Guide
How to start a painting business
Painting has one of the leanest starts in the trades: register the business, get insured, get the EPA RRP certification if you will touch pre-1978 homes, and learn to bid off measurements instead of eyeballs. The steps in order are below.
| Trade licensing | Generally no trade license for residential repaints; a few states and cities differ. Check your state contractor board |
| Federal certification | EPA RRP certification is required for paid work that disturbs paint in pre-1978 housing |
| Business registration | Your state's Secretary of State |
| Insurance to price in | General liability (overspray claims are real), workers' comp once anyone is on payroll |
| Pricing norm | By measured area and surface condition, not by eyeball |
| Last reviewed | July 2026 |
Licensing and permit rules change and they change locally; every row above points at the office that publishes the current answer. Our worked-example pack, built for a fictional Kansas City lawn care company, shows the depth your own pack goes to: read it here.
What to do, in order
- 1
Register the business with your state
Registration happens at your state's Secretary of State, usually online in a day or two, and most states require a registered agent with a street address in the state. The current filing fee is on your state's Secretary of State site.
- 2
Get your EIN and open a business bank account
The EIN is free from the IRS, online, usually the same day. The bank will not open a business account without it, and you want every job check running through that account from day one so your books mean something at tax time.
- 3
Get the RRP question settled
If you will do paid work that disturbs paint in homes built before 1978, federal EPA RRP certification applies, both to the firm and the renovator. It is a short course, and the fines for skipping it are not short. Newer housing stock only? Then it can wait.
- 4
Get insured before the first job
General liability first, and take the overspray scenario seriously: a windy day next to a car lot has ended painting companies. Workers' comp the day anyone joins you on a ladder.
- 5
Bid off measurements, price off your burdened hour
Take a wage and add payroll tax, comp, insurance, the truck, and the hours you cannot bill. What comes out is the number you have to beat on every quote. Then bid from measured walls and honest surface-condition grades. Two identical squares of wall are not the same job if one of them needs two hours of scraping first.
- 6
Price prep like the job it is
Prep is most of a quality exterior job: washing, scraping, sanding, priming, masking. If your bid treats prep as a footnote, every weathered house you win is a loss you scheduled.
- 7
Go get the first ten customers
Claim the Google Business Profile and post finished-job photos weekly, because painting is bought with eyes. Realtors and property managers repaint constantly. One good flipper is a route.
The pricing step is the one most people skip. The burdened-rate calculator is free, runs in your browser, and tells you the number you have to beat on every quote.
Where first-year painting companies go wrong
Bidding by eyeball. The eyeball bid wins the easy houses and loses money on the hard ones, and you cannot tell which is which until you are on the ladder. Measure, grade the surfaces, and let the numbers make the quote.
Underpricing prep. The paint is the cheap part. The hours are in the prep, and the callbacks are in the prep you skipped. Price it, or the weathered south wall prices it for you.
Skipping RRP on older homes. Pre-1978 homes are a huge share of repaint work in most towns. Working them without RRP certification risks federal fines that dwarf the cost of the course.
The plan the bank actually reads
Whatever route you take to it, the plan a lender expects has a known shape. This is the table of contents of the business plan in every CrewPlaybook pack, written for your trade and your numbers:
- 1.Executive summary
- 2.Company description
- 3.Service offerings
- 4.Market analysis
- 5.Operations plan
- 6.Marketing and sales
- 7.Team and organization
- 8.Financial projections narrative
- 9.First-year milestones
- 10.Risks and mitigations
A finished example, written for a fictional Kansas City lawn care company, is readable without an account: read the example business plan.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a license to start a painting business?+
For residential repaints, generally no trade license, though a few states and cities require one. Check your state contractor board. Federal RRP certification is a separate question and applies to pre-1978 homes everywhere.
How much does it cost to start a painting business?+
Painting is one of the leanest starts in the trades: sprayer, ladders, prep tools, drops, and insurance get you working. Build your own list and run it against your numbers; the pack's equipment list prices your trade at three budget tiers.
How should I price a paint job?+
From measured areas and surface condition, on top of your burdened hourly cost: wage, payroll tax, comp, insurance, the van, and unbilled hours. Our free burdened-rate calculator gives you the base number.
What is RRP certification and do I need it?+
EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting certification covers paid work that disturbs paint in pre-1978 housing. If your market has older homes, treat it as a cost of doing business; the course is short and the fines are not.
Is a painting business profitable?+
It can be, because materials are a small share of the job and the leverage is in labor priced right. The companies that struggle are the ones bidding by eyeball and giving prep away.
The version written for your company
This guide is the general road. CrewPlaybook writes the whole pack for your trade, your state, and your numbers: the plan, the filings in order, the pricing math, the first-hire plan. Read the example pack before you decide.