How to start a painting business

This guide takes a residential painting company from the first license question to the first signed estimates, quoting the rules in California, Arizona, Washington, Pennsylvania, New York City, North Carolina, Florida and Texas. The finding that matters most: a painter paid to prep homes built before 1978 needs EPA lead-safe firm certification before advertising that work, even as a one-person company, and HUD's survey found lead-based paint in 29.4% of US homes.

By Niomi AscotUpdated October 3, 202616 min read

Licensing: Set by states: C-33 in California, R-34 or C-34 in Arizona, no statewide painting license in Florida or Texas
Lead rule: EPA firm certification, $300 for five years, plus a renovator trained in a one-day course
Older homes: 34.6 million US homes still contain pre-1978 lead-based paint (HUD survey, cited by EPA)
Who you compete with: 75.1% of 38,280 painting employers had fewer than 5 employees (Census, 2023)
VOC limits: Federal limits bind paint makers; South Coast AQMD also binds the painter who applies or stores the can
Google screening: Background checks and general liability proof, about 3 to 4 weeks

What a painting company sells, and the shapes it starts in

California’s license definition is the fullest description of the trade on any government page: a painting and decorating contractor “prepares by scraping, sandblasting or other means and applies” paints, stains, varnishes, wallcoverings and other finishes “for purposes of decorating, protecting, fireproofing and waterproofing” (California CSLB, C-33). Preparation comes first in that sentence, and it comes first in the business too.

New painting companies usually take one of these shapes:

Residential repaints paid by the homeowner. Interiors, exteriors, trim and cabinets. In older neighborhoods this is the work the EPA lead rule reaches.
Commercial repaints. Apartments, offices and retail, bought on schedules and insurance certificates, and taxed differently from homes in Texas.
New construction for builders, which in our experience pays on the builder’s calendar rather than the homeowner’s.
Specialty finishes. Arizona’s residential painting class names “Wallpaper”, “Decorative texture” and “Liquid floor and wall coatings” alongside paint (Ariz. Admin. Code R4-9-103).

Decide early whether you will paint with your own employees or sell jobs to subcontracted painters. That choice sets your workers’ comp, your tax exposure and, in Washington, whether your registration allows it at all.

The outlook: wages, openings and who you bid against

Bureau of Labor Statistics figures on O*NET OnLine (47-2141.00) put the median construction and maintenance painter’s wage at $23.75 an hour, or $49,400 a year, in 2025. The occupation employed 342,200 people in 2024, growth to 2034 is projected as average at 3 to 4 percent, and O*NET lists 28,100 projected openings over that decade. It rates the work as needing “Very Little to Some Preparation”, so the labor pool is wide and the training is yours to do.

The Census Bureau’s County Business Patterns for 2023 counted 38,280 painting and wall covering establishments with payroll, employing 208,201 people. Three in four (75.1 percent) had fewer than five employees, and only 18 had 250 or more. Below them sits a layer with no payroll at all: the wider building finishing group, which also takes in drywall, flooring and tile, had 669,136 nonemployer businesses that year (Census Nonemployer Statistics). A new painter bids against other owners, not national brands.

Demand rests on old housing. HUD’s survey, cited by EPA, found lead-based paint applied before the 1978 ban in “34.6 million homes (29.4% of all housing units)” (EPA, homes with lead-based paint). Each brings the federal rule below.

The EPA lead rule, from certificate to records

There is no federal painting license. There is a federal rule that reaches almost every residential painter, and it belongs at the top of the to-do list.

Who it covers. EPA’s Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) Rule applies to houses, apartments and child-occupied facilities built before 1978. Anyone “paid to perform work that disturbs paint” in them must be certified, which “includes all firms, even sole proprietorships.” EPA names painters among the covered trades and “Painting preparation” among the covered activities (EPA, RRP for contractors).

What is exempt. Jobs disturbing “six square feet or less of paint per room inside, or 20 square feet or less on the exterior.” A repaint with real scraping passes that by mid-morning. Testing is optional, but without documentation that the paint is not lead-based, the rule applies (same page).

Two certificates.

The firm applies online through EPA’s CDX system (EPA, becoming a certified firm) for $300 in every jurisdiction EPA runs, as of October 2026, with the same fee to recertify (EPA fees). It lasts five years; apply 90 days or more before expiry to avoid a gap (40 CFR 745.89).
The renovator who performs or directs the work earns the status in a one-day course from an EPA-approved private trainer, with “no additional fee to EPA” (EPA, renovator requirements), takes a refresher within five years and keeps both certificates on site (40 CFR 745.90).

Advertising. An uncertified firm may neither advertise nor perform covered work in pre-1978 housing. A certified one may say so and use EPA’s “Lead-Safe Certified Firm” logo. The certificate comes before the first flyer.

Paperwork. No more than 60 days before work begins, give the owner EPA’s pamphlet and get a written acknowledgment (40 CFR 745.84); keep records for three years after the job (40 CFR 745.86).

Banned prep methods. On painted surfaces in covered housing, “Open-flame burning or torching” is prohibited, high-speed sanding, grinding, needle guns and blasting are allowed only with a shroud and a HEPA vacuum attachment, and heat guns must stay “below 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit” (40 CFR 745.85). Buy the shrouded sander before bidding an older house.

State-run programs. Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont and Wisconsin run their own programs (EPA RRP Program). Painters there certify with the state.

Enforcement. Home Depot paid $20,750,000 after EPA found that firms it subcontracted to sometimes skipped lead-safe practices, cleanup, the pamphlet or records (EPA news release). A painter taking jobs from a big company should expect to be asked for the same paperwork.

VOC limits and paint strippers: who the rule binds

Federal VOC limits bind the paint maker. EPA’s architectural coatings rule covers coatings made on or after September 13, 1999 for sale in the US (40 CFR 59.400) and puts the duty on “Each manufacturer and importer” (40 CFR 59.402). Its table allows 250 grams of VOC per liter in exterior flat coatings and 380 in exterior nonflat (40 CFR Part 59, Table 1). Federally, the painter is not the regulated party.

South Coast AQMD binds the applicator. In the air district covering Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, Rule 1113 forbids anyone to “apply, store at a worksite, or solicit the application of” an architectural coating above its limits, which are 50 grams per liter for flats and nonflats and 100 for primers, sealers, undercoaters and stains (South Coast AQMD Rule 1113). It also bars industrial maintenance coatings on homes. A non-compliant can riding in the van to a job there is a violation in itself. Other districts write their own rules; call yours before buying stock.

Methylene chloride strippers are gone. EPA’s 2024 rule “Prohibits most industrial and commercial uses of methylene chloride, including paint and coating removers,” following the 2019 ban on consumer paint removal (EPA, methylene chloride). Plan stripping around other chemistry or mechanical removal, within the RRP limits on heat and sanding.

State licenses and registrations

Some states license painting as a specialty, some register every contractor, and some have no state painting license, which is why the SBA licensing guide tells owners to expect a mix of federal and state licenses and permits.

State	Agency	License or registration	Key requirements, as the agency states them
California	Contractors State License Board	C-33 Painting and Decorating	Needed if the job needs a permit, uses other workers or totals $1,000 or more; four years of journey-level experience; trade exam and asbestos open-book exam; $25,000 bond
Arizona	Registrar of Contractors	R-34 (residential) or C-34 (commercial)	Four years of trade experience, two within the last ten; exam on the trade and state law; bond, plus a $200,000 bond or recovery fund for residential work
Washington	Department of Labor and Industries	Specialty contractor registration	$150.20 application; $15,000 bond; $250,000 combined single limit liability; number on every ad and bid
Pennsylvania	Office of Attorney General	Home improvement registration	Required at $5,000 or more of home improvements a year; $100 every two years
New York City	Department of Consumer and Worker Protection	Home Improvement Contractor license	Exam for one principal; $20,000 bond or Trust Fund; RRP certificate or an affirmation it is not needed; two-year term
North Carolina	Licensing Board for General Contractors	No painting license	General contractor license once a job costs $40,000 or more
Florida	DBPR	No state painting license	Counties and cities may license painters
Texas	None	No state painting license	TDLR’s program list has no painting or general contractor license

Fees are as of October 2026. Confirm the current rules with the issuing agency, and with your city or county, before the first job.

California. The C-33 applies where a project needs a permit, uses any additional workers or totals “$1,000 or more” in labor and materials (CSLB, before applying). Since January 1, 2025, an unlicensed person doing smaller jobs may not take permit work or employ anyone on it, and must say in ads that they are not licensed (CSLB bulletin on AB 2622). Training or apprenticeship can supply up to three of the four years, but “At least one year must be practical experience” (CSLB experience rules). The closed-book exam gives “Substrate Repair and Surface Preparation” 30 percent, more than application at 21, and draws on PCA’s standards and craftsman manual, Cal/OSHA safety orders and EPA’s lead-safe guide (CSLB C-33 study guide). State fees are $450 to apply, $200 for a sole owner’s license or $350 for other entities, and $32 plus $17 for fingerprints (CSLB fees); the license runs two years (CSLB, issuing your license). The license number goes in all advertising, and on vehicles in 72-point type or letters at least three-quarters of an inch high and wide (CSLB advertising guidelines).

Arizona. The exam covers the trade and “the building, safety, health and lien laws of the state” (A.R.S. 32-1122); C-34 is the commercial class (R4-9-102). Specialty residential contractors post $1,000 to $7,500, plus the $200,000 bond or recovery fund (A.R.S. 32-1152). Handymen under $1,000 without a permit are exempt but must advertise as “not a licensed contractor” (A.R.S. 32-1121).

Washington. Specialty registrants may work only in their specialty and “cannot hire subcontractors,” and the number belongs on business cards, internet ads, estimates and bids (Washington L&I).

Pennsylvania. Registration applies at “$5,000 worth of home improvements per year” (Pennsylvania Attorney General). It is a registration, not a skills test.

New York City. The DCWP license asks for the RRP certificate, the bond or a $200 Trust Fund enrollment, principals’ fingerprints and the Home Improvement Exam, for a prorated fee of up to $200 (NYC DCWP checklist).

North Carolina. No painting license, but a commercial repaint costing “forty thousand dollars ($40,000) or more” needs a general contractor license (N.C. G.S. 87-1), and lead certification goes through the state.

No statewide license. Florida’s DBPR lists “paint, wallpaper, carpet, tile and window treatments” among work that does not require state licensure, while noting local licenses (Florida DBPR FAQs). Texas’s TDLR program list covers trades such as air conditioning and electrical work, with nothing for painters. In both states the EPA rule, local business licenses and city registration still apply.

Setting up the company

Entity and EIN. An LLC protects personal assets “in most instances,” per the SBA. Form it with the secretary of state, then get a free Employer Identification Number from the IRS.

Sales tax. The Texas Comptroller says repair and remodeling “includes reroofing and repainting”: labor on homes is not taxable, the whole charge on nonresidential remodeling is, and repainting that counts as maintenance carries no tax on labor (Texas Comptroller Publication 94-116). So a Texas office repaint has to be classed as remodeling or maintenance before it is priced. Ask your own revenue department where its line falls.

Insurance. Every business with employees needs workers’ comp, unemployment and disability coverage, and other rules “vary by state” (SBA insurance guide). General liability is what property managers, Washington and Google ask to see. Insure the van and its ladder rack under a commercial auto policy from day one.

Workers’ comp:

California: required with even one employee; a C-33 painter with no staff is not on the list of classes that need it anyway (CSLB workers’ compensation).
Florida: in construction, one employee makes you an employer (Fla. Stat. 440.02).
Texas: optional for most private employers, though government work and some general contractors require it (Texas Department of Insurance).

Crew classification. The IRS weighs behavioral control, financial control and the relationship, and treating an employee as a contractor without a reasonable basis can leave you owing their employment taxes. A painter on your schedule, with your brushes and your paint, looks like an employee.

Equipment, the lead-safe kit and estimating tools

From experience, not a sourced list:

A van or pickup with a ladder rack, and a trailer when a second crew starts.
Ladders and staging. A ladder reaching an upper landing must extend “at least 3 feet (.9 m) above” it (OSHA 1926.1053).
The lead-safe kit: sheeting, tape, a HEPA vacuum, shrouded sanders, EPA-recognized test kits and respirators.
Application gear: brushes, rollers, an airless sprayer and a pressure washer, for which PCA publishes its own standard (P22).
Software for estimates, scheduling and dated job photos, filed by job for the three-year RRP record.

Most owners start from home, which suits Google: it will not list a virtual office.

Pricing, contracts and cash

No source with a stated method publishes what it costs to open a painting company, so no figure appears here. Total your own with the SBA startup cost worksheet: vehicle, ladders, sprayer, lead-safe kit, insurance deposits, license fees and a few months of living costs.

Bids built on standards. Interiors usually price by room or measured area, exteriors by area or house size with lines for prep, repairs, coats and colors. The Painting Contractors Association, founded in 1884 and called PDCA until 2019, publishes the standards behind defensible bids (PCA standards), all collected in its handbook:

P10 fixes how surface area is measured, so production and spread rates from past jobs carry into new estimates.
P14 defines levels of surface preparation, so prep is written into the scope.
P1 judges finished work from “thirty-nine (39) inches” away, without magnification, under finished lighting. That clause settles most touch-up arguments.
P23 lists typical exclusions and P18 a protocol for documenting extra work.

What a job brings in. Thumbtack says “most people pay around $1,200” for interior painting, within $605 to $2,464 (Thumbtack cost guide). That is vendor data on interiors; no published exterior figure turned up.

Deposits and cancellations. A California home improvement down payment “shall not exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000) or 10 percent of the contract amount, whichever amount is less” (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code 7159.5). Contracts of $25 or more signed in the customer’s home can be cancelled until midnight of the third business day under the FTC Cooling-Off Rule, and you must give a completed cancellation notice in duplicate and explain the right aloud (16 CFR 429.1). Californians 65 and older get five days (CSLB contract warnings). Book the crew after the window closes.

The winter dip. Sales at paint and wallpaper stores fell from $1,669 million in October 2025 to $1,287 million in November (Census monthly retail sales). Those stores serve homeowners too, but northern painters see the same turn, so budget for interior and cabinet months.

Hiring, training and safety

Apprenticeship. O*NET lists Registered Apprenticeship titles including “Painter (Const)” and “Painter-Decorator.” A time-based program requires at least 2,000 hours of on-the-job learning, with 144 hours of related instruction a year recommended (29 CFR 29.5), and apprentices earn wages that rise with skill (DOL Registered Apprenticeship). California counts apprenticeship toward the C-33 experience requirement.

OSHA. The most-cited standards for fiscal 2025 read like a painter’s day: fall protection first, hazard communication second, ladders third, respiratory protection fifth and scaffolding sixth (OSHA top 10). Hazard communication covers the safety data sheets for everything in the van.

Falls. Protection is required from six feet up (OSHA fall protection), and on scaffolds “more than 10 feet (3.1 m) above a lower level” (OSHA 1926.451).
Lead, for the crew. OSHA’s construction lead standard protects workers rather than households. The limit is 50 micrograms per cubic meter over eight hours, the action level 30, and until exposure is measured, protection is required for “manual scraping, manual sanding, heat gun applications, and power tool cleaning with dust collection systems” on lead paint (OSHA 1926.62).

Finding the first customers

Google Business Profile. Hide the home address and list up to 20 service areas, each within “about 2 hours of driving time” of your base (Google, service areas); a rented mailing address you do not work from “isn’t eligible” (Google guidelines). Google chooses the verification method, often video, and phone codes cannot reach an automated menu (Google verification). Our Google Business Profile page covers the setup.

Local Services Ads. The Painter category requires business and owner background checks, general liability insurance and state licenses “Where applicable by local law,” and screening takes three to four weeks on average (Google Local Services requirements). Apply the week your insurance certificate arrives. Painting was not in the first group moved into Google Ads in August 2026; service-area businesses follow in late 2026 and the rest in 2027 (Google Ads help).

Search ads cost more here. Paint & Painting had the highest median click price among LocaliQ’s home service categories, $13.74, from April 2024 to March 2025 (LocaliQ). A company with no reviews pays that for visitors who then compare it with established painters.

Reviews. In BrightLocal’s 2026 survey, 47 percent of consumers would not use a business with fewer than 20 reviews, and 74 percent care only about the last three months (BrightLocal 2026). The FTC’s 2024 rule bans rewards “conditioned on the writing of consumer reviews expressing a particular sentiment” (FTC final rule), so ask everyone, the same way. See our review program.

Referrals. An exterior job is on show to the street for days; a yard sign, with the owner’s permission, works hard. Property managers, listing agents and the paint store counter lead to commercial and pre-sale work. Every card and flyer should carry the EPA logo and any required license number.

For the marketing plan itself, read our page on marketing for painting contractors.

What trips up new painting companies

Bidding paint and coats but guessing prep, when California’s exam weights prep above application.
Taking old-house work on the renovator course alone. The firm certificate is a separate application.
Old prep habits: torching, unshrouded sanding and very hot heat guns on pre-1978 paint.
The wrong can in the van inside the South Coast district.
Crews paid as contractors who are really employees, and ladders or scaffolds without fall protection.
No cash plan for November, when exteriors stop in the North.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a license to start a painting business?

It depends on the state. California requires the C-33 for jobs of $1,000 or more or any job with a permit or a helper; Arizona issues R-34 and C-34; Washington, Pennsylvania and New York City require registration or a license; Florida and Texas have no statewide painting license, though local ones may apply.

Does a one-person painting company need EPA lead certification?

Yes, for paid work disturbing more than the minor-repair amounts of paint in pre-1978 homes. The rule covers sole proprietors, so you need firm certification ($300 for five years, as of October 2026) and a certified renovator, which can be you after a one-day course.

How much experience does a painting license require?

Four years in California and Arizona. California accepts up to three years of training but needs one year of practical experience; Arizona wants two of the four within the last ten years.

What does a California C-33 license cost?

State fees total $699 for a sole owner or $849 for other entities, as of October 2026: $450 to apply, $200 or $350 for the two-year license and $49 for fingerprints. A $25,000 bond is also required.

Do I need workers’ comp if I work alone?

Usually not, until the first hire. A painter working alone is not one of the California classes that need coverage with zero staff, California and Florida construction employers need it from one employee, and most Texas private employers may opt out.

Do VOC rules apply to painters or only to paint makers?

Federal limits apply to manufacturers and importers. South Coast AQMD’s Rule 1113 also covers anyone who applies or stores a non-compliant coating at a job site, with limits of 50 grams per liter for flats and nonflats.

Can I still use methylene chloride paint stripper?

No, not for commercial work. EPA’s 2024 rule bans most commercial uses, including paint and coating removal, after consumer uses ended in 2019.

How do I get my first painting jobs?

Verify a Google Business Profile, apply for Local Services Ads early because screening takes three to four weeks, and ask every customer for a review. Show your license number and EPA logo wherever the rules require them.

Sources

Checked on October 3, 2026. Rules and fees change, and many are set state by state or city by city: confirm the current requirements with the agency that issues them before you apply.

Starting out, or ready to grow?

One team, operating since 2015, runs local SEO, ads, reviews, websites and the CRM for local businesses. Every business that reaches out gets a free consult, an honest evaluation and a plan it keeps.

Get a free plan Marketing for painting contractors