The painter that I usually work has charged customers between 2K-4K, depending on the complexity and size of the project.

We had the same deal. One was about $5000 (he had a great reputation for being very detail oriented) -- 1 came in at about $4000, 2 were about $3000, and the low bid was $1350 but I supply the paint (which will be BM aura, so around $500. We are going with the $1350, b/c 6 of his 8 references called me back and thought he was great - -and b/c it's too much of a savings not too. But I admit I'm nervous that it's 'too good to be true.' They start next week. Nail biting time!!

I guess it's all about your comfort level and references. Good luck!

Sometimes it's as simple as one wants the job, and the other one sort of doesn't.

I remember a conversation I overheard. The older man was telling the younger "Bid every job you can get, if you have lots of work, then bid them high. That way if you can't do them, you can afford to subcontract them out to someone else and still make a profit".

I've also seen this at work - we get bids and hire a contractor, and then he subs the work out to one of the other contractors that bid on the job but we didn't select for some reason. Going forward, I will personally always make sure I have a contract stating who will actually be doing the work. Seen too many times where the person you hire then hires someone else and you don't end up with the quality you expected.

Also, make sure you're apples-to-apples when reading these quotes. How will the paint be applied? Are they taking the doors or doing it on-site? What kind of prep/finish coat?
And, how many cabinets? Where you are is important, too. I'm lower Fairfield County -- almost everything is higher.

I can't tell you if this is high without knowing what is entailed. Expensive isn't always better and cheapest isn't alway bad.

Thanks everyone. I do need to go back to the low bid and find out exactly what his process is. The high bid is from a cabinet enhancing company. The person who came out was so professional and explained their process in detail. He also explained who would be doing it, etc. He was talking about the importance of their cleaning process, how many coats of paint, then two coats of urethane, etc. The low bid did a friend's kitchen and her neighbor's kitchen and they were both very happy.

Paintergirl...I'm in FFC too. Nhance said the doors would be taken off and done off site. They are sprayed. The boxes would be done here w/...shoot I'm forgetting what he called it, but some kind of special sponge? We have 24 doors (varying sizes) and 7 drawers. He said one of the most important things is the cleaning of the cabinets, then 2-3 coats of paint and 2 of urethane. He said everything is low VOC and practically no smell. He said he has whites that are basically pigments. He also said that he can match any BM color or he can use BM Aura...that it's how you finish them that's most important. I really don't have any of these details from the low bid.

Paintergirl...is there a preferance to taking the doors or doing it on site? Is there a special kind of paint that should be used?

thanks!

Thanks everyone!

I got mine done for 1500...the Nhance company is the one that advertizes at HD, right? They quoted $6500!!!! I could have refaced for that much.