Painter Guide

How it works

1. List every surface

   Ceilings, walls, doors, trim, eaves and metalwork each deserve a line. A phrase such as whole house hides whether the outside is included.

2. Separate prep from colour

   Ask what is washed, sanded, filled and spot primed. The last coat is easy to name and a weak way to compare two offers.

3. See if the class exists

   Some states register painting and some treat parts of it differently. Open that state's register and see whether a painting class is shown for the work you are buying.

Services

• Interior repaints

  Ceilings, walls and trim, with preparation written apart from the final colour.

• Exterior coatings

  Weatherboards, rendered walls, eaves, fascias and doors that take the weather.

• Enamel on joinery

  A harder film for doors, frames and skirting, which is a different product from acrylic on a broad wall.

• Stain and clear finishes

  Decks, posts and feature timber where a clear or stained film is wanted instead of a solid colour.

• Local film repairs

  Blistering, chalking and patches, when coating an entire room would be the wrong scope.

What a painter does

Painters coat surfaces that are already built. Inside, that means ceilings, walls, doors, trim and careful cutting-in around glass. Outside, it means weatherboards, rendered walls, eaves, fascias, metalwork and the doors that face weather. The durable part is rarely the last colour. It is the washing, the sanding, the spot priming of bare timber, and the decision to stop when a sill is too soft to hold a film. Enamel on doors and a low-sheen acrylic on walls are different products, and a note that names only a brand has not described the job. Point at every peeling sill, stain, and ceiling before the first coat is named. Preparation is the work, and a colour chip does not describe it.

Preparation decides whether the film lasts. Chalking masonry, blistered eaves and a bathroom ceiling stained by steam each need their own approach, and none of them is solved by a thicker final coat. This trade does not replace a rotten post, re-sheet a cracked wall, or waterproof a shower. Those belong with carpentry, plaster and a waterproofer, then painting returns. A single-storey weatherboard is a different visit from a gable reached only by scaffold somebody has to supply. Read who masks, who shifts furniture, and how many coats each surface receives. Ask which rooms stay in use and who moves the furniture. A stairwell and a single bedroom are not the same masking job. Say so before the visit starts.

• New linings usually need this trade once joints are flat.
• Rendered walls take a coating after the render has cured.
• Soft sills go back to the carpenter before a film will hold.

Licensing by state

When you need a licensed painter

If New South Wales registers the painting you are buying, the class shows on the NSW Fair Trading search. Any value test is a question for NSW Fair Trading, and no figure is repeated here.

A Victorian reader checks whether painting is a registered class on the Building and Plumbing Commission painting entries.

Queensland painting classes, where QBCC issues them, are read on the licensee register before the work is treated as licensed.

Consumer and Business Services holds the South Australian holder search; see if painting is among the classes named.

Painter registration is a Building and Energy class in Western Australia. Confirm that class on the register. Check with Building and Energy.

CBOS lists Tasmanian tradespeople, and painting is a class to look up there before you assume the work is registered.

Access Canberra's construction pages are the Australian Capital Territory place to see whether a painting class is shown.

Ask the Northern Territory building practitioner register whether painting is published there, and do not assume a yes.

What changes the price

• A gable reached only with scaffold is a different visit from skirting cut in from the floor.
• A heritage colour that must be mixed, or product the owner already bought, changes the materials line.
• Precautions for an old film that may contain lead, and the notes that go with them, are compliance rather than a sheen choice.
• A weekend-only start, because an office cannot close on a weekday, is not an ordinary Monday booking.
• Salt air, chalking and a wall that was never washed are conditions the new film has to live on.
• Adding the laundry ceiling after the paperwork covered bedrooms only is a change of scope.
• Occupied rooms, furniture that stays, and carpet that cannot be lifted slow the masking.

Hiring checklist

• Each surface names a product, a sheen and how many coats.
• Preparation is specific: wash, sand, fill, spot prime, or none of those.
• You know who moves furniture and who masks glass, hardware and floors.
• Heights that need scaffold are separated from work done at floor level.
• Rotten timber, cracked render and damp bathrooms are excluded in writing if they will not be repaired here.
• Colours are identified by a code you have seen, not by memory of a sample pot.
• The page says how long rooms stay empty while coatings cure.
• Old-film precautions are mentioned when the existing coating is decades old.
• Exterior metal, eaves and doors have their own lines if they are in the job.
• Touch-up of marks found at the end is either offered or declined.

Questions to ask

• Which coating, and how many coats, is named for each surface?
• Is flaking film removed, or does new product go over whatever is there?
• Who masks windows and hardware, and who supplies the film and fillers?
• Are high eaves done from scaffold this crew brings, or from gear someone else supplies?
• Which repairs are excluded, such as soft sills or cracked render?
• How long must each room stay empty while enamel cures?

Painters in your city

City pages open when a city has enough published listings. See painters near you.

Featured painters

• ABN checked

  A - D Coatings

  Keilor East

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  Australian Non-Stick Coatings

  Diamond Creek

• ABN checked

  BGD Painting Services

  Wollert

• ABN checked

  BH Pro Painting

  Belmore

• Bakers & Co Painting And Decorating

  Gaythorne

• ABN checked

  Bashford Painters

  Metung

Search painters in the directory

Common questions

Sources and review

Reviewed 2026-10-22.

• NSW Fair Trading licence search Checked 2026-10-22.
• Victorian practitioner check Checked 2026-10-22.
• QBCC licensee register Checked 2026-10-22.
• South Australia licence holder search Checked 2026-10-22.
• Western Australia licence search Checked 2026-10-22.
• Tasmania licensed tradesperson search Checked 2026-10-22.
• Access Canberra construction registers Checked 2026-10-22.
• NT building practitioner register Checked 2026-10-22.
• LBP public site Checked 2026-10-22.