AI for commercial painting contractors, tested on bids you already priced and logs your crews already kept.

One industry code, two kinds of work. NAICS 238320 covers establishments primarily engaged in interior or exterior painting or interior wall covering, and the examples published with it include bridge painting. A school corridor and a steel girder share that number, yet almost nothing about their paperwork matches, so this page offers two places to start.

The trade's own standard draws that line. PCA P13, from the Painting Contractors Association, says architectural paint on interior surfaces should be accepted as a properly painted surface, the test its P1 standard defines, and names dry film thickness as a criterion for industrial protective coatings, linings and exterior paints. One side of your shop answers to a finish schedule and the other to numbers in a log.

One word can add a coat to every wall. MPI's interior painting guide, revised April 2022, separates Custom Grade, typically one primer and one finish coat, from Premium Grade, typically one primer and two finish coats, and asks that the finish schedule show where each applies. Texas State University's paint standard sets its work at MPI Premium Grade unless otherwise specified. Your estimators have already read that word and carried the labor for it, so each old bid arrives with its answer attached.

The surface belongs to someone else until you start. PCA P4 makes the contracting entity responsible for deciding that a surface is complete and ready for finish. The painter inspects only for reasonable and visible evidence that the finish will adhere, and halts work until directed if unacceptable work isn't corrected. How that applies depends on your contract, and nothing here is legal advice, but who accepted what is exactly what exclusions and daily entries have to show.

Public steel adds a gate before the first blast. Illinois DOT's provision for cleaning and painting existing steel structures, revised October 17, 2025, asks the painting contractor for SSPC-QP1 certification, plus SSPC-QP2 on lead abatement work, unless the plans say otherwise. Whoever manages its quality control must show a named inspector credential and three comparable bridge inspections from the last two years.

Water tanks write a cost into the specification. New York State's 2024 master specification for steel water storage tank painting calls for compliance with AWWA D102, Coating Steel Water Storage Tanks, and NSF 61 for materials touching potable water. It makes dehumidification equipment mandatory, tells bidders to carry its rental, fuel and running costs, and keeps the tank from being filled until the owner's representative has observed the cure and holds the contractor's letter certifying it.

The limit on both jobs. The proof of concept works on copies. It never touches your estimating or job cost system or a live bid or log, and it never decides that a surface is ready to coat, a reading is acceptable or a coating meets a specification. An estimator checks every bid sheet, a qualified foreman or inspector signs every log, and certified payroll stays out.