Verified record
Typical Greater Boston range for this kind of work, from regional averages — not a quote from Larkin Painting Company, Inc.. Use it to sanity-check bids, then get the real number in writing.
Finished floor area of the rooms in scope — not wall area.
Estimated range
$6,000 – $9,000
Typical painting project around $7,500
Larkin Painting is a Newton shop built around one thing: interior and exterior house painting for homeowners across the western suburbs of Boston, alongside wallpaper hanging and cabinet refinishing. The company says it's been at it for 25 years, run by owner Carol Diedtrich, and its Massachusetts home improvement contractor registration is active. The reviews people leave after actually hiring them lean heavily toward careful, well-organized work. In a 2022 review, a homeowner described two crews working the same house at once — one repainting kitchen cabinets, the other tackling walls, trim, and a stairway — and singled out office manager Christine for responding quickly to questions along the way. Another 2022 review credits Tom's team with wallpaper and painting work called an outstanding experience, and a Houzz reviewer, writing back in 2015, remembered Mike Bradshaw wallpapering four rooms in the blink of an eye. Google currently shows a 5★ average across seven ratings. Not every account is glowing: in a 2017 Houzz review, a homeowner reported that Larkin walked off a deck-prep job mid-contract after a dispute over how the surface would be prepped. It's the only serious complaint on record — specific enough that it's worth asking directly how a scope disagreement gets handled today rather than assuming it would repeat. Houzz's four ratings average 4.0★, against a perfect 5★ across Google's seven. An industry write-up (inpaintmag.com) credits the company with more than 20 years handling interior and exterior residential painting in the Boston area, and it carried an Angie's List Super Service Award every year from 1998 to 2011. This is a fit for a homeowner who wants a full room repainted or wallpapered without babysitting the crew — Christine and the office side get consistent credit for staying on top of communication. Before booking a bigger job, it's worth pinning down the prep plan and sign-off process in writing, given the one dispute on record.
“In business for more than 20 years, The Larkin Painting Company, Inc., handles a range of interior and exterior residential work in the Boston area.”
Excellent company
The staff is very professional, from the initial contact on. They were able to schedule me in a very reasonable time frame, they arrive on time, do the work beautifully and clean up completely. They are pleasant to have around and I'm very glad I worked with them.
Larkin just finished up a job in my house. There were two teams working: one to repaint my kitchen cabinets, and one to paint the walls and trim on the first floor, stairway and upstairs hall. They were very professional and I'm very happy with the work they did! Christine responded very quickly to any question I had along the way. There was very little disruption during the process, they contained the mess incredibly well with a masking process so what could've been a very messy job was quite manageable. The painters who worked on the walls and trim were also careful, efficient and professional. The job was finished within the timeframe promised. Very pleased all around!
We feel really lucky to have found Larkin. They have done both painting and wallpaper in our home and their work is excellent. Tom and his entire team are a pleasure to work with - professional, punctual and they really care about their work. An outstanding experience.
Larkin Painting did not honor their bid and their scope of work as described in the contract they drafted and when questioned about why they were not going to prep the surface properly, as indicated, they decided to walk off the job rather than actually do the job properly and do it according to the verbal and written commitment of both the field manager I met with and the office manager who put together the contract. This totally wasted my time and left me likely unable to secure another company to do the exterior work prior the cold weather and or rains arriving this fall compromising the wood deck. This can only be described as unprofessional and lacking in knowledge and ethics. The office manager Christine tried to even blame me for the potential for bad weather thanks to a hurricane heading up the coast. I would give them zero stars but that is not an option. They took a job to prep and re seal a deck. Then sent someone who had little experience with that type of work who wanted to do the minimum. I would advise anyone considering hiring these people to seriously consider another company. It was classic bait and switch. I am in the commercial real estate industry as an investor, developer and broker. so consider the review qualified. Shame on Larkin.
Specializes in
Also offers
Service area
Languages
1 change recorded — last scanned Sep 8, 2026.
Fixes rot first5.0
Exterior renovations4.9
Concrete floor polishing4.2
Returns years later for touch-ups4.3