Today, as more and more people try to save money, a cheap paint deal can be extremely tempting. The fact is, cheap paint propositions will probably cost you double or triple and you’ll even get the bonus of frustrating headaches over long periods of time.

While bidding on painting projects, I constantly see homeowners going through pain and frustration as a result of the scam painters they hired two or three years ago. These painters claim to have experience but they won’t tell you that it was painting Grandma’s kitchen.

So many things can go wrong with a painting project if a person has no painting experience. Even many so called experienced painters don’t know what they are doing. It’s a shame most homeowners don’t know any better because they also don’t have enough painting knowledge and experience. Education is the key to doing the job well.

Painting seems like it should be easy, right? Just apply some paint and you’re good to go, right? MISTAKEN!

Let’s say you have a surface that hasn’t been painted in a long time and it’s yellowish. The cheap painter comes in and says, “I can paint that for you for cheap” and you hire him because the price you got was so much cheaper than any other offer you got. Bad idea!

The cheap painter throws the paint away quickly and you think you’ve got a deal. Also, you think you have a good painter who is fast. You brag about him to your friends and he paints for them too.

Here’s the problem: Two months later, you lightly tap the surface and the paint comes off exposing the old painted surface. He notices that the edge of the new paint is sticking out and removes it only to discover that the paint is coming off the surface in stringy sheets. This happens mainly on doors, door frames, kitchen walls and bathroom walls.

What went wrong? The first thing that went wrong was that you hired Joe Blow-N-Go on the cheap without doing your homework and he knew nothing about preparing a painted surface for a fresh coat of paint. The old paint was an oil based paint that had yellowed and needed to be thoroughly scraped off with 220 grit sandpaper. The surface also needed to be cleaned before applying the new coat of latex paint and the cheap paint that hired did none of that.

Latex paint doesn’t stick to oil-based paint and since Joe Blow-N-Go’s experience was just painting Grandma’s kitchen, you suffered the consequences. You have been scammed. Now, all that new paint needs to come off. Then you’ll need to start over and do the job the right way. Can you imagine having to remove all that new paint? It’s such a horrible job that many times people live with the mess until they sell the house and pass it on to the next victim.

The other problem is that you’ve already spread the word about this supposedly great painter you found and several of your friends might be suffering from the same problems.

Here’s another ugly scenario: You need to paint the exterior of your house, and you decide you want it done in the same color as your existing paint. Someone knocks on your door and says that they can paint your house for little money and that they have already done four or five houses in your neighborhood. You talk to one of the other homeowners who used the same type and they say, “yeah, the type is cheap and does a good job.”

So what is the problem? Three years later, it looks like his house hasn’t been painted in 20 years because the cheap painter tarnished his house with cheap thinned paint. Since the new paint was the same color as the old one, the overnight painter knew he could polish it up and get out of there fast with his money. He just lost all that money and now he has to pay an experienced painter the right price to get the job done right with quality paint.

A good exterior paint job should last 8-12 years, depending on the climate. Not two or three.

If you want cheap paint deals, you get what you pay for and more. If you don’t do your homework and educate yourself in painting, you could have a lot of fun as well as throw away a lot of money.