Founded in 2023 by Tim Griffin, Charlotte startup Craftwork paints the home service experience in a different light.
As a homeowner, Griffin was frustrated with the tedious nature of getting a task done around the house; the process felt antiquated in an increasingly modern world. With a particular focus on painting, this frustration ultimately led to the birth of Craftwork: a home painting service startup backed by a digital platform that makes the painting process smoother by instantly providing quotes to prospective clients.
The Craftwork co-founding team includes CEO Tim Griffin, COO Suzanne Griffin, CTO Mike Bifulco and CGO Joey Skavroneck—all of whom have experience on the startup scene. This combined experience has driven Craftwork’s early success in securing funding and investors; it is one of the few Charlotte-based companies that participated in the Y Combinator in 2023, and in 2025 raised a $7 million series A led by investors like Slow Ventures and Lachy Groom.
Following these triumphs on the funding front, Craftwork expanded operations to the Triangle area.
What sets Craftwork’s service apart
Craftwork’s digital platform consists of three main systems. The first is the primary Craftwork operating system, which is aimed at internal Craftwork administrators. Staff can monitor ongoing projects, configure supply ordering, and create virtual pricing estimates based on Zillow photos and more—all from a unified virtual dashboard.
Next is the customer portal, which empowers customers to easily keep track of their home projects. Clients can submit an estimate request and make decisions about the rooms they want painted using the detailed breakdowns they receive. This allows for greater flexibility in the painting process. Once a project is underway, a client can track its progress through the portal.
Clients also receive automated texts and emails about when painters will come and how the project is going.
Finally, the actual painting crew also has access to an app that helps organize the projects they’re working on, enabling the crew to track their progress as they go and keeping information about each project neatly in one place.
Beyond providing these technological solutions for clients and painting crews alike, Craftwork has a crew of around 30 hand-selected, full-time painters who go through monthly training to ensure a quality customer experience.
“We’re addressing a really frustrating homeowner experience and trying to make it so easy for the customer, because it’s very vulnerable to have someone come inside your home, mess with all of your stuff, move things around, all of that,” Marybeth Burns, lead brand designer at Craftwork, said. “And so what we really want to try to do is just create a really great five-star experience, and [make sure you] know that you can trust us with your home. We know it’s your safe place, and we want to treat it well.”
For funding and promotion, Craftwork has partnered with designers, builders and influencers to grow the brand. A little over two years later, the company now has an Instagram account with more than four thousand followers and hundreds of five-star customer reviews.
Craftwork plans to raise their second round of funding by the end of this year, and is on track to secure more than $17 million. After a successful launch in Raleigh, the startup also hopes to expand to other target cities like Atlanta and Nashville, and eventually spread its services all around the world.
QUICK BITS
Startup: Craftwork
Co-Founders: Tim Griffin (CEO), Mike Bifulco (CTO), Joey Skavroneck (Chief Growth Officer), Suzanne Griffin (Chief Success Officer)
Founded: 2023
Team size: 15
Location: Charlotte
Website: craftwork.com
Funding: $6M seed; $7M Series A
Craftwork’s combination of the ease of online digital services with the physical reality of home improvement suggests a new era in home ownership. Burns described the company as a kind of industry disruptor, where Craftwork is to home painting what Airbnb is to home rentals.
“The portal just makes everything so easy for the customer,” Burns said. “We’re giving automated emails, we’re giving automated texts, we’re giving daily updates for their project. Everything is just so elevated compared to what the home service industry is currently.”
Readers in the Charlotte and Raleigh areas can explore Craftwork’s services and put in for free estimates for home-based projects on the company’s website.
