How to start a painting business

Picture your first real painting job as a business: a family repainting the living room, hallway and two bedrooms of a house built in the 1960s. The walls look straightforward. What makes it a business job, and not a favor for a friend, is everything around the painting: the lead-safe rules for a house that old, the insurance certificate the homeowner asks for, a written bid, a deposit, and a price that still makes sense after the second coat.

Painting is one of the most common trades to start on your own. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 326,900 construction and maintenance painter jobs in 2025, and 31 percent of painters were self-employed. That also means competition, so the painters who last are the ones who get the business side right from the start.

Step 1: choose your kind of painting

Interiors are usually the easiest place to start: less equipment, less weather risk and shorter jobs that build reviews quickly. Exteriors and commercial work can follow.

Step 2: check licensing where you work

Painting is licensed very differently from state to state. The SBA explains that the licenses you need from your state, county and city depend on your activities and your location, and states regulate a broader range of activities than the federal government, including construction.

California shows how specific it can get: the Contractors State License Board requires a license for any job valued at $1,000 or more in combined labor and materials, for any project that needs a building permit, and for anyone who uses employees. A full interior repaint will often pass that limit. Check your own state's contractor board before you quote.

Step 3: get lead-safe certified if you will work in older homes

This is the rule that matters most for residential painters. Under the EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule, anyone paid to do work that disturbs painted surfaces in homes, childcare facilities and preschools built before 1978 must be certified, and the work must be done by a certified renovator or by workers trained on the job by one.

In practice, scraping, sanding and prep in a pre-1978 home puts you under the rule. The BLS also notes that some states require their own licensing for lead paint removal. Get certified before you bid on older homes, and price the extra containment, cleanup and record-keeping into those jobs.

Step 4: insurance and safety at height

Customers and property managers will ask for your certificate of general liability insurance, which the SBA describes as coverage for bodily injury, property damage, medical expenses and defending lawsuits. Once you hire, workers' compensation, unemployment and disability insurance are required for businesses with employees, according to the SBA.

Painting also means ladders and scaffolds. OSHA's construction standard requires protection for workers on a surface with an unprotected side or edge 6 feet or more above a lower level, using guardrails, safety nets or personal fall arrest systems. Plan for it before you take exterior or high-ceiling work.

Step 5: buy the right starting kit

Start with good versions of the tools you will use every day, rather than a trailer full of equipment for jobs you have not won yet:

• brushes and roller frames in the sizes you use most, plus good covers
• drop cloths, plastic sheeting, tape and a way to protect floors and furniture
• extension poles and ladders suited to the homes in your area
• patching, sanding and caulking tools
• a reliable way to transport it all and keep paint from freezing or overheating

A paint sprayer can come later, once you know the kind of work you win.

Step 6: price from your own production rates

Painting prices are only as good as the production rates behind them: how many square feet your crew paints per hour, with how many coats, in what condition. Time your first jobs room by room and keep the numbers.

As a reference for labor cost, the BLS puts the median pay for painters at $23.75 an hour (May 2025). That is a wage, not a price. Your price also has to cover payroll costs, travel, overhead, materials and profit. The paint job bidding guide walks through a full three-bedroom bid, and the square foot estimating guide shows how to measure a room and build your own rate per square foot.

Step 7: write bids that protect you

A painting bid should say what is included room by room, how many coats, who picks the colors, how repairs are handled, what happens if you find damage, the deposit and payment terms, and how long the price is valid. The clearer the bid, the fewer arguments about "I thought that was included."

Step 8: find the first customers

For residential painting, your best advertising is finished rooms:

• before-and-after photos of every job, with permission
• a Google Business Profile with your service area and real work photos
• asking every customer for a review the day you finish
• offering touch-up visits a few months later, which often lead to the next room

What to do next

Check your state's contractor licensing rules and the EPA lead-safe certification first, because both decide which jobs you can legally bid on. Then work through the general setup steps in the guide to starting a home service business.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a license to start a painting business?

It depends on your state and city. Some states license painting contractors above a job value; California, for example, requires a license for jobs of $1,000 or more in labor and materials.

Do painters need lead certification?

If you are paid to do work that disturbs painted surfaces in homes, childcare facilities or preschools built before 1978, the EPA requires the firm to be certified under its Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule.

How many painters are self-employed?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 31 percent of construction and maintenance painters were self-employed in 2025.