How to save time and money on commercial painting solutions
Commercial painting projects are sizable undertakings that demand a significant investment in your asset. Owners and building managers often seek the most cost-effective options to maximise savings. However, it’s crucial to remember that cutting corners can lead to substantial long-term expenses. At Dukes, we’ve been transforming spaces since 1958, and we know how to save on commercial painting.
The big secret is – doing the project right from the beginning. To highlight the importance, let’s go through a detailed example. While fictional, similar situations occur regularly in real life.
It started with a reasonable quote
Metro Plaza Residences, a strata building, requires a commercial painter for an exterior revamp. They receive three competitive estimates and opt for the one with the lowest price tag from Commercial Painters Plus. While it was the most economical quote, Commercial Painters Plus had stellar Google reviews from similar clients.
The project, valued at $100K, included patching up any cracks in the rendered walls before applying a ‘weathershield’ paint. Metro Plaza Residences signed the contract and chose bold new colours to give the building face a fresh lease on life.
Painting work commences
The painters set up scaffolds around the building to ensure safe access to the rendered walls, causing a necessary inconvenience to the occupants of the building during the projected three-month timeline for completing the work.
Once the scaffolding comes down, Metro Plaza inspects the building and deems the work good. It looks great. The painter fulfilled every promise, including patching the render. They make the final payment.
Metro Plaza Residences can now market their building as freshly painted, which is super attractive to prospective tenants, creating an upswing in attention for the building. The property eventually reaches full capacity, with many new tenants loving their location and amenities.
All is well… until it’s not
Just a few months down the road, residents provide feedback to the building manager about cracks in the walls on their balconies. She decides to inspect for herself, and upon tapping the render around the cracks; she realises it’s drummy (makes a hollow sound when tapped). She knows this indicates the render has delaminated from the brick surface below.
The building manager contacts Commercial Painters Plus, who promptly visits the site for an inspection. The painter then clarifies that these issues are not tied to their painting job. They stem from failed render, which falls outside the scope of the painting work, and there’s nothing their company can do. It is the responsibility of the renderer/builder.
The building manager, puzzled after spending $100K on commercial painting with repairs, hires a building consultant to validate the painter’s explanation. The report uncovers that cracked, loose render results from movement in the underlying surface. The recommended solution is to remove failed render sections, install new render, and add appropriate movement joints to prevent future cracks. Additionally, the report highlights the need to replace the building joints.
The building manager shares the report with the building owners and the painter, questioning why the painter didn’t address these issues before painting. Bob from Commercial Painters Plus clarifies that patching up work involves filling cracks with painter fillers, which is exactly what he did.
Inaccurate project scope
Clearly, at this point, the initial scoping of the project was ill-conceived. Building repairs should have been part of the plan all along, but a builder was required to make that accurate assessment.
In order to correct the render and repaint the building with high build coating to bridge the cracks and provide a lasting finish, the building owners must engage an appropriate contractor to properly scope the project and action a viable solution.
Keep in mind, the owners have already paid $100K, with the breakdown as follows:
- Labour – $50,000
- Materials – $10,000
- Scaffolding – $35,000
- Insurance – $5,000
Estimates from contractors suitably qualified for remedial building repairs with the requisite builders licence come back at $145K. This includes all the costs of the original estimate plus repairing the rendered surface properly. This estimate also includes a warranty for both painting and repairs.
Had Metro Plaza Residences initially hired a qualified commercial painter, the cost would’ve been $145K. Now, they face a $245K expense, inconveniencing tenants for a second time. Another three months of scaffolding may result in rent reduction requests and occupants choosing to sell and move, potentially increasing overall costs and tenant inconvenience.
Talk to the experts in comprehensive commercial painting solutions
Just a reminder that while both of these companies are fictional, similar issues frequently occur in the real world. Engaging a suitably experienced and qualified painting contractor could have prevented this problem. Doing the job right the first time is imperative for saving both time and money in the long term.
A suitable contractor understands building construction and can scope remedial building works prior to repainting.
At Dukes, we go beyond paint. We specialise in comprehensive commercial painting and building remediation for various industries, including strata, retirement living and aged care, commercial property, education, government, and heritage.
For lasting, transformative commercial painting and remediation solutions, contact us for a quote today.
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