Our commercial storefront needed an update, and Santa Monica Expert Painting delivered exactly what we wanted. The new color scheme looks clean and professional, giving the building a much stronger street presence.
Commercial Building Exterior Painting in Santa Monica, CA
Santa Monica Expert Painting is Los Angeles County's commercial exterior painting and coatings contractor, working with property managers, general contractors and asset managers on facade recoating, sealant and joint replacement, and elastomeric wall systems.
We handle 10,000 square feet of facade on a two-story storefront block through 250,000 square feet across a twelve-story tower, phasing by elevation so entrances, signage and ground-floor tenants stay in service. Fully licensed, insured and bonded.
From takeoff, access engineering and drawdowns to sealant submittals and a closeout package, our team handles the parts of a commercial job that decide whether it finishes on schedule. Serving Santa Monica and the surrounding Los Angeles County market, we hold the GC's schedule, work nights and weekends where the property requires it, and turn the work over ready for punch and inspection.
- Line-item bid by elevation
- Nights and weekends available
- Tenant access never fully closed
- Licensed, insured and bonded
Reviews
What commercial clients say about the work
Beautiful exterior painting and excellent workmanship from beginning to end.
We hired the team to paint several units in our rental property. The walls, doors, and trim were finished neatly, and each space looked fresh and ready for new tenants. The results made a noticeable difference.
The ceiling painting came out smooth and even. The room feels much cleaner and brighter now.
We had peeling paint and minor surface damage on the outside of our home. The team prepared the problem areas carefully before applying the new paint. The finished exterior looks smooth, durable, and professionally restored.
Great work on our doors, baseboards, and interior trim. Every line looks crisp and precise.
Santa Monica Expert Painting transformed our older home with fresh interior and exterior paint. The preparation work was thorough, the color coverage was consistent, and the finished surfaces look outstanding. The entire property now feels well maintained and updated.
Santa Monica Expert Painting did a beautiful job repainting the interior of our home. The rooms look brighter, cleaner, and completely refreshed.
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Scope and project size
Contracts run two to twelve stories and 10,000 to 250,000 square feet of measured facade.
A two-story retail block on Main Street with stucco, storefront metal and a canopy is three to four weeks. A six-story Wilshire Boulevard office building with swing stage access, full sealant replacement and a colour change runs eight to fourteen weeks. Campuses are bid building by building.
The number is driven less by paint than by how you reach the wall, how much substrate repair the elevation needs, and how many hours happen after the building closes.
Who this is for
Asset and facility managers at office campuses and multi-tenant towers. General contractors carrying envelope or capital improvement packages. Retail landlords, shopping centre operators and hotel asset owners. Medical office building facilities departments. Owners of mixed-use podium buildings, and purchasing agents running multi-property recoating programs.
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Access: swing stage, boom lift and rope access
How you reach the wall decides more of the number than the coating does.
Swing stage
Suspended platforms are standard above six stories where the roof carries outriggers or certified davits and tiebacks. They give continuous vertical coverage, which matters when sealant joints and coating happen in the same drop. Rigging and fall protection plans go in with the submittals.
Boom and scissor lift
Articulating booms cover two to eight stories where there is ground to set up on. On tight sites with metered frontage, that means a permit, a lane plan and usually a night shift.
Rope access
Rope descent handles narrow light wells, parapets and short-duration touch-up. It moves faster than a stage and leaves the sidewalk clear.
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Facade preparation and repair
Coating is the last four days of a job that is mostly prep.
Every elevation is pressure washed to strip chalk, salt, mildew and grime, then dried to the moisture reading the data sheet accepts. Chalking on a west elevation is normal after ten years of Westside UV, and a chalky wall takes a masonry conditioner first.
Stucco cracking is sorted by width. Hairline map cracking under 1/16 inch is bridged by the coating. Wider cracks are routed, filled and textured back to the surrounding sand float or lace. Cracks tracing a movement path are documented rather than painted over: portland cement stucco is brittle and cracks again if the base moves. EIFS is treated as its own system and never washed at stucco pressures.
Sealant sits inside the coating scope on most contracts. Failed joints at window perimeters, control joints and panel transitions are cut out, backer rod is reset to the right depth-to-width ratio, and urethane or silicone sealant is tooled to the joint.
Corrosion and salt air off Santa Monica Bay
Buildings within a mile of the water take chloride exposure every morning the marine layer sits in. Salt drives rust at fasteners, lintels, rail bases, stair pans, canopy framing and rooftop equipment, and that rust bleeds down the wall as an orange stain that returns through any coating laid over it.
Rust bleed is a preparation failure, not a paint failure. Corroded steel is power tool cleaned back to sound metal, chloride salts are washed off, and a zinc-rich primer goes down before the finish. Ocean-facing elevations take a heavier direct-to-metal or epoxy-primed polyurethane build than the inland face of the same building. Heavier steel scopes price under industrial and protective coatings.
| System | Where it goes |
|---|---|
| Elastomeric, 10 to 20 dry mils | Stucco and masonry with hairline cracking, driven-rain exposure |
| High-build 100% acrylic | Sound stucco, EIFS and concrete, breathable, faster recoat |
| Direct-to-metal | Storefront frames, canopies, rail, louvres, door frames |
| Zinc-rich primer plus polyurethane | Structural steel and ocean-facing ferrous detail |
Elastomeric buys crack bridging at the cost of vapour permeability, so it belongs on cracked stucco rather than on every wall by default. Every coating meets SCAQMD Rule 1113 VOC limits.
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Our commercial process
Four stages, each with a document the owner's representative can hold us to.
Site walk
An estimator walks every elevation with the manager or superintendent, noting substrate, access, staging and after-hours restrictions.
Takeoff and bid
Elevations are measured and joint footage counted, with repair quantities carried as unit-price allowances. The proposal is line-itemed by elevation.
Submittals
Data sheets, colour drawdowns, a mockup wall on request, rigging plans, a schedule of values and a phasing plan, before mobilization.
Execution and closeout
Crews work drop by drop with daily containment. Each elevation is punched in writing with the owner's representative, then as-painted colour schedules, warranty documents and attic stock are delivered.
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Keeping the building trading
Nobody empties an office tower or a hotel to repaint it, and the bid has to admit that.
Entrances stay open. Work over a main door happens overnight or moves to a protected temporary entry with signage. Tenant signage, awnings and storefront glass are masked before a wash starts.
Elevations facing a guest room stack, a restaurant patio or a retail frontage move to night and weekend shifts, typically 8pm to 5am, with equipment struck before opening. Rooftop work is scheduled with the building engineer. Tenants get 72 hours written notice ahead of anything affecting access or parking.
Credentials and compliance
We hold California Contractor License #585047 (C-33 Painting and Decorating), carry general liability with umbrella coverage, and maintain workers' compensation on every employee. Certificates naming the owner, management company and lender as additional insureds issue before mobilization. Crews are RRP-certified for pre-1978 stock.
How exterior work is priced
Per contract against measured facade area, with repair carried as unit-price allowances. What moves it: access method, the volume of stucco, EIFS and sealant repair carried, a colour change, after-hours labour and prevailing wage.
Scheduling, lead time and capacity
Exterior contracts book four to eight weeks after award, longer between November and March when rain compresses the calendar and the marine layer pushes start times toward mid-morning. Dew point and surface moisture decide when spraying begins, not air temperature. We can field more than one crew on a site.
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Commercial stock in Santa Monica
The Water Garden and Colorado Center campuses are the largest exterior packages in the city.
They are multi-building sites where recoating is an access and phasing exercise across occupied floors, structured parking and courtyards that limit lift positions. Bergamot Station is a different problem: converted industrial buildings with exposed metal, sawtooth framing and roll-up doors, where corrosion work carries more scope than wall coating.
Retail runs through Santa Monica Place and the Third Street Promenade, where storefront work happens overnight and has to be invisible by opening. The Ocean Avenue hotel corridor takes the hardest exposure in the inventory: salt air on west elevations, balcony rail and unbroken occupancy. The Wilshire and Lincoln Boulevard corridors carry the mid-rise office and mixed-use stock.
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Frequently asked questions about commercial exteriors
How do you reach the upper elevations on a mid-rise?
Swing stage where the roof carries certified tiebacks or davits, boom lift where there is ground to set up on, and rope descent for light wells and parapets.
Can the building stay open during the repaint?
Yes. Entrances, signage and storefronts stay in service, and work over doors and patios moves to nights and weekends.
Is sealant replacement part of the coating scope?
On most contracts, yes. Failed joints are cut out, backer rod is reset and new sealant is tooled before coating. Coating over a failed joint hides a water path rather than closing it.
How long does a commercial repaint take?
Three to four weeks for a two-story retail block, eight to fourteen weeks for a six-story building with full sealant replacement.
Do you coat EIFS as well as stucco?
Yes. Damaged lamina is cut back and rebuilt with base coat and mesh first, and the system is chosen against the manufacturer's permeability limit.
Can you phase a multi-building campus?
Yes. Buildings are released against an agreed sequence, each punched and closed out before the next mobilizes.
How do you stop rust bleed from coming back?
By treating it as prep. Steel is cleaned back to sound metal, chloride salts are washed off, and a zinc-rich primer goes on first.
What insurance and warranty come with the work?
General liability with umbrella coverage, certificates issued within one business day of award, plus a written labour warranty and the manufacturer's material warranty.
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Related commercial services
Portfolio owners can hand a property list to an estimator and work outward from the building type.
Request a commercial exterior bid
Send the address, story count, approximate facade square footage, substrate type, known repair areas and target start window. We walk the site, confirm access and return a line-item proposal with a phasing plan.
- Written specification and access plan
- Night and weekend work available
- Licensed, insured and bonded