You hired a professional painting crew. They have ladders, drop cloths, sprayers, masking paper, and 20 years of experience. You don't need to do much.

But there are a few things you do need to handle, and they make the difference between a smooth 3-day job and a 5-day job with two callbacks. Here's the actual list.

Exterior Painting — The Day Before

Do

  • Move anything within 4 feet of the house. Patio furniture, grills, kids' toys, hose reels, planters, trash cans. Pull it all out at least 4 feet. We'll cover what we can't move, but you'll save time and reduce risk if things are already clear.
  • Trim landscaping that's touching the house. Bougainvillea, lantana, oleander — anything growing against the stucco. We can't paint through a bush without tearing the bush up. Give us 6 inches of clearance where possible.
  • Take down hanging decor. Wreaths, flags, wind chimes, hose holders, address plaques if you want them repainted underneath. If you leave them, we mask around them and you'll see the outline later.
  • Unlock the side gate. We need access to the full perimeter. If the crew has to wait 30 minutes for you to come home and unlock a gate, that's 30 minutes of paid labor watching paint dry.
  • Crate or secure pets. Garage doors will be open. Front doors will be open. Gates will be open. We love dogs — they should not be loose while the crew is working.
  • Confirm the color selection in writing. Once paint is on the wall, "wait I thought we were doing the other beige" is an expensive conversation. Reply to the quote or the schedule email with the confirmed colors.

Don't

  • Don't power-wash it yourself. We're going to do it as part of prep anyway, and if you do it wrong you can drive water behind stucco and make things worse.
  • Don't scrape or sand "to save time." Our crew is trained on what to scrape and how. DIY scraping usually creates more work and sometimes damages substrate.
  • Don't run sprinklers the morning of the first day. We can't paint wet stucco. Shut the irrigation off for the duration of the exterior job.
  • Don't remove window screens. We'll pull them if needed. Otherwise they're part of the masking plan.

Interior Painting — The Day Before

Do

  • Clear small items off dressers, shelves, and surfaces. We move big furniture and drape it — we don't want to be packing up your picture frames and knickknacks one at a time.
  • Take down wall art and decor in rooms we're painting. Leave the nails in if you want them reinstalled. Take the nails out if you're repositioning.
  • Empty closets you're having painted. Walls we can cover. Your shoes we cannot.
  • Remove curtain rods and blinds if you want trim repainted behind them. If the walls are the main target, leave them up — we'll mask.
  • Designate a "safe room" the crew won't touch. You need somewhere to live. Usually the master bedroom or a home office. Tell the project manager on day one.
  • Plan for fumes. Modern waterborne paints are low-VOC but not no-VOC. Plan to ventilate. If anyone in the home has respiratory sensitivity, book a hotel for one night after heavy rooms.

Don't

  • Don't move the refrigerator, washer, or any heavy item on your own to "help us out." You'll throw your back out. We'll handle the big stuff on day one.
  • Don't patch holes with toothpaste, spackle from Walmart, or Scotch tape. We'll re-patch them anyway and now we're patching over something that won't hold.
  • Don't dismiss the crew mid-day to "come back tomorrow." We lose a half day of labor and the schedule slides. If you need them gone, tell the project manager the day before.

One More Thing

Coffee and bottled water. Not required. Never expected. But if you put a case of water on the porch on day one, you just became that crew's favorite customer and they will remember it the whole week. That's not a tip. That's a relationship.

Got a job coming up and want to know exactly what to prep? Your project manager will send you a pre-start checklist the week before. If you haven't gotten one or have a question, call (602) 888-1281 or message us here.