A business can't shut down for a week because the walls look tired. That's the main difference between commercial painting and painting a house: the work has to fit around customers, tenants and staff. In Sausalito, storefronts and offices near the waterfront deal with the same salt air that wears down homes there, and peeling trim on a shop along Bridgeway sends the wrong message to every visitor. Medical and professional offices along Sir Francis Drake in Kentfield need scuffed hallways and waiting rooms refreshed without interrupting appointments. Restaurants and retail centers in San Rafael and Novato fight busy entrances that get scuffed and dinged week after week. Rental properties around the county need units turned over quickly between tenants. We plan commercial jobs around those limits first, then around the paint.
Free Estimate
Below, we cover the kinds of properties we paint, the coatings that hold up to heavy use, how we schedule work so you stay open, and what to expect for HOAs and rental turnovers. For homes and small residential rentals, our exterior house painting page covers the outside in more detail. Every project starts with a walkthrough and a written estimate that lists each area, coating and phase.
Properties We Paint
Most of our commercial work in Marin is small and mid-size: storefronts, restaurants, salons, medical and dental offices, professional office suites, and small retail centers. We also paint multi-unit rental buildings, condo complexes and HOA common areas such as hallways, stairwells, carports and fences. Inside, that means walls, ceilings, doors, trim and door frames that take a beating from daily traffic. Outside, it means siding, stucco, trim, railings and the walls behind your signage. Some jobs are a single room, like a waiting area before a reopening. Others are a full building done in phases over several weeks. Either way, you get one point of contact and a clear plan before anything starts. Older commercial buildings in Marin sometimes carry several layers of paint and past repairs, so the walkthrough also checks what's under the current coat.
Coatings Built for Heavy Use
Commercial walls take more abuse than most homes: carts, chairs, bags and a lot of hands. That calls for different products. Scrubbable interior paints in eggshell or satin let your cleaning crew wipe down scuffs without taking the paint off with them. In restrooms and kitchens, semi-gloss or a moisture-resistant coating handles steam and frequent cleaning. Door frames and high-traffic corners often get a harder enamel. For exteriors, we use the same acrylic paints that hold up to Marin fog and sun on homes, with elastomeric coatings available for stucco that tends to crack. Where odor matters, like occupied offices or restaurants, low-VOC and zero-VOC paints let people keep working nearby. Color matters for a business too. Lighter, warmer walls make small offices and waiting rooms feel bigger, and a crisp exterior color helps a storefront stand out from the street.
Scheduling Around Your Business
The schedule matters as much as the paint. Before we start, we sit down with you to map out which areas can be closed and when. For restaurants and shops, that often means painting after closing or on the days you're shut. For offices, evening and weekend work is often possible, or we move through the space one section at a time so staff always have somewhere to sit. We protect floors, furniture and equipment, keep walkways clear and safe, and leave the space clean and usable after every shift. Exterior work on a storefront usually means keeping the entrance open, so we stage ladders and equipment away from the door and section off only the area we're working on. If a building has tenants, we can help with the notice letters so everyone knows what's happening and when.
HOAs, Property Managers and Rental Turnovers
Property managers and HOA boards need something a little different: clear bids they can compare and approve, and a crew that follows the building's rules. We provide written proposals broken out by area, so a board can approve the work in phases if the budget calls for it. For rental units, speed is what counts. Every day a unit sits empty costs money, so turnovers get scheduled tightly: patch, prime where needed, and paint walls, trim and doors so the unit is ready to show. Using one standard color and sheen across a building makes future touch-ups faster and cheaper, and we can help you set that standard. For HOAs, we can also put together a long-term repaint plan, so the board knows which buildings and areas are due over the next few years and can budget ahead.
If the job includes a residence or a home office, our interior painting page covers how we work inside occupied homes.
Common Questions
For many commercial jobs, yes. Restaurants, shops and offices often can't close during business hours, so after-hours and weekend work is common in this kind of painting. We'll go over your hours during the walkthrough and build the schedule around them. Exterior work usually happens in daylight, both for safety and so the paint dries properly, but it can be timed to avoid your busiest hours.
Yes. Give us the paint codes from your brand guide, or a physical sample of the color, and we'll have it matched at the paint store. Brand colors often look different on a large wall than on a screen or a business card, so we recommend a test patch in the actual space before the full job. We'll also record the exact paint, color code and sheen so future touch-ups match.
We do. Multi-unit buildings are a big part of commercial painting in Marin, from small apartment buildings to condo complexes. Exterior repaints get planned around residents' parking, balconies and entry access, and we post notices before each phase so nobody is caught off guard. For interior common areas like hallways and stairwells, we work in sections so there's always a clear way in and out of the building.