OlmosPainting
Madison, Wisconsin · 26 years of experience

Painted right,
down to the edges.

Interiors, exteriors, cabinets, front doors, and school and commercial work across Madison and Dane County, with 26 years of experience behind the brush. We prep before we paint, put every estimate in writing, and walk the job with you before the truck is loaded.

Get a free estimate(608) 555-0142
Licensed & insuredEPA Lead-Safe CertifiedSe habla español
Stained handrail and newel with black iron balusters, seen looking down a staircase to the landing below.
Interiors

Stained Rail, Iron Balusters

See more of this work
years of experience
26years of experience
Dane County communities
14Dane County communities
year written warranty
3year written warranty
Why our quotes differ

Prep is the paint job.

Masking, taking doors off their hinges, matching a stain against the existing trim, patching before anything is rolled. None of it shows up in the finished photograph, and all of it decides whether the finished photograph is still true in year nine.

Two identical Madison colonials can be thousands of dollars apart on the same repaint, and the difference is almost never square footage. It is how much of the old coating has to come off before anything new goes on.

Scraping, feather-sanding, and priming bare wood the same day it is exposed is slow, skilled, unglamorous work. It does not photograph well. It is also the entire reason a finish is still on your house in year nine instead of lifting off the south wall in year four.

So when you compare our estimate against a cheaper one, ask both of us the same question: what percentage of the surface will you scrape, and how did you decide? A contractor who has actually looked will give you a number and point at the walls.

See exactly how we work
What we do

10 services, one crew.

Every service on this list is done by the same small crew. The person who walked your house and wrote the estimate is on the job.

Popcorn Ceiling RemovalScraped, skimmed smooth, and finished. Not scraped and left rough.Deck & Fence StainingWood protection that survives a Wisconsin winter, not just a Wisconsin summer.Pressure & Soft WashingLow pressure, the right detergent, and no water forced up behind your siding.Wallpaper RemovalRemoved, washed, skimmed, and primed. A wall that is actually ready for paint.
Our work

Real jobs, across the county.

Coffered ceilings, stair rails, front doors, cabinets, decks, and school corridors. Different work, judged the same way: get close and look at the edges.

See the full gallery
Coffered ceiling with black-painted recesses and pale gray beams, lit by an arched window wall and a black chandelier.
Black Coffered Ceiling
A run of school lockers refinished in two blues along a block corridor with a green terrazzo floor.
School Corridor Lockers
Craftsman-style entry door stained deep brown with a four-light window across the top rail, flanked by tall divided sidelights against gray siding.
Craftsman Entry, Stained
Dark-stained arched entry door with sidelights, finished and rehung under a bead-board porch ceiling with stone veneer walls.
Arched Entry, Finished
Gray-stained deck with a white painted rail and skirt, wrapping the corner of a white sided house.
Gray Deck, White Rails
Stained handrail and newel with black iron balusters, seen looking down a staircase to the landing below.
Stained Rail, Iron Balusters
Color

Any color you can find. Or one you bring us.

Any brand, any line, any color on any fan deck — and if what you want is not on a card, bring us the thing itself. A cabinet door, a piece of trim, a photo of a door you drove past. We match it.

Picking is the hard part, not mixing. So we start people with a short list that behaves well in Wisconsin light, then bring large samples to your actual wall before anybody commits.

How we handle color

Alabaster

LRV 82

Accessible Beige

LRV 58

Evergreen Fog

LRV 30

Cavern Clay

LRV 25

Hale Navy

LRV 7

Kendall Charcoal

LRV 13

Estimates

Free, written, and done in person.

We price a job after we have stood in front of it, because the things that decide your number — how much old coating has to come off, what the wood underneath is doing, how many coats the color change really needs — are not visible in a photo or a floor plan.

Get a free estimateText us a photo
  1. 01

    You call, text a photo, or send the form

    Tell us roughly what you are looking at. Texting a picture of the wall is the fastest way to start, and it is how most of our jobs begin.

  2. 02

    We come look at it

    Usually within a few days. We measure, we check the condition of what is already on there, and we tell you what it actually needs — including when that is less than you asked for.

  3. 03

    You get it in writing

    Itemized by surface and by prep, with the number of coats stated and the product named. No verbal totals, and it does not expire the moment we leave.

Where we work

All of Dane County, no travel surcharge.

Guides

Answers, before the sales call.

Written for this climate and this housing stock, with the numbers left in.

All guides
Common questions

The things people ask us first.

(608) 555-0142Text us a photo
How much does it cost to paint a house in Madison, WI?

We price every job in person, because the number is decided by things you cannot see in a photograph or a floor plan: how much of the old coating has to come off, how sound the wood underneath is, how high the ceilings are, and how many coats the color change actually needs. Two identical Madison colonials can be thousands apart on the same repaint. The estimate is free, written, itemized by surface and by prep, and it does not expire the moment we walk out the door.

How much experience does Olmos Painting have?

26 years. Owner Oswaldo Olmos has painted since 2000, first for an employer and then under his own name. The company is family-owned, runs a small crew, and works across Madison and Dane County.

Do you speak Spanish?

Yes. The owner and our supervisors speak Spanish, and you can call, text, or request an estimate entirely in Spanish. We provide the written estimate in Spanish as well if you prefer. Every page on this site has a Spanish version.

Are you licensed, insured, and lead-safe certified?

Yes to all three. We carry general liability insurance and workers' compensation on every crew member, and we are an EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firm. That last one matters in Madison specifically: roughly half of the city's housing stock predates 1978, and any paid work that disturbs paint in those homes legally requires a certified firm.

What areas do you serve?

All of Dane County, within about 40 miles of Madison: Madison, Sun Prairie, Middleton, Fitchburg, Verona, Waunakee, Stoughton, Oregon, McFarland, Monona, Cottage Grove, DeForest, Cross Plains, and Mount Horeb, plus surrounding communities in Rock, Columbia, Sauk, Jefferson, Green, and Iowa counties. There is no travel surcharge inside Dane County.

When is the best time to paint a house exterior in Wisconsin?

September is the best month: moderate temperatures, low humidity, and stable multi-day dry stretches. Late May and June are close behind. The overall window runs from about mid-May to early October, roughly 20 weeks, and September books out first. Interior work runs year-round and is easiest to schedule January through March.

How long does an exterior paint job last here?

On properly prepped wood siding with a premium acrylic, seven to ten years on the north and east elevations and five to seven on the south and west, which take the ultraviolet and freeze-thaw load. Fiber cement and engineered siding hold twelve to fifteen. A job that fails in three years failed in preparation, not in product.

Do I have to move out while you paint the inside?

No. We work in occupied homes constantly. We sequence the job so you always have a usable kitchen and a usable bedroom, and we restore each room at the end of every day rather than leaving the whole house staged for a week.