Exterior house painting in Rancho Santa Fe

Expect $2.50 to $5 per square foot of painted surface. That puts a typical single-story home at $4,000 to $7,000 and a two-story at $6,500 to $12,000. Many Ranch properties are larger than either, so we measure each elevation and price the main house, guest house, garage, walls and gates as separate lines. You then choose what to do now and what can wait. Wood repair and heavy stucco patching are quoted on their own, as on our exterior painting jobs across San Diego County.

• Per square foot: $2.50 to $5
• Single-story home: $4,000 to $7,000 typical
• Two-story home: $6,500 to $12,000 typical
• Outbuildings, walls and gates: separate lines on the quote

If the home is inside the Covenant, plan on it. The Association's construction permit application has a "Repaint" box that asks for samples. Where a colours-and-materials board applies, it must be at least four feet by four feet and list the manufacturer, colour name and number, and the Association keeps it as the record of what was approved. Under the Association's building-permit rules, construction started before a permit is issued is subject to enforcement, which may include a special assessment, so the paperwork comes before the crew. Homes outside the Covenant are not covered by these rules, though their own HOA may have some.

Yes. The texture stays the same, but the product and method have to suit it. The Covenant's exterior materials rule lists the finishes it permits, among them smooth steel-troweled Santa Barbara, hand-floated Mission sand finish, and paint or colour brush coat. It also asks that stucco be generally light in colour and value, earth tones included. One decision to make first: if your stucco has integral colour and has never been painted, painting it is a one-way step, because from then on the paint has to be maintained.

Yes. About one home in five here was built before 1960, and the older the house, the more of the job is wood: windows, doors, fascia and shutters. Failed paint on that wood has to be scraped back to sound material, filled and primed before any finish coat. On homes built before 1978, that scraping falls under the EPA's Lead-Safe rules, which our certified crews follow outdoors with ground cover and contained cleanup. For period homes we take extra care with original detail (older and historic homes).

Usually a guest house, garages, garden walls, gates, pilasters and fencing. The Association's maintenance rule asks owners to keep houses and other structures in a high class condition, and its list names walls, fencing, gates and pilasters alongside the house itself. Each surface has its own prep, so each is a separate line on the quote. Our Encinitas estate project is the closest example: its outside scope ran well past the walls, from soffits and gutters to garage doors and the back patio.

Start with the Association, then the painters. Choose colours and prepare samples well before the dates you want, because inside the Covenant the Association reviews the submittal before a permit is issued. Then aim the painting at late spring or early autumn. The rainy period runs from mid-October to late April, and the warm season, early July to the end of September, brings highs above 77°F. Paint can go on in both, but the shoulder months are the easiest. For the Covenant's colour approach and our other services here, see painting in Rancho Santa Fe.