That new coat of paint you want to get for your office should make the space look spiffy, but there is a lot of preparation that goes into repainting -- and it's more than just adding some painter's tape. When you arrange for commercial painting, ask the painters you're getting bids from if they include certain services in their quote, or if the services are not included (either because you have to request them separately or because the company won't do them). You really do want a painting company that will take care of everything needed to make the walls look great.

Pre-Painting Wall Repair

Your walls have nail holes in them, of course, but there may be other damage from the building settling or boxes and furniture scraping against the wall as they're moved around. Many commercial painting companies offer wall repair to ensure a smooth, completely paintable service. While you could attempt the repairs yourself, you wouldn't get the benefit of a warranty in case the repair made the paint look bad in that spot. Plus, the painting contractors likely have made more repairs than you have and may be able to make the damage virtually disappear.

Furniture Removal and Glass Protection

When you have an entire team of commercial painters working on your office, you want everything out to ensure there is enough room for the painters to move about safely. You also want your own workers to remain safe, and you want any damage to your furniture covered by insurance -- and the best way to handle all of that is to have the painters move the furniture themselves. Again, though, ask the painters before you accept their bid if they will move furniture out of the way themselves. It seems like a no-brainer that they would, but this isn't something you should assume. You don't want to end up accepting what seems like a great bid only to find it's bare-bones and requires you to do the literal heavy lifting.

Dust Protection

When the painters repair the walls ahead of the painting, they may end up generating drywall dust. Find out how much dust control they'll set up to reduce the amount of dust getting into the ventilation system. Patching a couple of nail holes isn't going to generate dust, but if the painters have to remove and replace a section of drywall, or sand down a rough section, those will generate dust.

The more services that a commercial painting company can handle for you, the better. That will make your office painting project go much faster and be a lot easier for you to deal with.