Crystal Springs Painting: Painting Homes For 35 Years

Christian Kopp first began painting houses in the Mount Hood area in 1989. Shortly after graduating high school, this industrious young man from Minnesota moved to Oregon, trying his hand at many jobs before finding his forte.

He was a restaurant cook. He was a rigger, building communication towers up and down the west coast. He was a roof cleaner, cleaning acres and acres of rooftops on local homes. He worked in the skiing industry, holding various jobs at three different Mount Hood resorts.

Over the years, he learned that painting is the trade that has given him the most gratification. Today Kopp is the owner of Crystal Springs Painting & Pressure Washing, a Sandy-area contractor operating under that business name since 1996. Counting the years before getting the Crystal Springs name, Kopp has been painting homes for 35 years.

“Painting is in my blood,” Kopp said. “I didn’t think when I started that I would enjoy it as much as I do. There’s not much in the trades business that gives you that instant gratification like painting. I can see a house that’s in disarray and within a week or two’s time, make it look like new again. It’s nice to see them smile after I’m done.”

Kopp remembers fondly one of his first painting projects in Welches. He and his business partner at the time painted Mountain Building Supply in its entirety. They hand brushed and roll-painted the interior and spray painted the exterior. They made a three-color stripe along the ceiling line that is still there today.
“That was quite an endeavor for a young 20-year-old,” Kopp said of one of his first major contract projects.
He also repainted a house in Rhododendron some 30 years after his original job. Impressed that it had held up so well, he called it a “testament to longevity, to how long my paint jobs last.”
Crystal Springs Painting & Pressure Washing is pretty much a one-man business. Kopp prefers working alone to having partners or subcontractors.
“I’m a one-man band and I like it that way,” Kopp said. “It’s trouble free. It’s drama free. I don’t have to wait for someone to show up for work in the morning.”
His constant companion nowadays is his trusty 10-year-old yellow lab. A mellow dog, Decker goes on most jobs as Kopp’s worksite caretaker.
Kopp said he feels blessed to be able to work in the community that’s been so good to him. A true outdoorsman, he often finds himself doing projects by a river or creak on the mountain, where it’s nice and quiet.
He lives in a ranch house on a hobby farm just east of Sandy. Most of his jobs are 20 minutes away in Welches, but he generally takes on projects from Sandy to Government Camp.
Kopp breaks up paint jobs with deck work and window washing to keep things interesting. Exterior house painting is a major staple of his business and restaining homes and decks is a specialty.
Several years ago, he landed a major contract to refinish window sills on the exterior of Timberline Lodge. He has done some big projects on the mountain but prefers smaller ones, such as two or three-story homes.
When he’s not on the job, Kopp enjoys the great outdoors, camping, fishing, gardening and working on his craftsman home.