Membership: What to Get in Writing Before Any Job
A verbal price is the weakest thing a homeowner can agree to. This page sets out what a written quote or agreement should state, and what to compare when two quotes arrive for the same house. It is general information rather than legal advice, and it recommends no firm. Read it before you sign anything, and before you compare any two quotes.
What you are agreeing to when you sign
Signing a painting or remodeling job commits you to a scope, a price and a schedule. It also leaves the firm to deliver what the paper says, and nothing more. A gap between what was discussed and what was written is the easiest gap to close, and the one to close before any work starts. A promise made on a walk-through and never written down is hard to hold anyone to later. The rest of this page is about closing that gap on paper.
If it is not on the page, it is not part of the job.
The Walkthrough Digest
What New Hampshire lets you check
New Hampshire has no state licensing board for home contractors, so a state license list cannot tell you whether a painter or remodeler is qualified. A 2016 report from New Hampshire Public Radio says that attempts to create such a board had failed in the legislature, and it is the source for this point. The report is about a decade old, so confirm that the situation still holds before you rely on it. Electricians and plumbers are licensed separately, which matters for any job that touches their trades. The other checks in this section are the ones a homeowner can make directly.
Lead paint is the check a homeowner can make with confidence. Federal rules require anyone paid to do work that disturbs paint in a home built before 1978 to be EPA lead-safe certified, as EPA's Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Program describes. The requirement reaches every firm, including a one-person painting business, so firm size is no excuse for lacking it. New Hampshire runs no lead renovation program of its own, as a New Hampshire Municipal Association paper on childhood lead exposure explains. That means EPA's Region 1 office in Boston administers and enforces the federal rule here, and a homeowner can check a painter's certification with EPA. Ask for that proof before any work starts.
Some home sales are covered by RSA 361-B, which requires a bold notice near the buyer's signature. That notice says the buyer may cancel until midnight of the third business day after the transaction. Whether a remodeling or painting contract is covered was not confirmed for this page, so check the statute against your own contract. The statute's text is short and worth reading before you sign. Ask the firm whether it considers the statute to apply, and get the answer in writing.
The terms a written quote should carry
A written quote or agreement should name the work, the room or surface it covers, and how each surface will be prepared. It should name the products and finishes rather than describe them, and show the price with its parts visible. It should give start and finish dates, the payment schedule, and who will do the work, including any subcontractor. It should also say how a change in scope is priced and approved before it is carried out. This list is general practice, not a legal requirement.
On a house built before 1978, ask for proof of EPA lead-safe certification rather than accepting a verbal yes. The certification requirement covers every firm, so a sole trader needs it too. Put the firm's name and its certification on the quote, so the claim is written as well as spoken. Ask for a copy before any paint is disturbed.
Comparing two quotes on the same terms
Scope and preparation
Compare the two quotes line by line before you compare the totals. Two quotes that differ in how much surface gets prepared are not quoting the same paint job. A quote that covers less may simply be cheaper because it does less. Look for scraping, sanding, filling and priming, and check that each one appears in both quotes or is explained. A gap you cannot see is a gap you will pay for later.
Materials and finish
Ask for the product by name on each quote. A product named in one quote and described in another cannot be checked afterward. A finish that is not named is one nobody can hold a firm to. Ask how many coats are included and whether the primer is listed separately. Where a manufacturer's data sheet sets a minimum application temperature, ask the firm how it will meet that minimum.
Money and timing
Look at the payment schedule before the total. A large deposit paid before any work starts is a different commitment from payments tied to finished stages. A schedule without dates leaves the finish open, so ask for both a start date and an end date. Ask what happens if the start slips, and whether the price moves with it. Write the answers into the quote rather than leaving them to a phone call.
Changes after you sign
Agree now how a change is written up, priced and approved. Work nobody wrote down is hard to price later, and harder to defend. A change in writing, with its price beside it, protects both sides of the job. Ask the firm to confirm the process in the quote itself. A firm that will not put its change process in writing is worth noticing.