How to Price Painting Jobs in Condo Buildings

A two bedroom condo is a small interior. Priced as a small interior, it often loses money, because the painting is the easy part. Getting the crew, the materials and the equipment into and out of the building, inside the hours the building allows, under the rules it sets, with the paperwork it asks for, is where the time goes.

The unit is small. The building is not. The estimate has to price both.

The unit and the building are separate surveys

Walking a condo unit to measure it is the same as walking any interior. What is different is everything between the street and the front door of the unit, and none of it is visible from inside.

Survey the building as well as the unit. Where the crew will park, how they get in, whether there is a loading area, how far it is from the entrance to the elevator, whether the elevator can be booked and protected, how far from the elevator to the unit, and what the building rules say about contractors. Ten minutes spent on this during the visit prevents most of the losses that condo work produces.

Where a building manager or concierge is on site, ask them. They know the rules, and they know which contractors caused problems last time, which is exactly the reputation a painter wants to avoid.

Building rules that change the price

Condominium associations and building managers commonly set rules for contractors, and they vary widely between buildings. The ones that most often affect painting are these.

Working hours. Many buildings restrict contractor work to certain hours on weekdays and restrict or prohibit weekends. A shorter working day means more days for the same job.

Noise. Limits on noisy work, such as sanding or removing hardware, may confine it to part of the day.

Elevator use. A service elevator may need to be booked in advance, may be available only at certain times, and may need protective pads fitted before use.

Spraying and odor. Some buildings discourage or prohibit spraying, or restrict products with strong odor because of shared ventilation.

Fire systems. Smoke detectors and alarm devices in or near the work area may need to be covered or isolated by building staff before work that raises dust, and then restored.

Waste. Rules on where waste and wash water can go, which commonly exclude building drains and communal bins.

Ask for the written contractor rules before quoting. Each of the items above is either time, a constraint on method, or a coordination task, and each belongs in the price.

Paperwork before the first day

Condo buildings frequently ask for things before a contractor is allowed in, and producing them takes time.

A certificate of insurance. Management commonly asks for proof of liability cover, sometimes naming the association or management company as a certificate holder or additional insured. How business cover is structured and what drives it is covered in painting business insurance. Requesting a certificate from the broker is usually quick, but not on the morning of the start.

Approval of the work. Some associations require the unit owner to submit renovation or alteration details for approval, even for painting, particularly if balconies, front doors or anything visible from common areas is involved.

A building deposit. Some buildings take a refundable deposit from the owner or contractor against damage to common areas.

Contractor registration and access. Registering names, arranging key fobs or access codes, and signing in and out each day.

Put these in the estimate as conditions of the start date. If the certificate or approval is not in hand, the job does not start, and the customer should know that is why.

Getting everything up to the unit

In a house, the van parks on the drive and the ladders go straight through the door. In a building, every can, sheet, ladder and tool travels through a lobby, along a corridor, up an elevator and along another corridor, and it all comes back down at the end.

That carry time is real and it repeats. If the building does not allow materials and equipment to be left in the unit overnight, it happens every day. If the elevator must be booked, it happens at the booked times and not when it suits the crew.

Measure it on the survey. Note the distance and the route, and estimate loading in and out for the first and last day and for any daily carrying. A crew that loses the first hour of each day to logistics on a condo job has lost a large share of a short building working day.

Long items deserve their own check. Extension ladders and planks may not fit in the elevator, and carrying them up a stairwell is slow and can mark the walls, which belong to the building rather than to the customer.

Parking and loading

City buildings often have no contractor parking. Street parking may be metered, time limited or unavailable, and a garage may have height limits a van cannot clear.

Parking costs money and time. Paid parking for every day on site is a direct cost. Moving the van every couple of hours is time. Unloading at a curb and then driving away to find parking is a two person job that takes somebody off the walls.

Where a building has a loading bay, ask whether it can be booked and for how long. Price the parking as a line on the estimate for the number of days on site, the same way travel is priced on distant jobs, as described in how to charge for travel time on painting jobs.

Shared corridors, odor and neighbors

The crew is working inside one household, next door to others, on a shared corridor.

Protect the route. Floor protection along the corridor and in the elevator, and care with the walls and door frames of common areas, which the association will notice.

Manage odor. Paint odor moves along corridors and through shared ventilation, and neighbors complain to management. Lower emission products and ventilating the unit rather than the corridor both help. The Environmental Protection Agency explains the indoor air side of this in its guidance on volatile organic compounds and indoor air quality.

Keep it tidy. A clean corridor at the end of every day costs a few minutes and protects the relationship with a building that may contain dozens of future customers.

That last point is the opportunity in condo work. A painter who is easy for the building to deal with gets recommended by management and by neighbors, and building work can turn into repeat work in the same way that multi unit rental work does, described in how to get property management painting contracts.

What belongs to the unit and what belongs to the building

In a condominium, the line between what the owner controls and what the association controls is set by the governing documents for that building, and it is not always where a painter would guess.

Interior walls and ceilings inside the unit are usually the responsibility of the owner. The outside of the front door, the corridor side of the entrance, balconies, railings and exterior surfaces are commonly controlled by the association, and painting them may need approval or may not be allowed at all.

Do not assume. If the scope includes anything at the edge of the unit, ask the owner to confirm with management that it is theirs to change, and write that confirmation into the estimate as a condition. Where an association controls colors and exteriors more broadly, the dynamics are similar to those in HOA painting projects.

Older buildings raise one more question. In buildings constructed before lead paint was banned for residential use, disturbing painted surfaces during preparation can raise lead dust, and the Environmental Protection Agency Renovation, Repair and Painting program sets out when certified lead safe practices apply to paid work in such housing.

Putting a condo price together

A reliable condo estimate has two parts that are built separately and added together.

The unit. Measured, specified and priced exactly as any interior, with the usual production rates, materials and preparation.

The building conditions. A separate line or group of lines covering the effect of restricted hours on the number of days, loading and carrying time, elevator booking and protection, parking for the days on site, corridor protection, and the administrative time for certificates, registration and approvals.

Keeping them separate does two things. It stops the building costs being forgotten on the next condo job, because they are not hidden inside the rate. And it explains to an owner why their small unit costs more than a room of similar size in a house, which is the question they will ask.

The same structure works for rental apartments. Where the work is repeat unit turnover rather than a one off owner job, the per unit pricing model in how to price apartment turnover painting takes over, but the building conditions are the same and still need their own line.

Timing the start around the building

A house job starts when the painter and the homeowner agree. A condo job starts when the painter, the owner and the building all agree, and the building usually moves slowest.

Build the lead time into the quote. Approvals, certificates, elevator bookings and access registration can each take days, and some management offices only process contractor requests on certain days. A start date offered without allowing for that is a date the painter will have to move.

Book the elevator for the heavy days. The first and last day of the job, when everything goes up and comes down, are the days the service elevator matters most. Booking those slots early is worth more than booking every day.

Watch for building events. Other renovations, moves in and out, and building maintenance all compete for the same elevator and loading area. Ask management what else is scheduled for the same week.

Plan around neighbors. A unit that shares a wall with somebody who works nights, or sits above a ground floor business, may attract complaints about noise or odor at particular times of day. Ask the owner, who usually knows.

Confirm the day before. A short message to the owner and, where the building expects it, to management confirms that access, the elevator and parking are in place. It costs a few minutes and avoids a crew standing in a lobby waiting for a fob.

Photos from the owner can help before the survey. Pictures of the lobby, the corridor, the elevator and the parking area show much of what the building will demand, although, as how to price a painting job from photos explains, pictures are a starting point rather than a substitute for seeing the site.

Frequently asked questions

Why does painting a condo cost more than it seems it should?

Because the building adds time the unit does not show: restricted working hours, loading and carrying through shared areas, elevator bookings, parking, corridor protection and paperwork. Those costs are real and belong in the estimate.

Do condo buildings require a certificate of insurance from painters?

Many do, and some ask for the association or management company to be named on it. Ask for the building contractor rules before quoting and request the certificate from the broker well before the start date.

Can painters work on weekends in condo buildings?

It depends entirely on the building rules. Many restrict contractor work to weekday hours. Check the written rules before promising a schedule, because shorter permitted hours mean more days on site.

How should parking be handled on a condo painting job?

Check contractor parking and loading on the survey, and price paid parking or the time spent moving the van as a line for the number of days on site. In dense areas it can be a meaningful part of the cost.

Can a painter paint the front door or balcony of a condo unit?

Only if the governing documents make it the responsibility of the owner or the association approves it. These areas are commonly controlled by the association, so have the owner confirm with management before including them.

Is spraying allowed in condo buildings?

Some buildings discourage or prohibit it because of overspray and odor in shared ventilation. Check the rules before choosing a method, since a brush and roller only method changes the production rate and therefore the price.