Is every licensed painting contractor good at painting?
Just because the person holds a painting license does not mean that he can hold a painting brush.
Most painting contractors worked for a painting company, or may be for many different companies before getting enough experience, money and confidence to open their own business. Those guys usually know what they are doing. But not every person who applied(and received) for contractors license have a lot of painting experience. When applying for a license one needs to prove only theoretical knowledge of painting by taking two tests. One test is painting related. Second test is related to general understanding of running a business. Both test are fairly easy to pass. A person can even go to one of the numerous centers that tutor applicants prior to taking the tests and get all the questions, that are very similar to those on the actual test. There is no test where the applicant have to show his practical skills, such as cutting a straight line, or doing all preparation work correctly. So the person who was a poor or average painter prior to getting his license, will not be a better painter after he received his license.
All the license does, is helps to insure that the home owner does not hand over a down payment on the painting job to a person, who will take of with the money. The cost associated with getting residential painting license is about $1500. So someone is planning on cheating a home owner out of deposit/down payment most likely would not go through trouble of taking tests and paying all fees. It is well to remember, that painting license does not prevent home owner from getting a poor paint job or unreliable contractor. Giving your business to a person who holds a painting license can be beneficial to home owner, but not essential in getting great painting results.