How to start a painting business the right way

Interior, exterior, or both

Interior repaints are the steadiest start: they run year-round, need less equipment and are easier to schedule around weather. Exterior work pays more per job but depends on dry days, tall ladders or lifts, and more surface prep. Cabinet painting and specialty finishes are niches that reward patience and a spray setup.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, on its painters page updated August 2026, says painters typically learn the trade on the job with no formal education required, and that apprenticeships of 3 or 4 years may be available. It also counted 31 percent of painters as self-employed in 2025.

• Interior repaints: walls, ceilings, trim and doors
• Exterior: siding, trim, decks and fences
• Cabinets and furniture, often sprayed
• Drywall repair before paint, a common add-on
• Commercial repaints for offices and rentals between tenants

Lead-safe certification for homes built before 1978

This is the rule that catches new painters. The Environmental Protection Agency's Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule, on its page updated June 2026, requires anyone paid to perform work that disturbs painted surfaces in homes, child care facilities and preschools built before 1978 to be certified, with employees trained in lead-safe work practices. Firms are certified by the EPA or by a state or tribal program the EPA has authorized.

On its RRP rules page, the EPA says a firm applies online with a fee, and individuals become certified renovators by taking training from an EPA-accredited provider. Sanding, scraping and prep on older homes are exactly the work it's written for, so get certified before you bid one.

1. Find out if your state runs its own EPA-authorized program, or if the EPA does
2. Take certified renovator training from an EPA-accredited provider
3. Apply for firm certification
4. Follow lead-safe work practices on every pre-1978 home

State licenses and registrations

Some states license painting contractors, others only above a job size, and others not at all; many cities want a general business license regardless. The BLS also notes some states require licensing for lead paint removal. Look up your state's contractor licensing board and your city's business license office before you quote, and check whether your state wants sales tax on materials.

The SBA's licenses and permits guide points you to your Secretary of State's website as a good first place to look.

How much work you can take on before you need a license is different in every state: see the contractor license limits for every state, with each state's own board linked.

Set up the business and insure it

Choose a structure knowing the trade-offs. In the SBA's words, a sole proprietorship is easy to form and gives you complete control, but you can be held personally liable for business debts; an LLC protects your personal assets in most instances. Use the SBA's comparison and an accountant to decide.

The IRS gives out EINs free and says you never have to pay a fee for one. Open a separate business checking account for deposits from clients and paint-store charges.

Painters work in finished homes, around furniture and floors. General liability, which the SBA describes as protecting against financial loss from bodily injury, property damage and lawsuits, is the cover clients will ask about. The SBA lists workers' compensation as required for every business with employees, which matters the day you hire a helper.

Stuck on the name? The free painting business name generator puts names together from your own name, your town and painting words. We don't check that a name is free, so check the one you pick before you register it.

Gear: buy good basics, rent the big things

Quality brushes and rollers make faster, cleaner work, so spend there first. Ladders and protection come next. Rent a sprayer or a lift for your first jobs that need one, and buy only once you're renting often.

Keep a clean, labeled kit; clients notice drop cloths and tape lines before they notice the color.

• Brushes and roller frames in a few sizes, extension poles
• Drop cloths, plastic sheeting, painter's tape and a masking tool
• Ladders: a step ladder and an extension ladder for exteriors
• Prep tools: scrapers, sanders, patching compound, caulk
• For older homes: the lead-safe supplies your RRP training lists

Price by the room or the surface

Most painters price by the room or by the square foot, built from the hours it takes, the coats and the paint, with prep priced separately when it's heavy. How to price painting jobs works through it with examples, and how to price a job covers overhead and profit.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics put the median pay of construction and maintenance painters at $23.75 an hour, or $49,400 a year, in May 2025. That is employee pay; your own rate, built with the hourly rate calculator, has to pay for the vehicle, insurance, certification, the estimates you give that don't turn into jobs, and the days it rains. Set your paint markup with the markup calculator.

Get your first painting jobs

Painting sells on photos and reviews. Take before and after pictures of every room from the same spot, and ask every client for a review the day they see the finished work.

• Start with friends, family and their neighbors
• A free business listing with your best before-and-after photos
• Landlords and property managers, who repaint between tenants
• Real estate agents preparing homes for sale
• General contractors and remodelers who don't paint their own jobs

Estimates, invoices, records and taxes

Write down every room, surface and number of coats, who buys the paint and what's excluded. Changes during the job, a new color or an extra room, go on paper before you start them. Invoice the day you finish.

Keep paint receipts and mileage. The IRS says good records help you track deductible expenses, prepare your return and support what you report, and should be kept as long as needed to prove the income or deductions.

According to the IRS, self-employment tax for Social Security and Medicare applies once your net self-employment earnings reach $400, and if you expect to owe $1,000 or more you generally make estimated payments in four periods across the year. An accountant can tell you what to save from each job.

Running it from your phone with Workeey

Workeey is one phone for a painting business. Each job holds the client, the address, the time slot, notes, typed or dictated, such as the colors and the sheen, and photos of each room before and after. The schedule runs in time slots, with a route to the next job.

Save your rates once in Settings, with hourly, travel, materials markup and a deposit percent among them. A quick estimate prices from them, and you share it from your phone as a quote PDF with the deposit percent printed on it. The client agrees with you directly, and any deposit is settled between the two of you; the app doesn't collect it.

When the last coat is dry, one tap turns the estimate into the invoice, emailed with a pay link for card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or US bank transfer through your own Stripe account; a small processing fee applies. Turn on reminder texts for a late invoice, and log paint as an expense from a receipt photo or by hand. The free plan has unlimited invoicing and 23 quick estimates a month, no card (pricing).

For paper, start from the painting invoice template and the painting estimate template, or compare the best apps for painting contractors.

More for painters: pages and free templates

• Painting business software — quotes, prep days and the final bill
• Invoicing for painters — prep, coats and the balance after a deposit
• How to price painting jobs — a guide to setting your prices
• Best apps for painting contractors — the apps for this trade compared
• Painting invoice template — free, with a filled-in sample
• Painting estimate template — a free quote sample
• Painting receipt template — a free paid-in-full sample
• Free invoice template — every field a trade invoice needs
• Free estimate template — copy it, price it, send it
• Free receipt template — a paid-in-full receipt to copy
• Work order template — the job written down before you bill it
• Late payment reminder templates — texts, emails and a letter to copy and send
• All free templates and tools