Austin, TX
Mon - Sun: 9am - 9pm
(512) 789-4240
A young town full of first repaints
Buda began in 1881 as a stop on the International-Great Northern Railroad. For about a hundred years it stayed small. Then Austin's growth reached it. The city had 7,295 people in 2010 and 15,108 in 2020. Over that same decade, Hays County grew faster than any other U.S. county with at least 100,000 people.
You can see that boom on almost every street. Census data puts the median Buda home at 2012. Nearly 9 in 10 homes were built in 2000 or later, and more than half were built in 2010 or later. Fewer than 1 in 10 are older than 1990.
So most of our work here is not saving old houses. It is the first real repaint on a home that still has builder paint, builder cabinets and a bare garage floor. As house painters in Buda, we also work in the older part of town around Main Street, where the city has its own design rules.
Medrano's Painting has painted Central Texas homes since 2014, and we have 4.9 stars from 86 Google reviews. Ask for a free estimate for your Buda home.
Inside the house: builder paint, cabinets and cracks
The first real repaint
Many homes in Buda's newer subdivisions still have the paint they came with. Builder paint is often a flat finish. It hides small flaws, but it scuffs easily and does not wipe clean well.
As your interior painter, we swap it for a finish that fits each room. Satin or eggshell works well in halls and kids' rooms. Semi-gloss holds up on trim and doors. Our interior painting service includes filling nail pops, patching dings and cutting clean lines at the ceiling. The City of Buda lists painting as cosmetic work that needs no building permit, so we can start once your colors are set.
Cabinet painting in Buda kitchens
A kitchen from 2005 or 2015 usually has sturdy cabinet boxes. What looks dated is the color and finish. Cabinet painting and refinishing lets you keep the boxes and change the look. We clean, sand and prime the doors and frames, then apply a hard finish made for cabinets. Painting and replacing cabinets are both on the city's no-permit list.
While we are there, many owners ask about the garage. Epoxy floor coating turns bare concrete into a floor you can sweep and hose off.
Hairline cracks and clay ground
Hays County sits on the line where the Hill Country meets the Blackland Prairie. The Balcones Escarpment splits the county into hilly ranch land to the northwest and grassy plains to the southeast. Buda sits close to that line, and a lot of the ground here is clay. A geologic report for a city sewer project near the Buda Sportsplex, off FM 967, mapped the soils there as silty clays over Del Rio clay.
Clay swells when it gets wet and shrinks when it dries. When the ground under a slab moves, walls can crack at the corners of doors and windows. Nail pops and split tape seams are common too. Our drywall repair and texture matching fixes the crack and blends the texture so the patch does not show under new paint.
One Buda rule is worth knowing here. Even in Stage 3, the city allows foundation watering on any day and at any time, as long as the water does not pool or run off. A crack that keeps widening, or a door that starts to bind, is a job for a foundation pro before it is a job for us. Paint cannot fix a moving slab.
Outside the house: sun, hail and fences
Hot summers and spring storms
The average July high in Hays County is 96 degrees. Strong sun fades color and dries out wood, and south and west walls usually go first.
Storms are the other threat. Texas had 878 major hail events in 2024, more than any other state, based on National Weather Service data compiled by the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety. Hail chips paint, dents trim and splits soft wood.
After a storm, walk around the house. Look for bare spots on trim, cracked fascia and paint knocked off the siding. Our wood rot repair crew replaces soft or split boards. Then we prime and paint them with our exterior painting service so water stays out. Most paint labels list a safe temperature range. In July and August, the hottest walls are best painted in the cooler part of the day.
Fences and decks
Wood fences and decks take the same sun. Once the stain wears thin, the wood turns gray and starts to check and crack. Wood staining seals it again. If you live in an HOA, check the approved stain colors before we start.
Pressure washing in Buda when water is short
Most exterior jobs start with a wash, because paint and stain stick best to a clean surface. In Buda, though, the water rules come first.
What the city allows
Buda sets its drought stage based on its water suppliers, including the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District (BSEACD) and the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority. Buda has been under Stage 3 rules since November 4, 2024, and its drought page still listed Stage 3 in September 2026. BSEACD listed its own status as Stage 3 Exceptional Drought on September 9, 2026.
Buda's drought ordinance bans washing driveways, sidewalks and other hard surfaces in every drought stage, unless it is needed for health and safety. In Stages 2 to 4, washing a house just for looks is banned. Washing it to prep for paint is allowed, but any pressure washing in those stages needs a city variance first. The city has a variance request form that covers power washing. So before we pressure wash a Buda home, we check the current stage and whether the job needs a variance.
Homes outside the city limits
Buda's water rules follow the water, not the city line. They apply to anyone who gets water from the City of Buda. The city's subdivision list puts Sunfield, Stonefield, Hillside Terrace and Shadow Creek outside city limits, and homes there may get water from another provider with its own drought plan. Check your water bill, and we will look up that provider's rules.
Old brick needs a gentle wash
Downtown has its own limits. Buda's historic district guidelines say brick and limestone should never be sandblasted. They also say brick should never be cleaned with water above 300 psi. The guidelines call low-pressure washing, at about the pressure from your tap, the safest way to clean old masonry. On a historic building, those limits apply to any wash.
Painting in downtown Buda's historic district
The Downtown Buda Historic District joined the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. It covers six blocks, roughly bounded by Elm, Main, China and Austin streets. Its 28 contributing buildings date from 1881 to 1934, with early commercial storefronts and Craftsman bungalows.
The city also has a Historic Overlay District. Anyone who wants to make exterior changes there needs a Certificate of Appropriateness first. The Historic Preservation Officer can approve some projects. Others go to the Historic Preservation Commission. Applications are filed online through the city's permit portal.
Buda's design guidelines also shape your color choices:
- Match the era. Colors should fit the building's age and style. For Craftsman bungalows, the guidelines point to earth tones like brown, green, gray and dark red.
- Repaint in kind. Masonry that is already painted can be repainted in the colors it had before.
- Leave raw brick alone. Brick that was never painted should stay unpainted, except in a few cases like badly mismatched repairs.
- Contrast the trim. The guidelines prefer trim, doors and porches in a color that contrasts with the body.
Call the city's planning team at (512) 312-5745 before you set a start date. We can give you color names and samples for your application. Shop owners on Main Street can use our commercial painting service with the same planning.
HOA neighborhoods and color approval
Much of Buda's newer housing sits in HOA communities. Sunfield is a large master-planned community with its own community association and several amenity centers with pools. Whispering Hollow is another master-planned neighborhood with a pool, pavilion and playground.
Most HOAs ask you to submit exterior color changes before work starts. The rules and review times differ by neighborhood, so read your guidelines before you pick a start date. We can give you the paint brand, color names and a list of where each color goes, so your request is complete.
Where we paint in Buda
We paint homes and businesses across Buda's 78610 ZIP code. The city's subdivision list includes these neighborhoods.
Inside city limits:
- Old Town, near Main Street and the historic district
- Garlic Creek and Whispering Hollow
- Cullen Country and Elm Grove
- Bradfield Village, Stone Ridge and White Oak Preserve
Outside city limits:
- Sunfield and Stonefield
- Hillside Terrace
- Shadow Creek, which sits in Kyle's extraterritorial jurisdiction
You probably know Buda by its landmarks. Cabela's sits right off I-35. The 59-acre Buda City Park is in the heart of downtown. Historic Stagecoach Park on Main Street holds the 1876 Onion Creek Post Office, built of solid limestone. Buda Mill & Grain started as a cotton gin in the 1880s. Renovation work began in 2011, and today it holds shops and restaurants. The main roads are I-35, the SH 45 toll road, FM 967 and FM 1626.
The drive from East Austin, and how we plan it
Our shop is at 5610 Northdale Dr in East Austin. Downtown Buda is about 20 miles away by road, and most of it is on I-35. With clear roads, that takes roughly 30 minutes.
I-35 through central Austin is rarely clear. TxDOT's Capital Express Central project is rebuilding that stretch, and some segments are not set to finish until 2033. With traffic like that, start times take some planning. If you live a few miles farther south in Kyle, call and ask about your address.
What you get with Medrano's Painting
- An owner who shows up. Antonio Medrano is hands-on, and reviewers name him often.
- Proof from real customers. We have 4.9 stars from 86 Google reviews. Attention to detail, clean job sites and quick quotes come up again and again.
- A steady track record. We have painted since 2014, and we are licensed and insured.
- Hours that fit your week. We answer seven days a week, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- A local, Latino-owned business run from East Austin.
What changes the price of a Buda paint job
Every home is different, so we price each job after a free visit. These are the things that move the number most in Buda:
- Builder walls. Nail pops, dings and flat paint need patching and primer before the new color goes on.
- Big color swings. Covering a dark HOA shade with a light one may need a third coat.
- Storm damage. Hail-split trim and soft fascia get fixed before we paint.
- Clay cracks. Drywall cracks need tape, mud and texture work first.
- Historic review. A downtown project needs time for the city's review and a gentler cleaning method.
Request your free Buda estimate or call (512) 789-4240.
Get a free estimate in Buda today
Tell us what you want painted, whether you have HOA or historic rules, and when you want it done. We will walk the job and give you a clear, written quote. Call (512) 789-4240 or send us your project details.
We also paint west of downtown Austin in West Lake Hills and Rollingwood. You can see every area we serve too.
