How much does commercial painting cost on the Sunshine Coast?

Per square metre rates only help when you know what's in them

A commercial painting rate per square metre tells you very little until you know what it covers. Two quotes at the same rate can be very different jobs. One might be a single coat on walls in good shape. The other might include patching, a sealer, two top coats, and the doors and frames as well.

Our own online estimate is built for houses. It asks how many bedrooms a home has, and it gives guide ranges such as $7,000 to $14,000 for the outside of a single-storey rendered house in good condition, including GST. A shop, office or warehouse doesn't fit that model, so we price commercial work once we've seen it.

If you've seen a per square metre figure online, treat it as a starting question. Ask what the rate includes, and whether access gear and prep are in it or extra. For a feel for home prices first, see our house painting cost guide.

What a commercial painting quote is built from

A commercial painting quote is made up of a handful of parts, and each one can move the price. The table shows what each part covers and the question to ask about it when you line quotes up side by side.

Prep is part of the painting trade. The QBCC's painting and decorating licence class covers preparing surfaces as well as applying paint. So a quote that says little about prep is worth a follow-up question before you sign.

Height and access: a fall risk over 2 metres needs a written safety plan

Height moves a commercial painting price because high work needs gear and planning. Safe Work Australia says construction work with a risk of falling more than 2 metres is high risk construction work, and a safe work method statement, or SWMS, must be prepared for it. Its guidance on working at heights lists fall prevention devices such as barriers, scaffolding and work platforms that lift people up.

All of that shows up in a quote. Scaffold or a lift has to be brought in, set up, moved around the site and taken away. Time goes into writing the SWMS. A two-storey shopfront on a busy street takes more to reach than a single-level office with clear space around it. When you compare quotes, check that each one says how the high work will be reached.

Don't ask staff to climb up and patch or prep high walls before the painters arrive. Work with a fall risk over 2 metres needs a SWMS and proper fall controls, so leave it to the contractor.

Older buildings: find the asbestos register before anyone sands

On an older Queensland building, the asbestos register has to be sorted before painting starts, and that can add steps to the job. Queensland's asbestos rules say a person with management or control of a workplace must make sure asbestos is identified and recorded in a register. A register isn't needed if the building went up after 31 December 1989, no asbestos has been found, and none is likely to be there.

Before refurbishment or maintenance work starts, a copy of the register must go to the business doing the work. If there's no register, that work mustn't start until the structure has been inspected for asbestos. An inspection costs time and money, so if your building is from before 1990, find the register before you ask for quotes. Most residential strata bodies corporate are treated differently under these rules, so check what applies to your scheme.

Lead paint is the other check. The Queensland Government says sanding and grinding old lead paint makes a lot of lead dust that can be breathed in or swallowed. Its advice for homes is that a place built before 1970 has probably got lead paint. On an older building, ask whether the quote allows for a lead test before any sanding. We're qualified in lead-based paint removal and asbestos removal. Read more in our guides to lead paint in older homes and painting fibro and asbestos eaves.

Trading hours and weather set the schedule, and the schedule sets the price

If your business has to keep trading while it's painted, the job may need to run in stages, one area at a time. That changes how long painters are on site and how often gear gets moved, so it belongs in the quote. Tell each painter your trading hours and which areas can close and when. Then ask every quote to state the hours and stages it's priced on. Our normal hours are 7am to 5pm on weekdays and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays.

Weather sets the pace outside. Dulux's instructions for Weathershield, an exterior paint, say not to paint on very cold or humid days or when rain's forecast. They also say rain or overnight dew on drying paint can damage the coating. So a fair exterior quote allows for weather days. Our guide to the best time to paint outside covers the seasons.

Strata and body corporate jobs: two quotes above the major spending limit

In a Queensland body corporate, the number of quotes a committee needs depends on the scheme's major spending limit. For schemes under the Standard, Accommodation and Small Schemes modules, the committee must have at least 2 quotes for any spending above that limit. The body corporate can get extra quotes even when the law doesn't ask for them. Schemes under the Commercial Module have a committee with no spending limit at all.

Ask every painter to price the same written scope, so the quotes can be compared line by line. Our guide to how body corporate painting works walks through quotes, approval and scheduling. Our body corporate and strata painters page covers our strata work.

How to get a firm commercial painting quote

A firm commercial painting quote comes from a painter who has seen the building. These steps make the quotes you get easier to compare.

1. If the building is from before 1990, find the asbestos register, and note any old paint that's flaking.
2. Write down the surfaces you want painted, inside and out.
3. Note your trading hours, and which areas can close and when.
4. Book a site visit, so the painter can see the access and the state of the paint.
5. Check the licence. In Queensland, building work over $3,300 needs a QBCC licence, and the QBCC says it's up to you to check its licensee register.
6. Compare quotes on the same scope: surfaces, prep, coats, paint, access, hours and GST.

If your business is registered for GST, the ATO says you can claim a credit for the GST in the price of things you use in your business. You'll need a tax invoice for purchases over $82.50. Your accountant can tell you how that applies to you.

Our quotes are free. We start with a quick site visit, and the quote usually comes back inside a business day. We work right across the Coast, and you can check the suburbs we cover. Get in touch through our commercial painters page or call 0403 571 616.