that would mean masking off everything except the areas to be painted. They wanted all the ceilings painted white, and the rest of the duplex painted three other colors. This meant spraying the ceilings, then masking off the ceilings (which took forever by myself, having to mask a few feet, then get down from the stool, move it with my one free hand and get back up on the stool). This also meant cleaning out the paint prayer between each color. The paint sprayer that I rented ended up malfuctioning as well which added a day of talking to the rental center and getting it working again, and then redoing the bathroom. I did get the price of the sprayer discounted 50% because of it. They knew before I started that it was my first time doing a job of that size and that I hadn't don't much painting lately and still hired me for $15/hour, which is much less than they would pay elsewhere. However, they still aren't willing to pay me for all the hours worked. I'm simply not sure what I should charge, but I think I should base it on how long it took. Any feedback is very appreciated!