Commercial painting recruiters serving Winston-Salem.
Healthcare-grade coatings for the Freischlag Tower are a real niche; conventional commercial painting tracks close to national parity.
One of the largest healthcare projects in regional history.
Metro pay for every role we recruit is in the table below. What the hub does name: the Freischlag Tower as the driver of a real healthcare-grade coatings niche.
We recruit across the full org chart for commercial painting contractors in Winston-Salem against that documented context.
A new care tower on the main campus.
One named driver, completing 2026.
-
One of the largest healthcare capital projects in the region's history - the named driver behind healthcare-grade coatings.
What commercial painting roles pay in Winston-Salem.
In the Winston-Salem metro, BLS puts the median for painters, construction and maintenance at $37,950 a year, 23% below the $49,400 national median. Among the 112 metros BLS publishes for this occupation, Winston-Salem ranks 110th on pay. Most of the market sits between $27,720 and $55,970. Of the other field roles, industrial coatings sprayer pays the most locally, at a $48,090 median. BLS does not publish Winston-Salem pay for painter helper, which it withholds where a metro's sample is too small to be reliable. National benchmarks by role are in the 2026 Commercial Painting Salary Guide.
| Role | Winston-Salem median | Typical range | National median | vs. national | Employed locally |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial PainterPainters, Construction and Maintenance (47-2141) | $37,950 | $27,720–$55,970 | $49,400 | −23% | 350 |
| Painter HelperHelpers--Painters, Paperhangers, Plasterers, and Stucco Masons (47-3014) | – | – | $40,470 | – | – |
| Industrial Coatings SprayerCoating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders (51-9124) | $48,090 | $35,020–$60,530 | $48,250 | 0% | 390 |
| Painting ForemanFirst-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers (47-1011) | $74,360 | $49,940–$104,740 | $79,920 | −7% | – |
| EstimatorCost Estimators (13-1051) | $71,220 | $36,300–$106,740 | $78,740 | −10% | – |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Winston-Salem metro. Range is 10th to 90th percentile. Headcount is shown for field occupations only; management, estimating and supervisory codes are counted across every industry in the metro.
What candidates expect. What credentials matter. What kills offers.
We don't tell prospective clients who their competitors are hiring - that's a discipline our clients value, and we'll honor it on a call. What we will share publicly: how Winston-Salem commercial painting hiring actually plays out in 2026.
Why we name the Freischlag Tower specifically
The metro's own data ties healthcare-grade coatings directly to this new care tower on the main Ardmore campus.
Why national parity is the honest baseline here
The hub is explicit: conventional commercial painting tracks close to national parity, with the Freischlag Tower as the named exception.
What this means for sourcing
We source against verified healthcare-grade coatings experience for Freischlag Tower-adjacent roles, and standard commercial experience at near-national-parity rates for conventional repaint work.
Realistic timelines
Standard commercial painting roles: 4-6 weeks intake to signed offer. Healthcare-grade specialty roles run longer given the smaller qualified pool. First slate of vetted candidates within 48 hours regardless.
The commercial painting positions we fill, most often.
Across all Winston-Salem commercial painting clients, these are the highest-volume roles we've recruited for in the last 24 months.
- Healthcare-grade coatings applicator (hospital tower)
- Commercial painter
- Commercial painting project manager
For the broader picture across every commercial trade in Winston-Salem, see the Winston-Salem metro overview. To learn more about commercial painting generally (across all 100+ markets we serve), see our Commercial Painting industry page.
How we recruit commercial painting in Winston-Salem, plainly.
Same approach we use in every market - but tuned for what works in Winston-Salem's commercial painting segment specifically:
- Same-day intake call. We get the role, the project context, the budget, your dealbreakers. For Winston-Salem painting work, we also confirm whether healthcare-grade experience is required.
- Candidate sourcing within 48 hours. We pull from our existing Winston-Salem commercial painting candidate network, filtered for verified healthcare-grade coatings experience where relevant.
- Vetted short list (week one to several weeks). Three to five candidates. We verify real coatings history rather than a line on a resume.
- Offer and close. Standard roles close in 4-6 weeks. We help with offer math against Winston-Salem's documented general context.
Winston-Salem runs 10% fewer commercial painting workers per job than the country as a whole — below the national concentration. Fewer per job means the people you want are already working, and usually for someone who would rather keep them.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 , Painters, Construction and Maintenance. Metro-wide figures for the base occupation; the wage table above is role-specific and commercial.
How Winston-Salem's commercial painting market compares
In 2023 the Winston-Salem metro had 8 nonresidential painting contractors (counted by business location), with about 69 people on their payrolls. Average pay at those firms was $44,332, 34.5% below the national average of $67,733 for the same kind of employer. Headcount fell 5.5% over the year, in step with a 1.9% national decline. That works out to 1.2 per 100,000 residents against 2.0 nationally. Fewer local employers means experienced people are easier to identify, but many work for firms based outside the metro. These firms account for 0.5% of all construction employment in the metro.
Among the 100 metros we cover with published BLS figures, Winston-Salem ranks 84th for headcount, 98th for median pay and 52nd for concentration for painters, construction and maintenance. Pay here is among the lowest we see, which makes relocation offers from higher-paying metros a real retention risk.
| Metro | Employed | Median pay | Concentration | Commercial employers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlotte | 1,370 | $44,900 | 0.70 | 43 |
| Raleigh | 810 | $45,360 | 0.76 | 24 |
| Greensboro | 350 | $41,870 | 0.66 | 18 |
| Winston-Salem | 350 | $37,950 | 0.90 | 8 |
| Durham-Chapel Hill | 260 | $46,520 | 0.52 | 5 |
BLS OEWS occupation figures and QCEW business-location counts; a dash means not published.
What this means for hiring:For commercial painting employers in Winston-Salem, the local pool is thin and local employers have been cutting headcount. Senior hires often come from outside the metro or from adjacent trades, so start searches earlier than you would elsewhere.
Sources: BLS QCEW 2023 annual averages and BLS OEWS May 2025, Winston-Salem metro. Employers are counted by business location.
How Winston-Salem's commercial painting market has changed since 2018.
Winston-Salem lost nonresidential painting contractors between 2018 and 2023, from 9 business locations to 8 (down 11%), behind the 4% national decline. With so few firms, one opening or closing moves that percentage a long way.
| Measure | 2018 | 2023 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nonresidential painting contractors: business locations | 9 | 8 | −11% |
| Nonresidential painting contractors: employment | – | 69 | – |
| Nonresidential painting contractors: average annual pay | – | $44,332 | – |
BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, private employers, annual averages. A dash means BLS did not publish the figure.
Frequently asked — commercial painting hiring in Winston-Salem.
What is Winston-Salem's named healthcare coatings demand center?
The $450M Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Freischlag Tower, one of the largest healthcare capital projects in the region's history - named directly in the metro's own data as the driver of healthcare-grade coatings.
Is commercial painting expensive to staff in Winston-Salem?
Conventional commercial painting tracks close to national parity, outside the Freischlag Tower healthcare-grade niche.
What do painters, construction and maintenance earn in Winston-Salem?
BLS puts the Winston-Salem median for painters, construction and maintenance at $37,950 a year, 23% below the $49,400 national median. That ranks 110th of 112 metros with published figures, in the bottom quarter. Most of the market sits between $27,720 and $55,970, a 2.0x gap and a moderate spread, so a few thousand dollars over the median buys real experience. Within North Carolina, Durham-Chapel Hill pays more, at $46,520.
Is it hard to hire painters, construction and maintenance in Winston-Salem?
It is about average. Painters, construction and maintenance are as common in Winston-Salem as they are nationally (location quotient 0.90), with about 350 in the metro. The 8 nonresidential painting contractors here average about 8.6 employees per location. There are 11% fewer of those firms than in 2018, so experienced people have fewer local employers to move between.
Which commercial painting roles pay the most in Winston-Salem?
Of the roles we recruit for, Painting Foreman pays the most in Winston-Salem, a $74,360 median (BLS measures that occupation across all industries in the metro). Among field roles the top earner is Industrial Coatings Sprayer at $48,090, 35% below it. Commercial Painter is the lowest-paid field role at $37,950. Commercial Painter trails national pay the most (23% below).
How many nonresidential painting contractors operate in Winston-Salem?
BLS counted 8 nonresidential painting contractors in Winston-Salem in 2023, employing about 69 people between them. Down from 9 in 2018, a 11% decline against 4% decline nationally. That averages 8.6 people per location. They pay an average of $44,332, 35% below the $67,733 national average for the same kind of employer.
Which nearby metros compete with Winston-Salem for painters, construction and maintenance?
The closest metros we cover with published figures are Greensboro (25 miles, about 350, $41,870 median), Charlotte (69 miles, about 1,370, $44,900 median) and Durham-Chapel Hill (75 miles, about 260, $46,520 median). Charlotte has the larger pool, so it is the first place to look for senior people willing to move. Greensboro pays 10% more, which is where Winston-Salem employers tend to lose people.
Hiring commercial painting talent in Winston-Salem?
Tell us the role. We'll tell you timeline and where we'd source the candidate - in under 30 minutes.