What decides whether your repaint lasts eight years or ten months is the prep — the wash, the scrape, the patch, the caulk, the primer. We put every step of it in writing, with what it costs, before anyone talks about color.
Clapboard, shingle, trim, porch. New England weather gets under a failing coat and lifts it: freeze, thaw, freeze again. We wash, scrape back to sound paint, spot-prime every inch of bare wood, then two finish coats. That is why it holds.
Get a written estimate →Walls, ceilings, trim, doors, stair rails. Furniture covered, floors papered, edges cut by hand. We patch and sand before we roll — which is the part that makes an old plaster wall look flat instead of lumpy.
Get a written estimate →Most of Boston was built before 1978, which means most of Boston has lead paint under the top coat. Disturbing it is regulated work under the EPA RRP rule. Your written estimate states how the rule applies to your house, what it changes in the scope, and what it costs. A painter who scrapes your 1910 triple-decker without ever saying the word lead is not saving you money.
Get a written estimate →Ice dams and gutter overflow rot sills, casings, rake boards and porch columns. Paint does not fix rot — it hides it for exactly one winter. We cut the bad wood out, replace it, prime all six sides, and only then paint.
Get a written estimate →New cabinets cost several times what refinishing does. Refinishing the ones you have costs a fraction of it. Doors come off, get degreased, sanded, bonding-primed and sprayed — not brushed in place, which is why ours do not peel at the sink door.
Get a written estimate →Triple-deckers, condo associations, common areas, storefronts. Written scope, the building's lead-paint requirements spelled out up front, and a schedule that does not trap residents behind ladders for a month.
Get a written estimate →Anyone can roll a wall. What decides whether your repaint lasts eight years or ten months is what happens before the paint: the wash, the scrape, the patch, the caulk, the primer.
That work is invisible once the job is done — which is exactly why the cheap bid cuts it.
We put the prep in writing, with what it costs, before we ever talk about color. You can still take the cheaper bid. You just won't take it by accident.
— Black Hawk Painting · Boston, Massachusetts
Every one of these steps is on your estimate, with a price next to it. If a cheaper bid does not list them, it is not cheaper — it is shorter.
Wash the surface. Paint does not stick to New England pollen, mildew, or the chalk a south wall sheds after six summers. Skipping this is the single most common reason a repaint fails inside a year.
Anything loose comes off. On a pre-1978 house the EPA RRP rule sets the protocol — containment, HEPA, documentation — and your estimate says how it applies. Not a tarp and a wire brush. If the old coat is failing, painting over it just buys the failure a new color.
Rotted sills, split casings, soft rake boards, nail pops. Cut out, replaced, and primed on all six sides. Filler over rot is a decision to repaint in two years.
Old sealant gets cut out — not painted over. Window casings, door frames, corner boards, trim joints. That is where the water gets behind the paint, and water behind paint is how a New England winter takes a wall apart.
Every inch of bare wood, every patch, every stain gets primed — oil on weathered wood, bonding primer on glossy trim. Paint is a finish, not a sealer. Primer is what the finish grabs onto.
Then — and only then — two coats of finish. That is the part everyone else calls "the job."
Same wall. The difference is what happened before the paint.
Exterior repaint on a typical Boston two- or three-family runs $6,500 to $16,000. The spread comes almost entirely from prep, not paint: a house with sound clapboard and tight caulk sits at the low end; one with peeling lead paint, rotted sills and failed glazing sits at the high end. We price the prep as separate line items so you can see exactly where your money is going.
Usually it is not higher — it is longer. Our estimate lists washing, scraping, wood repair, caulking and priming as priced lines. Most bids fold those into a single number, or leave them out. If you compare our total against a bid that skips prep, you are comparing an eight-year job to a one-winter job.
Almost everything about how the work is done. Homes built before 1978 are presumed to contain lead paint, and disturbing it is regulated by the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting rule. The rule requires a certified firm, containment, HEPA vacuums, no open-flame or high-heat stripping, and written documentation handed to you. Your estimate states how it applies to your house. In Boston, where most of the housing stock predates 1978, a contractor who does not raise this is cutting the step that protects your children.
Exteriors run roughly late April through early November. Modern acrylics need the surface above about 50°F and falling, not rising, humidity to cure — and a wall that is 45°F at 4pm in October will not cure even if the air says 55°F. We book the exterior season early and we do not force a coat on in November to close a job. Interiors we paint year-round.
Yes. We work Boston and the surrounding cities — Cambridge, Somerville, Brookline, Newton, Quincy, Medford, Malden and Everett — and Springfield, where the company is based. We are a Massachusetts company: we do not hand your job to whichever crew is free, and we do not disappear across the state line in October.
No. Paint over rot lasts one winter, and then you pay twice — once for the paint you wasted and once for the carpentry you postponed. If we find soft wood at the walkthrough we price the repair as its own line, and you decide. What we will not do is quietly caulk over it and let you find out in March.
Four things: Massachusetts Home Improvement Contractor registration, a Construction Supervisor License when the job needs one, proof of general liability and workers comp, and EPA RRP lead-safe certification for a pre-1978 home. Ask any contractor for all four and ask for the certificate, not the claim. Ask us the same: the walkthrough is where the paperwork goes on the table, before you sign anything.
Move cars and grills away from the walls, unlock the gate, and trim back anything growing against the siding. That is it — we handle covering, masking and plant protection. If you know of a leak, an ice dam that backed up last winter, or a wall that has been repaired before, tell us. It changes the prep, and we would rather know before than find it mid-job.
Send photos and we will give you a range the same day. But we will not give a final written estimate from photos — soft wood, failed glazing and lead paint do not photograph. The walkthrough is free and takes about 45 min.
If you are in Beacon Hill, the South End, Bay Village, Back Bay or one of the other Boston Landmarks districts, exterior colors and even the sheen can require commission approval before a brush touches the building. We will tell you at the walkthrough whether you are in one, pull the approved palette, and give you the paperwork. Painting first and asking later is how owners end up repainting twice at their own cost.
Properly prepped, 7 to 10 years on clapboard, less on a south or west wall that takes the sun. Poorly prepped, sometimes a single winter — freeze-thaw drives water into every gap the caulk missed, then lifts the coat from underneath. Longevity is decided before the paint, not by the paint.
Refinishing typically costs a fraction of replacement. It works when the boxes and doors are structurally sound — if the boxes are swollen or delaminating, refinishing is money spent on top of a problem. We will tell you which one you have.
A workmanship warranty in writing, with the scope attached and the term stated on your estimate — so there is no argument later about what was supposed to be prepped. It covers peeling, blistering and coating failure on the surfaces we prepped. It does not cover new rot from a roof, gutter or ice dam we did not touch, and no honest painter’s warranty does.
Yes, and they are most of what Boston is. Three floors, three owners, one exterior, and usually lead paint. We give the association a written scope with the prep priced line by line, schedule around residents instead of through them, and carry the certificates the building will ask for before we set a ladder.
Send photos and a rough idea of the job. We'll come back with a range the same day, and a written estimate after the walkthrough — with the prep priced line by line.
