Covington, Kentucky · Painting Contractor
NKY Home Service paints homes and businesses across Covington, from the historic streets near the river to the newer builds out toward the ridge. The same background-checked crew that walks your house and writes your estimate is the crew that shows up on day one. No subcontractors, ever.
Covington has some of the oldest housing stock in the state, and painting it is a different trade from painting a new build. Plaster instead of drywall. Ten and twelve foot ceilings. Deep window reveals, picture rails, and trim profiles with more detail in one door casing than a modern house has in a whole room.
None of that is a problem, but it does mean the work takes longer and the prep matters more. Plaster cracks have to be cut out and bedded rather than skimmed, or they come back through the paint in a season. Trim that has been painted a dozen times over a century needs cutting back before it will take a crisp line again. And in a house with that much millwork, the cut-in is most of the labour.
We handle whole-home repaints, single rooms, ceilings, stairwells and tall entry halls, original trim and doors, and finished basements. Floors and furniture get masked before a brush comes out.
Two things define exterior work in Covington. The first is that most of these houses predate 1978, which means lead paint is a live consideration rather than a theoretical one. Scraping and sanding are exactly what releases it, so it changes how the prep is contained and what it costs. We will tell you that up front rather than after the quote.
The second is that a lot of Covington is brick, and painted brick is a decision you only get to make once. Paint traps moisture in masonry that was built to breathe, and stripping it back off later is expensive and rarely clean. If your brick is sound, we will usually tell you to leave it and spend the money on the trim, cornices, window hoods, porches and ironwork instead, which is what people actually see from the sidewalk.
On the narrow historic streets, access is its own job. Tall three-storey facades tight to the pavement need proper staging rather than a ladder and optimism.
Covington carries a real mix of commercial space: storefronts and restaurants along the older business streets, converted upper floors, offices in the riverfront developments, and a large amount of rental and multi-family property. We paint retail units, restaurants, offices, common areas, stairwells and apartment turnovers.
The constraint is almost never the painting, it is working around your trading hours. We schedule evenings, weekends and phased sections so your doors stay open, and we keep the work area contained and signed while we are in it.
For landlords and property managers: unit turnovers on a fixed scope and a fixed date, which is usually what stands between a vacancy and a signed lease.
There are national franchises working this market and crews that will quote you cheap over the phone. Here is what is different about us.
★★★★★
"I highly recommend NKY Home Service! The toilet in my guest bathroom broke right before I was hosting a baby shower and Chris was able to fit me into his schedule and get it fixed. He was super nice and very affordable!"
Casey D.
★★★★★
"We contacted NKY Home Service to help us with a couple of touchup/patching spots on our walls. Our new home settled and there was a significant crack in the seam that couldn't be covered with paint alone. Chris, the friendliest person I've ever met, came and repaired the spots easily and quickly. He was timely and incredibly reasonable. I can't recommend this contractor enough."
Tara W.
★★★★★
"Very knowledgeable, professional, and affordable."
Seth W.
More than the same square footage in a newer suburb, and it is worth understanding why. Older Covington homes have taller ceilings, far more trim detail, plaster that needs proper repair, and often lead-safe containment on the exterior. All of that is prep, and prep is the job. We give you a free written estimate that itemizes it so you can see exactly what you are paying for and decide what to do now and what can wait.
Potentially quite a lot. Homes built before 1978 may have lead paint under later coats, and it is the disturbance, scraping, sanding, heat, that creates the hazard, not the paint sitting there. It changes how the work area is contained, how the debris is handled and what the job costs. Tell us the age of the house when we come out and we will walk you through it honestly before you commit to anything.
Usually no, and we would rather lose the job than talk you into it. Brick from this era was built to breathe, and paint traps moisture inside it, which over years pushes the face off the brick. It is also close to irreversible. If your brick is sound, put the money into trim, cornices, window hoods, porch and ironwork instead. If it has already been painted, or the brick is genuinely failing, that is a different conversation and we will have it with you.
A single room is usually a day. A whole-home interior repaint typically runs three to five working days depending on size and how much trim is involved. Exterior work on an older house runs longer than a newer one because the prep is the real job. Your written estimate gives you a specific window, not a range we quietly extend later.
Late spring through early fall is the reliable window in Northern Kentucky. Modern exterior coatings will cure down to around 35F, but humidity and dew matter more here than temperature, and paint applied late on an August afternoon can still be wet when the dew falls. We schedule around the forecast rather than pushing a job into weather that will cost you the finish.
No. Not for overflow, not in the busy season, not ever. This is the single biggest difference between us and the franchise operations working this market, and it is the reason the quality is consistent from job to job. The person who quotes your house is on site doing the work.
Painting is what most people call us for first, but we handle the rest of the exterior maintenance too, which usually means one crew you already trust instead of four you have to vet.
Siding, driveways, walkways, patios and decks. Also the first step before any exterior repaint.
Pressure washing in Northern KentuckyClearing and flushing gutters and downspouts before the fall backs them up and the water finds your fascia.
Gutter cleaning in Northern KentuckyDrywall, trim carpentry, wood rot repair and the smaller fixes that need doing before paint goes on.
Remodeling and repairsOur full painting service across Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties.
All painting servicesWe also paint in Newport, Fort Mitchell, Fort Wright, Park Hills, Ludlow, Taylor Mill, Erlanger, Edgewood and Villa Hills.
Tell us what you are thinking about and we will come look at it. The estimate is free, it is written down, and there is no pressure attached to it.