Licensed, Insured, and Verified.
PCA-accredited, Google Guaranteed, fully licensed and insured.
Premium-Only Products.
Benjamin Moore and Sherwin-Williams, never a budget swap.
3-Year Workmanship Warranty.
Every project backed in writing, not just a promise.
How Emerald Painting Got Its Name
Emerald Painting is a residential repaint and commercial painting contractor serving Southern Pines, Pinehurst, Aberdeen, and the surrounding Moore County communities. The company was founded on a simple idea: a person's home is not just where they live, it's a record of what they built, and it deserves to be treated that way.
Stephen McPhatter spent over twenty years serving residential and commercial clients before COVID-19 shut the painting industry down in 2020. Starting a company in the middle of a shutdown took more determination than most business owners ever have to find, and Stephen found it. As the business grew, he decided the original name no longer reflected what he was building, so he chose to begin again under a new one.
He landed on Emerald. The stone signifies wealth, refinement, and royalty, and the color signifies balance, harmony, renewal, and growth. That's the whole idea behind the company's promise: Driven By A Purpose. Six generations of hands have held the brush before Stephen. He's simply the one holding it now.
Stephen McPhatter, Owner of Emerald Painting
I’m Stephen McPhatter, and painting is the family business. I’m the sixth generation to pick up a brush, and my late father taught me the trade on real job sites.
More than 20 years and hundreds of residential and commercial clients later, I also spent time as an Operations Manager for a painting franchise. That job taught me how to keep several projects on schedule without letting the quality slip.
When 2020 shut the industry down, I reopened my own company anyway, then rebranded it as Emerald Painting. Every project still runs on the standard I set from the start, and I’d like the chance to show you on your property.
The Team Behind Every Emerald Painting Project
Every project is handled by the Emerald Painting team, and every member of that team is OSHA-certified and background-screened before they ever set foot on your property. Jared Lowery serves as project manager, acting as your day-to-day point of contact once a project is underway, so you always know who to call with a question.
The team’s daily habits say more than a bio could: surfaces get properly prepped before any paint goes on, furniture and flooring get protected for the full length of the project, and the job site gets cleaned up every single day, not just at the end.
The Standard Behind Every Emerald Painting Job
The Mission Behind Every Job
Emerald Painting's mission is simple to state and harder to actually deliver: the highest quality of craftsmanship in the industry, paired with real customer service, integrity, and reliability on every single job. That standard doesn't bend based on the size of the project. A single room and a full commercial repaint get the same attention to detail.
The Vision Behind the Name
The vision behind the company is right in its name. Emerald signifies wealth, refinement, and renewal, and Stephen built the business to live up to that on every property it touches, one finished project at a time.
What Emerald Painting Actually Stands For
These aren't wall decorations. They're the filter every decision runs through, from which clients to serve to which jobs to decline.
Emerald Painting is built around long-term relationships, not one-off, price-shopping transactions. The goal is a client for life, not a single invoice.
Doing the job right matters more than doing the job fast or doing it cheap. That shows up in the products used, the prep work done, and the price on your written proposal.
The standard Stephen set on day one keeps getting refined, not just repeated, as the company grows.
The crew that shows up at your property reflects the same standard the company was built on, from how they communicate to how they leave your job site at the end of the day.
What Backs Every Emerald Painting Project
A few things worth knowing before you hire any painting company, including this one.
PCA-Accredited Contractor
Timelines and staffing get calculated against an actual industry standard, not guessed at.
Google Guaranteed
Emerald Painting has been vetted and background-checked as part of Google's screening process for local service providers.
Licensed, Insured, and OSHA-Certified
Every crew member is background-screened and OSHA-certified before working on your property.
The Credentials Behind Emerald Painting
Being PCA-accredited, Google Guaranteed, licensed, insured, and OSHA-certified isn't just paperwork to us. It's the same standard Stephen set when he rebuilt the company in 2020, and it's why homeowners across Southern Pines keep choosing Emerald Painting project after project. Read what they're saying on our Google Business Profile.
What Happens When You Call Emerald Painting
Here's what actually happens from the moment you reach out to Emerald Painting.
No call center, no automated menu. You'll reach someone who can actually answer your questions about your project.
Stephen or a member of the team walks the space with you, and when it makes sense, both spouses are welcome at the consultation since major painting decisions are usually made together.
Your written proposal lays out exactly what's included and what it costs, delivered on-site or the day after, with the No-Surprise Guarantee behind it.
Once the work starts, Jared Lowery is your day-to-day contact, so questions during the project go to someone who already knows the details.
Before we call it done, we go through the work together, and your 3-year warranty starts that same day.
The Warranty Stephen Puts His Own Name Behind
The 3-year written workmanship warranty on every Emerald Painting job carries more than a company logo behind it. Stephen McPhatter is the sixth generation of painters in his family to pick up a brush, and he's not interested in being the one who breaks that reputation over a warranty claim he could have just fixed.
The No-Surprise Guarantee works the same way. What's on your written proposal is what shows up on your invoice, a promise Stephen makes the same way his father and grandfather made theirs: in writing, and in person.
Frequently Asked Questions About Emerald Painting
A few things people usually want to know before they book a consultation with us.
Yes. Emerald Painting is based right here in Southern Pines and is owned and run by Stephen McPhatter, not a regional office or a franchise headquarters somewhere else. The team lives in Moore County and works in Moore County.
Yes. The team handles residential interior and exterior painting for homes and commercial interior and exterior painting for offices, retail spaces, and other light commercial properties, both under the same crew standard.