Hiring a Painter Directly vs Through Your General Contractor
During an active renovation the GC usually wins on coordination. After it, hiring directly usually wins on price and finish.
- Amana has the edge
- 4/8
- General contractor has the edge
- 1/8
- Genuinely depends on you
- 3/8
A comparison where one side wins everything is marketing, not a comparison.
Understanding how the two businesses are built tells you most of what you need.
If you are mid-renovation, your general contractor will offer to handle the painting. Often they should. Sequencing painting against drywall, trim installation, flooring and cabinetry is genuinely difficult, and a GC coordinating all of it removes a real burden from you.
What you are paying for that coordination is a markup, typically 10% to 20% on subcontracted trades, which is a legitimate charge for real work, not a hidden fee. The GC carries the scheduling risk and the responsibility when trades collide.
The question is whether your project actually needs that coordination. On a full gut renovation, almost certainly yes. On a standalone repaint of a finished house, you are paying a coordination premium for a job that involves coordinating with nobody.
Criterion by criterion.
The right-hand column describes how that service model works structurally, not a claim about any particular company's quality.
Active multi-trade renovation
We can work directly with your GC as a subcontractor, or take direction from them.
The right call. Sequencing paint against drywall, trim, flooring and cabinets is real work and worth the markup.
Standalone repaint of a finished home
Direct hire, no coordination markup, and we own the finish standard.
You pay a management markup for coordinating a single trade against nothing.
Cost
Direct contractor pricing.
Typically 10–20% markup on subcontracted trades, which is a fair price for coordination you actually need.
Who sets the finish standard
We write the specification and you approve it, so the standard is explicit and inspectable.
Often defined loosely inside a larger contract. "Paint throughout" is not a specification.
Accountability when a defect appears
One company, one warranty, one number to call.
Single point of contact for the whole project, which is genuinely simpler when the defect is at a boundary between trades.
Drywall-to-paint handoff
We inspect the drywall under raking light before accepting it, and flag what will telegraph through.
Handled internally, which is faster but means the party accepting the drywall is the party that hired the drywaller.
Schedule control
Our schedule is ours to commit to.
Paint sits at the end of the critical path, so it absorbs every upstream delay in the project.
Choosing the crew
You chose us deliberately.
You get whichever painter the GC uses, who may be excellent, but was not your decision.
Which one is actually right for you?
If none of the left-hand column applies to your situation, hire them. We would rather you got the right outcome than the Amana outcome.
Choose your general contractor when
- You are in an active gut renovation with several trades working in sequence.
- You want one contract, one invoice and one person responsible for the whole project.
- The painting scope is genuinely entangled with drywall, trim and cabinetry timing.
- You are not on site regularly and need someone coordinating day to day.
- Your GC has a painter they have used for years and can point to work you can go and look at.
Choose Amana when
- The renovation is finished and painting is the remaining scope.
- You want a written finish specification rather than "paint throughout" inside a larger contract.
- You want to choose your painter rather than inherit one.
- The job is painting-led, a whole-home repaint, cabinets, an exterior, with no other trades involved.
- You want the drywall inspected under raking light by the party who has to live with it, before it is accepted.
Our read on it.
During a live renovation, let the GC coordinate. The markup buys sequencing that genuinely has value, and fragmenting responsibility across a dozen direct contracts is how projects fall apart.
Once the renovation is done, or if painting was never part of one, hire directly. You keep the coordination markup, you choose the crew, and you get a specification written for the finish rather than a line item inside a construction contract.
One detail worth insisting on either way: whoever paints should inspect the drywall under raking light and formally accept it before priming. When the same party hires both trades, that inspection tends to be a formality, and drywall defects that get painted over become paint defects that nobody will own.
What people ask about this choice.
How much does a general contractor mark up painting?
Typically 10% to 20% on subcontracted trades in the GTA, though it varies by contractor and project size. It is worth being clear that this is a legitimate charge rather than a hidden fee, the GC is carrying scheduling risk, coordinating handoffs between trades, and taking responsibility when things collide. On a complex renovation that is real value. On a standalone repaint of a finished house, you are paying a coordination premium for coordinating a single trade against nothing.
Can you work directly with my general contractor?
Yes, and we do it regularly. We can operate as a subcontractor under your GC while still writing the finish specification and holding the warranty for the painting scope. That arrangement often gives you the best of both, the GC keeps the schedule and the trade handoffs, and you keep a painter you selected with an explicit standard for the finish.
Who is responsible if the drywall looks bad after painting?
This is the most common dispute at the end of a renovation, and it is avoidable. Paint does not hide drywall defects, it reveals them, fresh uniform sheen across a wall makes every ridge and dish visible. The prevention is a formal raking-light inspection of the drywall before priming, with any defects logged and repaired while they are still the drywaller’s responsibility. Once painted, a drywall defect becomes a paint complaint and everyone points at each other. We insist on that inspection whether we are hired directly or working under a GC.
Tell us what needs painting
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