“The packet had everything our finance committee asked for: scope by area, the schedule and a certificate of insurance. Nobody had to call back for a missing page.”
Roscoe R.Board of trustees, Seventh Ward
Churches, halls and schools · New Orleans, Louisiana
Painting for the buildings a congregation keeps
We paint sanctuaries, steeples, fellowship halls and parish schools. Before we write a proposal we learn the building's age, who is inside it each day and what your board or commission has to approve.
Reference ledger
Six jobs, written up the way a board asks about them
Each entry says what the building is, what we did, who was inside while we worked and what a board can check. Names and phone numbers for each go in the packet we send.
- Sanctuary
Sanctuary ceiling and balcony, Central City
Plaster repaired and the whole ceiling repainted from a rolling scaffold inside the nave.
Pews, organ and floor covered
Services held in the hall while the scaffold stood
Aisle cleared before each weekend
- Exterior
Steeple and belfry, Seventh Ward
Loose paint scraped to sound wood, louvers and trim repaired, then primed and painted from a tied-in scaffold.
Scaffold tied to the structure
Work stopped for wind and lightning
Sidewalk fenced on service days
- Hall
Fellowship hall and kitchen, Holy Cross
Walls, ceiling, doors and trim in the hall, and a washable finish on the kitchen walls.
Hall closed on weekdays only
Kitchen finished before the next supper
Furniture moved by the congregation, covered by us
- Child-occupied
School corridors and classrooms, Broadmoor
A parish school wing built before 1978, painted over a summer break with containment at every door.
Age and use of each room settled with the school first
Wet scraping, a HEPA vacuum and a cleanup check
Wing handed back before classes returned
- Residence
Rectory exterior and porch, Irish Channel
Clapboard and porch columns repaired and repainted for a residence beside the church.
Pre-1978 steps followed on the whole house
Color kept to the existing scheme
Porch used again the next weekend
- Commission review
Storefront church facade, Faubourg St. John
Photographs and a color schedule went to the commission before any paint was ordered.
Review answered before the scaffold went up
Existing colors matched on boards
Photographs kept for the board's file
Sample content.
Before 1978
Which paint rules reach your building
Age and use decide what the federal paint rule asks of a contractor. We sort that out in writing before a proposal, and the answer changes the plan.
| The question | Built 1978 or later | Before 1978, no regular children's program | Before 1978, children under six visit regularly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Is it a child-occupied facility? | Built 1978 or laterNot covered by this rule | Before 1978, no regular children's programNo, but a residence in the building, like a rectory, may be covered | Before 1978, children under six visit regularlyYes: a day care, preschool or kindergarten class is one |
| What the federal rule asks | Built 1978 or laterNothing from this rule | Before 1978, no regular children's programOften nothing federal; your state or city may ask more | Before 1978, children under six visit regularlyEPA certification for the firm and its renovators on paid work that disturbs paint |
| How we work | Built 1978 or laterStandard prep and cleanup | Before 1978, no regular children's programThe same steps we use on any building of that age | Before 1978, children under six visit regularlyContainment, wet scraping, a HEPA vacuum and a cleanup check |
What we paint
From the steeple to the fellowship hall
Six kinds of building, each with its own access, its own calendar and its own people to ask.
Steeples and belfries
Scaffold, scraping to sound wood, primer and finish coats, with louvers and trim checked first.
Civic and institutional
Cupolas, cornices and tall masonry trim that need a lift or a tied-in scaffold and a commission's nod.
Halls and corridors
Walls, doors and trim in the spaces a congregation uses all week, finished a zone at a time.
Stairwells and school wings
Painted around the school day, with the building's age and use settled first.
Rectories and parish houses
Clapboard, brick trim and porches on the residences beside the church.
Courtyards and arcades
Arches, columns and walkways that the whole parish passes through.
The packet
What your board and your insurer will ask to see
Each proposal arrives with the paperwork below. License numbers are in the footer; the documents are the owner's own files.
Sent with every proposal
Certificate of insurance
Your congregation can be named on it
W-9
For your treasurer's file
Reference list
Boards and administrators you can call
Sample proposal
Scope, schedule by zone and payment terms
EPA certification
EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firm (Renovation, Repair and Painting rule)
Firm number added by the owner
On the scaffold
The crew that builds the access also paints
Steeples and tall gables need scaffolds that are built, tied in and checked. Ours is built and taken down by our own crew, so the schedule never waits on another company.
Rails and toe boards on every working level
Tied to the building, never leaned on it
Work stops for lightning and high wind
Entrances kept clear on service days
From boards and administrators
What a trustee or an administrator tells the next board
“They worked around our school calendar and left the front steps clear every Sunday. We always knew which wing was closed.”
Felecia M.Parish administrator, Central City
“The commission wanted photographs and a color schedule. Both were in our hands before the meeting, and the answer we got back was clear.”
Joselin D.Preservation committee, Holy Cross
Sample reviews.
The crew
The people who answer your board's questions
Twelve people in the firm; these five are the ones your board will meet.
Thurman Lovett
Owner and estimator
Walks every building first and writes every proposal himself.
Arnetta Griggs
Project manager and board contact
Builds the schedule by zone and sends the packet before a vote.
Jamison Bonner
Scaffold foreman
Builds, ties in and checks the scaffold, and calls the stop when the wind rises.
Jamila Boyce
Lead painter, plaster and ceilings
Repairs plaster and runs the interior crew in sanctuaries and halls.
Willard Ivey
Site supervisor, pre-1978 buildings
Sets up containment and the cleanup check on buildings that need them.
Around the city
Parishes and neighborhoods around New Orleans
We paint congregations and institutions across the city and the parishes beside it. If your building is not listed, send the address and we will say whether we can get there.
Orleans Parish
- Central City
- Holy Cross
- Lower Ninth Ward
- Seventh Ward
- Broadmoor
- Lakeview
- Carrollton
- Irish Channel
- Faubourg St. John
Jefferson Parish
- River Ridge
- Elmwood
- Terrytown
- Avondale
River parishes
- Destrehan
- St. Rose
- LaPlace
North Shore
- Slidell
- Mandeville
We don't take jobs west of Baton Rouge or on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. If your building is farther out, call and we will say honestly whether a trip makes sense.
Questions boards ask
Before the vote
Was our building built before 1978, and does that change how you work?
Paint in buildings built before 1978 may contain lead. The EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting rule covers paid work that disturbs paint in homes and in child-occupied facilities built before 1978, such as a day care, a preschool or a kindergarten class. A firm doing that work has to be certified by the EPA, and ours adds its firm number under Credentials. A church or hall with no program of that kind may fall outside the federal rule, and your state or city may have its own. We ask for the building's age before we write a proposal, and we tell you in writing which rules the work follows.
Do you work while services, classes or funerals are going on?
Not in the same space. The proposal splits the building into zones and says which are closed on which days. Sanctuary entrances stay clear on service days, funerals and weddings are put on the schedule before we start, and a school wing is painted when the school says it is empty.
Who builds the scaffold?
Our own crew builds it, ties it to the building and takes it down. Working levels have rails and toe boards, and we stop for lightning and high wind. If a scaffold needs an engineer's design or a city permit for the sidewalk or street, the proposal says so.
Is our building in a historic district, and do we need approval to repaint?
Many of the city's older neighborhoods are local historic districts, and some buildings are landmarks. Whether a repaint needs review depends on the district, the building and the change: the Historic District Landmarks Commission covers most of them and the Vieux Carré Commission covers the French Quarter. We look up the rule for your address and, when review is needed, prepare photographs and a color schedule for your board to submit. The decision is the commission's, not ours.
What is in your written proposal?
The surfaces and areas, the repairs, the number of coats, the products and sheens, how we get access, the schedule by zone, cleanup, the payment schedule and the warranty terms. We write it after a walk-through of the building, so it describes your building and not a typical one.
Will we get a certificate of insurance?
Yes, one goes to your board with the proposal, and we can name your congregation or institution on it when your insurer asks. Coverage amounts and dates are on the certificate itself.
Walk-through
Tell us about the building
Send what you know: the building, who uses it and how old it is. We reply with a day for a walk-through with your trustees or your administrator.
Phone(504) 555-0101
Hours
- Monday – FridayToday
- 7 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
- Saturday – SundayToday
- By arrangement with your board
Evening and weekend access to your building is set in the proposal.