New paint peeling within months
Preparation, almost always: painting over a dirty, greasy or damp surface. In a kitchen the grease film is invisible and it defeats any paint that is put on top of it.
Building Fabric14,556 businesses licensed for it
Commercial painting
Repainting a customer-facing business is mostly a scheduling problem: the work is straightforward and the constraint is trading hours, fumes and cure time. Work covers interior repaints, washable and scrubbable finishes for kitchens and restrooms, storefront and exterior painting, preparation and repair of failed substrates, line striping in a parking lot, and specialist coatings for wet or high-traffic areas. Preparation is where the money is well spent and where a cheap price is usually hiding.
Enter your ZIP to see the businesses listed for this trade nearest to your site, with their phone numbers.
- Free to searchno account, nothing to submit
- Public registersevery listing names its source
- License numberswhere the state publishes one
- Directyou call the business yourself
- Our estimate
- $400-$18,000
- Time on site
- 6-60 hrs
- Fault patterns covered
- 2
- Licensed for this trade itself
- 14,556
What commercial painting costs
Most of these jobs land near $1,800. The full spread runs $400 to $18,000, and the gap between those two ends is diagnosis against replacement rather than one business being dearer than another.
What moves it: how much of the job is parts, whether the fault is found in the first hour or the third, access to the equipment, and the hour of the day you call. We never speak to the businesses listed here, so there is no rate card behind any of this. It is our own band for the category, and there is no regional index: the figure does not change with your metro.
| How soon you need it | Typical | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled visitBooked in advance, no urgency multiplier applied | $1,800 | $400 to $18,000 |
| Same dayOur band multiplied by 1.12 | $2,015 | $450 to $20,160 |
| Emergency calloutOur band multiplied by 1.35 | $2,430 | $540 to $24,300 |
Our estimate from national cost bands, not a quote from any business. Every row is the same band with the urgency multiplier the site applies everywhere else, so this table can never contradict the headline number. Ask for a written price before the work starts.
Who is licensed to do this work
In California the classification that squarely covers this is C-33 painting and decorating, and the register says who holds it. Every listing on this site shows the classification, the license number and the date we read it, with a link back to the register entry so you can check it against the state rather than against us.
Overlapping classifications exist and are labeled as overlapping rather than as a match: B general building and D-29 paperhanging. A general building contractor may hold the job and subcontract the trade, which is a real answer and a different one, so the card says which of the two you are looking at.
One thing worth being plain about: CSLB classifications do not distinguish commercial work from residential. There is no separate commercial license to hold and no register field that would prove one. That is why this page describes the equipment rather than the contractor, and why nothing here says a business has been checked out. We read a public record on a stated date. That is the whole claim.
Before you pay for a callout
Two minutes of checks that sometimes end the problem
We would rather you did not need a callout at all. These are the checks that end the most calls for this fault.
Try a quick fix first
Some issues resolve without a truck roll. Two minutes now can save the callout.
- 1
Say up front when the work can happen. Overnight and closed-day working is normal for commercial painting and it changes the price, so it belongs in the conversation rather than as a surprise.
- 2
Ask what the preparation includes. Two prices that look different are usually one contractor washing, filling and priming and the other one not.
- 3
Specify a washable finish anywhere near food, water or hands. Standard flat paint in a kitchen or a restroom fails within a year.
- 4
Check whether your landlord or your brand has a specified color. Repainting twice because the shade was wrong is an avoidable expense.
What the visit actually includes
- Masking and protection of floors, fittings and stock
- Washing, filling and priming as the surface needs
- Repair of failed or flaking substrate before coating
- Agreed number of finish coats with the product named
- Clean up and reinstatement each night where you are trading
Diagnosis
How painting faults usually present
Written from how these faults actually present on a working premises, not from a manual.
Color looks different on the wall
Sheen and lighting. Approve a sample on the actual wall under the actual lighting rather than from a card, because a card in daylight tells you very little.
Listed for this trade
Businesses listed for painting
Read from public license registers, so there is no ranking here and no distance: this page has no location to measure from. Enter your ZIP to sort by who is nearest to your site.
By location
Commercial painting near you
Local pages show which businesses are listed for that metro, how far out they sit, and the local conditions that drive demand.
Counted from the businesses we have imported for each metro center inside a 25 mile radius, and counting only those whose own license classification names this trade. General contractors licensed widely enough to take it on and subcontract it are excluded here, and still appear in a search. A metro reads “none yet” until we load a register that covers this trade there.
All coverage areasQuestions owners ask
Painting FAQs
Short, specific answers. If yours is not here, ask the business you call before you agree to the visit.
Can you paint while we trade?
Usually yes for back of house, rarely for a customer area during service. Most commercial repaints run overnight, and low-odor products make that practical in a food premises.
How long before we can use the room?
Touch dry and cured are different things. Most modern interior paints are usable within hours and fully cured in days, and the cure matters if the surface gets washed.
What license is required?
C-33 painting and decorating in California. B General Building contractors genuinely perform painting too, so B appears here as a partial match, listed behind the specialists.
Related work
Often booked in the same visit
Batching jobs into one mobilization is the cheapest way to buy this kind of work.
Roof leakActive leaks, ponding water, failed flashing and buckets in the middle of the floor.from $350Commercial doors and locksDoors that will not close, failed closers, automatic doors, locks, keys and panic bars.from $180Storefront glassBroken shopfronts, cracked panes, failed seals and emergency boarding up.from $260FlooringLifting tiles, trip hazards, water-damaged floors and slip-resistant kitchen surfaces.from $300
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Ready when you are
Need painting sorted?
Search your ZIP to see the businesses listed for this trade nearest to your site, with the license numbers and phone numbers we hold, then call them yourself.
- Cost to search
- Free
- Account needed
- None
- Who you call
- The business