Effective Strategies for Move-out Painting

We're often contacted by people looking to sell their homes, especially during the Spring home-buying season. We understand that this is a long, and certainly costly process. Most of the fees are incurred by the seller, and saving money anywhere is key. So, what are the most effective strategies when moving out?

Strategies

1. Start with a realtor who specializes in keeping costs to a minimum. Organizations like Low Commission Fees in Ottawa offer solutions for exactly this purpose: to keep transactions costs low so you can focus on the painting and renovation side.

2. Identify where painting is needed. Specifying where painting is needed is always necessary to saving money while also balancing the need to making the house look like new and refreshed. Often, painting is the most cost-effective way to improve the look of a home; depending on the Ottawa neighbourhood, an entire 1,000 square foot home can be painted for under $10,000, while renovations for an entire house of similar size can cost between $90,000-$200,000.

3. Avoid piecemeal painting. This is a common mistake that sellers make and only work in certain cases. What piecemeal painting means is that you might choose to paint certain areas but not others to save costs. For example, you opt only to paint the den, and not the adjacent hallway. Or you might decide to only paint the walls and not the baseboards. The reason this will usually not work is contrast. A fresh coat of paint on walls that are met at the bottom by older baseboards, even if they are not damaged, instantly look dated and half-done. Moreover, a recently painted top-to-bottom room next to a hallway with walls that haven't been painted are screaming the same thing: half-done and looking to get away with less effort. So, work smarter and not harder! The main tips here are: 1) if painting one room, paint it entirely (with one exception, mentioned below); 2) if painting an open-concept room with joining corners, re-paint them all. The emphasis here is continuity - painting to save money only works when it's the cost-saving isn't noticeable.

4. Identify what can be left out. Just as much as it is important to identify where painting is needed, the crucial piece to identify in cutting costs is where painting is not needed.

   • An obvious mention is ceilings. These are the opposite of high-traffic areas, and unless a smoker has occupied the space, or if there's been water damage, ceilings can usually be left alone.

   • Adjoining rooms to main rooms, such as closets, can often be left alone unless they represent a focal point of the home.

   • And lastly, while two coats of paint is the standard method for painting everywhere, look to where you can conceivably get away with one. A common strategy is repainting a wall with the same colour you painted it before, provided it isn't too dated and the paint is still in useable shape.

The above strategies are key to consider when renovating a home before selling. It's important to acknowledge that none of these strategies above are perfect, context matters, and carefully assess what makes sense for cost-cutting.

Happy painting and good luck to everyone during the Spring realty season!