Commercial Painter Bids: How to Compare Quotes and Scopes 89705
If you handle buildings for a living, you gain knowledge of shortly that painting is not ever just paint. It is get admission to, sequencing, warranties that desire teeth, and a scope that closes gaps before they emerge as exchange orders. Whether you run services for a healthcare campus, supervise a retail portfolio, or wear the proprietor’s hat on a new workplace construct, business painter bids can appearance same before everything look. The satan sits inside the main points, and it truly is wherein the bucks cover.
I even have sat on either sides of the desk, because the estimator figuring exertions and lift rentals after hours, and because the proprietor’s rep studying 3 proposals that each one claim to “paint partitions two coats, average prep.” Same words, wildly diverse cause. What follows is a pragmatic manner to evaluate charges and scopes so you can elect the desirable advertisement painter at the exact charge and end with the constructing you meant to have.
What a easy scope looks like
A clear scope solutions more questions than it increases, in undeniable language. It outlines precisely what surfaces are protected, what substrate condition is thought, how they're going to be geared up, which items might be utilized by producer and method, what number coats, and what it will take to get to those surfaces appropriately. It deserve to also make time visible, now not just value: phasing, after-hours paintings, cure occasions that influence re-occupancy, and the punch list method.
A scope that claims “paint all partitions” isn't really a scope. “Paint stage 4 gypsum board partitions in corridors a hundred and one to a hundred forty five to a uniform conclude via Sherwin-Williams ProMar 200 Zero VOC Eggshell, one primer, two finish coats, color by owner, existing wallcovering removing excluded, minor floor spackling incorporated (dings and nail pops), patching greater than 12 inches priced as unit payment add” is the start of a scope. Long, convinced, however there's much less to battle approximately later.
Commercial painting seriously isn't the equal animal as residential repainting. A residential painter operating in a three-bedroom domicile does not want to coordinate with sprinkler impairments or infection handle hazard tests. Commercial painters do, and the bids will have to turn out they be aware of those constraints.
Walk the site with intent
If you are taking in basic terms one tip, make it this: require a website walk with each and every bidding painter and do it with the related someone from your group anytime. Emails certainly not substitute the texture of a breezeway wind on a 40-foot boom or the noise of a tenant that cannot tolerate a sander at 10 a.m. A exact stroll catches the matters that separate a decent bid from an constructive number: chalking EIFS that needs a bonding primer, peeling elastomeric that telegraphs hidden moisture, or a pipe run that makes a scissor lift needless in three key bays.
Bring a flashlight and a scraper. Scrape a flaking spot to the substrate. If the past paint lifts like potato peels, complete elimination or an encapsulating primer is in play. When bidders see you experiment, they scope for this reason. Ask to work out growth joints, parapet caps, and the transition from previous to new additions. Every transition is a possibility factor for adhesion or coloration mismatch.
I as soon as walked a one hundred eighty,000-square-foot warehouse with three estimators. Two priced it at approximately $1.30 in keeping with square foot. The third was once toward $1.90. He changed into the simplest one that saw forklift nicks and oil mist around the loading enviornment, then budgeted degreasing, flooring defense, and a urethane topcoat in a 12,000-sq.-foot zone. The first two might have come back with swap orders the first week. The excessive range became the truthful quantity.
Align the drawings, the narrative, and reality
Construction bid packages typically encompass a conclude schedule, paint legend, and specs that do not suit the physical areas. Maybe the TI changed in the course of cost engineering. Maybe a tenant added a function wall after the enable set. You need consistency between the drawings, the spec e book, and the realities on website online. If the spec calls for eggshell in all corridors but the finish schedule presentations semi-gloss at Level 1 for some fire-rated doorways, the painter’s range will mirror which file they choose to imagine. Clarify it previously they price it.
Ask both bidder to surface conflicts they understand. The ones who renowned gaps, then expense an allowance or change, as a rule organize risk more beneficial within the discipline. The bid that shrugs and “involves simple” steadily expects you to pay for the mismatch later.
Understand who is offering what
Lift machine, dumpsters and hauling, policy cover for package and floors, masking and removal of transfer plates, hardware reinstallation, shutters and signage elimination, caulking at assorted constituents, crack upkeep, sealant and paint at hollow steel frames, even small drywall patches and texture blends, all of these stay somewhere. If they may be no longer within the painter’s quantity, they may be nonetheless to your budget. The query is no matter if they are going to coach up as a further later.
Exterior projects carry a 2d layer of logistics. Who can pay for site visitors regulate on a busy retail pad site, or for evening security round lifts? If a advertisement painter’s bid does no longer name out permit charges for sidewalk closures or the fireplace watch vital whilst portray a stair tower, suppose it seriously is not integrated.
On interiors, containment and negative air usually topic extra than the paint itself. In healthcare or sparkling production, ask for the irritation manipulate plan and apparatus record, no longer just a sentence that says “ICRA through painter.” You choose to work out tack mats, zipper doors, HEPA air scrubbers with rated CFM, day to day cleansing, and waste dealing with tricks. There is a truly cost to doing that paintings adequately. If one bid is a great deal cut, and so they wave away containment, that is simply not savings, this is hazard.
Prep, prep, and extra prep
Painters love to speak about items, but training makes the end. Compare the prep descriptions line by way of line. Light scuff and notice high, full sand to degloss, TSP wash for kitchens, solvent wipe for metal railings, wire brush and rust converter on corroded lintels, skim coat over heavy texture, moisture trying out for block walls formerly elastomeric, these will not be interchangeable. If your block wall effloresces each rainy season, a masonry conditioner or breathable approach will save you from blisters. If an older school has distinct lead paint layers beneath a latex topcoat, the ideal lead-secure paintings practices matter more than logo names.
Exterior repainting has its possess prep ladder. Pressure washing in PSI degrees that might no longer power water in the back of siding, permitting right kind dry time until now coating, hunting down free caulk and backer rod, re-caulking by using the suitable sealant class and joint profile, scraping to sound edges, feather-sanding, spot-priming bare substrate, and sealing hairline cracks, all will have to be spelled out. Vague words like “generic prep” ordinarily imply “we shall do what matches the number.”
If the painter cannot describe substrate tolerances for the method they propose, stream on. Reputable commercial painters can clarify why elastomeric over hairline stucco cracks calls for a targeted film construct, or why DTM on handrails could get a rust inhibitive primer beneath.
Coats, insurance policy, and color
One primer, two end coats has changed into shorthand. It will never be a rules. If your present color is going to a darker coloration, a quality unmarried leading and one end may perhaps attain full hide. If you're going from navy to off-white in a lobby with LED washes, two finish coats over a tinted bonding primer will preclude shadowing. Ask every one bidder to nation the variety of coats and any conditions that might exchange it. Look for language like “full insurance to uniform coloration and sheen, minimal one most advantageous and two end coats, up to 3 conclude coats protected at no further settlement whilst following the producer’s machine.” I even have written that sentence more than as soon as to restrict arguing about regardless of whether a fourth circulate is a unfastened contact-up or a difference.
Color complexity additionally affects cost. Accent partitions, multi-colour striping in schools, emblems, stencils, or corporate logo principles that require drawdowns and approvals, all add hard work past practical rolling. Metallics and deep bases in most cases need more dry time and careful staging. A bid that treats them like some other paint will either degrade first-rate or ask for a difference order.
Product tactics and why they matter
Not all paints are created equal. On industrial painting, the components subjects greater than the unmarried product. A producer’s approach is a verified blend: primer, intermediate coat, and finish designed for a substrate and environment. Ask bidders to advise complete structures, now not orphan items. For instance:
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Interior place of job walls: 0-VOC acrylic primer over new drywall, then a scrub-resistant acrylic eggshell with a released scrub rating above 2,000 cycles. If you refreshing scuff marks in general, a larger resin load and more durable film prevent funds over time.
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Exterior stucco near the coast: alkali-resistant primer with a pH tolerance as much as thirteen, then a breathable elastomeric finish utilized to a minimum dry movie thickness precise via the company, so moisture can escape even as rain remains out.
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Ferrous metal stair stringers: mechanical prep or SSPC-SP2/three hand device cleaning, rust-inhibitive epoxy primer, then an acrylic urethane conclude for abrasion resistance.
The painter’s bid deserve to cite product lines and sheens, and ideally consist of technical files sheets. If you see frequent “contractor grade” paint and not using a documents, you're evaluating shadows.
Be careful with upsells. A two-portion urethane on an office wall is overkill, however a one-facet acrylic on a loading dock bollard is a fake financial system. Match exposure and use to the appropriate components.
Scheduling, get entry to, and occupied spaces
The optimum price in the global does now not lend a hand if the schedule is unworkable. On occupied industrial tasks, the painter’s plan for entry and phasing is a make-or-destroy element.
If the paintings ought to show up after hours or weekends, the top rate might possibly be 10 to 30 percent depending on marketplace and duration. Longer setup and teardown in short windows power prices. A bid that assumes daylight hours work can also seem to be wonderful unless the assets manager reminds you the decision midsection runs 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. with no exceptions. Ask bidders to state operating hours, quantity of crews, and the day-by-day construction they count on by means of sector. When you realize a corridor is 4,000 sq. feet and they recommend two nights for first and second coats adding dry time, that means a group dimension and velocity you could possibly sanity check.
Access is as a rule underestimated. Interior excessive paintings above stairs or in atriums calls for a selected carry, and usually the construction’s elevator can not address it. If the painter needs to herald a spider elevate or decide on aspects for swing degree at the outdoors, the bid deserve to teach these quotes and lead times. If it doesn’t, those dollars will arrive later with a hurry commission.
On multi-tenant business buildings, count on coordination time. Posting notices, managing dust and smell concerns, sequencing suites to avert egress clear, operating round protection approaches and card readers that are not able to be painted, all require more realization. If a painter has enjoy on your sector, they generally tend to fee that coordination, and it can pay off in fewer headaches.
Safety, compliance, and insurance usually are not paperwork
A advertisement painter’s safeguard listing is a proxy for how they function under rigidity. Request EMR (sense modification price), OSHA three hundred logs for the earlier three years, and site-categorical defense plans. A painter with an EMR round 1.zero is typical; underneath it really is improved. If they're going to be running at height or with swing degrees, ask for fall safety practise documents and evidence of useful individual designation.
If your construction has lead paint, a painter need to grasp the exact lead-risk-free certifications and persist with containment principles. Hospitals, labs, and colleges incessantly upload their very own protocols, from ICRA to background exams. A painter used to residential repaints might not be smooth in the ones environments, and their low bid will replicate that lack of rigor.
Insurance have to in shape the assignment hazard: commonly used liability limits, car, umbrella, workers’ comp, and, on bigger initiatives, air pollution liability when via solvent-stylish merchandise. Verify certificates and endorsements, now not only a one-web page COI.

Warranties that mean something
Every painter can provide a warranty. Few have substance. A one-yr hard work and materials assurance is familiar for commercial portray. Three to five years should be possible for outdoors techniques when the substrate and prep are correct. Read the exclusions. Normal wear and tear is honest to exclude. Failure attributable to substrate moisture is additionally generic to exclude, except the painter verified and signed off that moisture levels had been proper. If you pay for moisture testing on CMU or stucco and the painter has documentation, you've gotten leverage.
Manufacturer warranties are broadly speaking misunderstood. They mainly cowl product replacement, now not labor, and basically when the technique used to be put in according to spec. If a painter delivers a ten-year brand assurance, ask for the guaranty shape and what the hard work coverage seems like. Also ask whether the venture will be inspected by the corporation’s rep, and even if that inspection is integrated in the charge. Those inspections are price it, tremendously on external envelope paintings.
Labor assumptions and productivity
When you examine sufficient bids, you appreciate hard work math behind the scenes. If a painter expects to supply 1,2 hundred to one,500 sq. feet according to painter in step with day on rolling walls with minimal obstructions, that is cheap in lots of commercial interiors. Add doorways, millwork, and accent bands, the quantity drops. On outdoors stucco with elastomeric at 18 mils moist film, construction rates slow again. A bid that suggests heroic production may additionally place confidence in cutting prep. Ask what number of painters would be on website and the estimated length. Then cost regardless of whether their crew measurement and days align together with your occupancy plan.
Unions and winning wage affect exertions burden. If your venture is public work, the painter need to lift fringe benefits and certified payroll. Compare apples to apples. A non-union bid on non-winning work will in general come in reduce, yet that by myself isn't a reason to go with it. Skill, supervision, and defense tradition power results more than wage tables.
Reading alternates and unit prices
Savvy painters use alternates and unit pricing to give you management without sandbagging the bottom bid. Alternates may perhaps consist of a higher-grade finish in effortless places, a extra durable coating in restrooms, nighttime work premiums, or a alternate from brush-and-roll to spray-and-backroll on block. Unit quotes duvet unknowns: value consistent with linear foot of caulk removing and substitute, in step with rectangular foot of drywall skim coat past dings, consistent with door and frame, in keeping with stair tread, consistent with linear foot of railing.
When you examine bids, checklist alternates side through part and word which of them topic for your mission. A low base bid with pricey alternates can money more than a better base that already comprises what you need. Unit expenditures assist resolve scope holes in the time of development devoid of a battle. If two painters have unit charges which might be 1/2 and double both different, respectively, ask how they derived them. The answers will let you know who understood the paintings.
Comparing advertisement and residential painters on crossover jobs
There are times when a residential painter is the perfect match, even for a small business space. A boutique regulation workplace of 2,500 rectangular toes with standard hours and no peculiar get entry to may perhaps benefit from the finesse of a residential workforce used to tight trim and purchaser hand-protecting. Conversely, a residential painter who does no longer very own lifts, has no enjoy with swing levels, or lacks the insurance coverage limits for a downtown facade must always no longer lower their teeth on your 8-tale external repaint.
In combined-use constructions, you can as a rule straddle either worlds. Residential portray knowledge is helping in basic components wherein conclude good quality and touch-up sensitivity be counted. Commercial feel is mandatory in garages, stair towers, and retail shells wherein durability and agenda carry extra weight. The bids will reflect those strengths. Do now not drive a residential painter into a advertisement venture they're now not arrange to execute, or vice versa. The least expensive quantity will become the most expensive lesson.
How to normalize bids sooner than you pick
Before you decide on a painter, bring the bids to a undemanding baseline. Create a brief addendum that clarifies ambiguities and ship it to all bidders with a request to revise numbers basically if the clarification ameliorations scope. Clarify:
- Working hours, phasing, and get entry to constraints.
- Exact surfaces and portions protected, with takeoff pages or marked plans.
- Product structures by section, which include primer, finish, and sheen.
- Prep ideas and any substrate checking out required.
- Responsibility for lifts, defense, containment, permits, and waste.
- Punch checklist process, warranty duration and prerequisites.
With that addendum, you possibly can see numbers tighten and excuses vanish. The bids that remain some distance apart aas a rule mirror proper ameliorations in first-class, labor, or chance pricing. Then you may favor based mostly on fee, now not thriller.
Beyond the number: supervision and communication
Two painters can use the same merchandise and nonetheless give the different influence using supervision. Ask who the running foreman or superintendent may be on your task. Meet them. A mighty foreman can run two to 4 crews with ease, avoid every single day logs, manipulate punch proactively, and safeguard your tenant relationships. A susceptible foreman turns a common venture into a chaos of ladders and ignored spots.
Daily communication reduces transform. A basic rhythm works: a morning investigate-in to affirm areas and hours, an conclusion-of-day stroll to word development, considerations, and what is masked or open. Ask painters to advise their communication plan in writing, which include how they are going to record prep, rainy film thickness whilst required, and shade approvals. If you purpose for a repaint with minimal punch, get buy-in that they can pale rooms horizontally and vertically for final contact-ups, now not simply look at a wall at noon and get in touch with it desirable.
Numbers in the back of the paint: what drives cost
When you see a diffusion of 20 to forty p.c. among advertisement painter charges, here are the standard drivers:
- Prep intensity. Aggressive prep fees labor up the front and saves screw ups later. Shallow prep makes a bid appearance satisfactory and fails in a year.
- Access. The correct lift and staging add millions, from time to time tens of millions, to a bid. If one bidder misses it, they are not less expensive, just incomplete.
- After-hours rates. Nights and weekends stretch setup, cleanup, and supervision. The multiplier varies with the aid of industry.
- Product collection. A premium acrylic or urethane expenses greater per gallon, however the gallon cost is usually a smaller fraction of whole than employees suppose. Labor dominates. A $10 per gallon big difference may possibly shift the task through several hundred cash, whilst hard work assumptions swing within the tens of lots.
- Supervision and overhead. Better-controlled organisations cost for subject leadership, safety, and office work. You pay for that, and you in the main get fewer headaches.
Knowing these levers facilitates you study earlier the ground line and expect in which a bid could turn into extras.
A quick anecdote: chasing the bargain
A regional place of business patron as soon as chose a painter who was once 18 % more affordable than a higher bid on a 40,000-sq.-foot refresh throughout three flooring. Their range assumed daylight access, nevertheless we had advised all bidders the flooring could be in part occupied. Week one, the tenant raised the alarm approximately odors and noise. The painter stopped, repriced for nights, and requested for added funds to conceal lift leases they'd glossed over for two top atriums. The revised number? Four percentage better than the second one-situation bid. We misplaced two weeks and goodwill with the tenant. The lesson caught: strength alignment on entry and logistics previously you award.
Practical purple flags in business painter bids
You do not desire to be an trained to identify dilemma. A few signs and symptoms deserve further questions:
- The bid incorporates “paint external” without naming substrates or rectangular photos.
- Product specifications learn “in shape present,” with out a device diagnosed.
- No mention of patching limits or unit quotes for additional upkeep.
- A time table promise that compresses medication instances unrealistically, incredibly for epoxies and urethanes.
- Insurance certificate that lists low customary legal responsibility limits or lacks endorsements required via your lender or landlord.
A painter who expects to win on a obscure scope is playing a brief activity. You desire anybody prepared to write the venture into lifestyles.
Making apples-to-apples handy: a one-web page assessment worksheet
Creating a fundamental precis supports you existing the selection to stakeholders. Build a one-page worksheet that lists each bidder throughout columns and the subsequent rows:
- Base bid amount and alternates with totals.
- Surfaces and amounts included: walls, ceilings, doors/frames, stair towers, outdoors elevations through area.
- Product systems by means of side and sheen phases.
- Prep scope highlights and exclusions.
- Access plan and kit: lifts, ranges, containment.
- Working hours and the calendar period.
- Warranty period and prerequisites, including manufacturer involvement.
- Safety metrics and supervision plan.
- References for related work, with contact names.
Populate it from the proposals and your clarifying addendum. When you take a seat with your CFO or owner, it is easy to have a clear contrast that travels smartly throughout e mail threads and conferences.
Where residential revel in suits in a industrial world
If you arrange a blended portfolio with both residential and advertisement properties, you can actually mostly surprise regardless of whether your move-to residential painter can take on a smaller advertisement painting mission. The answer lives in constraints, now not sq. photos. A five,000-rectangular-foot boutique retail buildout with tight millwork and branding in the main benefits from the finesse of a residential staff used to effective reducing and client stroll-throughs. A five,000-square-foot group middle health club with 28-foot walls and a wood ground does not; it rewards a advertisement painter who owns lifts, knows tips to guard specialised flooring, and may hit production charges competently at peak. Choosing with the aid of trip profile, now not just by rate, protects time table and conclude great.
Negotiating with no hollowing the scope
You can negotiate responsibly. If a general painter lands relatively above budget, talk about scope alterations that don't injury efficiency. In offices, moving two accent colorings to one, picking a scrub-resistant mid-tier line as opposed to a top rate logo wherein traffic is light, or relocating a stair tower to a separate section next area are truthful levers. Do now not ask them to shorten cure instances, skip primer on marginal substrates, or cut down film thickness. That trades greenbacks now for mess ups later.
Request magnitude-engineer alternates: a completely different elastomeric with an identical breathability and assurance, a boost condo approach that mixes phases to cut down weeks of kit on web page, or a converted series that cuts mobilizations. A pro industrial painter will to find mark downs in logistics greater most likely than in gallons.
Closeout that sticks
A paint activity ends effectively whilst closeout is not a scramble. Before work begins, agree on:
- Submittals: closing color schedule, product details, and SDS on record.
- Mockups: define wherein and the way it is easy to approve colours and sheens in situ.
- Punch task: one principal punch through you and the architect if ideal, one correction cross, and a last reputation walk. Avoid loss of life by way of 1000 micro-punches.
- O&M packet: warranty letters, contact-up systems by way of area, and leftover classified substances saved in a described location.
When business painters know how one can pass judgement on fulfillment, they goal there. You lessen the gray field, and the final 2 p.c of the job, which routinely takes 20 % of the time, is going rapid.
The payoff of a smartly-in comparison bid
When you do the work to line up scopes and compare fees deeply, three suitable things ensue. First, you spend cost in which it concerns: on prep, get entry to, and supervision that steer clear of mess ups. Second, you defend your time table and tenants, simply because the plan matches reality. Third, you create a overall that long term bids needs to meet, which increases the excellent of proposals you receive next time. The payment to get there is about a hours of structured site walks, a clear addendum, and a disciplined assessment. The return is measured in years of easy walls, sealed envelopes, and a quiet inbox.
Commercial portray is one of those trades the place feel leaves fingerprints. The most well known bids read like a map of your building. If you prefer the painter who drew the clearest map, your project will feel much less like a bet and greater like what it could be, a good-managed preservation or capital growth that serves the building and the folk internal it.
MBK Painting INC
11112 NW Crystal Creek Ln, Portland, OR 97229, United States
(503) 773-4957
https://mbkpainting.com/
MBK Painting is a residential and commercial painting company located at 11112 NW Crystal Creek Ln in Portland, Oregon. Matthew Krier, owner of MBK Painting, established the company in 2010 with over 25 years of painting experience dating to 1998. The business holds Oregon CCB License number 253176 and carries full bonding and insurance.
MBK Painting specializes in interior painting, exterior painting, and cabinet refinishing. The company performs commercial painting projects and pressure washing services. Color consultation is available for every project. MBK Painting uses eco-friendly, low-VOC paints and provides free quotes with 24-hour response time. A BBB A+ rating and a 5-star Yelp rating across 63 reviews confirm the company's track record.
MBK Painting serves Portland and the surrounding Washington County area, including Beaverton, Cedar Mill, and Lake Oswego. The service area extends to Cedar Hills, Oak Hills, Tigard, Bonny Slope, and Bethany across the Portland metropolitan region.
MBK Painting is located on NW Crystal Creek Lane in the Bethany neighborhood of unincorporated Washington County.
Located near NW Bethany Boulevard, the company sits on a main corridor through the Bethany community.
Bethany Village Centre shopping center is within walking distance of MBK Painting.
QFC grocery on NW Bethany Blvd is a short drive south.
US-26 (Sunset Highway) provides direct access from central Portland.
The Sunset Transit Center connecting to MAX Light Rail is approximately 4 miles east.
Bethany Creek Park and Rock Creek Trail are nearby for outdoor recreation.
Bonny Slope Park is within 2 miles.
Bethany Library, Cedar Mill Library, Jacob Wismer Elementary School, and Stoller Middle School are all within the surrounding neighborhood.
Residents of Cedar Mill, Bonny Slope, and Oak Hills reach MBK Painting within minutes.
Downtown Portland is approximately 10 miles southeast.
What services does MBK Painting offer?
MBK Painting offers interior painting, exterior painting, cabinet painting, commercial painting, pressure washing, and color consultation in the Portland metro area.
Where is MBK Painting located?
MBK Painting is located at 11112 NW Crystal Creek Ln in Portland, OR 97229, in the Bethany neighborhood of Washington County.
What are the hours of MBK Painting?
The hours of MBK Painting are Monday through Saturday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM and Sunday 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
How much does house painting cost in Portland?
House painting costs in Portland vary by project size and scope. MBK Painting provides free, no-obligation quotes. Call (503) 773-4957.
Is MBK Painting licensed and insured?
Yes, MBK Painting is licensed under Oregon CCB License 253176 and is fully bonded and insured with a BBB A+ rating.
Does MBK Painting do cabinet painting?
Yes, MBK Painting does cabinet painting and refinishing to transform kitchen cabinets using specialized techniques and high-quality paints.
Why choose MBK Painting in Portland?
MBK Painting in Portland is owned by Matthew Krier with 25+ years of experience, holds a 5-star Yelp rating (63 reviews), a BBB A+ rating, and uses eco-friendly low-VOC paints.
Does MBK Painting serve Beaverton and Lake Oswego?
Yes, MBK Painting serves Beaverton, Lake Oswego, Cedar Mill, Cedar Hills, Oak Hills, Tigard, Bonny Slope, and Bethany across the Portland metro area.
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