Exterior paint costs in Omaha

In parts of Omaha, lead in the yard and lead on the house are one story. The EPA's Omaha Lead Superfund site, which runs from the Missouri River west to 56th Street, began with smelter pollution in residential soil. But the agency had already named lead-based paint as a possible source of lead in soil within 30 inches of a painted house's foundation. Its 2009 cleanup plan included stabilizing deteriorating exterior lead-based paint, along with digging out contaminated yards.

That's why careful prep matters here. When a crew scrapes an old house, the chips that fall into the flower beds stay in the soil. Federal rules require any paid painter working on a pre-1978 home to be certified in lead-safe work, which means ground covers, containment and a daily cleanup.

Plenty of Omaha houses are old enough for this: six in ten in the city predate 1980, and about one in six goes back before 1940. On those houses, porches, eaves and window trim tend to carry the oldest coats.

A newer house out west is a different job. Most new houses finished across the Midwest in 2024 were sided in vinyl, so a newer Omaha house may only need paint on its trim, doors and garage door.