Short answer
Check the licence first — painters need a licence for some work and not other work. Then check that the business is who it says it is: of the 877 Australian painters in this directory, only 13% publish an ABN you can confirm, and 5.6% list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website.
Painters handle interior and exterior painting, preparation, repaints and protective coatings. This is what to check before you let one into your house, and what the evidence says about the trade as a whole.
Painters are licensed for some work and not others
Painting is licensed above a value threshold in several states and unregulated below it. Work on homes built before 1970 can disturb lead paint, which has its own handling rules regardless of licensing.
There is no national licence register in Australia — each state and territory runs its own. The regulator for your state is listed at the bottom of this guide, and checking a number takes about a minute.
What 877 Australian painters actually publish
We check every business in this directory the same way, and publish the result whether it flatters the trade or not. For painters:
| What we checked | Painters | All trades |
|---|---|---|
| Publish an ABN we could confirm | 13% | 12.9% |
| Listed phone matches their own website | 41% | 44.3% |
| Listed phone contradicts their own website | 5.6% | 5.5% |
| Website responded when we checked | 68.8% | 70.8% |
| Corroborated by two or more sources | 98.5% | 95% |
| Median number of Google reviews | 16 | 18 |
What goes wrong with painters
- Preparation skipped, which is invisible on day one and obvious in a year
- Paint quantity and quality unspecified, so a cheaper product substitutes
- Lead paint disturbed in an older home without containment
What to ask before the work starts
- How many coats, and what preparation is included?
- What brand and product line are you using?
- Was this house built before 1970, and if so how are you handling the old paint?
A painter who answers all three of those without hesitating is telling you something useful. One who is vague about a licence number is telling you something too.
The median matters more than the average
The median painter in this directory has 16 Google reviews. That is the number to hold in your head when you see a perfect five-star rating: five stars from four reviews and 4.6 from three hundred are not comparable, and the second is almost always the safer hire.
It is also why the ranking here weights review volume more heavily than review score. A business cannot buy its position, and a handful of glowing reviews does not move it far.
Where the painters are
Melbourne (79), Sydney (70), Brisbane (64), Perth (58), Adelaide (30), Gold Coast (24). A shortlist for your own area is more useful than a national ranking — the best painter in the country is no help if they are four states away.
Where to check a licence, by state
There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state where the work is happening.
- NSWNSW Fair Tradingbuilders, electricians, plumbers and specialist trades
- VICVictorian Building Authority, and Energy Safe Victoria for electricalbuilding practitioners and plumbers; electricians are Energy Safe Victoria
- QLDQueensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC)building and most trade contractor licences
- WABuilding and Energybuilders, electricians, plumbers and gas fitters
- SAConsumer and Business Servicesbuilding work contractors and supervisors
- TASConsumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS)building and occupational licences
- ACTAccess Canberraconstruction occupations licensing
- NTNT Government building practitioner registrationbuilding practitioners and electrical workers
Common questions
- Do painters need a licence in Australia?
- Sometimes. Painting is licensed above a value threshold in several states and unregulated below it. Work on homes built before 1970 can disturb lead paint, which has its own handling rules regardless of licensing.
- How do I check a painter's licence?
- There is no national register. Each state and territory has its own regulator — NSW Fair Trading, the Victorian Building Authority and Energy Safe Victoria, QBCC in Queensland, Building and Energy in WA, Consumer and Business Services in SA, CBOS in Tasmania, Access Canberra in the ACT, and the NT Government. Search the licence number the business gives you on the regulator for the state the work is happening in.
- What percentage of Australian painters have a verifiable ABN?
- 13% of the 877 painters in this directory publish an ABN we could confirm against the national register, against 12.9% across all trades.
- How many reviews should a painter have?
- The median painter here has 16. Treat a five-star rating from a handful of reviews with more caution than a slightly lower rating from hundreds.
Compare painters near you
877 painters, ranked on the evidence described above rather than on advertising.
Read next
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