Commercial Painting Contractor in Phuket for Offices, Shops and Buildings

What types of building does Phuket Pro Painters take on as a commercial painting contractor?

Phuket Pro Painters works as a commercial painting contractor in Phuket for buildings used for business and buildings shared by many occupants, anywhere in the province. The customers in this group are business owners, landlords, building managers and condominium juristic persons. They need a painting contractor who can plan the work, produce clear paperwork and disturb the people using the building as little as possible. Our painters have more than 10 years of experience and the team speaks English.

The buildings we take on fall into these groups.

Owners of detached houses, townhouses and villas will find more relevant information on the house and villa painters page.

How does commercial painting differ from painting a house?

The technique for painting a building wall is the same as for a house wall: prepare the surface, prime, then apply the top coats. What sets commercial painting apart is the management around the work, in five respects.

1. Building users. Customers, staff, tenants or residents walk past the work area, so the area has to be cordoned off and signed.
2. Time. Many businesses want the painters to work outside trading hours, or one zone at a time.
3. Height and access. Multi-storey exterior walls need scaffolding, and some buildings need rope access.
4. Several decision-makers. The building owner, the tenants and a juristic person's committee may all be involved, and they need paperwork they can compare.
5. Colour consistency. On a large building the paint for a whole wall should come from the same batch and shade.

How does a commercial painting job run, step by step?

A commercial painting job by Phuket Pro Painters follows steps that a building manager can check at every stage.

1. Initial details. The type of building, the number of storeys, the parts to be painted and any limits on timing.
2. Site survey and measurement. There is no charge. The painter measures the real areas, checks the old paint, and looks at access, scaffolding positions and where materials can be stored.
3. Written quotation. The quotation is itemised by zone and by type of work, with surface preparation, scaffolding or work at height, and the warranty terms.
4. Agreed work plan. The order of the zones, the working hours and the contact person for each party.
5. Cordoning and protection. Notices go up for building users, and floors, signs, glass and shop equipment are covered.
6. Surface preparation. Washing, scraping loose paint, sanding, and filling small holes and hairline surface marks.
7. Primer and top coats. In the number of coats stated in the quotation, one zone at a time according to the plan.
8. Zone-by-zone inspection with the contact person. Snags are corrected, the area is cleaned and it is handed over.

An overview of the steps common to every job is on the Phuket Pro Painters work process page.

How can a shop or office be painted while it stays open?

Most business owners worry more about income lost during painting than about the cost of the painting itself. Planning therefore begins with one question: which areas can close, and for how long? These approaches are used most often.

• Zoning. Half the shop, or one room, is painted at a time, and tables and shelving are moved from side to side.
• Timing. The parts customers see are done on the shop's closing day or in quiet periods. Tell us the hours that suit you at the survey.
• Ordering by smell and dust. Sanding and strong-smelling work are done first, when nobody is in. The final coats come later.
• Paint to suit the use. Low-odour, washable interior paint suits restaurants, clinics and offices that need the space back quickly.

A shop inside a shopping centre or a rented building usually has building rules about delivery times and contractors' working hours. The tenant should ask the building management for the rules and send them to us before the survey date.

How does Phuket's weather affect the exterior paint of a building?

Commercial buildings in Phuket face the same forces as houses: strong sun, monsoon rain from roughly May to October, and salt in the sea air. The results look different on a building because of its size and shape.

Tall walls with no eaves. Shophouses and multi-storey blocks have tall, flat walls that take driving rain across the whole face. Black run marks under window sills, under air-conditioning units and under shop signs are common. Washing off stains and moss before priming is therefore the main task on an older building.

Buildings on main roads. Dust and exhaust film build up faster than on buildings in the side streets, which Thais call sois. An exterior paint with a surface that does not hold dirt makes washing easier.

Buildings in beach areas. In places such as Patong, Karon or Kamala, buildings take salt directly. Steelwork such as balcony railings, sign frames and fire escapes rusts quickly and should be checked together with the walls.

Old buildings in Phuket Old Town. Sino-Portuguese shophouses have moulded plaster ornament, timber shutters and old walls. Painting a building of this kind calls for more brushwork than roller work, and the owner should check with the local authority whether colour requirements apply to buildings in the Old Town area before choosing a shade.

Exterior work on a building is easiest to plan in the dry season, roughly November to April, which is also Phuket's high season for tourism. A business that does not want scaffolding in front of the shop when customers are most numerous often chooses the weeks between the seasons, and accepts that spare days must be allowed for rain.

What work is outside the scope of commercial painting?

Phuket Pro Painters does not take on waterproofing, structural crack repair or leak repair. A building with water entering at joints, a leaking roof slab, or walls cracked by settlement must be put right by a specialist and left to dry before painting. Paint applied over such problems blisters and peels before long, and the building owner pays twice.

The surface preparation included in our scope is washing, scraping loose old paint, sanding, filling small holes and hairline surface marks, and priming. If the painter finds a problem outside that scope during the survey, we note it for the building owner before the quotation is issued.

What should a building owner or manager prepare before painting?

Gathering information before the survey makes the quotation complete and reduces extra work later.

1. Floor plans or approximate dimensions of the building, and photos of each side.
2. A list of the areas to be painted, and the areas that must not be touched.
3. The hours when painters may work, and the date the work must be finished.
4. Existing colour codes, or the brand colours of the business.
5. The rules of the building or the landlord on moving materials, parking and the use of water and power.
6. The name of a contact person with authority to make decisions on site.
7. A plan for telling tenants, customers or residents in advance about the painting dates.

What are the hiring options and paperwork for commercial painting?

Commercial painting with Phuket Pro Painters can be hired in two ways, the same as every other type of work we do. Hiring a contractor for labour only is common in Thailand: the owner buys the paint and the contractor supplies the painters and basic tools.

In both options, surface preparation and scaffolding or work at height are quoted as separate lines. The site survey and measurement are free, and the work carries a workmanship warranty after handover, with the period and terms stated in the quotation. More detail is on the painting workmanship warranty page.

Where can I see commercial painting prices?

This page gives no figures, because the cost of painting a building depends on the area, the height, the surface condition and the limits on working time. Estimated rates are on the building and house painting prices in Phuket page, and the painting cost calculator gives a first budget for buildings that can be reached with scaffolding. For a tall building that needs rope access the calculator shows no figure; book the free site survey to receive a quotation.

How do I request a commercial painting quotation?

Call 063-004-0115, or send photos of the building and its location by WhatsApp, in English or Thai, to arrange a free site survey. After the survey we send a written quotation for you to check before you decide. The contact channels and enquiry form are on the contact us about commercial painting page.