Services
Everything in a house that gets painted.
Seven services, and for each one: what is actually included, what makes Juan’s version of it different, which products belong on that surface, and who the service is really for. If a job is not on this list, it is usually because it belongs to another trade — and we will tell you which one.
On every job
The part that never changes.
Owner on every job
Juan walks it, measures it, quotes it and paints it. No surprise subcontractors.
A written scope
Every surface, product, sheen and coat named before anything moves. A verbal number is not a scope.
One primer, two coats
The standard on every job, unless the colour or the substrate honestly asks for three.
A written warranty
On paper, with the exclusions listed in plain sight rather than in six-point type.
Interior painting
Walls, ceilings, trim, doors, jambs, closets and shelving, in an occupied house, without turning your life upside down. One coat of primer, two coats of colour, and a room you can use again the same day.
What's included
- A written scope before anything moves: every surface named, every product and sheen specified by brand and line
- Furniture to the centre under plastic, canvas on the floors, switch plates and hardware off rather than taped around
- Every flaw found under raking light, circled, filled, sanded flat and spot-primed before the colour goes on
- Cut lines brushed freehand at the ceiling, the trim and every corner
- Labelled touch-up paint left with you, drawn from the boxed batch that is actually on your walls
What makes it different
- The paint gets boxed — every gallon of a colour combined and mixed in one container, so there is zero batch-to-batch variation across a wall.
- Every coat is inspected under raking light before the next one goes on. A thin spot is invisible to fix between coats and costs a full extra coat to fix at the end.
- Juan measures it, quotes it and paints it. There is no estimator who hands the job to a crew you have never met.
Products that belong here
- Benjamin MooreRegal Select$70–82/gal
The default whole-house wall paint. Balanced washability, easy application, touches up better than the flagship tier and costs less.
- Benjamin MooreAura$88–105/gal
When the colour is deep or the room is the one people sit in. Highest volume solids in the set, and the Gennex colorant keeps it zero-VOC even after tinting.
- Dunn-EdwardsEVEREST$67–74/gal
The low-odour whole-house repaint. Genuinely zero-VOC, self-priming, and it holds one coat on mid-tones better than it has any right to.
- Benjamin MooreUltra Spec Scuff-X$72–82/gal
Hallways, stairwells, mudrooms and anywhere a bicycle lives. Very few real competitors in the scuff category.
- Sherwin-WilliamsSuperPaint$65–75/gal
The workhorse when the budget is the constraint. Excellent hide for the money and available at every store in the county.
Who it is for
Homeowners repainting a house they live in, buyers who want the whole place done before the furniture lands, and anyone whose last paint job started flashing at the patches within a year.
Exterior painting
Stucco, siding, fascia, eaves, garage doors and ironwork, using products actually formulated for Southern California UV and coastal salt air. Low sheen on the body, shine on the details — that split is the whole exterior strategy.
What's included
- Wash, then dry all the way through. Stucco that looks dry on the face can still be holding water behind it.
- Failing paint scraped back to a sound edge and feathered; bare wood, masonry and metal primed before anything else
- Caulking at every change of plane, after the primer rather than before it
- Anything sprayed gets back-rolled immediately behind the gun, so the film goes into the texture rather than sitting on it
- Rust-inhibitive or direct-to-metal primer on rails, gates and bare steel — on metal the failure comes from underneath
What makes it different
- Weather is a scheduling input here, not an excuse. The marine layer stretches recoat windows and can double them, so exterior work often starts mid-morning; a Santa Ana does the opposite and skins paint over before you can hold a wet edge.
- The sheen split is deliberate. Heavy-texture stucco goes flat or low-lustre because the texture makes its own micro-shadows and gloss reads unevenly across a forty-foot wall. The fascia, corbels and shutters go up a step, where shine sheds dirt and water.
- Colour changes on a south elevation get a product chosen for fade resistance, not just for price. Budget exterior lines visibly fade down here inside about five years.
Products that belong here
- Dunn-EdwardsEVERSHIELD$60–96/gal
What we lead with on SoCal stucco. 100% acrylic, ultra-low VOC, and formulated specifically for Southwest UV and salt air.
- Sherwin-WilliamsDuration$75–85/gal
Builds a thick film and is very popular on stucco down here. The exterior version is the one that matters.
- Sherwin-WilliamsLoxon
The masonry and stucco primer system, for alkaline or fresh stucco and for surfaces that need conditioning before a topcoat. In counties built out of stucco this matters more than any wall paint.
- Dunn-EdwardsEnduralastic 10
The elastomeric answer when the stucco has hairline cracking that needs bridging rather than filling.
- Pittsburgh PaintsPermanizer$52–75/gal
Exterior flagship for siding and deep exterior colours, and notably well priced compared with the counter brands.
Who it is for
Stucco houses anywhere from Oceanside to Carlsbad to San Clemente, south and west elevations that have chalked or faded, and anyone whose last exterior was done in a satin that now shows every wave in the wall.
Cabinets and millwork
A sound kitchen with dated cabinets is the highest-return paint job there is. It is also the one where the product matters more than anything else — a cabinet-grade urethane alkyd enamel, sprayed and cured properly, is a different object from wall paint in a semi-gloss can.
What's included
- Doors and drawer fronts off, labelled and sprayed off the box; hinges and pulls bagged by location
- Degrease without exception, then sand or degloss and bonding-prime. Nothing adheres to a hard aged enamel otherwise.
- Sprayed finish coats, hand-sanded between them, so the surface reads like furniture instead of like paint
- Grain filling and two-stage filling on damaged rails and stiles, left proud and sanded flush, because filler always shrinks
- Hardware reinstalled carefully at the end, with doors left open as long as you can stand it
What makes it different
- We budget the cure, not the recoat. Thirty days is a normal full cure on this class of product, and until a film cures it blocks — a cabinet door shut hard against its frame in week one can weld to it and tear when you open it.
- Semi-gloss is the standard and high gloss is the statement version, but the sheen is the smaller half of the decision. We tell you what is going in the gun before we talk about shine.
- Nobody scrubs anything for a month, and we say that out loud at the walkthrough instead of putting it in small print on the invoice.
Products that belong here
- Benjamin MooreAdvance$68–80/gal
The best-levelling waterborne trim enamel in the mainstream market. Recoat at 16 hours, full cure up to 30 days — plan the calendar around it.
- Sherwin-WilliamsEmerald Urethane Trim Enamel$95–110/gal
Broad contractor consensus as a top cabinet product. Sprays beautifully and cures very hard; the caveat is long cure and real blocking risk.
- Dunn-EdwardsARISTOSHIELD$92–102/gal
Levels like an oil without yellowing and reaches working hardness at about seven days — the most practical cure time of the three big cabinet enamels.
- Benjamin MooreINSL-X Cabinet Coat
A purpose-built cabinet enamel when the schedule will not tolerate a long cure and the finish still has to be hard.
- Pittsburgh PaintsBreak-Through!$50–60/gal
The problem-solver: it sticks to laminate, vinyl, fibreglass and aged gloss, and it blocks fast. For cabinets that are not wood.
Who it is for
Kitchens where the boxes and the layout are fine and only the finish is tired, laundry and mudroom built-ins, bathroom vanities, and anyone who has been quoted a refacing job and wants the honest alternative first.
Trim and doors
Baseboards, casings, crown, jambs, stair rails, shelving and every door in the house. Trim is where a paint job is judged, because it is at hand height and people touch it.
What's included
- Nail holes filled twice, left slightly proud and sanded flush; two-part epoxy filler where the trim takes real abuse
- Caulk after the primer, never before — so when a joint opens with the seasons it shows primed wood, not a stripe of raw grain
- Hand-sanding the whole surface between coats at 180 to 220 grit, then vacuum and a damp wipe
- Crown and base run at the same sheen and in the same product in a given room, so the trim reads as one system
- Doors given the cure they need before they close against a stop
What makes it different
- Trim enamel is the real schedule driver on any interior job. Benjamin Moore Advance wants 16 hours between coats, which makes a two-coat trim job a three-day job no matter how many painters are in the house. Anyone promising trim in an afternoon is either using a fast-recoat product or skipping something.
- Old oil-based trim gets deglossed and bonding-primed, not just scuffed and hoped over. Nothing adheres to a hard aged enamel otherwise.
- Semi-gloss is the workhorse and satin is the softer current look — but the chemistry decides how it feels under a hand, and that gets specified before the sheen does.
Products that belong here
- Benjamin MooreAdvance$68–80/gal
The reference waterborne alkyd. Levels out brush marks and cures to a hard, furniture-like film.
- Sherwin-WilliamsEmerald Urethane Trim Enamel$95–110/gal
When the trim will be sprayed and has to cure hard — stair rails, handrails, doors that get used all day.
- Dunn-EdwardsARISTOSHIELD$92–102/gal
The practical choice on an occupied house: oil-like levelling, no yellowing, and working hardness at about a week instead of a month.
- BehrUrethane Alkyd Satin Enamel$45–45/gal
The genuine bargain in this category, at roughly half the price of Advance. It needs 14 to 21 days to full cure, so it buys money and spends time.
Who it is for
Houses with yellowed oil-based trim, doors that stick to their jambs, builder-grade base that has never been properly filled, and anyone adding crown or new casing who wants it to match what is already there.
Ceilings
The least controversial surface in painting and the easiest one to get wrong. Ceilings are lit by grazing light from windows and fixtures, which is the worst possible condition for sheen, so any shine at all telegraphs every taped joint, fastener and roller lap.
What's included
- Flat, every time. A dedicated ceiling paint is formulated thicker on purpose so it spatters less.
- Order of operations respected: trim first, then ceilings, then walls — so ceiling mist lands on a wall that has not been painted yet
- The ceiling line cut in by hand. A straight cut where the wall meets the ceiling is the most visible single indicator of skill in this trade.
- Bathroom ceilings in a moisture-resistant flat or matte, not a satin
- Sprayed ceilings back-rolled behind the gun on texture, popcorn and new board
What makes it different
- We will tell you when a ceiling does not need painting. A ceiling that has only yellowed in one corner is usually a moisture problem, and painting it is treating a symptom.
- Popcorn and acoustic ceiling removal is a drywall trade, and on older homes it means asbestos testing first. That job goes to a drywall crew and we paint after, rather than scraping our way into a problem.
- Ceiling paint is one place where the cheap product is genuinely the right product. We are not going to sell you flagship wall paint for a surface nobody touches.
Products that belong here
- Pittsburgh PaintsSpeedhide$23–30/gal
The national volume ceiling flat for good reason. Hard to beat on value, and it is what most of the trade actually rolls overhead.
- Dunn-EdwardsInterior Dead Flat Ceiling Paint
A purpose-built dead flat at a sensible price, which is exactly what a ceiling wants.
- Sherwin-WilliamsProMar 200$79–86/gal
The zero-VOC ceiling version is solid and stocked at every store, which matters when you need one more gallon on a Saturday.
- Vista PaintCoverall
Cheap, MPI-approved and completely adequate overhead. Vista publishes no pricing, so this one is quoted off the counter.
Who it is for
Whole-house repaints where the ceilings have gone dingy, bathrooms with mildew staining, and rooms getting a deep wall colour where a fresh flat ceiling is what makes the colour look deliberate.
HOA colour approval
In Talega, Ladera Ranch, Coto de Caza and Rancho Santa Fe the paint is the easy part. The submittal is what holds the job up. We prepare it, build the sample board the committee asks for, and schedule the work around the approval rather than against it.
What's included
- Reading your CC&Rs and the approved palette before anybody picks a colour
- The written submittal: body, trim and accent colours named by brand and code, with the sheen for each
- A physical sample board painted in the actual products, because a printed chip is not what a committee is looking at
- Colour-matching the existing body and trim when the goal is to repaint the same scheme rather than change it
- A schedule that starts after approval lands, so you are not paying for a crew to wait
What makes it different
- Colour matching across decks is routine here. Kelly-Moore ceased all operations on 18 January 2024, so its colours cannot be bought — but bring a chip or a lid and we will pull that colour in Dunn-Edwards, Sherwin-Williams or Benjamin Moore.
- Every brand has a Swiss Coffee and they are all different colours. Tell us the brand along with the name and the committee gets the right one the first time.
- Juan has done these submittals before. A rejected submittal costs you a month, and most rejections are formatting, not taste.
Products that belong here
- Dunn-EdwardsEVERSHIELD$60–96/gal
The usual specification once approval lands, because it is built for exactly this UV and this salt air.
- Sherwin-WilliamsDuration$75–85/gal
The alternative when the community palette is written against Sherwin-Williams codes, which many of them are.
- Dunn-EdwardsSUPREMA$58–72/gal
For the interior side of a whole-house job running alongside an exterior submittal.
Who it is for
Anyone in an HOA community facing an architectural review, owners under a compliance letter with a deadline, and sellers who need the exterior approved and painted before listing.
Colour consultation
Colour is the decision people agonise over and then make in the worst possible place — a fluorescent-lit aisle, holding a two-inch chip. We move that decision into your actual room, before any paint is bought, when changing your mind still costs nothing.
What's included
- Real samples in the actual room: a large peel-and-stick, or a two-foot square painted on a primed board you can carry around
- Looked at in the morning, in the afternoon, and under the lamps you actually use at night
- Sheen chosen with the colour, not after it — a satin navy reads close to semi-gloss, a satin greige reads close to eggshell
- Trim, ceiling and wall colours decided as a set, so the trim reads as one system against the walls
- Colours confirmed and written into the scope before a single gallon is bought
What makes it different
- A north-facing Oceanside room goes cool and blue in the afternoon; a west-facing room goes warm and orange at five. The same chip is not the same colour in both, and this is the single most common reason people hate a colour they chose.
- Deep colour and low sheen is the hardest combination to live with in a real house — a flat charcoal shows every handprint as a shiny burnish mark. It is also exactly what design magazines feature. We say that before you commit, not after.
- Juan would much rather spend an extra day on samples than repaint a great room. Changing your mind before we buy paint is free. After a wall is coated it is another round of labour and material, and we will quote it honestly rather than pretend it is not.
Products that belong here
- Benjamin MooreAura$88–105/gal
The reference off-whites live here — Chantilly Lace OC-65, White Dove OC-17, Swiss Coffee OC-45 — and deep colours hold up because of the zero-VOC colorant.
- Dunn-EdwardsEVEREST$67–74/gal
Southwest-tuned neutrals that behave under this light, in a self-priming zero-VOC film. Whisper DEW340 and Swiss Coffee DEW341 are the local defaults.
- Sherwin-WilliamsEmerald$85–100/gal
When the palette is built around Alabaster SW 7008 or Agreeable Gray SW 7029, which a great many SoCal houses are.
Who it is for
Anyone stuck between five chips, people repainting after a remodel who need the new colours to work with what stayed, and homeowners who have already picked a colour and want someone to tell them honestly whether it will work in that room.
About the price
Compare scopes, not numbers.
A painting estimate is a labour estimate with some paint in it — labour runs 75 to 95 percent of a painting bill. So the only way to make a bid meaningfully cheaper is to take labour out of it, and the labour a cheap bid removes is always the invisible kind: the raking-light inspection, spot-priming every repair, caulking after the primer, sanding between coats, back-rolling sprayed work.
None of that shows in a photograph on day one. All of it shows in year three. Compare bids by number of coats, product line, what prep is included and what happens to the trim.
Shelf price is not what a painter pays. A contractor with a trade account commonly pays 25 to 40 percent under list at Sherwin-Williams and Dunn-Edwards, and Dunn-Edwards' own online store runs well above its counter price on the same product. That is why the material line on an estimate rarely matches what you find on a store website, and why the gap between a pro-store brand and a big-box brand is much narrower in practice than the shelf tags suggest.
Every lifetime warranty in this industry gives you a replacement gallon of paint. None of them pay for labor, and none of them transfer when you sell the house. We read all of them to check. A lifetime warranty that hands back a $60 gallon is not a meaningful remedy on a $12,000 exterior repaint – the workmanship warranty from your painter is the one that actually matters.
Tell Juan what you want painted.
A free written estimate, usually the same day he walks the job. English or Spanish.