Business phone system for painting and wall covering contractors

Painting and wall covering contractors in the United States

County Business Patterns counted 38,280 painting and wall covering contractors in the U.S. in 2023 (NAICS 238320, Painting and Wall Covering Contractors). They employed 208,201 people in mid-March and paid $11.5 billion in annual payroll. The average establishment has 5.4 employees. That is 11.3 establishments for every 100,000 residents.

California has the most (4,880), followed by Florida (4,421), New York (2,579), and Washington (1,809). Relative to population, Idaho leads with 26.8 per 100,000 residents, and District of Columbia has the fewest at 1.7.

Why the phone matters for painting and wall covering contractors

Painting contractors book work through estimate calls, and crews are often on ladders when the phone rings. Fast callbacks help win estimates before a competitor does.

Calls painting and wall covering contractors commonly handle:

• A homeowner calls for an exterior painting estimate.
• A property manager calls about repainting a vacant unit.
• A customer calls to change colors.
• The contractor calls a customer to confirm the start date.
• A builder calls about a new-construction schedule.

Texting and after-hours calls

Painters text estimate confirmations, start dates and color approvals.

After-hours calls are mostly estimate requests.

How big painting and wall covering contractors are

75.1% of U.S. painting and wall covering contractors with employees had fewer than five people in March 2023. 88.8% had fewer than ten. Most phone decisions in this industry are made for small teams, where one shared number and sensible routing matter more than a desk phone per person.

Painting and wall covering contractors by state

Establishment counts for the 51 states (and DC) where Census published a figure, with the rate per 100,000 residents.

Largest metro areas for painting and wall covering contractors

Census published painting contractor counts for 660 metro and micropolitan areas. The 25 largest:

Callata vs. per-seat pricing for painting and wall covering contractors in the U.S.

The average U.S. painting contractor has 5.4 employees, so the comparison uses a 5-person team. Priced per seat, 5 users would run $150.00 a month on RingCentral RingEX Core and $124.75 on Ooma Office Pro (month-to-month list prices, checked September 28, 2026). On Callata the same 5 people cost $99.00 a month, less than either per-seat plan.

The annual difference against RingCentral's monthly list price comes to $612. Some vendors discount annual contracts; the table shows month-to-month prices.

How Callata works for painting and wall covering contractors

For $99 a month, Callata puts a team of up to 5 on one plan ($20 for each person after that): up to 3 local numbers, unlimited inbound calls, a pooled allowance of 1,500 outbound US and Canada minutes per user, browser and cell calling, voicemail transcription with urgency triage, recorded calls with AI summaries and business-hours routing, with E911 on every number.

Existing numbers can be ported at no charge, and team texting turns on after the one-time $49 carrier registration (10DLC) is approved.

Optional AI agents (receptionist, sales, support or scheduler) can answer calls after hours or when nobody picks up, take messages, text, email and transfer to your team. They are billed from prepaid AI minutes at $0.25 per minute, identify themselves as AI, and may only place outbound calls to people who consented, between 8am and 9pm.