A weather barrier, not just a color
Paint on the outside of a house is doing a job. Caulked joints and a sound film are what keep water out of the sheathing behind the siding.
A beautiful first impression
Exterior House Painting in Chicagoland.
Exterior painting for Chicago and suburban homes, with rich color, sharp trim, and prep made for the seasons ahead. A fresh look that feels right at home.
Fully insured. Written scope. Careful cleanup.
Prep you can actually inspect
Wash, scrape, sand, caulk, prime. It is the slowest part of the job and the only part that decides whether you are repainting in four years or twelve.
Booked around the season
Chicago gives roughly seven months where exterior coatings cure properly. We schedule against that window and tell you early when weather moves a date.
Beyond the siding
The whole exterior, thoughtfully finished.
We look at the whole home, then build a scope around its materials, condition, and the details you want to highlight.
Siding
The largest surface and the one that sets the price. Cedar, Hardie, vinyl, aluminum and stucco all behave differently once a brush is on them.
Trim, fascia and soffits
Where water gets in first. Fascia and soffit rot is the most common thing we find once the ladders go up.
Doors and shutters
Small surfaces, disproportionate effect. A repainted front door changes the whole elevation for very little money.
Garage doors
Steel and fiberglass need a bonding primer. Rolling straight over a factory finish is why so many garage doors chalk within two summers.
Porches, railings and columns
Horizontal surfaces hold standing water and snow, so they wear faster than anything vertical and get a harder coating.
Decks and fences
Usually stain rather than paint. Priced as its own trade, since the prep is different work.
The finished feeling
A fresh perspective, from the curb.
The work behind the finish
Built on good preparation.
Wash, then let it dry
Low-pressure wash to take off chalk, dirt and mildew, then a drying day. Coating over damp siding is the single most common cause of early failure.
Scrape, sand and repair
Failed coating comes off, edges get feathered, and soft trim gets replaced rather than filled. We show you anything we find before we do it.
Caulk and prime
Joints, gaps and end grain sealed, then spot or full priming depending on what is bare. This is the waterproofing step.
Finish coats and walkthrough
Two coats on anything bare or changing color, then a walk around the house with you before the ladders come down.
Right product. Right surface.
Chicago weather is part of the plan.
Lake weather, freeze and thaw, and a hundred years of housing stock. What goes on the wall depends entirely on what the wall is.
More about our exterior preparation
Exterior paint is doing more than making the house look finished. It is the layer keeping water out of the sheathing, and in a climate that freezes and thaws dozens of times a winter, that layer either holds or it does not.
Almost every early failure we get called out to look at comes from the same three things: siding that was still damp when it was coated, old paint that was never scraped back to a sound edge, and joints that were never caulked. None of those are visible on the day the job finishes. All three show up by the second or third winter, usually as peeling along the south and west elevations first.
So the prep is the job. Low-pressure wash and a genuine drying day, scrape and feather the failed areas, replace the soft trim instead of filling it, caulk the joints, prime what is bare. Only then does color go on. It is slower than the alternative and it is the entire reason one repaint lasts a decade and another lasts four years.
We quote exterior work on site, because stories, siding type, and how much repair the walls need move the number more than square footage does. You get the findings and the price in writing before anything starts.
Cedar siding and shake
Oil-based stain-blocking primer, then 100% acrylic
Cedar bleeds tannin through a waterborne primer. Get that wrong and brown stains come through the finish coat within a season.
Hardie and fiber cement
Acrylic bonding primer where bare, then 100% acrylic
Factory-finished board mostly needs washing and cut edges primed. It is one of the few surfaces where less prep is genuinely correct.
Brick and masonry
Masonry conditioner, then a breathable mineral or elastomeric
Brick has to release moisture. Seal it with the wrong film and freeze-thaw pushes the face off the brick, which is not repairable.
Stucco
Masonry primer, then an elastomeric or high-build acrylic
Hairline cracking is normal in stucco. A coating with some flex bridges it instead of cracking along the same lines next winter.
Aluminum and vinyl siding
Bonding primer, then a vinyl-safe acrylic
Vinyl moves a lot with temperature and warps if painted too dark. Vinyl-safe colors are formulated to reflect enough heat to stop that.
Wood trim and fascia
Rot repair, oil primer on bare wood, then acrylic
Trim fails before siding does because it takes the water first. Replacing soft sections costs less than painting over them twice.
Know what to expect
A quote that fits your home.
Exterior pricing depends on stories, siding type and how much repair the walls need, so we quote it on site rather than publishing a number that would misrepresent your house.
What we look at during your estimate
Your space & its surfaces
The surfaces you want finished, access, dimensions, and the details to include.
The preparation it needs
Existing paint, repairs, bare wood, and any areas that need extra attention.
Your colors & finishes
A coating plan suited to the material, with the scope and price confirmed before work begins.
From our customers
A better welcome home.
“Very responsive, communicative, timely, and quality work. Would definitely work with them again, thanks so much for the stunning transformation of our home with your great paint work!”
Let's clear things up
Before we bring the ladders.
A few answers about the season, the surfaces, and what your exterior project involves.
When can you paint outside in Chicago?
Roughly April through October, depending on the year. Most coatings need surface temperatures above about 50F and falling overnight, and they need dry siding. We book against that window and move dates for weather rather than pushing through it.
Do you pressure wash?
We wash at low pressure. High pressure drives water behind siding and furs up cedar, which creates a worse surface than the one we started with. The goal is clean and dry, not blasted.
Do you replace rotten wood?
Yes, and we would rather do it than paint over it. Soft fascia, trim and sill sections get replaced and primed. We photograph what we find and price it before doing the work.
How many coats do you apply?
Two on anything bare, repaired, or changing color. A sound existing coating in the same color can take one. We say which one your house is at the walkthrough rather than defaulting to whichever is easier to quote.
Can you paint brick?
Yes, but it is a one-way decision, so we talk it through first. Brick must stay breathable, which rules out ordinary exterior acrylics and means a mineral or purpose-made masonry coating.
How long will an exterior repaint last?
On properly prepped wood, eight to twelve years is a reasonable expectation in this climate. On Hardie or masonry, longer. On siding that was painted over dirt or damp, three or four.
What happens if it rains mid-job?
We stop, cover, and pick up when the surface is dry. It is the reason exterior timelines are given as windows rather than fixed days, and why we tell you early when one moves.
Local homes. Local painters.
Curb appeal across Chicagoland.
Plan your exterior project
A fresh start, with Bold Coat
A fresh look, ready for the season.
Tell us what you have in mind. We will help you put a plan together.