Short answer
A painter, and the decision is made on preparation and access rather than on brand of paint. Ask for the quote to itemise washing, scraping, sanding, filling, priming and the number of top coats — quotes that differ by thousands usually differ there, not in the paint.
When it is someone else
Calling the wrong trade costs an attendance fee to be told so. These are the cases where this problem belongs to someone other than a Painter.
there is rotted timber — window sills, weatherboards, fascia. Painting over rot is painting over rot.
gutters and fascia need attention. Doing them before the paint is the right order and it is easy to get wrong.
What to do before anyone arrives
- Walk the house and note every piece of rotted timber, every cracked render, every loose flake. Those are the repairs, and they are not painting.
- Test for lead paint if the house is old enough.
- Decide colours before quoting, because darker colours on some substrates need different products and more coats.
- Check whether scaffolding will be needed. On a two-storey house it usually is and it is a significant line item that some quotes hide and others state.
What to ask when you book
- What preparation is included, itemised?
- How many coats of what, and is the primer specified for each substrate?
- Is scaffolding or height access included?
- Are timber repairs included or excluded, and what happens if you find more?
- What warranty is on the workmanship, and what voids it?
What changes the price
No dollar figures here: this directory holds no price data and an invented range is worse than none. What follows is what makes one of these jobs cost more than the same job next door, which is the part you can actually use when comparing quotes.
- Preparation and repairs, which dominate on an older house.
- Height and access.
- Substrate — weatherboard, render, fibre cement and brick all behave differently.
- Number of coats and the product specified.
- Lead paint management.
Is this licensed work?
Painting falls inside building work licensing thresholds in several states at higher values. Working at height brings work health and safety obligations, and scaffolding requirements are real on a two-storey house.
There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state the work is happening in.
- NSWNSW Fair Tradingbuilders, electricians, plumbers and specialist trades
- VICBuilding and Plumbing Commission, 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
Licensing thresholds and certificate requirements differ by state and change with amending regulation, so this page describes the mechanism rather than quoting a figure. The regulator’s own page is the current answer.
Common questions
- Who should I hire for a house to repaint outside
- A painter, and the decision is made on preparation and access rather than on brand of paint. Ask for the quote to itemise washing, scraping, sanding, filling, priming and the number of top coats — quotes that differ by thousands usually differ there, not in the paint.
- How often should a house be repainted outside?
- It varies enormously with exposure: a sheltered southern wall can go for decades while a west-facing coastal elevation fails much sooner. The honest trigger is the condition of the film — chalking, cracking, loss of gloss and flaking — rather than a calendar.
- Why is one painting quote twice another?
- Almost always preparation and access. Two coats over a wash is a different product from scrape, sand, fill, prime and two coats with scaffolding. Compare the scope line by line and the gap usually explains itself — and where it does not, the cheaper quote has left something out that you will pay for later.
Find a Painter near you
1,277 painters in this directory, ranked on published evidence rather than on advertising.
Who to hire for
- Who to hire for peeling or flaking paintA painter — and a good one will spend more time on preparation and on diagnosing why it failed than on applyin…
- Who to hire for gutters that overflowA roof plumber or roofer. Start with cleaning, because leaves are the cause most of the time — but if they ove…
- Who to hire for a deck that has rottedA carpenter or builder. The distinction that matters is between deck boards, which are a replaceable surface, …
- Who to hire for a hole in the plasterboardA plasterer, or a painter who does patching. The repair itself is quick; matching the surrounding finish is th…
General information about who does what, not advice about your specific job. Licensing, consumer law and council rules differ by state and change; the regulator for your state is the current source. More guides to hiring a tradesperson.