What we do
Residential repainting, four ways
Houses people live in. Interiors, exteriors, and the kitchen that dates the whole house.
Keep the boxes. Keep the layout. Lose the forty-year-old finish. A kitchen dates faster than any other room in a house, and almost all of that is the color of the cabinet doors. The boxes are usually fine. The hinges are usually fine. The layout is the layout you already live with and mostly like. What has aged is a finish that was applied in a factory a long time ago and has been cleaned with degreaser twice a week ever since.
See how a kitchen is doneWalls, ceilings, trim, doors — whichever of them you are hiring for. Two full coats on what your written scope lists. Interior painting looks like the easy end of the trade and it is not. There is no weather to blame, the light is good, and you live with the result at arm’s length every day. Every wobble in a cut line and every thin patch on a wall is visible from the sofa for the next decade.
More on interior paintingOn this coast the preparation is the job. The painting is the short part at the end. An exterior paint job in Hampton Roads is fighting three things at once: salt aerosol off the water, humidity that sits high most of the year, and direct sun on south and west elevations that pushes surface temperatures well past what a coating is comfortable with.
More on exterior paintingColor gets talked through at the estimate, with the room in front of us, before the scope is signed. Nearly every repaint that gets done twice was decided from a two-inch chip under a shop light. Color does not behave that way. A gray that looks warm and calm on a fan deck can read blue and cold on a north-facing wall in February, and the same gray can look almost green next to a cherry floor.
More on color consultationAlso on the truck
What you can add to a repaint
Almost no job is only paint. None of these are bundled into a repaint — they are quoted separately and go in the scope only if you ask for them. They are worth deciding on early, because they cost less and disrupt less while the furniture is already covered and the crew is already there.
- Popcorn ceiling removal
- Wallpaper removal
- Deck staining
- Power washing
- Drywall repair
These do not have their own pages on purpose. A thin page written to catch a search term is worth less than a line on a page somebody actually reads.
Also
Commercial painting
The painting is the same trade. What changes is that the building has to keep working while it happens. The work has been colleges, funeral homes, gas stations and daycares — buildings that cannot close while they are painted.
Services
What people ask first
What does "Two Koats" mean?
It is the method, spelled the way the company spells it. Two Koats Painting applies two full coats of finish over a surface that has already been patched, caulked, sanded and primed where it needs it. That is the standard, and it is how work is quoted rather than an upgrade you have to ask for. What it applies to is whatever your written scope lists, and if you have hired the company for a one-coat repaint or another limited scope, the scope and the signed contract say so and govern that job.
Is it always two coats, on every job?
Two coats is the normal standard and how the company generally operates. It is not an unconditional guarantee. Customers sometimes hire Two Koats specifically for a one-coat repaint or another limited scope, and that is a legitimate thing to buy. Whichever it is, it is written into the scope before work starts and the signed contract controls that individual job.
Why does two coats matter if one coat covers?
One coat covers in the sense that you cannot see the old color through it on the day. What one coat does not do is build an even film. The first coat seals the surface and evens out whatever the primer left behind; the second is the finish you actually live with, and it goes over something already uniform. That is why a two-coat wall reads the same color in the corner as in the middle, and why it holds its sheen years longer.
What other work do you do besides painting?
Cabinet refinishing, popcorn ceiling removal, wallpaper removal, drywall repair, deck staining and power washing. Most of it happens alongside a repaint rather than on its own, because the house is already covered and the crew is already there.
Do you do commercial painting?
Yes, though the focus is residential repainting and that is what most weeks look like. The commercial work has been colleges, funeral homes, gas stations and daycares — buildings that cannot close while they are painted, where the scheduling matters as much as the painting. Commercial jobs run on a deposit and progress payments, unlike residential. There is a page on it under Services.
Get an estimate from Nate
Pick a time that suits you and the slot is confirmed there and then, at eleven at night if that is when you are thinking about it. Nate comes out, looks at what is actually there, writes down what he would do, and gives you a number.