Recommendations for indoor/exterior painters and plaster patching

For this question and the following question about small house painting, I have used Happy Day Construction, https://happydayco.com/, several times over the past three years for painting and other repairs. The owner is semi-retired, but his employee is excellent at painting and patching. If you contact Happy Day, they will likely refer you to contact the painter directly. Pricing is fair and upfront. Keep in mind that it takes approx two days, 5 hours each day, to get a room or two professionally prepped and painted.

Most painting contractors can handle plaster/drywall patching and repairs, so you shouldn't need a GC for this.  I can recommend Platypus Painting (platypuspainting.com); I just had them do a repair and interior paint job for me; they did the repairs on a time-and-materials basis but came very close to their up-front estimate, and the painting was a fixed price.  They also painted the exterior of my house a few years ago, and did an excellent job.  And in between those projects, I hired them for wood finishing/refinishing - for our front door, kitchen cabinets, and a table.  Their workers are conscientious and polite, and we've been very satisfied with all three jobs.  Didn't get competitive bids this last time, but I did for the exterior painting a few years ago and theirs was the best price.  

You can probably get a lower price from an unlicensed handyperson, and you might consider it for the plaster repairs if you find a craftsperson whose skills are praised by people you trust, but even if you're confident of their skills, you probably won't get any warranties, and you're taking on risks that your home insurance may or may not cover if the person is injured while working on your home.  A properly licensed and insured contractor is a safer choice, especially for a project like exterior painting which may affect your home's weather protection and which involves working on ladders!

After reading your post and having gone through a similar situation my thoughts are these. Hiring a general contractor might be a little easier as he/she can arrange for everything but it usually adds 10%-15% to the cost. If you consider hiring a large company they are usually quite expensive as they have a lot of overhead. To avoid the extra expense I have hired Jackie Stoltz many times in the past to undertake the same type of jobs as you are describing. She is very experienced, reliable and does very good work as she is conscientious and detail oriented and can advise you on colors if you need opinions in that area. She has painted one room as well as a whole interior and exterior of houses for me. Jackie uses only high quality materials and paint so the finished job will last a long time. If you wish to make contact her number is: 510-910-2953. She would be happy to meet you and take a look at your project. As far as keeping as keeping costs down you could ask for bids so that you would know how much you would be paying from the outset.

We highly recommend our handyman Uriel Paredes, of Paredes Bay Area Construction for something like this.  He's done exactly what you need for our house--some plaster/paintwork inside and outside- and he did an excellent job!  He was prompt, thorough, and meticulous, and made sure every crack in the plaster was sealed.  We paid him $65 an hour and he got the work done in just a few hours.  We found him through Thumbtack where he had many great reviews.  His phone # is (415)-612-7173.

Jacques Burgering did all our interior painting, including some walls that needed plastering. He is experienced and his pricing is very reasonable, and moreover he’s a good person who is trustworthy and hardworking. He put in extra long days to get the job done sooner just because it was more convenient for our family plans. Reach out to him! jacquesjburgering [at] gmail.com (jacquesjburgering[at]gmail[dot]com) or call/text 518-368-8207