When you're moving out of a house, it’s important to freshen up the rooms to make the home appealing to new homeowners.

The process of downsizing involves a lot of work, from planning to sell your house to moving into your new home. Painting and redecorating the home also come as a part of the deal. When your house is going on the market and you have inspections coming up, blemishes, scuff marks and worn-out wallpaper suddenly become more noticeable. 

If this sounds like you, it might be worth thinking about painting and redecorating your space to impress potential buyers.

You might have questions popping in your head like: 

• Should you put the effort into painting, and how much of a difference will it make? 

• Should you do a makeover, maintenance or DIY?

• Should you try and follow the latest trends or stick to something more traditional?

Should you hire professionals for maintenance?

If you’re planning to move out and want to make changes for maintenance purposes or sale, hiring a professional painter and decorator can be of great help. Professional painters and home stagers know how to revamp your home to make it appealing to everyone. They know how to play up your house's strengths and hide its flaws while completely changing its appearance.

Painters and decorators can also cover other technicalities like choosing the type of paint, and choosing whether to explore rendering, textures, and wallpaper. They can help with decorating the interior as well as the exterior of any abode.

The decision to hire a professional for maintenance purposes or a bigger makeover depends on your budget, how much time you have available, and most importantly, what your real estate agent recommends will be most worthwhile to increase the sale price of your home.

Choosing to Do It Yourself (DIY)

Depending on the size of the house, scope of work, budget and time, you may want to grab some brushes and tins of paint to redo the sections you want. 

When you are preparing your home for sale, don’t forget to show your gratitude. Give a good cleaning to the painted surfaces which are in good condition. Fill up the holes, dents, and cracks on the walls with plaster or replace sections of the walls that are damaged.

Sometimes it’s better to paint the whole wall or rework the whole room than to just do a single wall so that any mismatched painted areas aren’t obvious and patchy. If you’re planning to paint make sure that the existing colour matches up with the new modern replacement according to a paint swatch. As trends change over time, choice of colours also change and you may not be able to find the right one for your wall.

DIY can be a hassle, considering the mess and possibility of the project taking longer than expected, so often it’s better to hire professionals to do the job. Homesuite’s painting and maintenance partners can help take the stress out of this task, making your house stand out within your budget.

How frequently should you do paint touch-ups?

Interior

The hallways are the face of the house and should be painted every 2-3 years. The smaller and larger rooms can be given a timeframe of 3-7 years depending on the wear and tear. The kitchens and bathroom space, if frequently used, should be revamped every 3-4 years.

Your home may not have been painted for many years and might have gone through the tests of time but don’t worry, professionals can guide you to make decisions about what needs to be painted and make the process stress-free for you.

Exterior

If you have furniture made from timber, it should be repainted every 2-3 years to make it last up to 10 years while stained. Clear finished timber should be repainted every 2-5 years.

Painting weatherboards slows down damage from changing weather conditions; these can last up to 15 years. Gloss or semi-gloss timber needs to be repainted every few years. 

Of course, there are a lot of factors that come into play when selling your home, which go far beyond painting the walls. Homesuite provides an end-to-end service to guide you through your house move, which may include arranging a quote from a painter, home repairs and maintenance, and much more. 

How much should I expect to pay the Painter and Decorator?

The average hourly rate to hire a painter and decorator in Australia is between $35 to $45 based on an 8-hour workday. They often quote for an entire job and calculate according to an estimate per square foot of area to paint. The rates may vary for difficult areas like trims and ceilings. What’s important is to choose a provider who charges a reasonable price, whom you can trust to do a good job.

Make sure your contractor is qualified

Your contractor must have a trade certificate and painters and decorators are required to hold a trade license. Usually, they obtain their qualifications via an apprenticeship with a trade certificate awarded through a technical college program. All of Homesuite’s partners hold relevant public liability insurance and are police checked.

How to prepare your home for a painter and decorator?

The first and the most obvious step is to move furniture and belongings away from the space that’s going to be painted. If they are difficult to move, you can also cover them with plastic drop sheets.  

Make sure the surfaces that are supposed to be painted are also cleansed and sanded to ensure that the paint job stays on the surface without creating any problems later.

Homesuite’s curated service has been designed to help make your move as smooth and easy as possible. Give us a call today on 1300 025 108 to have one of our property experts arrange painters and a range of other services on your behalf.