Painters on Hilton Head Island

Homes used part of the year

About 1 in 4 homes in the Town of Hilton Head Island is held for seasonal, recreational or occasional use, and about 1 in 3 in the south island’s ZIP 29928 (as of 2024). A Color Splash reviewer who owns a Sea Pines villa planned the whole job remotely, and a Lune Valley reviewer had a villa painted while away.

Age of the housing

Median year built is 1987 for the town and 1985 in ZIP 29928 (as of 2024), so many island houses are due a second or third repaint, and older ceilings may still be textured.

Summer weather

July and August highs average 89°F, and August is the wettest month at 7.6 inches of rain, against 1.9 in May, so exterior work is easiest to schedule in spring and fall.

Estimates

American Painting offers a free written estimate, Lune Valley free no-obligation estimates, Blueline a free quote and Colorworks free estimates.

Warranty

Colorworks advertises a three-year warranty on all paint jobs. CertaPro says it warranties its work. Ask any painter what is covered, for how long, and whether it is in the contract.

Commercial work

Colorworks, Blueline, Lune Valley and CertaPro each list commercial painting on their own sites; Colorworks lists office painting.

A commercial painter or commercial painting company on Hilton Head is one that lists commercial work on its own site. Colorworks lists commercial interior, exterior and office painting, Blueline Painting and Lune Valley Painting list residential and commercial work, and CertaPro lists commercial painting among its services; business listings describe Color Splash the same way. American Painting’s site lists residential services only, so ask before you book it for a shop.

For office painting and other commercial painting services in Hilton Head, SC, ask for a walk-through before the quote, whether the crew can work after closing or on a weekend, and what the contract says about lead time. Condo associations and owners of rental units can start with their property manager, who usually has a painter already. For pressure washing before the painters arrive, see pressure washing on Hilton Head.

Every island painter above gives a free estimate. A good local painter will walk the house, write down what the estimate covers (the coats, the prep, the trim and doors) and put the warranty in the contract. Colorworks advertises a three-year warranty on all paint jobs; ask the others what theirs covers. Reviewers of Colorworks praise a painter who explained the paint and number of coats, and reviewers of American Painting and Lune Valley praise estimates that were fair for the size of the job.

Check the license of any painter who calls itself licensed: South Carolina’s Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (LLR) has a free licensee lookup at llr.sc.gov, and the Town of Hilton Head Island’s Community Development Department answers questions at 843-341-4757. The home services guide explains how to check a contractor in more detail.

This page is for painting contractors, the people who paint a house, a condo or a shop. If you are looking for Hilton Head Island paintings, the art, start with the arts and theater guide. For a painter, the companies above split roughly by job: the whole house, one room, a deck, a garage floor or a set of cabinets.

Exterior painting on Hilton Head Island, SC, takes more sun, rain and humidity than most places: July and August highs average 89°F and August is the wettest month at 7.6 inches. American Painting lists exterior and trim painting; Colorworks lists residential exterior and commercial exterior work; Lune Valley and Blueline list exterior painting; and CertaPro lists exterior painting. Reviewers describe an exterior stucco and trim job finished faster than expected (Blueline), a full exterior repaint with an estimate that held (Colorworks), and an exterior and porch stain done in about a week and a half, with a lost day to rain made up on a weekend (Color Splash).

Ask what prep is included (washing, scraping, caulking and priming), how many coats, and how the crew handles a rain delay. Inside a community such as Sea Pines, Palmetto Dunes or Hilton Head Plantation, the architectural review board usually has to approve a color change before the crew starts. Hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30, so spring and fall are the easier months to schedule; see the hurricane guide.

American Painting, Lune Valley, Blueline and CertaPro list interior painting, and Colorworks lists residential and commercial interior painting for offices and shops. Reviewers describe a whole-house interior done while the owners were out of town (American Painting), a three-bedroom villa painted from ceiling to doors with furniture moved and put back (Lune Valley) and an interior done in under four days (CertaPro).

Commercial interior painting often has to happen outside opening hours, so ask whether the crew works evenings or weekends. For a vacation rental, ask the property manager for the gap between guests before you pick dates; about 1 in 4 homes in the town is a seasonal or occasional-use home, and about 1 in 3 in ZIP 29928.

American Painting and Colorworks list cabinet painting, and CertaPro lists kitchen and bathroom cabinet painting; business listings describe Color Splash the same way. A reviewer of American Painting praises the estimate for a cabinetry painting project, and a Blueline reviewer had interior work that included new cabinetry. Ask how the cabinets are prepped, whether the doors are taken off and sprayed away from the house, and how long the kitchen is out of use.

If the kitchen needs more than paint, see kitchen remodeling on Hilton Head; Paul Langan Painting & Contracting does painting and carpentry in one renovation.

With a median home built in 1987, the island has a good many textured ceilings. American Painting, Lune Valley, Blueline and CertaPro list popcorn ceiling removal. Blueline reviewers describe popcorn ceilings removed and the ceiling resurfaced, including a hard job on a concrete ceiling where the popcorn had been painted. Ask whether the price includes the drywall repair and the repainting, and how the crew protects floors and furniture from dust.

For a garage floor epoxy or similar coating on Hilton Head, Color Splash Painting is the island painter whose reviewers describe it: a polyurea garage floor, with a crew that arrived on the scheduled day and finished on time. May River Concrete Coatings, from the Bluffton area, lists one-day polyaspartic garage floors, with a 5-year product warranty and a 1-year labor warranty, and lists Hilton Head as a service area. CertaPro’s Hilton Head page does not list floor coatings.

Ask what the coating is, how the concrete is prepped (a cracked or damp slab changes the job), and how long before a car can drive on it. The concrete guide lists the island companies that pour and repair the slab underneath.

American Painting and Colorworks list deck painting, Lune Valley lists deck refinishing, and CertaPro lists staining a home’s deck and fencing. Color Splash reviewers describe an exterior job that included staining porch floors and steps, and ceilings, a screen porch and the deck around a pool. Ask whether the deck is washed and sanded first, how long it must dry before you walk on it, and how often it will need to be redone in this heat and rain.

American Painting and Colorworks list fence painting, and CertaPro lists staining a home’s fence. A wood fence in the Lowcountry’s humidity needs staining every few years, while aluminum, vinyl and powder-coated iron need little paint. If the fence needs replacing rather than painting, see fence companies on Hilton Head.

House painting on Hilton Head usually means interior, exterior and trim in one job. Lune Valley reviewers describe both the interior and exterior of a house painted from the first quote to the final touch-up, and a Lune Valley estimate that included ceilings, moldings, walls, doors, trim and small repairs. For a second home, ask for the estimate by email and for photos of each stage, and have a neighbor or property manager let the crew in.

The Town of Hilton Head Island’s Community Development Department answers permit questions at 843-341-4757, so ask it whether your job needs one, especially if painting comes with repairs or a remodel. Paul Langan lists permits among the things it handles.

A community with an owners’ association and an architectural review board usually wants the paint color approved before work starts, so keep the approval letter with your records. For the painter’s license, search the name at llr.sc.gov.