Local Painting Company Gives Back Through Pro Bono Projects

The Arizona Painting Company, which has been serving Maricopa and Pima counties since 2001, is one of the largest residential and commercial painting companies in the state.

For the better part of the last decade, the Valley-based painting conglomerate has been an active supporter and participant in the nationwide Paint It Forward initiative, which provides a fully financed large-scale painting project to deserving homeowners, businesses and charities throughout the Phoenix and Tucson areas. These individuals and organizations are nominated by friends and family and are hand-selected by the Arizona Painting Company team.

Co-owner and CEO Doug Caris says that it’s his vision to eventually be able to do 15 Paint It Forward projects a year. “I think that would be so cool to help out 15 people that need to have a paint job and can’t afford it,” he says.

At its current capacity, Arizona Painting Company is able to award four complimentary painting projects — one for each retail location in Chandler, Glendale and Tucson, as well as the Chandler corporate office. Each project is valued at “a minimum of a $5,000 paint job,” Caris says, adding that they can often reach up to $10,000, depending on the case.

Nominations are submitted online and the selection is decided after three to six months of community outreach (i.e., radio advertisements and e-notices). “We basically ask for people to nominate somebody that they know that really needs the paint job, but can’t afford it,” Caris says.

Letitia Discoe is one of this year’s Paint It Forward recipients. The Peoria single mom of two sons with autism was nominated by a friend and has lived in her house for nearly 15 years without being able to repaint it. The house “really needed a paint job and [Discoe] is working full-time and trying to help get her kids the care they need, too,” Caris says.

After being chosen for Paint It Forward, Arizona Painting Company was able to paint the entire exterior of the house, the backyard storage shed, the main interior hallway, and both her boys’ rooms. Discoe says her eldest son, Connor, was in definite need of a fresh coat of paint — his walls have had circus animals for nearly a decade and a half. “It was super cute back then [but] he’s 19 now … So he’s very happy to have a grown-up room,” she says.

“Everyone there was super amazing,” Discoe says about her time with the Arizona Painting Company. “They went above and beyond with everything. They changed my lights out in front of my house, they dug up a tree stump I had in my front yard, and I got flowers.”

It has been nearly a month since Discoe had her house painted, but she remains elated from the experience. “I still look at my house every day and it’s crazy, like, ‘That’s my house!’” Discoe says. “I feel incredibly blessed that I was chosen, that [the Arizona Painting Company] thought that they saw good, that felt I was worthy of doing something for me that I would never have been able to do for myself.”

Through Paint It Forward, Discoe is constantly reminded of the good that can come from the world. “It’s like a fresh start,” she says. “I’m not necessarily doing these things because I expect things, but it’s like a feeling that somebody sees [you].”

The Arizona Painting Company looks to set the standard for other painting companies in the Valley and beyond. “We want to be the first company that’s making our industry better in everything we do,” Caris says. “I would love to see more painting companies do this; we’d all be helping out more people.”

Currently, the Arizona Painting Company is taking nominations for the 2024 Paint It Forward campaign. For more information about the Arizona Painting Company, Paint It Forward, or to submit a nomination form, visit the official website.