I do paid on completion as well, but that is only because I get all my work from word of mouth so I feel pretty good that I won't get stiffed. I have a hard time asking people for money before I have done any work. But, painters that advertise and have marketing budgets and all that should ask for money up front in order to protect themselves. Some will do 20 percent down, 40 percent halfway and 20 percent when complete. Others will do half up front and others will do 1/3, 1/3, 1/3. Guys that do this run the risk of losing business to people that are uncomfortable with it but they need to do it because it is better than not getting paid at all. It is not a red flag. One thing that could be a red flag is a painter that needs money up front to buy the paint. If they don't have revolving credit accounts with the paint stores and need to pay cash that is not a good sign. You want painters who pay their bills and who have been in business for a while.

Some companies will have sales people on staff that don't even do any painting. They may not even know much about the actual application of paint. But, you will recieve a complex bid because that is what they do. My advice is to go with whoever you were most comfortable with during the sales call.

The painter is the one that wrote up the bid.
He said he would put us on the schedule for Sept 20. Just now, he called and said he was out in this area and he would like to come by and pick up the signed contract, adjust the price and pick up 33%. I told him I would prefer to pay him the week he starts the job , not two weeks in advance. He said that he knows people are serious when they put a deposit up front. He said that people change their mind last minute and then he has passed up jobs. I didn't like it that my husband agreed to the 33% up front and so I'm letting him deal with it.

He's probably telling the truth about getting burned before and like anyone in business would he's looking for ways via a legal contract to protect his business from it happening again.

Did you call his references? Did he show up when he told his reference he would? Did he complete the work as specified and within the agreed upon timeframe? Has he honored his contracts with all of his references?

There's a lot of blind trust involved when you hire someone to work on your house and it does have to go both ways. He's just trying to cover his bases and you don't want to be ripped off. At some point you have to agree in order for both of you to get what you want and need done.

If you want a spot on this painter's schedule, it's gonna cost you. It is not unusual in my experience for painter's to request money up front, half way thru and on completion. This also helps painter's cover at least (some) supplies if they end up with a whacko client who decides to pick apart every little thing and refuse to pay or will only partial pay.

I also work with painters who will work on terms of paid 100% on completion -- and that agreement means on completion. Not the next day or the next week. I was surprised at how difficult it can be for painters to collect even with clearly written contracts.

My husband was able to talk him down to 15% to reserve a spot .
We got burned really badly last year on a flagstone walkway we were building. We paid half down and he delivered materials and then disappeared.