Thanks, all, for your time & efforts adding to the article & comments, especially Dave urging requesting both General Liability AND Worker Compensation insurance certificates to protect from real & fraudulent liability--from my experience especially in California, where insurance fraud is a popular income thief, even causing car collisions to collect.
Some contractors work on time and material others on a firm contract. I would never hire the former and am leary of the latter. A contractor may low-ball a bid to get the job planning to make a killing on change orders. If you say good morning to them, they charge you extra for that. If the contract is not very, very specific and extensively fleshed out or if they display their change order schedule prominently on top, show them the door.

Our nineteen year old home needed a new paint job. We didn't know which company to choose. After reading many reviews about painters in Salem, we chose to go with Jim at Your Home Painting. We are sure glad we did! First of all, you will be hard pressed to find a nicer and more honest person than Jim. Second, he is VERY skilled in his craft. Our home looks BEAUTIFUL! The quality of the paint job is second to none. Jim also provided a color consultant. This is something that we would never have thought of. We had Shannon from Shannon Campbell Designs out to our home, and we went with colors that again, we would have never thought of. Our home colors are beautiful, and we have NEVER seen out exact color combo! Trust me, we spent literally months looking at homes, websites, etc to choose our colors. Jim and his crew pressure washed, prepped, and painted the house quickly. They left NO mess. Our painted decks were a total mess. They were so ugly that we used to close the slider door blinds when guests came over. Jim explained the correct paint to use so the deck could "breathe" and guaranteed that the decks paint won't peel again. Speaking of guarantees: Jim will come out annually for three years to inspect the paint, make sure all is well, and that we are happy. And finally, Jim told us that the paint job didn't require as much time to paint and prep it, so Jim cut the price of the job by $700.00! He could have kept the money and we still would have been thrilled. We were beside ourselves with Jim's honesty. This type of customer service is sorely lacking in our society. Bottom line: If your house needs paint, search no further. Call Jim and your problem is solved! Stewart & Christine West Salem 2017 UPDATE: Jim stopped by every year as promised. He inspected the entire exterior of our house and made sure that there were no problems whatsoever. The house still looks freshly painted three years later. Thanks Jim!

For commercial clients, we create bright, professionally finished spaces to bring out the best in your work environment. Our painters show up at the agreed-upon date and time, and we finish the work on time and within budget. We also work closely with contractors on new construction to provide professional prep work, staining and painting for those finishing touches that make it a home. Apartment buildings are another specialty, with reliable service and quick turnaround. 

"Bear Creek Painting did a great job on my house trim. I was having new gutters put on my house but realized that the trim needed to be scraped and painted. Nick was able to get his crew out within a few days. Their work was excellent, timely and Nick was professional and responsive to my need to get the work done quickly. I would definitely use Bear Creek painting for my next painting project."
_{Repaint — exteriors especially — before visible signs of wear appear, Bancroft says. Don’t wait until you see peeling or flaking paint. “If I have to spend 40 hours preparing the surface before we can paint, that time is going to result in a lot of extra costs. But if I can spend 10 hours preparing the surfaces to be painted, you’re going to save money,” Freeman says.}
my grandfather was a painter and he taught me the importance of quality workmanship and it shows in every job I do my customers are happy with a beautiful job every time. I thoroughly enjoy the work that I do and your satisfaction is very important to me. If a  neat and clean quality paint job is what you're looking for then I am definitely your guy ,thanks !
I had florida home painters paint my tri level. Joe is a nice guy and owner who quoted the job. He was very helpful and gave us a paint sample book to choose from. He help to suggest colors for the patio floors which was a nice compliment to the color of the house.  His crew was fast and clean during the painting process. They used quality sherwin Williams paint the whole experience was great i would recommend checking them out for a quote

We have been beautifying homes like yours for over 30 years. Let our team come to your home and vitalize your homes exterior and interior. We are offering the newest product called "Liquid Stucco Fogging" with prices starting at $799 for single family homes. We also do paint, natural stone, rock, cement driveways, drywall, stucco matching and patching and much more - put our 30 years experience to the test. We do the job right the First time out! No money down just good work at a fair price.Call today to schedule your appointment.

^{I made the HUGE mistake of hiring Certa Pro to do several interior rooms of my house, and remove popcorn ceiling in a bathroom. What a nightmare! They didn't paint any door jams, they broke a cedar window sill-and didn't bother telling me, they gouged a hardwood floor, they never sealed the room that had the popcorn removed--causing white powder to be in all rooms of a 2 story home. I can go on and on. Horrible company}
Lastly, chose a sheen to match the needs of the space. Flat finishes hide imperfections well and absorb light which can make the paint look darker. Eggshells and satins are tough enough to be used in family rooms, kids' rooms, and hallways but don’t hide surface imperfection well. Semi-Gloss and high-gloss finishes are primarily used for trim because they accentuate woodwork details and clean up easily.
Buying a can of premium paint, then bait and switch over to low-line products? Again, complete nonsense. Think about it for a moment; the Painter needs 5 gallons of wall finish. So, he buys one can of premium and the rest 'cheap'? How is he going to hide the 4 other gallons? What's he going to hide it in??? He only has ONE gallon of premium. It's not as though he's going to keep older can labels, they would be covered in paint of a different colour.
To remove a bad piece of siding, you have to pull out two rows of nails: the ones in the bad board itself, and those in the board directly above. Siding is thin and splits easily, so the tricky part of this job is pulling nails without damaging surrounding boards. A cat’s paw is the best tool for digging out nails if damage to the surrounding wood doesn’t matter (Photo 1).

Being in the business for 25+ years I have had the privilege of working with thousands of clients. Although they all came from different circumstances and backgrounds they all had one common goal in mind. Every one of them wanted to be respected, receive top value for their money, and get the best possible paint job for their most prized possession, their house!

Al was quick to respond to our inquiries, he was really accommodating to our needs and did a great job. We needed a part of our wall patched up after some water damage. Al gave us a good quote and was willing to work around our schedule and get the job done quickly. He was really professional and courteous. Would recommend him for any job you need!

_{To solidify this response, we have been in business for over 30 years as a painting contractor. We didn't just paint a couple of houses 25 or 30 years ago, we paint approximately 900-1000 painting jobs per year and operate with 40 professional painters doing commercial, residential and industrial painting. This article on behalf of Angie's List is totally asinine! I was under the impression Angie's List was only carrying "legitimate" contractors with established reputations. This article written is primarily referring to bottom feeding, one man band operations, trying to hustle for a paycheck.}
To industrial and institutional. I also own and operate a professional painting company of elite painters ONLY 5 ELITE PAINTERS, and pay them good money for being elite. Less is better in my opinion.The fact is this a homeowner and a painting company owner can both be taken advantage of by hustlers and liars and amateurs posing as pros. I have had many laborers tell me they can paint. " Oh yes sir I can paint, I'm a painter of 8 years. Yes sir I can cut a straight line." Some people will say and do anything to get a buck. If yoir on the job to see their rookie mistakes you may have time to save your reputation before disaster ensues and fire them on the spot. As a painting Company owner if your not on the job with your crew at least 3 out of 6 days every week your taking a huge risk of damaging your reputation and losing the respect of your team. Homeowners want to deal with you or the crew boss (jobs site supervisor) not "the painter". Many things I have read are right on. Painters for the most part will milk a clock for all they can and still do a good job. But amateurs will leave your projects in shambles and the only ones to pay for it is the contractor and the homeowners. But an elite painter and crew will try to complete a project as quickly as possible and move on to the next one. They understand bonuses, incentives, and promotions. My company provides the opportunity for a homeowner to meet each member of the crew and shake there hand on day one. There is also a differentiation between the crew boss and the crew by the uniforms they wear. Should the homeowners have any issue at all they know exactly who to go to to get results. This eliminates the age old problem of who screwed up? I have found that by me putting on my whites and giving my crew the opportunity to out do themselves on each project it ignites competition, pride in skill, and excellent commraderie amongst the team. We all hold each other accountable. Choose your contractor by the crew not the owner. The crew is a direct reflection of the Company owner. No room for rookies on fine finish painting. Go pro for painting and you won't regret it. With that being said homeowners should always remember that you get what you pay for. With paint and services. In most cases it will be well worth a few extra bucks to get elite results. Never go with the cheapest bid there is always a reason why it's so low.
I hired this person because he was listed on Angie's List. This man claimed he took and passed his contractor's license test after he signed me up for a project (Feb.) that included fixing cracks, painting, repairing a gate, installing a screen door, etc. He said he would charge me the original "handyman" prices. He postponed the start date, brought one worker who fixed a few cracks, repainted the gate terribly, but ruined a dining room ceiling when his worker used silicone in a tube instead of the expansion tape, spray ceiling covering, and paint I had purchased saying this silicone was "better". Then they said they would have to paint the whole ceiling and charge extra. They left holes in the walls and did a sloppy paint job in several places. I just paid them to get them out of my home as I felt intimidated as a senior citizen who is handicapped. I will try to have the main guy come back when I let him know what I need redone. Don't know if he will come back without charging me more.
There are permanent features of the home that have their own colors which cannot be changed when painting the exterior of the home but can have a dramatic satisfaction level that is experienced when the painting is completed.  Roofing shingles, paving blocks, concrete surfaces, stones and other such features are prime examples of the colors that should be considered when selecting your exterior color scheme for the home.  Homeowners can work off of these colors to make a home that looks uniform and luxurious when the exterior painting is complete.
_{The article was well-intended, but it makes it sound like painters are the crooks and consumers are innocent victims. That is blatantly un-true. Maybe there should be a follow-up article that educates consumers how not to be shysters by expecting a ton more than they said at the start, or not paying the balance of the job unless something else is done that was not in the contract. Tradesmen have a rough road when dealing with consumers that have short arms but long lists of by-the-way items. No, I'm not a painter...}
Yes the pricing does change, and quite significantly. I have worked inside the paint industry on counter sales outside sales and application for over 10 years. One thing many people do not understand is, the resins in the paint are more expensive to produce the higher the sheen goes. Therefore the company is at of higher cost making the paint, which in terms they charge more for the paint. I have seen a 15$ variance between flat-semi-gloss it is not uncommon and is not unrealistic to pay more for a higher sheen. Another thing to add is when doing samples on your wall prior to a painter coming is a good idea, however do not do them in huge squares with heavy coats, remember you are just wanting an idea. A lot of times the issue comes up of the paint not covering the sample coats, in fact it is covering quite well, however the paint sample applied is often times much darker than the wall color, creating a contrasting difference from the lighter surrounding wall and the sample placed on the wall. I recommend getting a piece of sheet rock and using it for the samples so you can move around with it etc.
Enforcement of this Act by the Painter-Stainers Company was sought up until the early 19th century, with master painters gathering irregularly to decide the fees that a journeyman could charge, and also instigating an early version of a job centre in 1769, advertising in the London newspapers a "house of call" system to advertise for journeymen and also for journeymen to advertise for work. The guild's power in setting the fee a journeyman could charge was eventually overturned by law in 1827, and the period after this saw the guild's power diminish, along with that of the other guilds; the guilds were superseded by trade unions, with the Operative United Painters' Union forming sometime around 1831.[2]