Good painting is roughly ten per cent rolling colour on the wall and ninety per cent everything that happens before that. After many years painting homes across Sydney and greater New South Wales, the one thing we tell every homeowner is the same: the finish you fall in love with, or the one that lets you down within a year, is decided during preparation. Get ready properly and the top coats almost look after themselves.
This guide walks you through both sides of the job. First, the simple things you can do to get your place ready, which saves time and often saves money. Then the real preparation your painter does behind the scenes, the part that makes a finish last. We will also cover how interior and exterior work differ, rough timeframes to keep in mind, and how to set sensible expectations before the first tin is opened.
What the homeowner can do to get ready
You do not need to lift a paintbrush, but a little groundwork on your end makes the whole job smoother. The more clear and accessible a space is, the faster and tidier your painters can work, and the less chance anything of yours ends up covered in dust or a stray drop of paint.
Start by clearing and moving furniture. Smaller items are best taken out of the room entirely. Larger pieces can usually be shifted to the centre and covered, and a good crew will help with the heavy items and protect them with drop sheets, but a room that is already mostly empty is a gift. Take down wall hangings, mirrors, photos, shelves and curtains, along with their brackets where you can, so surfaces are open and ready. Curtains and blinds gather dust that you do not want anywhere near fresh paint.
Next, remove anything valuable or breakable. Jewellery, electronics, artwork, keepsakes and anything fragile should be packed away in a safe spot. We treat your home with respect, but painting is physical work and it makes sense to have precious things well out of the way. Clear the tops of wardrobes and mantels too, as those are easy to forget.
Think about access. Your painters need a clear path to the areas being coated, room to set up ladders or trestles, and somewhere close by to keep tools and tins. For exterior work that means unlocking side gates, moving the cars off the driveway, trimming back any plants pressing against the walls, and pointing out where taps and power points are. If you live in a unit or a strata complex, let your building manager know the dates and sort out any access to common areas ahead of time, as this is a common part of strata painting.
Secure your pets and plan around young children. Wet paint, open tins, ladders and busy tradespeople are not a good mix with a curious dog or a toddler. A closed door, a day at day care or a friend’s place for the afternoon keeps everyone calm and safe. Finally, have the conversation about colours and scope before we start. Confirm your colour choices, the sheen level, which rooms or surfaces are included, and anything you want left as is. Sorting this out early avoids surprises and keeps the job moving.
How to prepare your home for painting: what a professional painter does
This is where the real work lives. Proper preparation is the single biggest factor in whether a paint job looks sharp for years or starts failing in months. Paint needs a sound, clean, stable surface to grip. Skip the prep and you can use the most expensive paint on the market and still watch it peel, flake or bubble. In Australia the accepted benchmark for how surfaces should be prepared and coatings applied is AS/NZS 2311, the Guide to the painting of buildings, published through Standards Australia. It is the framework a quality painter works to, whether the job is a single bedroom or a full exterior repaint.
Preparation is a sequence, and each stage sets up the next. Here is how a professional approaches it, and how the responsibilities usually split between you and your painter.
| Stage | What the homeowner prepares | What the painter handles |
|---|---|---|
| Clearing the space | Move and cover furniture, remove valuables, take down hangings and curtains | Shift remaining heavy items, mask and protect fixed fittings |
| Cleaning | General tidy, point out problem spots | Wash and degrease surfaces, remove dust, grime, salt and cobwebs |
| Repairs | Flag known issues such as cracks or damp | Remove flaking paint, sand back, fill holes and cracks, patch render or timber |
| Treatment | Note any mould or water stains | Treat mould, caulk gaps, seal stains, spot prime bare areas |
| Protection | Secure pets, provide access | Lay drop sheets, mask edges, cover floors, glass and gardens |
| Priming and sealing | Approve colours and finish | Prime and seal bare, patched or stained areas before top coats |
Cleaning comes first, always. Dust, grease, cooking residue inside, and salt, pollution and cobwebs outside all stop paint from bonding. Surfaces are washed and left to dry so the new coating has a clean base to hold onto. From there, any loose or flaking paint is scraped and removed, then edges are sanded back so there is no hard ridge where old paint meets bare surface. Sanding also keys glossy or previously painted areas, giving the fresh coat something to grip.
Then comes filling and repairing. Cracks, nail holes, dents and gaps are filled and sanded flush. Damaged render is patched, and timber that has split, cracked or begun to rot is repaired or replaced where it can be. Any mould is treated properly rather than simply painted over, because painting on top of mould only hides it for a while before it returns. Gaps around cornices, skirtings, window frames and joins are caulked so the finished result looks neat and stays sealed against moisture.
Once the surface is sound, it is protected and primed. Drop sheets go down, floors, glass, fittings and gardens are covered and masked, and every bare, patched or stained area is primed or sealed. Priming is not optional. Bare plaster, new render, fresh timber, filler and water stains all need the right primer or sealer so the top coats go on evenly and hold fast. Only when all of that is done do the finish coats go on. It is unglamorous work, but it is exactly what separates a lasting result from a quick cover up.
Interior preparation versus exterior preparation
The principles are the same inside and out, but the conditions and the surfaces are very different, and that changes how the job runs.
Interior work is a controlled environment. There is no weather to worry about, dust management and keeping the space well ventilated matter most, and the surfaces are usually plasterboard, cornices, timber trims, doors and the occasional feature wall. The challenges are more about protecting your floors and furnishings, cutting clean lines, and managing rooms you still need to live in while the job is underway. Interior painting tends to move at a predictable pace because nothing is at the mercy of the sky.
Exterior work is a different beast. Weather rules everything. Paint will not cure properly if it is applied in the wet, in high humidity, in the cold or in harsh direct sun, so an exterior repaint is planned around the forecast and can stretch out if the weather turns. Access and height come into play as well, with ladders, trestles and sometimes scaffolding needed for a two storey home or a tricky roofline, and that is handled with the right safety gear and setup. The surfaces vary too. Render needs any drummy or cracked sections patched and sealed. Weatherboard, whether timber or the more modern fibre cement, needs gaps caulked, boards checked, and the right primer for the material. Rendered walls, brick, timber and fibre cement each want a slightly different approach, which is why an exterior repaint is quoted on what your particular home is made of and the shape it is in.
Realistic timeframes and what is included
Every home is different, so treat these as a guide only. A straightforward interior repaint of an average home, walls, ceilings and trims in sound condition, often runs from a few days to a little over a week. Exterior projects usually take longer and are weather dependent, so a run of wet days can push the finish out with no reflection on the crew. Larger homes, detailed heritage work, multiple colours and difficult access all add time.
What is typically included is the standard preparation described above, the priming or sealing of prepared areas, and the agreed number of finish coats. What is usually treated as a separate item is more extensive work: significant repairs, replacing rotten timber, removing wallpaper, patching large sections of failed render, and the careful handling of lead based paint in older homes built before the 1970s. These are not upsells for their own sake, they are genuine extra scope that takes time, materials and in some cases specialist care, so they are quoted separately and honestly. If you are weighing up interior painting cost against a full exterior repaint, or bundling painting into a broader renovation quote, it helps to have these items itemised so you can see exactly what you are paying for.
A quick example
Say you have just finished a renovation and want the whole interior repainted before you move furniture back in. Even on brand new plasterboard, the walls are not simply ready to coat. The set joints and patched areas need sanding smooth, any dents from the trades knocked out, gaps around new skirtings and architraves caulked, and the fresh surfaces sealed with the right primer so the paint sits evenly and does not flash or patch. Skip that sealing step on new plaster and you often see the joins ghost through the finish. Done properly, the same room rewards you with a flat, even, long lasting finish that looks the way you imagined when you chose the colour.
Setting honest expectations
Here is the honest part. We cannot promise you a fixed price, a locked in date or a guaranteed result from a website or a phone call, and you should be cautious of anyone who does. Every project is quoted on its own circumstances after an on site assessment, because until we have looked at your surfaces, checked the condition, measured access and understood what you actually want, any number is a guess. What we can promise is straight talk about what your home needs, what is included, and what is not.
An on site visit is also the moment to raise anything you are unsure about, from the best sheen for a busy hallway to whether that hairline crack is cosmetic or worth a closer look. If you have been searching for house painters near me and comparing quotes, pay attention to how much detail each one gives you about preparation. The cheapest number on paper often skips the very steps that make paint last, and that shows up a year or two later. A fair, clear quote that spells out the prep is worth far more than a low figure with no substance behind it.
Aussie Home Painting works across Sydney and greater New South Wales on interior and exterior house painting, residential and multi residential projects, strata and commercial work, roof painting and restoration, protective and specialty coatings, and related renovation work. You can read more about what goes into a quality interior painting job, how we approach an exterior repaint, and the range of residential services we offer. If you want a sense of pricing before you commit, our guide to the cost to paint a house in Sydney is a useful starting point.
Ready to get your home looking its best? Contact Aussie Home Painting for a free, no obligation quote and an on site consultation. We will assess your home, talk through the preparation it needs, and give you an honest plan tailored to your project, with no pressure and no surprises. Reach out today and let us take the hard work off your hands.