Whether you’re looking to spruce up the appearance of your home for selling purposes or for your own enjoyment, nothing helps more quickly than a good solid paint job. A facelift with paint can benefit both the inside and outside of your home both aesthetically and structurally. In other words, a new paint job will make your house look good and may help seal and protect your walls.

To find out how to get the best painting estimates for your home, read on:

1) Start by being aware of costs. An average 2,000-square-foot home will require 10 or more gallons of exterior paint, which runs on average between $25 and $40 per gallon. The price of a hired painting contractor breaks down to paint and supplies making up 15%-25% of your costs and labor making up the rest of the costs. If you want to do your painting yourself, you’ll probably need a pressure washer ($50-$100), ladders and scaffolding ($20-$75), and other supplies. The total cost of materials for painting a large, two-story house yourself will run you approximately $400-$600.

2) Get estimates from at least three painting professionals. You may be surprised by how much painting estimates can vary between contractors.

3) When gathering estimates, be sure to clarify your expectations for your paint job. Specify whether you’ll do the prep work or whether you want the painting professional to do the prep work (prep work can include removing loose paint with a pressure washer, caulking seams around windows and doors, sanding rough surfaces, or priming bare wood).

4) Make sure you understand exactly what each painting estimate includes. Most painters include finishing touches in their estimates, but it’s always a good idea to double check on the details of those finishing touches. In most cases, this will consist of re-painting or re-finishing the front door and mailbox to match your new house color, varnishing, and repainting things like street numbers and other accent items.

5) Make your money stretch further by requesting the highest quality of paint. Though this may increase your initial painting costs, it will save you from having to get a new paint job sooner. High-quality paint can last you between five and seven years (sometimes longer), but less-expensive paint may only hold up for four years, often fading beyond that time.

6) Choose the painting style that best suits your expectations and have your estimates reflect this style. If you opt for hand brushing, you’ll benefit from a thicker coat of paint that offers better protection to your painted surfaces. In addition, hand-painting penetrates more deeply into wood and other surfaces. On the other hand, painting with a sprayer is considerably faster, therefore offering you savings in labor costs.

7) Factor other improvements into the total cost of your painting estimate. If your home needs siding replaced before a paint job can be completed, include that in your budget. The same is true if your home has any rotting wood that needs to be replaced. Ideally, find a contractor who can take care of all your concerns for a single price. You may enjoy a discount by going though only one service provider.

Look for discounts based on the season. Most paint jobs take place in the summer, so prices tend to rise then. If you can have painting done either in the early spring or the late fall, you may enjoy a discount. Another option is to ask for a lower price by having your house painted on an as-available basis. In other words, painters would come to your house between other paint jobs to complete what they can while they’re there. It may take longer to get your house painted, but the cost-savings may be worth it.