If you’re pricing a repaint across offices, retail, or light industrial spaces, the right painter saves time, disruption and a lot of remedial work later. Start by scoping the building and asking better questions—about access, WHS, coatings and warranty—before you look at the number on page one of the quote. To anchor the brief, shortlisting repaint commercial building helps you map staging, hours, and inclusions so each tender is quoting the same job.

1) Scope your building like a facilities pro

Walk the site with a simple matrix: areas, substrates, defects, access, hours.

  • Areas: facades, entries, lifts, stairs, end-of-trip, plant rooms, car parks.
  • Substrates: concrete, render, masonry, galvanised steel, aluminium, timber, plasterboard.
  • Defects: chalking, rust, hairline cracks, efflorescence, moisture ingress, and previous coating failure.
  • Access: EWP, boom, scaffold, abseil/rope access, out-of-hours only?
  • Hours: normal business, nights, weekends; tenant blackout periods.

I once scoped a CBD lobby without noting the base-building’s Saturday delivery curfew. The “quiet weekend” plan collided with loading dock rules; we lost a day and paid for an extra lift of scaffold. Lesson learned: confirm building management windows early.

2) WHS isn’t paperwork—it decides who you hire

Ask for evidence, not promises. A credible contractor will show:

  • SWMS tailored to each activity (e.g., internal heights, EWP use, spraying).
  • Training/High-Risk licences for EWP, scaffold, or rope access where relevant.
  • SDS for all coatings, plus a ventilation plan when spraying.
  • Incident and induction process for workers and visitors.

For projects involving spray work, point them to the official spray painting code of practice —it covers ventilation, ignition sources, PPE and booth standards, and it’s the yardstick for safe planning.

3) Prep wins or loses the job (and the warranty)

Preparation is 70% of paint quality. Get specific:

  • Surface cleaning: pressure wash, degreaser, and mould treatment.
  • Defect repairs: crack chase and fill, rust treatment, patch and prime.
  • Primers: substrate-specific (zinc-rich, metal etch, alkali-resistant).
  • Film builds: system data sheets (DFT), not just “two coats”.

Ask each bidder to reference the coating manufacturer’s system for your substrate and exposure—coastal air, UV, and pollution levels around Sydney matter.

4) Choose coatings for the job, not the catalogue

A good painter will help you balance durability, appearance, VOCs and dry times:

  • Acrylic systems for masonry/render in high-UV; breathable, good colour hold.
  • Two-pack epoxies for plant rooms, floors, and car parks; solvent or waterborne.
  • Polyurethanes for UV-stable topcoats on metal.
  • Low-VOC options for occupied interiors; faster reoccupation and happier tenants.

In a Surry Hills office, we swapped a generic interior topcoat for a low-odour system with rapid cure. Tenants returned Monday without the “fresh paint” complaint chorus, and the facilities manager kept the next two floors with zero schedule creep.

5) Access methods change the price—and the risk

Match access to the site and risk profile:

  • EWP/booms for clear apron areas and mid-rise elevations.
  • Scaffold where the duration is long or façade repairs are heavy.
  • Rope access for targeted exterior touch-ups where anchorage exists and controls are robust.
  • Night works to avoid disrupting trading floors or retail.

Confirm who supplies permits, barricades, spotters, traffic guidance and after-hours notifications. Don’t assume; put it in the scope.

6) Tenant-friendly staging and communication

Commercial repaints live or die on stakeholder management:

  • Staging plans that break work into zones with dates and hours.
  • Clean transitions (no half-finished reception for days).
  • Daily updates via email or a shared board (what’s done, what’s next).
  • Housekeeping: dust control, coverings, daily tidy, neutral odour control.

I’ve watched a good foreman save a retail repaint by posting a 7 am update photo at the start of trade each day—store managers stopped calling because they could see progress.

7) What to ask for in every quote (apples-to-apples)

Insist each tender includes:

  • Detailed scope (areas, substrates, defects, exclusions).
  • Coating schedule with manufacturer and system codes, DFT and gloss level.
  • Access plan (EWP, scaffold, rope) with durations and permits.
  • Program with working hours and staging/sequence.
  • WHS pack (SWMS, licences, insurance certificates of currency).
  • Defect liability period and warranty (paint manufacturer + applicator).
  • Variations method (hourly rates, mark-ups, approval flow).

If a quote is much lower, it often omits repairs, access time, or proper film build. Cheap today = chalking and callbacks tomorrow.

8) Budget sense: Where to save, where not to

  • Spend on: substrate repairs, primers, proper access, and traffic management—fail these, and your topcoat won’t matter.
  • Save on: back-of-house gloss level, complex colour breaks no one sees, and boutique finishes in plant rooms.
  • Stage by risk: critical ingress points and weather-sensitive elevations first; low-visibility zones later.

For a maintenance angle your editor can host, add commercial repaint—covering cycles, inspections, and how to budget repaint intervals.

9) Falls from height: Ask how they’ll prevent them

Any exterior or atrium work? Make the contractor show their hierarchy of controls—eliminate, guard, then arrest as a last resort. If you want an external explainer for readers, include managing the risk of falls at work. If you prefer official guidance, SafeWork NSW’s code of practice lays out practical controls and duties.

10) Practical handover—and how to avoid repaint déjà vu

  • Punch list walk-through with your PM and the site foreman.
  • As-built pack: colours, batch numbers, system sheets, and access method notes.
  • Maintenance guide: cleaning schedule (no aggressive solvents), touch-up process, and early-warning signs to watch.
  • Calendar the first inspection (e.g., 6–12 months) so minor issues don’t turn major.

Mini-checklist to copy into your RFT

  • Scope rooms/elevations with substrates and defects.
  • Request a coating system (not just brand) for each substrate.
  • Demand a WHS pack aligned to the spray painting code of practice and falls prevention.
  • Fix the working hours and staging constraints.
  • Define handover docs: warranty, batch numbers, maintenance plan.
  • Clarify variation rates and approval workflow.

A quick story from the site

On a Rhodes business park stair core, the cheapest bidder skipped rust remediation on balustrades and sprayed straight over. It looked fine for eight weeks. By month three, brown blooms bled through. The owner paid twice: once for the cheap job, again for proper prep, primer and recoating under tenancy pressure. The expensive quote had been the cheaper option, just later.

Final thoughts

Hiring commercial painters in Sydney is less about chasing the lowest line and more about the buying process: safe access, substrate repairs, correct systems, and calm staging around tenants. If your RFT captures those, quotes line up, and delivery gets boring—in the very best way. Start with a clear brief and a like-for-like scope, point bidders to the spray painting code of practice, and keep the defects-and-warranty conversation front and centre. For ongoing upkeep and budgeting, pair this with commercial repaint and a neutral primer on managing risk of falls at work. Do that, and your next repaint will look good now—and a few summers from now.