Yes, you can stay in the house while it's painted, and most clients do. You don't need to move out. But painting a lived-in house is not the same as painting an empty one, and it is better to know the difference before the start date than on the first morning.
Below is how the job runs from quote to handover, what is worth sorting out beforehand, and how apartments and occupied strata buildings differ. I have left out any number of days per room on purpose. It depends on the condition of the surfaces, and the estimate for your job goes in the written quote.
From quote to handover: what the job looks like when you're home
Our process has six steps. When you are home, what changes is how much of each step you see.
- Quote. I come to you, walk through the project with you, flag anything that needs repair or special preparation and answer your questions about colours, finishes and timing. The written quote is itemised, names the exact product line and number of coats, and gives a start date and an estimated number of working days. This is the visit to bring up your household: who is home, and which room matters most. Call or use the form and we reply within 24 hours. See how the free quote works.
- Colour planning. We quote the work first, then help you choose. We bring swatches and sample pots and test your shortlist on the actual walls, looking at them with you in morning and afternoon light. See colour planning.
- Preparation. Floors, furniture, glass, gardens and fixtures are protected with drop sheets, plastic covers and careful masking, then surfaces are washed, sanded, patched and primed. Sanding is contained and cleaned up as we go rather than left to drift through the house. Prep is often the longest part of a quality job. See surface preparation.
- Painting. The full paint system goes on: sealer or primer where the surface needs it, then two full finish coats. See our painting process.
- Inspection. I inspect every surface myself, then walk every room with you. Anything that isn't right is touched up on the spot, then any remaining masking comes off, fixtures go back on and the site is cleaned. See final inspection.
- Guarantee. The 5-year workmanship guarantee is written on your quote. If paint we applied peels, flakes or blisters because of how it was prepared or applied, we come back and fix it at no cost. See the five-year guarantee.
How a room-by-room sequence keeps the house liveable
In each room the furniture is moved to the centre and covered and the floors are sheeted. Once the work in that room is done, everything is put back and cleaned up before we move on. That is what a liveable house means in practice: not that nothing is disturbed, but that you are not locked out of the whole home at once.
What a working day looks like
- We arrive when we say we will, and keep you across progress as the job moves.
- Shoes come off where asked, music stays down, and pets and kids are worked around. It's your home first.
- For questions or changes mid-job you deal directly with me, with no head office to chase. The people quoted are the people on your job.
- At the end of each day the tools are packed, the sheets folded and the walkways cleared, so the site is left safe and tidy.
What to sort out before we start
Most of the household protection is the crew's job, not yours. This is how the split runs on a normal interior job.
| Area | What we do | What's worth doing on your side |
|---|---|---|
| Sequence | Agree a room-by-room order with you before we start. | Say at the quote visit which rooms you can't do without. |
| Furniture and floors | Move furniture to the centre of the room and cover it, sheet the floors, mask fixtures, glass and hardware. | Move small valuables and anything fragile yourself. |
| Colours | Test samples on the actual walls with you, in morning and afternoon light. | Look at them in your own rooms and settle the colours before painting starts. |
| During the job | Keep you across progress, pack down and tidy each evening. | Take questions or changes straight to me. |
| Handover | Inspect every surface, then walk every room with you and touch up on the spot. | Point out anything that isn't right before we call it finished. |
That is the honest list. The rest of this section is common sense rather than a requirement.
- Pets. Decide in advance where the animal will spend the working day. A room with sheeted floors, covered furniture and tools laid out is a work area, and doors that open and close all day are an easy way out.
- Children. Treat the room being worked in as off-limits until we say it is finished. The crew works around kids, but the days run more easily if the household has a couple of ground rules too.
- Working from home. Tell me at the quote which room you rely on for calls or desk work, because the sequence is agreed with you before we start. Sanding and moving sheets around are not silent work, so plan any important call with that in mind.
- Older houses. Anything built before 1970 is treated as containing lead paint until it has been tested, so preparation follows AS 4361.2 lead-safe practice, with containment and disposal. Our heritage terrace guide covers what to ask any painter about it.
If you are lining up quotes, the questions that matter when you are staying put are simple. Who moves and covers what, is the site cleaned every day or only at handover, and who will actually be in your house. How to compare painting quotes has the fuller checklist. One cost point: working around furnished, occupied rooms is one of the things that pushes an interior quote up. Our house painting cost guide puts a full three-bedroom interior at $6,000–$12,000, and that is only a guide until the job has been walked and itemised.
Exterior repaints when you're home
For exteriors, the things to plan around are the wash, any scaffold and protection for the garden. An exterior repaint starts with the surfaces being washed, and when we are painting the house the wash is built into the exterior quote. Where the job needs scaffold, it is priced up front rather than added later. On big blocks with mature gardens, like the ones on our Bellevue Hill page, hedges and garden beds are protected before any preparation or washing starts.
Apartments and occupied strata buildings
Inside an apartment the method is the same: room by room in an agreed sequence, furniture to the centre and covered, floors sheeted, a clean-up before moving on, as described on our Double Bay page. The extra layer is the building. On our Edgecliff page, lift bookings, parking and rules on work hours are sorted with the building manager before we start, and furnished, occupied apartments sit at the higher end of the price range because of the extra masking and furniture moving.
When it is the building itself being painted, residents are usually still living there, and that is how strata jobs normally run. Residents get written notice and a day-by-day sequence, so they know when their balcony or hallway is affected. Balconies are cleared in rotation rather than all at once, every entry stays safely accessible, and the site is left clean every afternoon. On our Eastlakes page the same approach covers unit blocks: stairwells done in sections and working hours agreed with the strata manager up front.
If you are a lot owner, the owners corporation pays for common property (external walls and render, hallways, stairwells, foyers) from the capital works fund, and lot owners pay for everything inside their own lot. Balconies vary building to building, so your registered strata plan and by-laws are the final word. The resident notice goes under every door. Our strata painters page covers how a common-property repaint runs, and the guide for owners corporations explains who pays for what.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to move out while my house is painted?
No. Interiors are done room by room in a sequence agreed with you before we start, so the house stays liveable, and we work room by room where we can so you are never locked out of your whole home. The same answer is on our Woollahra and Point Piper pages.
Do I have to move the furniture myself?
No. On our house painting jobs we move the furniture to the centre of each room and cover it, sheet the floors, and put everything back when the room is done. The only things worth moving yourself are small valuables and anything fragile.
What about pets, children and working from home?
The crew works around pets and kids, keeps the music down and treats it as your home first. Beyond that it is common sense: keep the room being worked in off-limits, decide where pets will be for the day, and tell me at the quote which room you need for work.
Is the house cleaned up every day?
The tools are packed, sheets folded and walkways cleared before we leave each evening, and sanding is contained and cleaned up as we go. It is still a working site, so expect covered furniture and sheeted floors in whichever room is being done.
Can you paint my apartment while I'm living in it?
Yes. Inside an apartment we work room by room in an agreed sequence, with furniture moved to the centre and covered and floors sheeted. In Edgecliff buildings, for example, lift bookings, parking and work-hour rules are sorted with the building manager before we start.