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How painters get recommended by AI: one real 20-answer test

By BeAIOptimized · November 10, 2026

Short answer: In Grand Rapids, MI, 37 painting businesses showed up across 20 answers. A local office of a national painting brand was named in 17 of those answers, and a second national brand in 16. Company websites were cited in 18 answers, Thumbtack in 11, and every cabinet-painting answer talked about cabinets or kitchens.

Homeowners now ask a chat tool who should paint a two-story exterior or refinish the kitchen cabinets. We ran a tight, real check in Grand Rapids, MI: four of those everyday questions, asked once each to ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, Claude and Perplexity, for 20 answers. Local company names stay off this page; the counts come from that run alone.

Source: our real test of painters in Grand Rapids, MI, November 10, 2026: 4 questions × 1 try × 5 AIs = 20 answers.

What we found for painters

The four prompts were: "best house painter in Grand Rapids MI", "who should I hire to paint the interior of my house in East Grand Rapids", "reliable exterior painters in Grand Rapids Michigan for a two-story home" and "who paints kitchen cabinets in Grand Rapids MI". Location was set to Grand Rapids for every call.

• National-brand offices took most of the mentions. After combining obvious name variants (for example the same franchise listed under slightly different area labels), 37 businesses were named. A national painting brand's local office appeared in 17 of 20 answers, and another national brand's local office in 16. An independent shop we used as an example still appeared in 9. On 3 of the 4 questions, all 5 AIs named at least one of the same businesses.
• The painters' own websites did most of the citing. A company site was cited in 18 of 20 answers. The most-cited company site appeared in 15 answers on its own.
• Thumbtack led the directories. A directory or review site was cited in 15 of 20 answers. Thumbtack appeared in 11, BBB in 6, Trustpilot in 4, and Angi and Houzz in 3 each. Sixteen answers mentioned reviews or ratings.
• The job in the question showed up in the answer. All 5 cabinet-painting answers talked about cabinets or kitchens. All 5 exterior-painting answers talked about exteriors, siding or a two-story house. All 5 interior answers used interior or room language. A page that only says "painting services" gives an assistant less to match than a short cabinet or exterior page.
• Lead-safe work came up, but not in every answer. Four answers mentioned lead-safe practices or EPA certification, usually on the interior or exterior questions. Insurance language appeared in 11 answers; licensing in 7.
• The assistants did not name the same number of shops. On average per answer, Claude named 6.8 painters, Gemini and Grok 6.5, ChatGPT 5.0 and Perplexity 3.5. No answer came back empty.

Cited websites are named here; local businesses are not. Hosts come from each answer's links. Close name variants (the same franchise under two area labels, for example) were combined before we counted businesses, so treat the 37-business figure as a cleaned total, not a raw dump of every string the model extracted.

Four questions in one metro on one day is a snapshot. A smaller city, or a town without a national-brand office, can look different, which is why the paid report uses your own questions in your own area.

What this means if you run a painting company

Read these as clues from Grand Rapids on one November day, not a national ranking of painters.

• Give each common job its own plain-English page. Cabinets, interiors and two-story exteriors were asked about separately, and the answers followed that wording. Name the suburbs you actually paint, not just "West Michigan."
• Treat Thumbtack, BBB and your Google Business Profile as part of the same fact sheet. Those sources showed up often. Use the same business name, phone and service list on each one.
• If you do older homes, say so in text. Four answers raised lead-safe or EPA certification. If you are certified, put that in words a crawler can read, not only on a badge image.
• Independents still appeared. A national-brand office led the counts, but an independent example shop was named in 9 answers. Clear photos, recent reviews and a complete site still give AI something to pick up.
• Make sure assistants can open your pages. A "checking your browser" wall that only bots see will hide the cabinet page you just wrote.

One thing you can do this week

Publish a short cabinet-painting page and a short exterior-painting page, each naming the towns you cover, and copy those same service names onto Thumbtack and your Google Business Profile. That lines up with two patterns from this test: every cabinet question was answered in cabinet language, and Thumbtack was cited in 11 of 20 answers.

Why the next step is personal, not generic

Two painting companies on the same block can be invisible for different reasons. One might be easy to find for exteriors and missing on cabinets. Another might have a strong site that assistants cannot reach. A third might be accurate on the website and stale on Thumbtack. The only way to see which gap is yours is to test the questions your customers actually type about your town.

That's what our AI Recommendation Report ($49) is for. We ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, Claude and Perplexity 15 real customer questions about painters in your area, twice each. The report shows how often you're named versus up to 3 other local painters, which websites the assistants relied on, and the top 5 fixes for your business. With the Report + Fix Kit ($99), we also write the words for you, ready to paste, with step-by-step instructions.

Want to see the format first? Look through our sample report (made for an insurance agency). It shows which businesses AI named, which websites it used and what to fix first. No one can promise an assistant will recommend you, because answers change, but fixing the right things gives you the best shot.

Questions about getting named by AI? Email Christine at hello@beaioptimized.com.

Results for other trades: tree service · flooring companies · electricians · pest control · concrete contractors · insurance agents · dentists · plumbers · HVAC companies · roofers · drain cleaners · window replacement · the full 960-answer study.

Common questions