The commercial painting work we take on
On the exterior side, we paint and stain apartment and townhome buildings: siding, trim, fascia, soffit, railings, entry doors and garage doors. Townhome associations in Rogers, St. Michael, Maple Grove and Plymouth tend to have engineered lap siding and rows of identical entries and garage doors, which is repetitive work we can plan efficiently. On the interior side, it is common areas: hallways, stairwells, entries, laundry rooms and unit turnovers between tenants, plus small commercial interiors such as offices, waiting rooms and retail floors. Color takes more care on a multi-unit property than people expect. An association that repaints in phases over two or three summers needs the last building to match the first, so we keep the colors and sheens on record for the whole project and check new paint against the finished buildings before it goes on the wall. Our commercial work is multi-family and light commercial. Industrial coatings and large-scale commercial projects are outside our scope.
- Apartment and townhome exteriors: siding, trim, railings, doors
- Association repaint and restain cycles
- Common areas, stairwells, unit turnovers
- Small commercial interiors: offices, waiting rooms, retail
- Phased repaints with colors and sheens matched building to building
Painting around tenants and business hours
Painting a building people live or work in is a scheduling job as much as a painting job. On multi-family exteriors we work one building or one elevation at a time and give the manager a written sequence so residents know when the crew is outside their windows, when their deck or patio is off limits, and where the ladders will be. Entries stay open. On interiors we stage hallways so one side is always passable and use low-odor waterborne products so nobody has to move out for the day. Unit turnovers are scheduled to the manager's move-out and move-in dates, and we can usually turn a unit in a day or two. Commercial interiors get done outside business hours where that matters, evenings or a weekend, and we mask and clean each night so the space opens on time. Our crew shows up when it said it would. Punctuality is one of the things our Google reviews mention most, and it matters more on a building with thirty tenants than on a house with one.
The same prep we use on houses
Multi-family exteriors are where corners get cut most often in this business, because the walls are tall, the elevations are long and the owner is not standing in the yard watching. We do them the way we do a house. Wash, scrape, sand, caulk, prime bare wood, and two finish coats sprayed and back-brushed on siding and brushed on trim. Any soft fascia or trim we find during prep gets replaced before primer. Engineered lap siding on 2000s townhomes has to be recoated before the factory finish wears through at the joints, and we flag the buildings that are close to that point. Long elevations get masked the same way a single house does: windows, light fixtures, meters, the roofing at the drip edge, and the shrubs along the foundation. Interiors get the same patching, sanding and priming as a home, with scrubbable finishes in hallways and stairwells that take a lot of traffic and a flat finish on ceilings so roller marks do not show under hallway lights. The estimate is written the same way too, with surfaces, prep and coat counts listed per building, so an association board can see exactly what it is approving and compare it against a proposal that leaves the prep vague.
When commercial painting is not the right call
- High-rise, industrial or large commercial work that needs a lift crew and weeks of night shifts. That is not our size, and we will say so on the first call rather than stretch to fit.
- A full exterior repaint squeezed into late fall to use up this year's budget. Below about 50 degrees overnight the paint will not cure the way it should. We would paint the common-area interiors over the winter and put the exterior on the May schedule.
- A repaint that is only being done to pass a listing photo. If the finish has two or three years left, a wash and touch-ups are the better spend and we will tell the owner that.
Why homeowners hire us for commercial painting
- Written sequence per building or elevation so residents know what to expect
- Colors and sheens matched building to building across a phased repaint
- Same wash, scrape, prime and two-coat standard we use on houses
- Low-odor waterborne products for occupied interiors
- Unit turnovers scheduled to move-out and move-in dates
- Estimates with surfaces, prep and coat counts listed per building
Our commercial painting process, step by step
Site walk and written proposal
We walk the building with the owner or manager, note the condition of each elevation, and write a proposal that lists surfaces, prep and coat counts per building, with a sequence residents can be told.
Notice and staging plan
Before we start, the manager gets a schedule by building or elevation, with the days decks and entries are affected, so notices can go out to residents or staff.
Wash, prep and paint
Surfaces are washed, scraped, caulked and primed, then two finish coats go on, sprayed and back-brushed on siding and brushed on trim. Interiors are staged so one side of every hallway stays open.
Walkthrough and punch list
We walk the building with the manager, work the punch list, and leave labeled touch-up paint for the maintenance staff.
What does multi-family or commercial painting cost in the northwest metro?
Multi-family and commercial estimates come from a site walk, and they are itemized per building so a board or an owner can see where the time goes. Building count, height and the amount of siding versus trim set the base. Condition sets the rest: a townhome association that has kept up its cycle needs a wash and two coats, while a building that has gone a decade needs heavy scraping, more caulking and a full prime coat on the sunny elevations. Access matters, since long elevations and decks on the second story take staging. Occupancy and hours matter too, because interiors done outside business hours and exteriors sequenced around residents take more coordination. Color changes add time as well: moving a whole association to a new body color takes two full coats everywhere, where a same-color repaint over sound paint goes faster. We do not publish figures because no two buildings are alike, but the proposal is written and the site walk costs nothing.
- Number of buildings, stories and total siding and trim area
- Condition: on cycle versus years overdue
- Interior finishes: flat ceilings and scrubbable sheens in high-traffic halls
- Access and staging for long elevations and upper decks
- Occupied interiors, after-hours work and sequencing around residents
- Number of colors and whether the body color is changing
Questions we hearCommon questions about commercial painting
Do you paint apartment buildings and townhome associations?
Yes. Apartment buildings, townhome and homeowner associations, and small commercial buildings are the commercial side of our work, alongside the houses that make up most of our year. We handle the exteriors, common-area interiors and unit turnovers, with the same wash, scrape, prime and two-coat standard we use on houses and colors matched across every building in a phased repaint.
How do you work around tenants?
With a written schedule. Exteriors are done one building or elevation at a time, and the manager gets a sequence that says when the crew is outside which windows and when decks are off limits. Interiors are staged so one side of every hallway stays open, with low-odor products. Unit turnovers are scheduled to move-out and move-in dates.
Can you paint a commercial interior after hours?
Yes, where it matters. Offices, waiting rooms and retail floors can be painted evenings or over a weekend so the space opens on time. We mask and clean up each night. Low-odor waterborne paint means the smell is gone by morning. For larger spaces we sequence rooms so the business can keep operating around the work.
What size of commercial job is too big for you?
High-rise work, industrial coatings, and anything that needs a lift crew and weeks of night shifts. We are a residential painting company that also does multi-family and small commercial, and a twelve-unit building or a storefront interior is our size. If a project is bigger than that, we will say so on the first call.
Often paired with commercial painting
Where we offer commercial painting
Commercial painting is available across Greenfield, Independence, Delano, Corcoran, Buffalo, Medina, Rogers and St. Michael, and the rest of the west and northwest Twin Cities metro. See the full service area.