Nelson Painting is the best painter in Dartmouth, MA

Three Generations of Craftsmanship

Painting Contractors in Dartmouth, MA

Name: Spend a Day on the Jobsite With the Nelson Painting Crew
Uploaded: 2026-01-13
Duration: 6 min 43 s
Description: These are the painters who will be at your property — Marc, Marc Jr., and the rest of the team. Spend a day with them on an active jobsite and see exactly how Nelson Painting preps, paints, and finishes the work before the truck pulls out of the driveway.

Nelson Painting provides residential and commercial painting, cedar shingle finishing, cabinet refinishing, deck staining, carpentry, and power washing for homeowners and businesses in Dartmouth, MA. From South Dartmouth, Nonquitt, and Apponagansett to Smith Mills, Hixville, and North Dartmouth, our licensed crews deliver lasting results. Free estimates.

65+ Years in Business: Three-generation family legacy of quality painting.
Licensed & Insured: MA HIC #142477 with full workers' comp coverage.
In-House Crews Only: Never subcontracted — direct accountability on every job.
Free Estimates: On-site walk-throughs with detailed written proposals.

Ready to get started? Request your free painting estimate today.

Call (508) 746-6432 View Our Services

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

100s of 5-Star Ratings on Platforms You Trust

What We Do

Painting and Restoration Services in Dartmouth, MA

Interior and exterior painting, cedar shingle finishing, cabinet refinishing, deck and fence staining, power washing, and carpentry, delivered by in-house crews and never subcontracted. Explore the services below to see how each one works on a Dartmouth property.

Interior Painting

Interior painting services for homes and businesses in Plymouth, MA. Our crew handles walls, ceilings, trim, and doors with the preparation-first approach that has earned Nelson Painting three generations of trust across Southeastern Massachusetts.

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Exterior Painting

Exterior painting for homes and businesses in Plymouth, MA. We protect your property from coastal weather with thorough surface preparation and premium exterior coatings designed for the salt air, humidity, and freeze-thaw cycles of Southeastern Massachusetts.

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Cabinet Refinishing

Cabinet refinishing services in Plymouth, MA. Transform your kitchen or bathroom cabinets with professional spray finishing — new color, factory-smooth results, and thousands saved compared to full cabinet replacement.

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Nelson Painting is a painting contractor that provides deck and fence staining across Plymouth County, Barnstable County, and Bristol County

Deck & Fence Staining

Deck and fence staining in Plymouth, MA. We apply professional-grade stains and sealants that protect your outdoor wood from the moisture, UV exposure, and freeze-thaw cycles common across Southeastern Massachusetts.

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Power Washing

Power washing services in Plymouth, MA. We remove built-up dirt, algae, oil stains, and mildew from driveways, patios, walkways, and building exteriors — restoring your property to like-new condition.

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Soft Washing

Soft washing services in Plymouth, MA. Our low-pressure cleaning process kills algae, mold, and mildew at the root using biodegradable solutions safe for your siding, roof, and landscaping. Lasting results for the humid coastal climate.

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Carpentry Services

Carpentry services in Plymouth, MA. We repair rotted trim, replace damaged clapboards and shingles, and restore wood surfaces before painting — ensuring your home or building is structurally sound and protected for years to come.

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Nelson Painting is a painting contractor that provides water and smoke damage restoration painting across Plymouth County, Barnstable County, and Bristol County

Water & Smoke Damage Restoration

Water and smoke damage restoration painting in Plymouth, MA. Our crew handles drywall repair, stain blocking, odor sealing, and full repainting to restore your property after fire or water damage. Insurance documentation provided.

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Who We Serve

Residential and Commercial Painting Specialists in Dartmouth, MA

Whether your house is shingled and coastal at Nonquitt or Apponagansett, on farmland at Hixville, or suburban at Smith Mills and North Dartmouth, the material and the exposure decide the specification. Here is exactly what each service involves.

Residential

Dartmouth's 12,200 housing units are 76% owner-occupied and span more variety than most towns twice the size: shingled coastal houses at the south end, farmhouses inland, village stock at Russells Mills, and dense suburban streets toward North Dartmouth and Bliss Corner.

What’s Included

Cedar Shingle Siding
Cedar shingle is the signature material of coastal Dartmouth and it behaves nothing like clapboard. Getting it right starts with a decision most contractors skip past.
Bare cedar shingle can be left natural, treated with a clear or toned penetrating oil, stained, or painted, and those options run in one direction only. Once shingle is painted, going back is not realistically possible: stripping paint out of the deeply textured, splintery face of a weathered shingle without destroying it cannot be done economically on a whole house. So the honest conversation before the first can is opened is whether you want a painted house forever.
There is a good reason people choose paint anyway, and a good reason to think twice. Paint gives you colour and a longer visual life, but it forms a film. Shingles are individual pieces that move independently with moisture, and a film across them is asked to flex at every course. When it fails it fails by peeling, and peeled paint on shingle is a genuinely miserable thing to prepare again.
A penetrating stain does not form a film. It wears rather than peeling, so the next maintenance cycle is a wash and a recoat rather than a scrape. On an exposed coastal wall that difference compounds every time round.
Whatever the finish, the preparation rules are the same: never pressure wash cedar shingle. High pressure raises and shreds the soft grain, blows out the thin butt ends, and drives water behind the courses into the sheathing. Shingle gets soft washing and hand work, and a wall someone has pressure washed is visibly rougher afterwards for the rest of its life.
We also look at the shingles themselves before quoting a finish. Cupped, split, or thin-butted shingles will not hold any coating well, and replacing the worst courses first is cheaper than finishing them twice.
Exterior House Painting
Exterior work is roughly seventy percent preparation. We wash the envelope to remove salt, chalking, and mildew, scrape and sand every failing edge back to sound material, and prime bare wood before any finish coat goes on.
Exposure varies more across Dartmouth than across almost any town we work in. A house at Nonquitt or Great Neck takes genuine coastal salt on every elevation; one at Hixville or Smith Mills takes ordinary inland weather. The same specification cannot serve both, and pricing them alike means one of you is overpaying and the other is getting something that will not last.
On the coastal end, salt removal comes before everything and fastener treatment is not optional. Nail heads and exposed steel rust in that air and bleed through a finish coat within months.
On the inland and wooded end, shade rather than salt is the driver: north elevations hold damp, grow mildew, and need a mildewcide-containing wash rather than a plain rinse.
We caulk the joints that actually move with an elastomeric sealant that stays flexible through freeze-thaw.
Interior Wall & Ceiling Painting
Every job starts with the parts nobody photographs. We wash surfaces to remove hand oils and cooking film that stop paint bonding, scrape and sand failing areas, spot-prime every patch and every stain, and caulk where walls meet trim.
With households averaging 2.87 people and a median age of 42.5, Dartmouth interiors range from busy family houses to settled long-term homes, and we specify accordingly rather than running one product everywhere. A scrubbable finish in hallways and stairwells costs almost nothing extra and doubles how long those walls look painted.
Coastal houses at the south end carry salt on interior sills and casings from windows left open all summer. Those surfaces need washing rather than dusting before priming, because paint over salt residue releases regardless of the product.
Older houses inland bring plaster rather than drywall, which needs different patching, a different primer, and an honest conversation about which hairline cracks will return with the seasons.
Cabinet Refinishing
Refinishing kitchen cabinets costs a fraction of replacement and takes days rather than weeks. In a house somebody intends to stay in, that is frequently the better investment as well as the cheaper one.
The finish quality comes from degreasing and sanding, not from the spray gun. We degrease thoroughly, sand to a uniform profile, and use a bonding primer made for cabinetry before any colour goes on.
In a coastal house the humidity runs higher year round. Doors swell and stick seasonally, and a finish applied without allowance for that binds in August.
We are candid about what will not work. Thermofoil and some laminate faces do not hold a coating reliably, and telling you that before we quote is cheaper for both of us than discovering it after the deposit.
Deck & Railing Staining
Refinishing a deck every three to five years keeps it structurally sound rather than merely presentable. On the coastal end that interval runs shorter.
We wash the surface, wait for it to reach the right moisture content, sand where the grain has raised, and replace any board past saving before staining. Waiting for the wood to genuinely dry is the step most often skipped and the single most common reason a finish fails in its first year.
On the coast the hardware is where a deck actually fails. Salt attacks fasteners, joist hangers, and ledger bolts long before it destroys the decking, and a deck that looks sound can be compromised at the connections.
Semi-transparent stains wear gradually rather than peeling, which matters on a surface you will refresh every few years and may well refresh yourself.
Power Washing & Soft Washing
In Dartmouth the most important thing about this service is knowing when not to use pressure. Cedar shingle, older wood clapboard, and any weathered natural wood all require soft washing.
High pressure on cedar shingle raises and shreds the soft grain, blows out the thin butt ends, and drives water behind the courses into the sheathing. The damage is permanent: a pressure-washed shingle wall is visibly rougher for the rest of its life and holds a finish worse afterwards.
Soft washing means low pressure with a cleaning solution that lifts salt and kills mildew at the root rather than blasting the surface layer off. It actually cleans better, because it removes the growth rather than the top of the material the growth is living on.
On the coastal end an annual soft wash is the minimum, with water-facing elevations rinsed again partway through the season. Inland, once a year with attention to the shaded sides is usually right.
Carpentry & Wood Repair
Paint does not fix rot. When we find soft trim, failing sills, or damaged shingle or clapboard during prep, we repair or replace it before finishing rather than coating over the problem.
Our crews carry carpentry capability, so a rotted sill found on Tuesday does not become a second contractor, a second schedule, and a second mobilisation charge.
On shingled walls the repair work is its own skill. Replacing individual shingles and courses so the repair disappears into the wall, weaving them in with the correct exposure and offset rather than patching a rectangle, is the difference between a repair you cannot find and one you see from the road forever.
The Dartmouth failure map splits with the town: on the coast, water-side sills, corner boards, deck ledgers, and corroding fasteners; inland, shaded sills, fascia behind overflowing gutters, and anywhere planting has been growing against the house.
Color Consultation & Design
Choosing colour from a two-inch chip in a store is how people end up repainting. We bring large samples to your house and look at them on your walls, in your light, at the hours you actually use the room.
On shingle the conversation is different from the one about clapboard, because a semi-transparent stain lets the wood grain and colour show through and a chip cannot represent that. We sample stains on your actual shingles, not on a board in the truck.
Coastal light at the south end is brighter and more reflective than inland light, so colours read lighter and cooler there than the chip suggests. Under tree cover inland the opposite applies.
There is no charge for this and no obligation.

Best For

Ideal for Dartmouth homeowners in South Dartmouth, North Dartmouth, Apponagansett, Nonquitt, Great Neck, Bayview, Bliss Corner, Smith Mills, Russells Mills, and Hixville seeking exterior painting, cedar shingle work, interior painting, cabinet refinishing, or deck staining from a licensed, insured contractor.

Nelson Painting is a painting company in Dartmouth, MA that provides interior painting, exterior painting, cabinet refinishing, deck staining, power washing, soft washing, carpentry, and restoration services

Three Generations, One Standard

The Painting Contractor Dartmouth Homeowners Call Back

Nelson Painting has been a family business since 1960. Three generations have run the same crews under the same standard: show up when we say, prep properly, and finish the job before we start the next one. Sixty-five years on this coast means we know which decisions on a house cannot be undone.

Dartmouth covers a great deal of ground: 33,328 people across fourteen named neighborhoods and three ZIP codes, from the shingled coastal houses at Nonquitt and Great Neck, through the farmland around Hixville and Russells Mills, to the dense suburban streets of Bliss Corner and North Dartmouth. Those are not variations on one job. They are different jobs.

The decision that matters most here concerns cedar shingle, because it is the defining material of the south end and because putting paint on bare cedar shingle is a one-way door. Once a shingle wall is painted it can never sensibly go back to a natural finish, and that is worth understanding before anyone opens a can.

Learn Our Full Story

See Us at Work

Spend a Day on the Jobsite With the Nelson Painting Crew

These are the painters who will be at your property — Marc, Marc Jr., and the rest of the team. Spend a day with them on an active jobsite and see exactly how Nelson Painting preps, paints, and finishes the work before the truck pulls out of the driveway.

3

Generations Since 1960

6

In-House Team Members

0

Subcontractors, Ever

0

BBB Complaints in 65+ Yrs

In-House Crews Only

Our dedicated six-person crew handles every project personally. No subcontractors means consistent quality, direct communication, and the same trusted team from start to finish.

Free On-Site Estimates

Owner Marc Nelson personally walks your property to assess every detail. You receive a thorough written proposal — no vague ballpark figures, no hidden costs, no obligation.

Premium Paint Products

We use only the highest-quality paints and coatings built to withstand coastal humidity, salt air, and harsh New England winters. Better products mean longer-lasting results and fewer touch-ups.

Licensed & Fully Insured

Every crew member is covered by workers' compensation and general liability insurance. You never have to worry about exposure if something unexpected happens on your property.

65+ Years Family Owned

Your project benefits from over six decades of knowledge passed down through three generations. That kind of experience means fewer surprises, better problem-solving, and results that stand the test of time.

EPA Lead-Safe Certified

Many South Shore and Cape Cod homes were built before 1978 and may contain lead paint. Our EPA-certified crews follow strict protocols to keep your family safe during renovation work.

Customer Reviews

What Our Clients Say About Us

5.0from 143 reviews

DS

Deanne Smith

August 4, 2026

Google

The guys did a great job! They were diligent, professional, friendly and accommodating!

JM

Julie Mackin

July 24, 2026

Google

We had a wonderful experience with Nelson Painting. Nicole was incredibly easy to work with and we had an estimate within a week. The painters did an amazing job, incredibly professional and meticulous. We are so pleased with how the outside of our house came out.

JM

Janice Madden

July 29, 2026

Google

We would highly recommend Nelson Painting, if you are looking to get your house painted. From soft washing the house to the final painting of trim and clapboard, they were nothing but professional. They were respectful of property and cleaned up every day before they left. Marc came right out when we called and we had a price the next day. Very reasonably priced. We could not be more pleased.

PC

Pamela Cluff-McDevitt

July 23, 2026

Google

Nelson Painting was great! They had to come fix a mess that someone else made. They were quick and did an amazing job! Very easy to work with.

WD

William Donovan

July 27, 2026

Google

Professional, courteous and efficient service. Very satisfied!

KC

Kimberly Callanan

July 23, 2026

Google

Nelson painting completed an outdoor pool bar/shed paint and did a great job! Showed up on time, reasonable pricing and final product looked great.

MD

Mark Dennish

July 24, 2026

Google

On time, flawless work, respectful of property. Estimate was 100 percent accurate.

JS

Jane Scarbrough

July 2, 2026

Google

We highly recommend Nelson Painting. The crew was respectful, professional and thorough. Quality excellent!! Jane and John Scarbrough

How It Works

Our Painting Process in Dartmouth, MA

Six steps, the same every time, so you always know what happens next.

1

We walk the property with you, measure, and look at the actual conditions rather than quoting from a photograph. On a Dartmouth property the first questions are what the walls are made of and where in town you are, because both change the specification completely.

On a shingled house we will have the paint-or-stain conversation before anything else, because it is the decision you cannot take back.

2

We bring large samples and view them in your actual light before anything is ordered. On shingle we sample stains on your actual wall, because a chip cannot show you how much grain and colour will read through.

Once colours are settled we confirm the schedule, the sequence of elevations, and any access we need.

3

This is the majority of the work and it decides how long the result lasts. Washing, scraping, sanding, filling, caulking, and priming all happen before any finish coat.

Cedar shingle and weathered natural wood are soft washed, never pressure washed. On the coastal end salt removal comes first. Shingle replacement, wood repair, and carpentry are completed at this stage.

4

Floors, furniture, landscaping, fixtures, and hardware are covered and protected before painting starts. On coastal lots that includes shoreline planting and anything the wind can carry overspray onto.

Clean, protected work areas are a standard rather than a courtesy, and it is how we avoid the small damages that turn a good job into a dispute.

5

Our in-house crews apply the specified system, never subcontracted, so the people on your property are the people accountable for the result.

On the coast we watch fog and dew point as closely as temperature. Every window is checked so it still opens when we are done.

6

We walk the finished work with you, address anything you flag, and clean the site completely before leaving. Touch-up material is labelled and left with you.

On a stained shingle house we set out plainly what the maintenance cycle looks like, because a wash and recoat at the right interval is what keeps you out of a scraping job later.

Nelson Painting is a local painting company near me

Request Your Free Painting Estimate in Dartmouth, MA

Call or request an estimate online. We will walk the property, talk through the finish decision honestly before anything is ordered, and give you a detailed written proposal.

Get Your Free Estimate Call (508) 746-6432

Common Questions

Dartmouth Painting Questions, Answered

The questions Dartmouth homeowners and property owners ask us most often.

Cedar Shingle Questions

Should we paint or stain our cedar shingles?

The important part of the answer is that it only runs one way. Once shingle is painted, going back to a natural or stained finish is not realistically possible, because stripping paint out of the deeply textured face of a weathered shingle cannot be done economically across a whole house.

Paint gives you colour and a longer visual life but it forms a film, and shingles move independently with moisture, so that film is asked to flex at every course. When it fails it peels. A penetrating stain does not form a film: it wears, so the next cycle is a wash and a recoat rather than a scrape. On an exposed coastal wall that difference compounds every time round.

Our shingles were painted years ago. What are our options now?

Realistically, keeping it painted and doing it properly. That is not a bad outcome, it is just a narrower set of choices than you had at the start.

Doing it properly means scraping back everything that has released, spot-priming the bare cedar with a primer that blocks tannin bleed, and using a flexible topcoat. Cedar tannins will stain straight through an ordinary primer and show as brown streaks within a season, which is the single most common complaint we hear about painted shingle.

Can you pressure wash the shingles first?

Some of our shingles are cupped and split. Do they need replacing?

The worst of them, yes, and doing it before finishing is cheaper than finishing them twice. Cupped, split, or thin-butted shingles will not hold any coating well.

Shingle repair is its own skill. Replacing individual shingles and weaving them in with the correct exposure and offset, rather than patching a rectangle, is the difference between a repair you cannot find and one you see from the road forever.

General Questions

What areas does Nelson Painting serve?

Does it matter which part of Dartmouth we are in?

More than in almost any town we work in. A house at Nonquitt or Great Neck takes genuine coastal salt on every elevation; one at Hixville or Smith Mills takes ordinary inland weather.

Those need different washes, different coatings, and different maintenance intervals. Pricing them alike would mean one of you is overpaying and the other is getting something that will not last, which is why we walk the property rather than quoting from a formula.

How much does it cost to paint a house in Dartmouth?

Are you licensed and insured?

Do you use subcontractors?

Commercial & Farm Questions

Do you paint barns and farm buildings?

Yes, and they are a different job from a house rather than a smaller one. Rough-sawn siding drinks finish, so it needs a penetrating stain or a purpose-made barn coating applied at the proper rate rather than house paint spread thin.

We look at the ground first. Post bases, sill plates, and bottom siding courses are where an outbuilding actually fails, and painting the upper two thirds of a barn whose posts are going is a wasted day.

Can you work outside our business hours?

We manage buildings at both ends of town. Can you plan across them?

Still have questions? We're here to help — no pressure, just answers.

Call (508) 746-6432 Now Fill Out Our Form

Serving Southeastern Massachusetts

Full-Service Painting, Staining, and Property Care Across Plymouth, Barnstable, and Bristol Counties

From the South Shore to Cape Cod and the South Coast, our crew handles interior and exterior painting, cabinet refinishing, carpentry, deck and fence staining, power washing, soft washing, and water and smoke damage restoration for homes and businesses up to 30 miles from our West Plymouth headquarters. Need directions? Use the map below to find us at 15 Roberts Rd, Unit D, Plymouth, MA 02360.

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Proudly Serving Dartmouth and the Surrounding Area

Villages (2)

Bliss CornerSmith Mills

Neighborhoods (12)

ApponagansettBayviewCow YardGreat NeckHixvilleIdlewoodKempton CroftNonquittNorth DartmouthRussells MillsSouth DartmouthSummit Grove

ZIP Codes (3)

027140274702748

Nelson Painting, Inc.

AddressPlymouth, MA

Phone(508) 746-6432

HoursMon-Sun: 6AM-8PM

Painting Contractors in Dartmouth, MA

100s of 5-Star Ratings on Platforms You Trust

Painting and Restoration Services in Dartmouth, MA

Interior Painting

Interior Painting

Exterior Painting

Exterior Painting

Cabinet Refinishing

Cabinet Refinishing

Deck & Fence Staining

Deck & Fence Staining

Power Washing

Power Washing

Soft Washing

Soft Washing

Carpentry Services

Carpentry Services

Water & Smoke Damage Restoration

Water & Smoke Damage Restoration

Residential and Commercial Painting Specialists in Dartmouth, MA

Residential

What’s Included

Cedar Shingle Siding

Exterior House Painting

Interior Wall & Ceiling Painting

Cabinet Refinishing

Deck & Railing Staining

Power Washing & Soft Washing

Carpentry & Wood Repair

Color Consultation & Design

The Painting Contractor Dartmouth Homeowners Call Back

Spend a Day on the Jobsite With the Nelson Painting Crew

In-House Crews Only

Free On-Site Estimates

Premium Paint Products

Licensed & Fully Insured

65+ Years Family Owned

EPA Lead-Safe Certified

What Our Clients Say About Us

Our Painting Process in Dartmouth, MA

1. Free On-Site Estimate

2. Color Selection & Planning

3. Surface Preparation

4. Protection & Masking

5. Painting & Finishing

6. Final Walk-Through

Request Your Free Painting Estimate in Dartmouth, MA

Dartmouth Painting Questions, Answered

Cedar Shingle Questions

Should we paint or stain our cedar shingles?

Our shingles were painted years ago. What are our options now?

Can you pressure wash the shingles first?

Some of our shingles are cupped and split. Do they need replacing?

General Questions

What areas does Nelson Painting serve?

Does it matter which part of Dartmouth we are in?

How much does it cost to paint a house in Dartmouth?

Are you licensed and insured?

Do you use subcontractors?

Commercial & Farm Questions

Do you paint barns and farm buildings?

Can you work outside our business hours?

We manage buildings at both ends of town. Can you plan across them?

Full-Service Painting, Staining, and Property Care Across Plymouth, Barnstable, and Bristol Counties

Proudly Serving Dartmouth and the Surrounding Area

Villages (2)

Neighborhoods (12)

ZIP Codes (3)

Nelson Painting, Inc.