How much do you charge?

Flat $50 per hour, per person on the crew. One-hour minimum. Same flat rate across NJ + NYC. Pay online or after the job — your call.

Are you a licensed contractor?

No. Brick Labor is casual help — owner-run, evenings and weekends. For licensed-trade work we'll point you to someone who is.

One to four people, depending on the job. Pick the crew size at booking. Each person bills at $50/hr.

What areas do you serve?

All of New Jersey plus the five NYC boroughs (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island). Home base in Newark. 50+ named cities at the flat $50/hr rate.

Do you bring your own equipment?

Yes. Pressure washer, mower, hand tools, ladder, hauling rig — all ours. You don't supply anything but the address.

Paint prep in Union City NJ · $50/hr

Paint scraping and exterior prep in Union City, NJ.

Paint scraping and exterior prep in Union City, NJ runs the same flat $50/hr per person rate — siding, trim, porches, garage doors, decks. Newark crew, carbide scrapers + HEPA-extracted sanders. Bundle with power-washing for the full prep stack.

Paint prep in Union City, in practice.

Union City is one of the densest cities in the country — blocks are wall-to-wall three-family rowhouses with stoops, no driveways, and shared light wells. Most jobs run two crew because the staircase turns are hard and the front sidewalk needs to stay clear.

Tight rowhouses and three-family wood-frames; almost no driveways; everything packed shoulder to shoulder.

Newark to Union City runs 10 to 20 minutes off-peak — about 8 miles.

Real paint prep jobs, real numbers.

Front porch railing + balusters (≈20 linear ft, full strip) — 3 hours, 2 crew, $300 total

Garage door scrape and sand (single bay, 9x7) — 2 hours, 1 crew, $100 total

South-facing siding strip (one elevation, ranch house) — 6 hours, 2 crew, $600 total

Exterior trim prep (full house, eaves + windows + doors) — 5 hours, 2 crew, $500 total

No travel fee inside our service area — Union City is 8 miles from Newark and already covered.

Common paint prep questions.

Why hire a separate prep crew if I already have a painter?

Most painters quote prep as "light scuff and prime" — which works on previously-clean surfaces and fails on the ones that needed actual prep. Hiring us to do the heavy scrape and sand means your painter shows up to a true-to-substrate surface, paints once, and the coat lasts the full warranty. The two-trade approach is cheaper than a re-do.

Do you handle lead paint?

We do the surface prep, and we coordinate the EPA RRP-certified piece for any work on a pre-1978 house. The lead-safe work practices — containment, HEPA cleanup, lab swab testing — are handled by a partnered certified contractor. We do not freelance on lead-paint regulations.

Can you do this before a power wash, or after?

After is the right order. Pressure-wash first to remove the loose chalk and mildew, let the surface dry 48 hours, then scrape and sand to bare or solid substrate. We can bundle the pressure-wash into the same multi-day visit if you book both services.

How do you handle the dust?

HEPA dust extraction on the orbital sanders means about 95 percent of the sanding dust gets captured at the tool. The remaining 5 percent is what catches on drop cloths and plant beds. We tape off, pull drop cloths, and do a HEPA-vac walkthrough at the end of every day. For pre-1978 houses, we follow the EPA RRP cleanup checklist verbatim.

Popular cities

50 total

See all 50 cities

By service

Each service hub lists Newark, Jersey City, Hoboken case studies.

By region

NJ counties we hit weekly

Essex
Hudson
Bergen
Union
Passaic
Morris

NYC boroughs

Manhattan
Brooklyn
Queens
Bronx
Staten Island

Outside the lines? Email hey@bricklabor.com — we travel.