Exterior paint costs in Davenport

Cross the river from Davenport to Moline or Rock Island, and the lead-paint rulebook changes hands. Iowa is one of the states the EPA has authorized to run its own lead-safe renovation program. Illinois isn't on that list, so on the Illinois side the federal program applies directly. Either way, a painter paid to disturb paint on a pre-1978 home has to be certified, but the certificate should come from the right program for your address.

That matters a lot here, because the Quad Cities housing is old. Seven homes in ten across the metro predate 1980, and almost one in four was built by 1939. Davenport itself has about the same prewar share.

On houses that age, most of a painter's hours go into prep: scraping loose paint, sanding the edges smooth, priming bare wood, and keeping chips off the lawn and garden. Porch ceilings, window sashes and decorative trim on older houses are slow, hand-brushed work. A clean, sound recoat on a 1990s house is a much smaller job, and your photo usually shows which kind you have.