The real reason buildings stay tired
Very few facilities managers postpone a repaint because of the price. They postpone it because of the disruption, and because the last one generated three months of complaints they had to personally answer.
So the building waits. Then the parapets start letting water in, the balustrades pit, the sealant joints open, and what was a repaint becomes a repair job with a repaint on top of it. Disruption avoided in year one is disruption doubled in year four.
Zoning: the whole game
An occupied building is never painted as one job. It is painted as a series of small jobs with a clean boundary around each one, and the boundary is agreed with the people who run the space before anyone opens a tin.
- Offices: floor by floor, or wing by wing, with each area handed back usable before people arrive.
- Retail: unit by unit and elevation by elevation, never obstructing the entrance during trade.
- Warehouses: aisle by aisle with agreed exclusion areas, sequenced around stock and forklift movement.
- Common areas and stairwells: agreed windows, clear signage, always one route left open.
- External elevations: one at a time, so parking and pedestrian routes are only ever partly affected.
Choosing the shift pattern honestly
| Space | When it should be done | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Open plan offices | Evenings and weekends | Odour and noise are intolerable during the working day, even with low odour systems. |
| Reception and lobbies | After close, made good before opening | First impression space; it cannot look like a building site at 08:00. |
| Retail frontage | Night or early morning | Every obstructed trading hour costs more than the shift premium. |
| Warehouse interiors | Daytime, zone by zone | Usually workable around operations with exclusion areas. |
| External elevations | Daytime | Weather dependent and away from occupied space. |
Out of hours work costs more. Any contractor telling you they will work nights at the daytime rate is either going to short the hours or find the money later in a variation.
Communication, which prevents most complaints
- Written programme by zone, issued before day one.
- Notices a week ahead and again the day before each area.
- Defined working hours, with no work on Sundays or public holidays unless agreed.
- Clear rules on parking, access, pets, deliveries and balconies.
- Weekly progress report with photographs, which also becomes your evidence pack.
Sequence, so nothing is done twice
- 1Water related work first: roofs, parapets, box gutters, balconies, planters, flashings and damp affected walls.
- 2Everything that needs the same high level access, while that access is standing.
- 3Substrate repairs, crack repair, rust treatment and steelwork.
- 4Common areas and interiors, out of hours, area by area.
- 5External wall decoration last, because it is fastest and least disruptive to reschedule.
On an occupied building, the programme is the product. The paint is just what gets left behind.
What to require in writing before you appoint
- Measured areas by zone, floor and elevation.
- Preparation, primer and coats named per substrate.
- Waterproofing priced as its own system, not inside a wall rate.
- Access strategy, who supplies it, and when it goes up and comes down.
- Programme with shift patterns and a weather allowance.
- Public liability cover, COIDA letter of good standing, work at heights plan and health and safety file.
- Guarantee wording, what voids it, and retention held until the punch list is closed.
That list is short enough to hand over as a single page, and it turns three incomparable quotes into three versions of the same job.
Common questions
No pressure
If you would like a second opinion on your own property, we will come and look.
The inspection is free, you get the findings in writing with photographs, and you are under no obligation to do anything with them.