Jerome Cromartie
Owner
Walks every building before the bid is written and reads the bid with the board.
Condo and HOA painting, Washington, DC
Your common areas, repainted while the building stays open.
Cromartie Painting repaints corridors, stairwells, lobbies, garages and exteriors for condo associations and HOAs in the District and nearby Maryland and Virginia. Work is scheduled around residents, priced by space and written up for the board before it votes.
Start where you sit
Spaces we paint
Every shared space in the building
The bid lists each space by name and floor, so the board votes on a scope and not a lump.
Corridors and halls
Walls, ceilings, base and door frames, floor by floor, with carpet covered and every unit door masked.
Lobbies and mail rooms
Done in stages so deliveries, visitors and the mail carrier still get through.
Unit entry doors
Refinished to one color down the whole hall, so no door looks different from its neighbor.
Stairwells and stair rails
Walls, rails, landings and fire doors. One stair stays open for residents while the other is worked.
Balconies and railings
Scraped, primed and painted from a lift or swing stage, with owners' furniture left where it is.
Entrances and facades
Doors, awnings, trim and masonry at the front of the building, painted in the quiet hours.
How bids work
How a common-area bid is priced
A bid is written by space and floor. Your written bid sets the number.
What moves a bid
The condition of the surfaces, how high and how hard to reach they are, and when the crew can work decide the number.
Peeling paint and failed patches add prep days
Stair towers and balconies need a lift or stage
Quiet hours and elevator reservations shape the schedule
Buildings built before 1978 follow the EPA renovation rule
What a bid states, and what it doesn't
Every corridor, stair and door named by floor, with the prep, primer and number of coats, the paint, sheen and approved color, and the schedule. Repairs found once the paint is off and extra colors are left out.
When you get the number
In writing, for your property, after a walk-through with the manager or a board member. A board sees every number before it votes.
If the job changes
We stop, photograph what we found and write a change order for the board before going on.
The board packet
What a board needs to vote, in one folder
Every item is a file you can open, forward or print for the meeting. The license and insurance lines come from the firm's own records.
In the packet
Scope by space
Each corridor, stair and door on its own line, with floors and prep.
Sample bid
A finished bid for a building like yours, line by line.
Resident schedule
The one-page notice that goes on every door.
Color approval sheet
Paint name, sheen and sample board, signed before anything is ordered.
Certificate of insurance
Your association and manager named as holder.
W-9
The firm's current form, for the management company's vendor file.
Living in the building
What residents see, in order
The work runs on notice, so nobody learns about it from a ladder in the hallway.
A week before
A one-page notice goes on every door: which floor, which days, the crew lead's name and the office number.
The day before
Carpet and floors are covered, unit doors are masked and the work area is marked off. The other stair and the elevator stay open.
Painting days
Walls and ceilings first, then doors and trim. The crew lead walks the floor each afternoon and takes residents' questions.
The last day
Masking comes off, the floor is cleaned and the manager walks it with the crew lead. Touch-ups are done before we move to the next floor.
The people on your property
Who answers the phone and who paints
Fifteen people in all: the owner, the bid desk and three crews. Crew leads are on site every day.
Althea Trammell
Bid desk and board liaison
Builds the packet, books crews and is the one contact for managers.
Amir Dantzler
Crew lead, corridors and lobbies
Leads the crew that takes most occupied-building floors.
Zora Coker
Crew lead, exteriors and garages
Leads the crew on lifts, railings and parking levels.
Malachi Hickman
Crew lead, stairs and doors
Leads the crew on stairwells, fire doors and unit entries.
From the people who hired us
Boards and managers, in their words
“The notice on our doors named the crew lead and the days. We had two calls the whole job, both about parking.”
Madeline R.Board president, 60-unit condominium
“Our bid listed every stair and landing on its own line. The board voted from the packet at one meeting.”
Prakash N.Treasurer, townhome association
“They sent the certificate and W-9 before the first day and kept to the elevator reservations I gave them.”
Eloise G.Property manager, three mid-rise buildings
“Every unit door on the sixth floor came out the same color. Residents noticed that more than the walls.”
Tariq A.Community manager
Sample reviews.
Buildings we paint, by neighborhood
The District and the suburbs next to it
We take buildings where a crew can be on site every working day of the job.
- District of Columbia: Capitol Hill, Columbia Heights, Petworth, Shaw, Navy Yard, Brookland, Mount Pleasant, Logan Circle, NoMa
- Prince George's County: Hyattsville, Mount Rainier, Riverdale Park, College Park, Greenbelt
- Northern Virginia: Arlington, Alexandria
We don't work outside the Washington, DC area, and we don't take single-family homes through this site.
Questions boards ask first
How do you work without shutting the building?
We paint one floor, stair or space at a time and tell residents what is closing, when, and for how long, with a notice on every door a week ahead. Corridors stay passable, entries are never blocked and the elevator is shared, not taken. The schedule is written into the bid.
What is in your board packet?
A written scope by space, a schedule residents can read, a sample bid, our certificate of insurance, our W-9, a color approval sheet and a short list of associations you can call. It is built so a board can vote from the packet alone.
Who approves the colors?
Your board does. We bring painted sample boards to the building, hung in the real light of the corridor, and record the choice on an approval sheet with the paint's name and sheen. Nothing is ordered until the sheet is signed.
Our building was built before 1978. Does that change anything?
It can. The EPA's rule for renovation, repair and painting applies to paid work that disturbs paint in homes and child-occupied buildings built before 1978, and the firm doing the work must be certified for it. Tell us the year at the walk-through. If your building is covered we set up containment, don't dry-sand or burn paint, clean up with a HEPA vacuum and give residents the EPA's pamphlet before work starts. Our firm number is in the footer.
What does the bid not include?
Repairs found once the paint is off, such as plaster, water damage or rusted rails past surface treatment, extra colors beyond those on the approval sheet, and work outside the listed spaces. If we find something, we stop, photograph it and write a change order for the board before going on.
How are payments scheduled?
Most associations pay a deposit when the board signs, progress payments by floor or stage, and a final payment after the punch-list walk. The schedule is on the bid, and we invoice the management company if you ask us to.
Request a walk-through
Tell us about the building
Three short steps. We reply with a time for the walk-through and the questions we will ask your manager.