Exterior paint costs in Modesto

Modesto's houses are mostly middle-aged. The 1970s and '80s account for more than a third of the metro's homes, while only about 6% have gone up since 2010. So most owners here aren't painting a brand-new house. They're repainting one that has been painted before, maybe several times.

That history shows up in the prep. Every repaint adds a layer, and when an old layer loses its grip, it takes everything on top of it along. If you see paint peeling in patches that show more than one color underneath, that's what's happening. A good bid for an older Modesto house names that work plainly: find the loose paint, take it off, and prime the bare spots before the finish coats.

The weather leaves plenty of room. Of the roughly 12 inches the city-county airport records in a year, less than one falls from May through September. A summer job almost never gets rained out.

Winter mornings are the real limit. December and January lows sit in the upper 30s, and walls that cold take a while to warm and dry. A winter paint day here starts late and ends early, so the same job simply takes more days.