Strata painting: what owners corporations should require before signing

Before a strata painting quote goes anywhere near a vote, the owners corporation should require 6 things in writing: the contractor licence number, a current $20M public liability certificate, a fixed scope per building element, an access and notice plan for residents, staged payments tied to completed work, and a defects walkthrough before final payment.

Key takeaways

• Verify the licence number yourself in the NSW register.
• Demand a certificate of currency, not a promise of insurance.
• Fixed element-by-element scopes prevent the variations that blow budgets.
• Hold the final payment until the defects walkthrough is complete.

Requirement 1: the licence number, in writing

Every quote should state the contractor's licence number on the document itself, not "fully licensed and insured" in a footer. Ours is Painting and Decorating Contractors Licence 222321C, and we publish it across this site, including on our strata painting page. That is the standard to demand from every contractor who quotes your building.

Then check the number yourself through the NSW Government licence check: the public register confirms the licence class, its status and its expiry in under a minute. A contractor who hesitates to put a licence number in writing has already answered the committee's real question.

Requirement 2: a $20M certificate of currency

Public liability cover sized for a lounge room is not cover for a building. A strata repaint puts workers at height above common property, residents, visitors and parked cars, and the insurance has to match that exposure: for buildings, require a certificate of currency at $20M, issued by the insurer, current across the works period and naming the same entity that signed the quote. We carry $20M public liability cover.

A building repaint sits closer to commercial painting than to a house job: the same compliance stakes, the same paperwork discipline, and insurance scaled to match. Memberships are worth sighting too; we hold Master Painters Australia and Housing Industry Association membership, and both are verifiable.

Requirement 3: a fixed written scope per building element

"Paint the common areas" is not a scope; it is an invitation to dispute. A committee-ready scope lists every element separately: external facades by elevation, balcony ceilings and balustrades, entry lobbies, corridor walls and doors per level, fire doors and frames, carpark surfaces, fences and gates, with the preparation standard and coating system stated for each. It also states what is excluded, so nobody discovers the exclusions at invoice time.

A tight scope also separates the repaint from ongoing upkeep. Elements that belong on a painting maintenance program get priced as a program, not smuggled into a repaint as future variations. The committee then compares quotes element against element instead of guessing what each total includes.

Requirement 4: an access and notice plan for residents

A strata repaint happens around people's front doors, so the quote should explain how residents are notified and how far in advance, which balconies need access on which days, how lifts, lobbies and letterboxes stay usable, what the working hours are, where materials get stored, and where wet-paint signage goes up.

A contractor who has painted occupied buildings produces this plan without being asked. The committee wears every complaint about blocked walkways, paint on a resident's car or a balcony entered without notice, so the plan belongs in writing before the contract is signed, not improvised on site in week 2. It should also name a single point of contact for resident questions, so day-to-day issues reach the contractor directly instead of piling into the committee inbox.

Requirement 5: staged payments tied to completed stages

Money should follow completed work, never precede it. Structure the contract around defined, inspectable stages: preparation complete, each elevation complete, internal common areas complete, with every claim checked against the written scope before it is paid. That structure protects both sides: the contractor gets paid promptly for finished stages, and the owners corporation never carries the risk of money sitting ahead of work.

Large upfront payments are the classic warning sign. NSW Fair Trading publishes guidance on contracts, deposits and payments for building work in New South Wales, and a committee that follows it removes most of the payment risk before a brush is lifted.

Requirement 6: a defects walkthrough before final payment

The final stage payment is the committee's only real leverage, so it is released after a defects walkthrough, not before. Walk the building against the written scope, element by element, and record every miss: thin coverage, overspray, unpainted edges, damage to surrounds. The contractor rectifies the list, the rectified items get checked again, and then the final payment is released.

A contractor confident in the work welcomes this step, because the walkthrough is where a fixed scope proves itself. Resistance to a documented walkthrough tells the committee exactly how the rest of the engagement would have run.

Why committees get burned

Nearly every strata painting dispute starts the same way: a vague scope met a low price. Vague scopes breed variations, and variations get priced without competition, after the contractor is on site and the committee has no practical alternative. The cheapest headline number attached to the loosest scope is the most expensive way to paint a building.

The 6 requirements above cost nothing to ask for and take a contractor who runs a proper job no effort to meet. Put them in the request for quote itself, so every contractor prices the same job to the same standard and the comparison becomes straight arithmetic instead of guesswork. A quote that satisfies all 6 is a quote a committee votes on with confidence; a quote that resists any of them has told you in advance how the job will run.