The Homeowner’s Guide to Hiring a Professional Painter in Jacksonville, FL

To find a good professional painter near you in Jacksonville, look for a company with proof of insurance, strong local reviews on several platforms, a detailed written estimate that names the products and prep, a written warranty and real experience with Florida homes. The closest painter isn't always the right one. Process, proof and protection matter more than distance.

I'm Thomas Drake, founder of A New Leaf Painting. I've been painting since 1988, and we've completed more than 5,000 projects with 4.8 stars across 700+ reviews. Here's what I'd check before hiring anyone, us included.

Planning work inside? Start with our interior painters near you. For stucco, siding and trim, meet our exterior house painters. You can also see the areas we serve.

• Real prep. Paint is only as good as the surface under it. A pro washes exteriors, scrapes and sands, fills cracks and holes, repairs wood rot or stucco, caulks gaps and primes where needed. Skip those steps and the paint fails; it's only a question of when.
• The right products. Florida heat, humidity, sun and salt air need paint made for them. Sherwin-Williams Emerald and Duration and Benjamin Moore Aura and Regal Select are lines we rely on. The wrong product, even applied well, shortens the life of the job.
• Careful application. Clean cut lines, even coats, two coats on every surface and the right tools for each texture.
• A clean job site. Floors, furniture and trim protected, and at the end, everything cleaned up, furniture moved back and outlet covers replaced.

Reviews are the most useful filter, but read them closely. Strong reviews are recent, local, detailed and spread over many years. Good ones mention the crew, communication and prep, and describe how problems were handled.

Check more than one platform: Google, Facebook, Angi, Yelp, BBB, Houzz and Nextdoor. A big count on one site and nothing anywhere else is a yellow flag. A long record across several independent sites is much harder to fake. You can read A New Leaf Painting reviews across those platforms.

"We're covered" is not proof. Exterior jobs here involve ladders, two-story walls, pool cages, lanais, pavers and dense landscaping, and insurance is what keeps a small accident from becoming a big one. We carry $3 million in liability coverage plus workers' compensation and vehicle coverage on every job.

A professional painter should walk you through the steps before any paint goes on.

Interior: move and cover furniture, cover floors, remove outlet covers and hardware, patch and sand holes and cracks, caulk open trim gaps, spot-prime stains and repairs, then apply two coats with clean lines, with cleanup each day and a final walkthrough. See our interior painting service.

Exterior: inspect for peeling, stucco cracks, wood rot, failed caulk and mildew; pressure wash; scrape and sand loose paint; repair stucco and rot; recaulk; spot-prime; mask windows, fixtures, pavers, plants and pool cages; then two coats of a quality exterior paint, cleanup and a final walkthrough. See our exterior painting service.

Two estimates for "exterior painting" can be thousands of dollars apart and both be honest, because they describe different jobs. A complete estimate spells out:

• What's being painted and what's excluded
• Prep work and repairs, included or priced separately
• Paint brand, product line, sheens and number of coats
• Where primer goes
• Who picks and confirms colors
• Workmanship and product warranty
• Payment terms, schedule and how changes are handled in writing

An estimate that says only "exterior painting, $4,500" is a guess. For more on pricing, see our exterior painting cost guide and interior painting cost guide.

A painter who works here every day plans for things an out-of-town crew finds out too late:

• Strong sun breaks down paint that isn't made for it, fastest on south and west walls.
• Humidity and afternoon storms shape the schedule.
• Salt air in Ponte Vedra Beach, Atlantic Beach and Amelia Island wears down lower-grade paint quickly.
• Mildew on shaded walls needs a proper cleaning treatment, not a quick rinse.
• Wood rot on fascia, soffits and trim is common on older homes and needs carpentry repair before paint.
• Pool cages, lanais, pavers and landscaping all need protecting.

Many master-planned and gated communities require written architectural review (ARB) approval before exterior painting, including in Ponte Vedra Beach, Nocatee, Fleming Island and Julington Creek. Make sure your painter will give you color names, codes, sheens and products for the submission, and will wait for written approval before starting. See our guide to HOA painting in Jacksonville, the HOA Paint Color Guide and our HOA Directory of management contacts.

Since 2010 we've built the company on the standards we'd want as a customer: complete written estimates, named Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore products, full prep, two coats on every surface, daily cleanup, a final walkthrough and our Iron-Clad Guarantee on workmanship. We offer free color consultation and HOA submission help, and handle interior, exterior and cabinet painting along with stucco, carpentry and drywall repair. We work across Jacksonville, the Beaches, Ponte Vedra, St. Johns County, Clay County and Amelia Island.