Catchlight Painting

Squirrels chewed up the crown molding on the eaves of a mansard roof, and the homeowner assumed the whole run would have to come off. The craftsman Catchlight sent replicated the original profile instead. That is the kind of job this Newton company gets called for: rooms in an 1890s Brookline house, a big Victorian covered in detailing, a hundred-year-old window bench sanded back to bare wood, the natural wood of a front-door frame cut, stained and blended into what was already there. Nigel Costolloe owns it, and the site dates the business to 1994 — though one page says 31 years and another says 25. Customers name a lot of people. Pete and Chris on estimates; Marcos, Sisco, Rigo, Carlos, Alex and Eddie with the brushes; Mackenzie in the office, who in 2023 emailed to confirm each visit and left a back-up contact and the painters' mobile number before going on vacation. A December 2024 customer having several rooms painted in her 1890s Brookline home called the crew highly skilled; in June 2026 the owner of a large Victorian said the house had never looked better. They keep every colour mixed for a house on file for later, and in January 2025 a customer with weathered mahogany and pressure-treated timber said Pete talked through the coating options with him before the work was priced. They are not the cheap bid, and their own satisfied customers say so — one writing in December 2025 said the services aren't cheap while still calling them the best painting and handyman team she has worked with. That is also where the unhappy accounts begin. A January 2025 customer who chose them for historic-home work said the job started eight months after signing and was charged above the original estimate. In October 2025 another said a paint-removal trial, four small samples applied and later removed with about an hour of work each visit, cost $1,000. A December 2024 customer said their quote was at the high end of the estimates he collected. One thing to settle before you sign: the state registry shows Catchlight Painting's Massachusetts home improvement contractor registration, number 117503, as expired. Ask where that stands now, get the start date and the schedule in writing, and have a large exterior priced line by line. For an old house that needs paint and the carpentry that goes with it, this is a crew people bring back for a second and third house — provided the timing and the number are agreed up front.