Nelson Painting is the best painter in New Bedford, MA

Three Generations of Craftsmanship

Painting Contractors in New Bedford, 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, multi-family, and commercial painting, triple-decker exteriors, carpentry, and power washing for homeowners, landlords, and businesses in New Bedford, MA. From Mount Pleasant and Rockdale to Brooklawn Park and the historic downtown, 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 New Bedford, MA

Interior and exterior painting, multi-family and triple-decker work, porch and stair restoration, cabinet refinishing, power washing, and carpentry, delivered by in-house crews and never subcontracted. Explore the services below to see how each one works on a New Bedford 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, Multi-Family, and Commercial Painting Specialists in New Bedford, MA

Whether you own the house you live in at Mount Pleasant or Rockdale, a multi-family you rent out, or a commercial building downtown, density and height are what make this city a different job. Here is exactly what each service involves.

Residential & Multi-Family

New Bedford's 42,271 housing units are 40.3% owner-occupied, so nearly six in ten are rented. A great deal of the stock is multi-family, much of it three-storey, most of it pre-1978, and almost all of it on tight urban lots.

What’s Included

Working on Tight Urban Lots
This is what separates a city exterior from a suburban one, and it decides the price, the schedule, and whether the job can be done properly at all.
On a twenty-foot lot there is no room to set a ladder at a safe angle to reach a third-storey cornice. Reaching the top of a three-and-a-half-storey building safely means staging, and staging means somewhere to put it. Frequently that is the sidewalk, which needs the city's permission, or the neighbour's few feet of side yard, which needs theirs. We sort that out before the job starts rather than turning up and improvising.
Working over a public sidewalk brings its own requirements: overhead protection, containment so nothing falls or drifts onto people below, and keeping the walkway usable. Those are not optional and they are a real part of what a city exterior costs.
Spraying is often simply the wrong choice here. With buildings ten or twelve feet apart and cars parked the length of the street, the honest answer on many New Bedford exteriors is to brush and roll. It takes longer, we price it that way, and it is why the job does not end with your neighbour's car speckled.
The upside of density is that a properly planned job disrupts the street once rather than repeatedly. We schedule access, parking, and staging with you and with the neighbours before the first drop cloth.
Triple-Decker & Multi-Family Exteriors
Three-storey multi-family buildings have a specific anatomy and they fail in a specific order, and knowing that order is most of what makes a scope honest.
The rear porch and stair tower is the most important structure on the building and the first to go. It is the second means of egress for every unit above the ground floor, it is made almost entirely of horizontal wood surfaces, and it takes weather and traffic every day. Treads and landings fail first where water sits, then stringers, then post bases, then rails.
Peeling paint on a stair tower is the last symptom, not the first. By the time you can see it from the yard, the wood has been wet for a long time. We open up and assess rather than coating over, and we will not paint over a compromised connection on an egress stair.
When we rebuild elements, every face of every new piece is primed including the cut ends and the hidden side. Unprimed end grain is the single most common reason a rebuilt porch fails within a few years, and it is entirely avoidable.
On the building itself, the priority order is the same on almost every triple-decker: porches and stairs, then the water-shedding details at the roofline, then the body. Repainting a whole building whose porches are failing is spending money in the wrong place.
Lead-Safe Practice on Pre-1978 Property
Most of New Bedford's housing predates 1978, and if it is rented the obligations are real rather than theoretical.
Massachusetts has a state lead law with genuine requirements for owners of pre-1978 rental property, strongest where a child under six lives in the unit. Separately, federal RRP rules govern how any contractor disturbs painted surfaces in pre-1978 housing.
On our side that means containment before any surface is disturbed, no open sanding or torching of lead-bearing surfaces, HEPA cleanup rather than sweeping, ground cover on exteriors, and proper waste handling. On a dense street where the next building is ten feet away and children play in the yards, that containment protects your neighbours as much as your tenants.
We are equally clear about where our scope ends. Bringing a unit into compliance with the state lead law is licensed deleading work and a separate discipline from painting. Where that is what you need, we will tell you rather than taking a painting job that leaves you no better off legally.
Interior & Rental Turnover Painting
Turnover work has one governing constraint: every day the unit is empty costs the owner money. The job is a durable finish, applied fast, in a property that has just taken a full tenancy of wear.
We use high-coverage products that hide prior wear in fewer coats and cure quickly enough that the unit is genuinely ready rather than just dry to the touch. Handing back a unit that smells of paint or marks when furniture goes in is not a finished job.
The real economy is specification, not cutting coats. A scrubbable finish in the kitchen, bathroom, and hallway costs a little more per turnover and survives two or three tenancies instead of one, which is straightforwardly cheaper per year.
For owners with several buildings we hold colour and product specification consistent across the portfolio, so a touch-up is a touch-up rather than a repaint and one order covers every property.
Owner-Occupied House Painting
Two in five New Bedford homes are lived in by the people who own them, and that job is different from a rental turnover in every respect that matters.
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 an average family size of 3.06 and a median age of 37, most owner-occupied interiors we paint here are family houses in hard daily use. A scrubbable finish in hallways, stairwells, and beside every doorway costs almost nothing extra and is the difference between a house that still looks painted in year three and one that does not.
Older city houses 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 regardless of what we do.
Carpentry & Wood Repair
Paint does not fix rot. When we find soft trim, failing sills, or damaged clapboard during prep, we repair or replace it before painting 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 a building with staging up, that matters enormously, because taking staging down and bringing it back is a cost of its own.
On this housing stock the failures concentrate predictably: porch decking and column bases, stair treads and stringers, third-storey window sills and cornice work that nobody has reached in decades, and fascia behind a gutter that has been overflowing quietly for years.
This is also where deferring costs the most. Paint can wait a season; rot cannot, because every month it spreads and the repair gets larger. If a budget stretches to one thing this year, the carpentry is usually the thing.
Power Washing & Soft Washing
Washing is the cheapest maintenance there is, and in a city it also removes traffic film and exhaust residue that ordinary rain does not.
Vinyl and aluminium siding, roof shingles, and older wood clapboard need soft washing: low pressure with a solution that kills mildew at the root rather than blasting the surface layer off. High pressure on siding forces water behind the panels, and that damage is invisible until it is expensive.
On a pre-1978 building, pressure washing painted exterior surfaces is wrong for a second and more serious reason: it disperses paint chips and dust across the yard and onto the property next door. On these lot widths that is not a hypothetical concern. Soft washing with proper containment is the appropriate method.
If your exterior is a few years from needing paint, an annual wash is what to spend money on in the meantime, and we will tell you honestly when that is the case rather than quoting you a repaint you do not need yet.
Color Consultation & Design
Choosing colour from a two-inch chip in a store is how people end up repainting, and repainting is exactly the expense worth avoiding.
On a dense street the light is different from a suburban lot. The side facing the neighbouring building sits in shade for most of the day and reads colours darker and cooler than the street elevation of the same house.
There is also the question of how a building reads in a row, because at these setbacks a street is seen as a terrace rather than as individual houses. On a three-decker, picking a body and trim scheme that handles three floors without looking top-heavy is a real design question and we are happy to work it through.
There is no charge for this and no obligation.

Best For

Ideal for New Bedford homeowners and landlords in Mount Pleasant, Rockdale, Inland Park, Pine Hill Acres, Westgate Park, and Westview Park seeking exterior painting, triple-decker work, porch and stair restoration, interior painting, or carpentry from a licensed, insured contractor.

Nelson Painting is a painting company in New Bedford, 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 New Bedford Owners 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 in this region means most of our work now comes from people who have already used us or know someone who has.

New Bedford is the largest and most densely built place we work: 160,431 people and 42,271 housing units at nearly two thousand per square mile. That density is not background detail, it is the job. A three-and-a-half-storey building on a twenty-foot-wide lot cannot be prepared and painted the way a suburban house is, and a contractor who quotes it as though it can has not worked here.

With a median household income of $56,981 and a median home value of $357,023, this is also a market where an honest number matters more than a polished pitch. We will tell you what has to be done, what can wait, and what a cheaper quote is almost certainly leaving out.

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 New Bedford, 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 New Bedford building that walk includes going up the rear stairs and working out how we would reach the third storey safely, because both change the scope substantially.

We also establish whether the building predates 1978 and whether it is tenanted, because both change how the work has to be done. You get a detailed written proposal listing surfaces, preparation, access, products, and price.

2

We bring large samples and view them in your actual light before anything is ordered. On a dense street the shaded side reads noticeably darker than the street elevation of the same building.

Once colours are settled we agree the schedule, the staging plan, any sidewalk or street occupancy needed, and the notice that goes to tenants and neighbours.

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.

On pre-1978 property that work happens under containment: ground cover, no open sanding of lead-bearing surfaces, and HEPA cleanup rather than sweeping. Porch and stair elements are opened up and assessed rather than coated over, and every face of any new piece is primed including the ends.

4

Floors, furniture, landscaping, fixtures, and hardware are covered and protected before painting starts. On these lot widths that explicitly includes the neighbouring building, the cars on the street, and the public sidewalk below.

Working over a walkway means overhead protection and containment so nothing falls or drifts onto people below, and keeping the walkway usable while we work.

5

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

Where the buildings are close and the street is parked, we brush and roll rather than spray. It takes longer, it is priced that way, and it is why the job does not end with your neighbour's car speckled.

6

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

On a multi-family we walk the porches and stairs specifically and tell you plainly what will need attention next and roughly when, so the next phase is planned rather than a surprise.

Nelson Painting is a local painting company near me

Request Your Free Painting Estimate in New Bedford, MA

Call or request an estimate online. We will walk the property, work out the access honestly, and give you a detailed written proposal before you commit to anything.

Get Your Free Estimate Call (508) 746-6432

Common Questions

New Bedford Painting Questions, Answered

The questions New Bedford homeowners, landlords, and property owners ask us most often.

City Building Questions

Our lot is narrow. How do you even reach the third floor?

With staging, and the honest answer is that finding somewhere to put it is part of the job. On a twenty-foot lot there is no room to set a ladder at a safe angle to reach a third-storey cornice.

That usually means sidewalk staging, which needs the city's permission, or a few feet of the neighbour's side yard, which needs theirs. We sort that out before the job starts rather than turning up and improvising, and it is a real component of what a city exterior costs.

Will you spray? Our neighbor is worried about their car.

Why do you always want to look at the back stairs first?

Because on a three-decker the rear stair tower is the second means of egress for every unit above the ground floor, and it is the most weather-beaten structure on the building.

The failure order is consistent: treads and landings where water sits, then stringers, then post bases, then rails. Peeling paint there is the last symptom rather than the first, so by the time you can see it the wood has been wet a long time.

We rebuilt a porch a few years ago and it is already failing.

Landlord & Lead Questions

Our building is pre-1978 and tenanted. What do we need to know about lead?

Two things, and they are separate. Massachusetts has a state lead law with real obligations for owners of pre-1978 rental property, strongest where a child under six lives in the unit. Federal RRP rules separately govern how any contractor disturbs painted surfaces in pre-1978 housing.

On our side that means containment before any surface is disturbed, no open sanding or torching of lead-bearing surfaces, HEPA cleanup rather than sweeping, ground cover on exteriors, and proper waste handling. On a street where the next building is ten feet away, that containment protects your neighbours as much as your tenants.

Can you bring our unit into compliance with the lead law?

Where should a limited budget go on a three-decker?

What is the cheapest way to paint a rental unit?

General Questions

What areas does Nelson Painting serve?

I got a much cheaper quote. What am I giving up?

In this city, usually two things: preparation and access. Preparation is invisible on the day the job finishes and it is the single thing that decides how long the result lasts.

Access is the one people miss. A quote that does not account for staging, sidewalk protection, or how the crew reaches the third storey safely is either going to grow mid-job or the top of your building is not really going to get prepared. Ask specifically how they intend to reach it.

Are you licensed and insured?

Do you use subcontractors?

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 New Bedford and the Surrounding Area

Neighborhoods (6)

Inland ParkMount PleasantPine Hill AcresRockdaleWestgate ParkWestview Park

ZIP Codes (6)

027400274102742027440274502746

Nelson Painting, Inc.

AddressPlymouth, MA

Phone(508) 746-6432

HoursMon-Sun: 6AM-8PM

Painting Contractors in New Bedford, MA

100s of 5-Star Ratings on Platforms You Trust

Painting and Restoration Services in New Bedford, 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, Multi-Family, and Commercial Painting Specialists in New Bedford, MA

Residential & Multi-Family

What’s Included

Working on Tight Urban Lots

Triple-Decker & Multi-Family Exteriors

Lead-Safe Practice on Pre-1978 Property

Interior & Rental Turnover Painting

Owner-Occupied House Painting

Carpentry & Wood Repair

Power Washing & Soft Washing

Color Consultation & Design

The Painting Contractor New Bedford Owners 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 New Bedford, 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 New Bedford, MA

New Bedford Painting Questions, Answered

City Building Questions

Our lot is narrow. How do you even reach the third floor?

Will you spray? Our neighbor is worried about their car.

Why do you always want to look at the back stairs first?

We rebuilt a porch a few years ago and it is already failing.

Landlord & Lead Questions

Our building is pre-1978 and tenanted. What do we need to know about lead?

Can you bring our unit into compliance with the lead law?

Where should a limited budget go on a three-decker?

What is the cheapest way to paint a rental unit?

General Questions

What areas does Nelson Painting serve?

I got a much cheaper quote. What am I giving up?

Are you licensed and insured?

Do you use subcontractors?

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

Proudly Serving New Bedford and the Surrounding Area

Neighborhoods (6)

ZIP Codes (6)

Nelson Painting, Inc.