Apartment Painting Costs SA 2026 - Get Free Quotes

What It Costs to Paint an Apartment in South Australia

Painting the inside of an apartment in South Australia costs less than painting a house of similar bedroom count, and the reasons are worth understanding before you read a quote. A one bedroom unit interior runs $1,600 to $3,800, a two bedroom $2,200 to $5,500 and a three bedroom apartment $3,000 to $7,000. Apartments have no eaves, no exterior walls in your scope and usually lower ceilings and less trim than a comparable house. What they add instead is access, and access is where apartment quotes diverge from house quotes.

The first thing to settle is not price but boundary. In a strata or community title building, some surfaces belong to your lot and some are common property, and that determines whether you simply book a painter or need the corporation's authorisation first. Interior walls and ceilings inside your unit are almost always yours. A front door facing a common corridor, a balcony soffit or a window frame frequently is not.

That boundary question is the single most common cause of trouble on apartment painting, and it is easy to resolve in advance. Painting a common property surface without authorisation can mean being required to reinstate it at your own cost, which is an expensive way to learn the rule. The building's own records answer it, and the strata or community manager can confirm in writing.

The plan and the scheme documents settle it, and the manager can put that in writing. Getting that email before you book anybody is five minutes well spent.

This page deals with the cost of painting inside an apartment, by size and by room, along with access, building rules, timing and what belongs in a quote. Where the work involves common property, facades, lobbies, stairwells or the authorisation process itself, that sits at unit and apartment painting. The two pages are meant to be read together.

The two pages are meant to be read together rather than in isolation. Between them they cover both sides of the boundary.

Figures are indicative South Australian market rates for 2026 and assume interior work inside a lot in reasonable condition. Older blocks with lead paint, asbestos linings or water damage carry additional work before painting begins. Building age matters more than the suburb, and a 1970s walk-up and a 2018 apartment are quite different jobs for the same floor area.

Building age matters more than the suburb in this category. A 1970s walk-up and a 2018 apartment are quite different jobs for identical floor area.

Cost by Apartment Size

A one bedroom unit interior runs $1,600 to $3,800 covering walls, ceilings and trim. The lower end assumes an empty unit in sound condition with a single colour throughout and standard ceiling heights. The upper end reflects an occupied unit, patching, a colour change requiring an extra coat, and trim included. That is a wide range for a small space, and the spread is almost entirely occupancy and condition rather than size.

A two bedroom apartment runs $2,200 to $5,500 on the same basis and is the most common job in this category across South Australia. Two bedrooms, a living area, a kitchen, a bathroom and usually a small hallway is the standard configuration. Adding a second bathroom or an ensuite takes it toward the upper end. Ceiling height is the variable that moves it most, since many older blocks have lower ceilings and many newer ones higher.

A three bedroom apartment or a larger penthouse style unit runs $3,000 to $7,000, and above that the pricing behaves much more like a house. At that size there is usually a second living area, more circulation and considerably more trim. Ask for the quote itemised by room rather than as a single figure, since the rooms differ more than they do in a small unit.

Circulation and trim both grow faster than the bedroom count at that size. Ask for the quote itemised rather than as a single figure.

Individual rooms price much as they do in a house. A bedroom including its ceiling runs $500 to $1,100, a living area $700 to $1,600, a kitchen $500 to $1,200 and a bathroom or laundry $350 to $800. A single ceiling on its own is $250 to $550. Where only one or two rooms are being done, minimum charges apply, and small job scope sits at handyman painting and the cost per room rises accordingly.

Trim and doors are proportionally less in an apartment than a house but still add up. Skirtings and architraves run $180 to $400 a room and internal doors $120 to $280 painted both sides. Modern apartments generally have simpler trim and fewer doors than a comparable house, which is part of why the totals sit lower. Older converted buildings can be the opposite.

What You Can Paint and What Needs Approval

South Australia operates both strata title and community title under separate legislation, and the owning entity is a strata corporation or a community corporation rather than an owners corporation or body corporate as in other states. The practical effect is the same: some surfaces are yours and some belong to everybody. Which is which depends on how the scheme was created and what the plan says, so the building's own records are the authority rather than any general rule. The building's plan is the authority rather than any general rule. Start there rather than with advice from a neighbour.

Interior walls, ceilings and the inward-facing surfaces of your unit are almost always lot property and yours to paint in any colour you choose. A corporation has no legitimate interest in the colour of your bedroom, and no approval is needed for ordinary interior redecoration. That covers the great majority of apartment painting work and is why most of these jobs proceed without any process at all. No approval is needed for ordinary interior redecoration in the great majority of cases. That is why most apartment jobs proceed without any process at all.

Anything visible from outside the unit, or shared with other lots, generally is not yours. Front doors facing a common corridor, balcony ceilings and soffits, balustrade faces, window frames, external walls and anything in a lobby or stairwell usually sit on the common property side in South Australian schemes. Painting them without authorisation can mean being required to reinstate at your own cost. Painting them without authorisation can mean reinstating at your own cost. Confirm the position rather than assuming it.

Balconies are the surface most often misunderstood, because the space is yours to use but the structure frequently is not. The floor membrane in particular is almost always common property and is a waterproofing system rather than a paint finish. Coating a balcony floor with ordinary paint does not waterproof it and can trap moisture in the slab. If the balcony is leaking, that is a repair matter for the corporation rather than a painting job.

Fire doors are the one surface where the answer is simply no. Apartment entry doors in many buildings are rated fire doors carrying a certification tag and intumescent seals, and painting over either prevents verification at inspection. A door that cannot be verified may have to be replaced, which is far more expensive than leaving it alone. Any painter working in apartment buildings should know this without being told.

Preparation Inside an Apartment

Preparation accounts for most of the labour in an apartment just as it does in a house, and the specific issues that come up are fairly predictable once you know the building age. Walls in units take more physical contact than walls in houses, because the rooms are smaller and furniture sits closer to them, so scuffing along circulation routes and behind furniture is the norm rather than the exception. A repaint that skips filling and sanding those areas looks fresh for about a month. Ask what the quote allows for rather than accepting a general assurance.

Picture hook holes and wall anchors are the single most common item and they multiply over successive tenancies. Each needs filling, sanding flush and spot priming before the wall coat goes on, and a unit with forty holes carries real labour in that alone.

Removing every hook and anchor yourself before the painter arrives is genuinely useful and costs you an evening. Leaving them in place means either working around them, which looks poor, or paying trade rates to pull them out.

Bathroom and kitchen ceilings need a different approach from the rest of the unit. Condensation in apartments concentrates in those rooms because they are small, poorly ventilated and used for steam, and the result is mould growth on the ceiling and around window reveals rather than general wear. Painting over active mould fails within months, since the growth continues under the film and bleeds back through. The surface has to be treated and dried before coating rather than simply covered.

Window reveals are frequently the worst surface in an older unit and the most often skipped. Condensation runs down glass and collects on the reveal below, which over years lifts the paint and can rot a timber sill. Where the reveal is failing, filling and repainting it is a short job while the painter is there and an awkward one afterwards. Point them out rather than assuming they will be noticed. Buildings with a loading bay are noticeably cheaper to work in than those without.

Kitchen joinery refinishing sits at kitchen cabinet painting. Wallpaper is a consideration in older blocks and it changes the job entirely. Painting over wallpaper is possible where it is thoroughly stuck down, and it is a poor idea where any seam is lifting, because the paint's moisture loosens the adhesive and the whole sheet can peel. Removal, washing off the residue and sizing the wall before painting is the correct answer, and that scope sits at paint preparation and repairs and it is a separate line. Establish which situation applies before comparing quotes.

Why Access Costs More in an Apartment

The same floor area costs more to paint in an apartment than in a house, and none of it is opportunistic pricing. A painter working on a house parks in the driveway and carries materials a few metres, while a painter working on a third floor unit parks wherever they can, carries everything through a shared entrance and up a lift or stairs, and reverses it at the end of each day. Confirming it in writing takes a moment and settles the question. On a building with restricted parking that can absorb an hour a day before any painting happens. The additional cost reflects time lost rather than a premium being charged.

Lift bookings and access hours compound it. Many South Australian buildings require lift protection to be installed for trade use and bookings to be made in advance, and some restrict working hours to protect other residents. A crew that can only work between nine and four loses productive time at both ends of a normal trade day. Ask what your building requires before requesting quotes, since a painter who has not been told will have assumed the easier case.

Protection obligations are heavier in shared buildings for obvious reasons. Common corridors, lift interiors, lobby floors and stairwells all have to be protected along the route between the entrance and the unit, and any paint on a shared surface becomes a corporation matter rather than a private one. That masking is real labour repeated on every visit rather than done once. Corridor and lift protection belongs in the quote as its own item.

Ground floor and walk-up units sit at the cheaper end for the same reasons reversed. A ground floor unit with direct external access is barely different from a small house, and a first floor walk-up only marginally worse. The cost climbs with the number of levels and whether the lift is available, reliable and bookable. Mentioning the floor number when requesting quotes is genuinely useful information.

Where several owners in the same building are painting, coordinating is the most effective saving available. Multiple units in a single visit share the access setup, the parking, the lift booking and the corridor protection, and most painters will price a multi-unit job noticeably better than the same units individually. Raising it on the building noticeboard costs nothing and occasionally finds two or three neighbours in the same position. Raising it on the building noticeboard costs nothing. It occasionally finds two or three neighbours in the same position.

Choosing Products for an Apartment

Product choice affects an apartment more than a house of the same value, because the surfaces are closer, the light is often more directional and the wear is concentrated. Spending a little more on the wall finish is one of the few upgrades in this trade that pays for itself, and the difference between a builder grade and a premium interior wall paint across a two bedroom unit is generally under two hundred dollars. What it buys is washability and coverage rather than a different colour. The difference between a builder grade and a premium wall paint across a two bedroom unit is generally under two hundred dollars. What it buys is washability rather than a different colour.

Low sheen is the practical default for apartment walls in South Australia. Flat paint is porous, marks easily and cannot be wiped clean, which is a poor combination in a small space with high contact. Full gloss shows every imperfection in the wall behind it and reads as institutional indoors. Low sheen sits between the two, sheds marks, wipes down and is what most painters will recommend without being asked.

Texture and wall finishes sit at texture coating. Ceilings deserve a specification rather than a default. Standard flat ceiling white is fine through bedrooms and living areas, and it is the wrong product in a bathroom, laundry or kitchen where condensation collects. A mould resistant ceiling product costs very little more and addresses the surface that fails first in an apartment. Wet area ceiling products are set out at mould resistant coatings.

Some painters spray unit interiors while vacant, which sits at spray painting. Trim products have shifted considerably and waterborne enamels have largely replaced solvent based ones in South Australia. They hold their colour rather than yellowing, carry far less odour, which matters in a small enclosed unit, and clean up with water. The trade-off is a longer cure before the surface can be handled hard, and on doors that matters because a door closed against a soft finish can stick to its frame. Ask when doors can safely be closed rather than only when they are dry.

Low odour products are worth specifying in an apartment even where they cost slightly more. There is less air volume to dilute solvent vapour, ventilation options are limited to whatever windows open, and shared air paths mean the smell reaches neighbours as well as you. Where the resident includes small children, shift workers or anyone with respiratory sensitivity, it stops being a preference. Most modern water based systems are low odour as standard, so it is worth confirming rather than assuming.

Older Blocks and What They Carry

South Australian apartment stock spans roughly seventy years and the decade of construction predicts most of what a painter will find. Knowing roughly when your building went up tells you which questions matter before anybody quotes. An email from the strata manager costs nothing and settles it. The three broad eras below cover most of the stock across Adelaide and the coastal centres. Identifying yours before you call shortens the conversation.

Walk-up blocks from the 1960s and 1970s across Glenelg, Brighton, Prospect, Norwood, Unley and Semaphore are the largest older category. These buildings frequently carry lead paint on anything original, and health questions belong with a doctor or SA Health, since permissible lead in domestic paint was not reduced sizeable until well after they were built. Preparation is precisely the stage that disturbs it, so raise it before any sanding is proposed. Management options sit at lead paint removal.

Asbestos linings are the second concern in that era, with workplace duties administered by SafeWork SA and appear in unexpected places. Fibre cement sheeting behind stoves, in bathrooms and laundries, in eaves and around meter boxes was common, and buildings of this age frequently have an asbestos register held by the corporation. Ask to see it before work starts, since it is exactly the document that tells a painter where not to sand. A corporation that has one will provide it readily.

Heritage buildings sit at heritage house painting. Blocks from the 1980s and 1990s are generally more straightforward, with plasterboard linings and standard ceiling heights. The common issues are condensation mould on external wall corners and bathroom ceilings, and window reveals that have never been repainted. Uninsulated solid masonry walls in some of this stock run cold in winter, which is what drives the condensation. Mould resistant products in wet areas are worth specifying rather than standard ceiling white.

Room by room interior pricing is set out at interior house painting. Modern apartments from the 2000s onward are the cheapest to paint and the most predictable. Plasterboard throughout, consistent ceiling heights, minimal trim and no hazardous materials mean quotes cluster tightly. The main variable is whether the original builder finish was a single coat over a sealer, which covers adequately but shows joints in raking light and needs two coats to sit properly. That is a common reason for a repaint in a building only ten years old.

Investment Apartments and Rental Turnovers

A large share of South Australian apartment painting is driven by tenancy changes rather than owner occupiers redecorating, and the economics are different. The work is being done to relet rather than to live with, which changes the sensible specification and sharpens the timing considerably. Fire door elements are the one thing no painter should touch regardless. Vacancy usually costs more per week than the painting does per room. That changes both the specification and the timing.

The vacancy between tenancies is the obvious window and it costs nothing extra to use. A full repaint of an empty two bedroom apartment takes two to four working days and can frequently be fitted between a vacate and a new lease start. Coordinating painting with the other end of tenancy work compresses that period rather than extending it. Agents managing turnovers will usually arrange this if asked.

Specification should match the purpose rather than defaulting to the cheapest option. A washable low sheen wall finish costs very little more than a flat builder grade product and survives several tenancies rather than one, which makes it cheaper per year. On a property being relet repeatedly, durability is worth more than the small saving on the tin. Committee decisions are minuted, so a written request is easier to point back to.

Fair wear and tear is the distinction that decides who pays, and it is worth understanding before a bond claim. Ordinary scuffing and fading over a tenancy is generally wear and tear, while holes, staining and damage beyond normal use is not. Condition reports with dated photographs at both ends of the tenancy are what settle these questions. Tenancy and strata disputes that cannot be resolved go to SACAT.

Renters should not attempt to repair, drill into or repaint surfaces themselves without permission, including hanging shelves on a wall that might be fibre cement sheeting in an older block. Reporting damage promptly is the correct response even where the delay is inconvenient, and tenancy information is published at sa.gov.au. Painting a rental without the lessor's agreement can itself become a bond issue. Structural and waterproofing elements remain the lessor's responsibility.

Living in the Apartment While It Is Painted

Most apartment painting happens with the resident staying, which is workable in a way it rarely is in a house because the space is smaller and simpler to stage. A painter can generally do one room at a time and leave the rest usable, so the disruption is real but contained. Say which floor you are on in the first message rather than the third. Planning the sequence before the first day makes the difference between a manageable week and an unpleasant one. Tell the painter which rooms you cannot lose.

Start with the rooms you can most easily do without. Bedrooms are usually painted first if there is somewhere else to sleep, or last if there is not, and living areas in the middle. The kitchen and bathroom should be scheduled so neither is out of action for more than a day, since those are the two rooms an apartment cannot function without. Tell the painter which constraint matters most.

Odour matters more in an apartment than a house because there is less volume to dilute it and fewer ways to ventilate. Water based products have largely solved this for interior work, and specifying a low odour system is worth doing where the resident includes shift workers, small children or anyone with respiratory sensitivity. That record matters if the committee queries the work afterwards. Opening windows and running exhaust fans while work proceeds helps considerably. Specifying a low odour system is worth doing in a small unit.

Furniture handling is the practical constraint in a small space. There is nowhere to move things to, so painters work around a central stack in each room and shift it as they go, which is slower than an empty unit. Removing everything you can to another room or into storage for the week genuinely lowers the cost as well as the risk. Anything fragile should leave the room entirely rather than be covered.

Balcony access needs coordinating separately if any work touches it. Where a balcony ceiling or balustrade is in scope and is common property, the corporation has to authorise it first, and where it is a shared wall the neighbouring resident may need notice. Raising both before the painter arrives avoids a day lost on site. It is the most common cause of a stalled apartment job.

Timing an Apartment Repaint

Apartment painting is less weather dependent than house painting because none of the work is outside, which means it can be scheduled with more certainty and booked at times of year when painters have capacity. Winter is the easiest season to book interior work in South Australia, since exterior crews have stopped and the diary opens up. That capacity is worth using where the job can wait, and it frequently shows in the price. Where the work is not urgent, that spare capacity is worth waiting for. A flexible date is a genuine bargaining position in this trade.

Building constraints matter more than the calendar. Many South Australian buildings restrict trade working hours, commonly to weekdays between eight or nine in the morning and four or five in the afternoon, and some prohibit weekend work entirely. Those limits determine how much of each day is productive and therefore how many days the job takes. Establish them with the manager before booking rather than after.

Lift availability is the other scheduling constraint and it is worth checking early. Buildings that require lift protection to be fitted and bookings to be made in advance can only accommodate one trade at a time, so a painter may be competing with a removalist or another contractor for the same slot. Booking the lift as soon as the dates are agreed is sensible. A crew that arrives and cannot get materials up has lost the morning.

Notice to neighbours costs nothing and prevents most of the friction. Residents who know that a corridor will be sheeted on Tuesday and Wednesday plan around it, while residents who discover it on Tuesday morning complain to the committee. A note under the doors on your floor a few days ahead is usually enough. It also means anyone with a particular sensitivity can raise it before rather than during.

Allow a buffer of a day on any timeline that matters, particularly before a settlement, a lease start or a move. Patching that reveals more patching underneath is the usual cause of an overrun, and older blocks with solid plaster are the most likely to produce it. An empty two bedroom unit painted in two to four days is realistic. Promising a same-week turnaround on an occupied one rarely is.

Adelaide and Coastal Pricing

Apartment painting prices across metropolitan Adelaide track building age, floor level and access far more closely than they track suburb. A second floor unit in a 1970s walk-up and a fifth floor apartment in a modern tower differ on access alone before anybody looks at the walls. Quoting the building rather than the postcode is the right approach, and reading quotes that way makes the differences obvious. Quoting the building rather than the postcode is the right approach. Reading quotes that way makes the differences obvious.

The Adelaide CBD and the inner suburbs carry the highest concentration of apartment stock and the widest range of building types. Parking is the recurring constraint, since a painter with no loading access loses time at both ends of every day. Buildings with a dedicated loading bay or a bookable lift are noticeably cheaper to work in than those without, and that difference shows up in quotes. Buildings with a dedicated loading bay or a bookable lift are noticeably cheaper to work in. That difference shows up in the quotes you receive.

The coastal belt from Glenelg through Brighton, Henley Beach, Semaphore and Largs Bay carries a large share of the state's older unit stock. Those buildings are mostly walk-ups from the 1960s and 1970s, which brings lead paint and asbestos linings into the conversation and frequently means no lift. Salt exposure affects the common property and facade rather than the interiors, so it matters less for a lot-only job. Salt exposure affects the common property and facade rather than the interiors. For a lot-only job it matters less than the lack of a lift.

Modern apartment buildings through the CBD, North Adelaide, Bowden and the inner fringe are the most predictable to quote. Consistent construction, no hazardous materials and lifts designed for trade use produce quotes that cluster tightly. Where one is a clear outlier, ask what it includes or excludes rather than assuming a better rate.

If one figure sits well apart from the others, ask about inclusions before assuming a keener rate. In modern buildings the scope explains most gaps.

Regional apartment and unit stock across Victor Harbor, Mount Gambier, Whyalla, Port Augusta and Port Lincoln is generally low rise and easier to access than metropolitan equivalents. What the committee authorises may not match what you proposed. Coordinating with other work in the building or on the street is the practical way to absorb it, as it is on any regional job. Travel is the component to ask about rather than access. Coordinating with other work in the building is the practical way to absorb it.

Painting Before a Sale or a Lease

An apartment repaint before sale or lease is one of the more reliable presentation improvements available, largely because apartments photograph in a way houses do not. Rooms are smaller, the photographs are taken closer and tired paint is more visible in a tight frame than it is across a large living room. On a unit the cost is also modest relative to the price, which makes the arithmetic straightforward. The corporation's records settle the boundary question rather than a neighbour's recollection.

New build finishes sit at new home painting. Focus the budget where buyers and tenants actually look. The entry, the main living area and the kitchen carry most of the impression, and a bedroom that photographs badly will be noticed in a listing far more than a laundry will. Painting everything is rarely the best return on a unit being sold, and painting the wrong things is how owners spend money without moving the price.

Painting everything is rarely the best return on a unit being sold. Painting the wrong things is how owners spend without moving the price.

Commercial work sits at commercial painters. Neutral is the right instruction for a sale even where it is not your taste. Buyers form impressions in minutes and a strong colour scheme makes them calculate the cost of changing it rather than imagining themselves in the space. Warm whites and soft mid tones photograph well and read as larger, which matters in an apartment. Save the personality for a property you are staying in.

For a lease the calculation changes toward durability rather than presentation. A washable low sheen finish survives several tenancies where a flat builder grade product survives one, and the marginal cost is small against the labour of repainting sooner. Ask the painter what they would specify for a rental rather than an owner occupier, since the answers differ and a good painter will say so. Ask the painter what they would specify for a rental rather than an owner occupier. The answers differ and a good painter will say so.

Timing matters as much as specification on both. Painting before photography rather than after is obvious and still gets missed, and painting before a lease start rather than between viewings avoids the smell being the first thing anybody notices. Allow the cure time rather than booking an inspection for the following morning. Fresh paint reads as fresh for a few days and as strong odour for a couple more.

What to Look Out For

Confirm the lot and common property boundary in writing before engaging anybody, since this is the single most common cause of trouble on apartment painting. The strata or community manager can answer it from the building's records, and a short email creates the record you may want later. Painting a common property surface without authorisation can mean reinstating it at your own cost. Corridor protection repeated on every visit is real labour rather than padding.

Ask whether the painter has worked in apartment buildings before and what they know about lift protection, access hours and notice to residents. Someone who treats those as normal conditions of the job rather than obstacles will cause you far fewer problems with the building. Working in occupied buildings is a different skill from house painting. It is a different skill from residential house painting and not every good painter has it. Ask which buildings they have worked in recently.

On any building from before 1990, ask about lead paint and asbestos before any sanding is proposed. Preparation is exactly the stage that disturbs both, and older blocks frequently have an asbestos register held by the corporation that a painter should see. Raising either unprompted says something useful about how an operator works. Older blocks frequently have an asbestos register held by the corporation. That is exactly the document a painter should see before sanding.

Never allow anything to be painted over on a fire door, including the certification tag, the intumescent seals and the hardware. Name the surfaces you believe are yours and let the manager correct you. This is not a matter of judgement or finish quality, it is a compliance requirement and the answer is simply to leave those elements alone. A door that cannot be verified at inspection may have to be replaced at considerable cost. This is a compliance requirement rather than a matter of finish.

Because painting and decorating counts as building work here, anything above the licensing threshold requires a licensed building contractor registered with Consumer and Business Services. Ask for a certificate of currency for public liability insurance as well, since many buildings require evidence of it at a particular level before trades are admitted. Ask for the licence number and check it against the public register. Many buildings also require evidence of public liability cover before trades are admitted. Licence and insurance checks are standard before trades enter a building.

The Legislation Behind an Apartment Repaint

Three separate South Australian Acts can bear on a unit repaint, and knowing which applies to you saves a great deal of argument. The Strata Titles Act 1988 and the Community Titles Act 1996 govern the two scheme types used in this state and determine where your lot ends and common property begins. General guidance on both sits at sa.gov.au.

If you rent, the Residential Tenancies Act 1995 governs what you may and may not alter, and painting without the lessor's written agreement can become a bond issue. Ask first and get the answer in writing.

Where a licensed contractor is engaged, the Building Work Contractors Act 1995 applies and Consumer and Business Services issues the licence. Since 15 January 2026 the penalties have been considerably heavier, with $5,000 expiation fees for unlicensed work, for advertising outside a licence, for non-compliant contracts and for improper payment demands, and up to $150,000 for individuals or $550,000 for companies on repeat offences. Many buildings also require evidence of public liability cover before admitting a trade, so ask for a certificate of currency early.

Older blocks bring a further document into play. AS/NZS 4361.2:2017, Guide to hazardous paint management, Part 2, covers lead paint in residential and commercial buildings and sets out how to establish whether lead is present and how to manage it. It is the reference for any pre-1970 walk-up, and health questions belong with a doctor or SA Health.

For workmanship the standard is AS/NZS 2311:2017 from Standards Australia, which specifies three coats on bare plaster and bare timber and back-rolling of the first and last coats where plasterboard is sprayed. Naming it in your scope gives you something concrete to point at.

Brands routinely used in unit work include Dulux, Haymes, Wattyl and Taubmans, all of which publish technical data sheets naming primers and recoat intervals. For the trade across the state generally, see house painters in SA.

Getting Comparable Quotes

Apartment quotes vary more in what they assume about access than in what they charge for painting, so a short brief covering the building is worth as much as one covering the rooms. Without it, the cheapest quote is usually the one that has assumed the easiest access rather than the one offering best value. Without a brief, the cheapest quote is usually the one that assumed the easiest access. A short note covering the building is worth as much as one covering the rooms. Send the same brief to all three.

State the floor level, whether there is a lift, whether it can be booked for trade use and what the building's access hours are. Those four facts determine how much of each day is productive and therefore most of the difference between two quotes. Anyone not told about the lift and the parking will have priced the easy case and will revise on arrival. A painter who has not been told will have assumed the easier case.

They will revise the figure when they arrive and find otherwise. Say whether the unit will be occupied or empty and give the intended timing.

An empty unit is masked once and worked through continuously, while an occupied one is staged room by room with furniture shifted as work proceeds. Lift availability determines how much of each day is productive. On a two bedroom apartment the difference is smaller than on a house but still real. Say which applies rather than leaving it open.

Go room by room through every surface and state plainly whether ceilings and trim are included. Include the hallway, the laundry and any built-in robe interiors you want done, since these are the items most often omitted and most awkward to add once the setup is packed up. Listing more than you need and cutting back is the cheaper direction to travel. Include the hallway, the laundry and any robe interiors you want done. Adding them later, once the setup is packed up, costs more.

Name the building age and mention anything you know about lead paint, asbestos or previous water damage. All three change the preparation and are cheaper to plan for than to discover on day two. If the corporation holds an asbestos register, offer it to the painter at quoting stage rather than after work has started. Each alters the preparation, and planning for them costs less than finding them. Offer the asbestos register at quoting stage if the corporation holds one.

Making the Decision

On an apartment the decision usually turns on whether the painter understands buildings rather than on price. The painting itself is straightforward, and what separates operators is how they handle lifts, corridors, notice to neighbours and the boundary between your lot and common property. A crew that arrives and cannot get materials upstairs has lost the morning. A painter who asks about those things at quoting stage is the one who will finish without incident. The painting itself is rarely the differentiator.

Where quotes differ widely, access assumptions explain most of it. Ask the outlier what they have assumed about the lift, the parking and the working hours, since a painter allowing for corridor protection and a booked lift is quoting a different job from one who has assumed they can park at the door. That difference is legitimate rather than padding. Someone who has worked the building before will already know its lift rules.

Settle the approval question before you settle the price. If any part of the scope touches common property, the corporation's authorisation comes first and the quotes come second, because the approved scope may differ from the one you asked for. Approaching the committee with a written proposal and a colour specification makes a fast decision considerably more likely. The approved scope may differ from the one you asked for. Approaching the committee with a written proposal makes a fast decision more likely.

Put the scope in writing before any deposit changes hands, covering which surfaces are in and out, the access arrangements, the product range and the coat count. On an apartment it is also worth agreeing who notifies the building and who is responsible if a common area is marked. Both are easier to settle before work starts than afterwards. Settle too who tells the building and who carries responsibility for any mark on a shared surface. Notification and responsibility for common areas are easier agreed in advance.

Finally, keep the colour formulations and product details with your unit records. Touch-ups over the following years are far easier with the original specification than without it, and it matters again at sale or at the next tenancy. Capture the tin labels before they leave and ask for surplus paint to be left behind, labelled by room. Record the product codes from the tins while the painter is still there. A labelled sample of the original coating is worth more than a later match.