Painters in Oakland County

The south end of the county was built before the war. Royal Oak and Oak Park are bungalows, tudors, and small colonials on narrow lots, with plaster walls inside and wood siding or painted brick outside. Those houses have been painted many times, so the exterior work is mostly about getting back to a sound edge before anything new goes on.

North of Twelve Mile the stock turns over. Southfield, Troy, Farmington Hills, and Rochester Hills are largely 1960s to 1990s ranches, splits, and colonials: brick fronts with painted trim, cedar and composite siding on the sides and rear, and a lot of second-floor gable work that needs proper access rather than a longer ladder. Novi is newer again, and much of it is now due the second repaint of its original builder finish.

Interiors follow the same north-south split. The pre-war streets are plaster and wide trim; the post-war subdivisions are drywall, tall great rooms, and stairwells that need proper access to cut in cleanly.