Residential painting across Melbourne
Your home stays liveable while we work. Everything is covered, sanded and filled before any colour goes on, and the site is tidied down every evening. One fixed price, worked out after we have seen the job.
What people actually worry about
Most people call a painter with the same handful of questions in their head, and rarely ask all of them out loud. Here they are, answered up front.
- How will it actually turn out?Preparation decides that, not the paint. Every surface is sanded, every crack and chip is filled, and only then does colour go on. The order is the same on every job.
- Will it run to time?Smaller jobs take up to five days, larger ones up to ten. When a job needs to move faster, we put more people on it. We do not work faster.
- What about the mess?Floors, furniture, belongings and appliances are covered before anything starts, with plastic over carpet. Tools are washed and the space is put back at the end of every day.
- The smell, with kids and pets in the houseYou can usually stay. We ventilate as we go. Oil-based paint on doors and windows is the one exception, and that decision is yours to make.
- Our furniture and our thingsCovers go down before the first surface is touched and stay down until the room is finished, not just for the hour it is being painted.
Preparation first, every time
The order never changes, and no step gets skipped because the day is running long. It is not a checklist on a wall, it is fifteen years of doing it the same way.
- Everything coveredFloors, furniture, belongings and appliances, with plastic over carpet. This happens before anything else does.
- Sanded backEvery surface is sanded before it is painted. The most common shortcut we see in other people's work is doors and frames painted straight over with no sanding at all, and it shows.
- Washed down where it needs itOutside, anything carrying moss, grime or weathered timber is cleaned back first, with the right product for the surface. We do this as a job on its own too →
- Cracks and chips filledFilled and made good, so the finish sits on a sound surface instead of covering the damage.
- PaintedTwo coats on a repaint. Three on new plaster: a primer and two finish coats.
- Tidied down each eveningTools washed, the space put back. You should be able to use your home in the evening.
Living in the house while we paint
Most homes stay occupied through the job. This is what that actually looks like day to day.
- Do you need to move out?Usually not. We ventilate the house well as we work, and most people stay right through.
- Oil-based paint on doors and windowsThis is the exception. The smell is stronger and it needs around eight hours. If there are young children, elderly family or animals in the house, we talk it through first and you decide.
- When can we use the room again?Three to four hours after walls and ceilings. After oil-based paint on doors and windows, the next day.
- Low-VOC paintAvailable if you want it. It costs close to twice as much, so most people choose standard paint. We will use it if you ask, and we do not push it either way.
What house painting costs, and how we quote it
We come and look at the job, take a day or two to work it out, and give you one number.
- Fixed, not hourlyYou get a price for the work, not a rate that keeps running while the job does.
- Quoted in a day or twoLong enough to count it properly, short enough that you are not left waiting on an answer.
- It stands once it is setIf something genuinely unforeseen turns up, we raise it with you before any extra work happens, never after the fact.
- How long it takesSmaller jobs up to five days, larger ones up to ten.
After we leave
What you are left with once the last wall is dry and the covers are gone.
- Seven-year workmanship warrantySeven years on our own work. It does not cover movement or cracking in the building itself, and paint defects sit with the manufacturer. Seven years is not a round marketing number. It is what we are prepared to stand behind on our own work.
- $20,000,000 public liabilityPublic liability insurance with AAMI, twenty million dollars of cover.
- The leftover tin stays with youIt stays at your place with the brand, colour code and batch number on it, and receipts if you want them. You always know exactly what went on your walls.
- DuluxWe work with Dulux. There is a manufacturer warranty behind it, and most people already know the name. Plenty ask for it before we suggest anything.
Everything on the house, not just the walls
Most people call us about one room and find out later that we do the rest of the house too. Here is the whole range, each with the work behind it.
Where we work, and what those houses need
Period homes. Victorian and Edwardian houses in Brighton, Malvern, Kew and Camberwell come with ornate cornices, ceiling roses and lacework that has been painted over more than once. We cut that detail in by hand instead of spraying over it.
Weatherboard. Around Yarraville, Footscray, Essendon, Preston and Eltham most of our work is weatherboard: boards sanded back, gaps filled and primed before a single finish coat goes anywhere near them.
Newer estates. Houses built five or six years ago in Tarneit, Truganina, Wollert, Clyde North, Point Cook, Epping and Berwick are hitting their first repaint. The builder's coat has faded on the north side and marked up inside, and an exterior repaint now costs a lot less than leaving it another five years.
Coast and the outer east. Down through Cheltenham, Frankston, the Mornington Peninsula and Torquay, salt air and sun strip an exterior faster than anywhere else in the state. Out through Ringwood and Lilydale it is the opposite problem: shade, damp and moss, which is where roof painting comes into it.
House painting questions, asked most often
- How often should a home be repainted?Around every five years, sooner with children, animals or heavy wear. The signs are cracking and the colour going flat.
- How many coats do you put on?Two on a repaint. Three on new plaster: a primer and two finish coats.
- How long does paint take to dry?Between two or three hours and eight, depending on the type of paint.
- What happens if it rains?Outside work moves to another day. In heat around thirty five degrees we start at six and stop by ten, because after that the paint dries too fast and the finish suffers for it.
- Can you help us choose colours?Yes, and it comes up often. It is one of the things clients mention in their reviews.
Thinking about repainting your home?
Tell us what you are planning. We will come and look, then give you one fixed price.
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Tell us about your project and we'll get back to you, usually within a day, with a fixed, no-surprises quote.
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Mark will get back to you within one business day, usually a lot sooner.
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