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Every listed contractor is checked for active NJ registration, insurance and reputation — no pay-to-rank
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Updated August 27, 2026
Best painting contractors in South Jersey: who we vetted, and how to check the rest
Right now, one painting company has passed our vetting: Painting Plus Home Improvement LLC in Cherry Hill, serving Camden, Burlington and Gloucester counties. This page exists because a quick Google search for painters in South Jersey turns up a franchise, Yelp, a Reddit thread and eight painters each calling themselves the best — and not one neutral source that explains what “vetted” should actually mean.
Three things to know before you hire anyone: painting is explicitly named in New Jersey’s home-improvement law, so every painter needs an active 13VH registration. Any job over $500 needs a written contract. And if your house was built before 1978 — most of Haddonfield, Collingswood and older Cherry Hill — the crew disturbing that paint needs EPA lead-safe certification.
Our vetted pick: Painting Plus Home Improvement, Cherry Hill
Painting Plus Home Improvement LLC is the only painter currently in the South Jersey Contractors directory, and it’s there because it passed the same checks every listing goes through: active New Jersey home-improvement registration, liability insurance on file, and a reputation review that includes reading the actual customer feedback, not just the star count. Nobody paid for this position. We don’t sell them.
Painting Plus Home Improvement LLC — Cherry Hill, NJ
5 Perina Blvd, Cherry Hill, NJ 08003 · (856) 669-7500 · paintingplushome.com
A family-owned painting company based off Route 70 in Cherry Hill. The core business is interior and exterior house painting, but the service list runs wider than most South Jersey painters: drywall repair, wallpaper removal, deck and fence staining, stucco painting, pressure washing, and commercial work. That matters in practice — a painter who patches drywall properly before the first coat is the difference between a two-year and a ten-year paint job.
Service area: Camden, Burlington and Gloucester counties as the core, with dedicated coverage for Cherry Hill, Voorhees, Moorestown and Mount Laurel, and service pages extending across all seven South Jersey counties and into Philadelphia.
What stood out in vetting: a published, free on-site estimate process (connect → schedule → written quote), membership in the Painting Contractors Association, Google Guaranteed badge on the company site, and a service list that covers the prep work most painters subcontract or skip.
💡 Why is there only one painter on this list?
Because we only list companies we’ve actually checked. Angi and HomeAdvisor will show you forty painters in South Jersey — every one of them paid to be there. Yelp will show you the ones with the most reviews, not the ones with a current registration. We’d rather publish one verified name and teach you how to vet the rest than pad a listicle with companies we’ve never looked at. As more painters pass vetting, they’ll be added here. If you run a painting company in South Jersey, submit it for review.
Yes, painters in NJ need a home-improvement registration
Every painting contractor working on a home in New Jersey must hold an active Home Improvement Contractor registration from the NJ Division of Consumer Affairs. The registration number starts with 13VH and has to appear on their contracts, estimates, ads and trucks. This is the single most common thing South Jersey homeowners get wrong about painters — the assumption is that “painting isn’t construction,” so the rule doesn’t apply.
It applies by name. New Jersey’s regulation defines home improvement as “the remodeling, altering, painting, repairing, renovating, restoring, moving, demolishing, or modernizing of residential or non-commercial property” (N.J.A.C. 13:45A-17.2). Painting is the third word. There is no exemption for small jobs, single rooms, or “just a guy who does painting on the side.”
Registration isn’t a formality. To hold it, a contractor must carry commercial general liability insurance and renew every year. Since 2024, registered businesses also file a badge declaration identifying the people who sell home-improvement work on their behalf. An unregistered painter can’t be issued a municipal permit and has no insurance on file with the state — which means if a ladder goes through your bay window in Moorestown, you’re the insurance policy.
✅ How to check a painter’s 13VH number in under two minutes
Go to the state’s lookup at njconsumeraffairs.gov/hic, search the business name (not the owner’s name — that’s a different search), and confirm the status reads Active with a current expiration. We wrote a full walkthrough, including the annual-renewal detail most guides get wrong: NJ Contractor License Lookup: how to verify a 13VH number.
If your house is pre-1978, ask about lead-safe certification
Any contractor disturbing more than six square feet of interior paint, or twenty square feet exterior, in a home built before 1978 must work for an EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firm and follow lead-safe work practices under the federal Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) rule. That covers scraping, sanding, and most exterior prep on older siding and trim.
This isn’t an edge case in South Jersey. Haddonfield, Collingswood, Merchantville, Audubon, Woodbury and the older neighborhoods of Cherry Hill and Camden County are full of pre-war and mid-century housing with lead paint under the current coats. A painter who power-sands a 1920s Haddonfield porch without containment is spreading lead dust into your yard and your kids’ bedroom, and the fine for the contractor can run into five figures per violation.
Ask the question directly: “Is your company an EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firm, and who’s the certified renovator on my job?” A legitimate painter will have a certificate number and won’t be offended. You can verify at the EPA’s RRP program page.
What painters charge in South Jersey
We don’t publish our own price estimates — we’re a directory, not an estimator, and the honest answer for any painting job is “it depends on prep.” What we can do is point to what a vetted local painter publishes. On its own site, Painting Plus states that New Jersey painters typically charge $25–$75 per hour, and that homeowners should expect $2–$6 per square foot or $300–$800+ per room, with exteriors and specialty finishes running higher. Those are their published figures, not ours, and they’re a reasonable frame for reading the quotes you get.
What actually moves the number, in the order that matters:
| Cost driver | Why it matters in South Jersey | Ask the painter |
|---|---|---|
| Prep work | Older Camden County plaster, peeling shore-house trim, nail pops in 1990s Washington Township drywall — prep is 40–60% of labor on most jobs | “Is patching, sanding and priming itemized, or lumped into the coat price?” |
| Lead-safe containment | Required on pre-1978 homes; adds plastic, HEPA cleanup and a certified renovator’s time | “Is RRP compliance priced in, or will it be a change order?” |
| Exterior access | Three-story shore homes in Ocean City and Margate need lift or scaffold; a Marlton split-level doesn’t | “Is equipment rental a separate line?” |
| Paint grade | Coastal exteriors need a mildew-resistant, UV-stable line; the cheap gallon fails in two shore summers | “Which product and sheen, exactly, and is it on the contract?” |
| Color changes | Dark-to-light or red-to-anything usually means primer plus two coats instead of one | “How many coats are you quoting, and what happens if it needs a third?” |
If two quotes are more than 30% apart for the same scope, the cheaper one is almost always missing prep or coats. Get the scope in writing before comparing dollars.
When to paint an exterior in South Jersey
The exterior painting window in South Jersey runs roughly late April through mid-October, and the best of it is May–June and September–early October. Most exterior paints want surface and air temperatures above 50°F and a dry stretch of 24–48 hours after application. That rules out a lot more of our calendar than people expect.
- July–August is worse than it looks. Afternoon humidity near the Delaware and down the shore slows curing and traps moisture under the film. A good painter will work mornings and stop before the 3 p.m. thunderstorm, which means a July job takes longer than a May job.
- Watch the tropical remnants. Ida flooded much of South Jersey in early September 2021. Late-summer exterior work needs a painter who checks the forecast and is willing to push a week.
- Shore homes: paint after the nor’easter season, not before. A spring coat on an Avalon or Sea Isle exterior that then takes a March storm the following year is fine; an October coat that isn’t fully cured before the first coastal storm is not.
- Interior work is year-round — and January–March is when many South Jersey painters have open calendars and sharper pricing.
How to hire a painter in South Jersey: the contract rules that protect you
New Jersey’s consumer-fraud rules give homeowners more written protection on painting jobs than almost any other state, but only if you use them. Four rules to hold every painter to:
Beyond the paperwork, ask the questions that separate a professional from a guy with a van. Our general list is here — 10 questions to ask any contractor before you sign — and these are the painting-specific ones:
- Who is actually on my job — your employees, or a subcontractor crew? If subs, are they covered under your insurance?
- Can I see the certificate of insurance, issued to me by your agent, not a photocopy?
- What’s your prep process on this specific surface, step by step?
- Spray, brush or roll — and why, for my house?
- What’s your touch-up and warranty policy, and is it in the contract?
- Can you give me two addresses in my town where I can drive past your exterior work from last year?
⚠️ The “we don’t need a 13VH for painting” line
You will hear it. It’s wrong, and a painter who says it either doesn’t know the law that governs their business or is hoping you don’t. Either way, that’s your answer. Check any name at njconsumeraffairs.gov/hic before the first deposit.
Painting jobs that overlap with other trades
Half the painting calls in South Jersey are really something else first. Before you book a painter, check whether the job needs another vetted trade in front of it:
- Peeling exterior paint on wood siding may be a moisture problem behind the siding. Painting over it buys a year. Compare with replacement first: Best Siding Companies in South Jersey.
- Deck and fence staining is painting-adjacent and Painting Plus does it — but if the boards are soft or the posts are rotted at grade, staining is wasted money. See what a deck costs in South Jersey and the vetted profiles for Garden State Decks and Liberi Fence.
- Interior stains that keep coming back through fresh paint are almost always a roof, gutter or plumbing leak. Find the source before the third coat.
Browse every vetted trade at the painting contractors archive, or by area: Cherry Hill · Camden County.
South Jersey painter FAQ
How much do painters charge per room in NJ?
Painting Plus, our vetted Cherry Hill painter, publishes a range of $300 to $800+ per room for New Jersey, with the low end for a simple color refresh and the high end for rooms needing patching, ceiling work or trim. Get the prep scope in writing before comparing per-room prices.
Do painters need a license in New Jersey?
New Jersey doesn’t issue a “painter’s license,” but every painting contractor working on a home must hold an active Home Improvement Contractor registration (a 13VH number) from the Division of Consumer Affairs. Painting is named explicitly in the state’s definition of home improvement. Verify any painter at njconsumeraffairs.gov/hic.
What is the best month to paint a house exterior in South Jersey?
May, June and September. They combine temperatures above 50°F, lower humidity than July–August, and fewer afternoon storms. October works in a dry year but leaves little curing time before the first nor’easter, especially on shore homes.
Is it cheaper to paint yourself or hire a painter?
For a single interior room in a post-1978 house, DIY is cheaper and reasonable. For exteriors, ceilings, pre-1978 homes, or anything with real prep, hiring usually costs less over ten years — a professional prep job is why the coat lasts. On pre-1978 homes, DIY sanding also puts you, not a certified firm, in charge of lead containment.
Do professional painters spray or roll?
Both, depending on the surface. Spraying is faster on exteriors, new drywall and cabinets; rolling and back-brushing pushes paint into textured siding and old wood better and holds up longer on weathered South Jersey exteriors. Ask which method is quoted for each surface, and why.
How do I find a good painter near me in South Jersey?
Start with a registration check at njconsumeraffairs.gov/hic, ask for a certificate of insurance issued directly to you, request two local addresses of year-old exterior work, and get the prep scope and product names in a written contract. Our directory only lists painters who’ve already cleared those checks.
Need a painter you don’t have to double-check?
Painting Plus Home Improvement passed our vetting for NJ registration, insurance and reputation. Read the profile, then call them directly — we don’t sell leads and we don’t take a cut.
🛠️ Know a painter worth featuring? Call (888) 863-7421 or contact us — serving all 7 South Jersey counties.
