What Facility and Maintenance Managers Should Ask Before Appointing a Painter

Painting an aged care facility is very different from repainting an empty commercial building.

The building remains someone’s home while the work is happening.

Residents still need access to their rooms and common areas. Staff need to continue doing their jobs. Visitors are coming and going. Meals, activities and the normal operation of the facility continue around the project.

That means the painting programme needs to be designed around the facility, rather than expecting the facility to work around the painters.

For facility managers, maintenance managers and operations teams, there are several practical questions worth answering before appointing a contractor.

Can an aged care facility be painted while residents remain onsite?

Yes, but the project needs to be staged carefully.

Trying to work across too many areas at once can create unnecessary disruption.

A better approach is generally to isolate the work into manageable sections and complete one area before moving into another.

Exactly how this is done depends on the facility.

Painting a resident room has different access requirements to painting a dining room, corridor, nurses’ station, reception area or external building.

The contractor should understand which parts of the facility are sensitive and agree on access with facility management before work begins.

How do you minimise disruption to residents?

Communication and scheduling make the biggest difference.

Residents and staff should not be finding out about work when painters arrive outside the room.

The facility needs enough information beforehand to advise affected residents, families and staff.

That means establishing:

• which area is being worked on
• when work will start
• expected completion time
• whether access will be restricted
• when the area can be used normally again
• whether furniture or personal items need to be moved

For larger projects, it can make sense to create a staged programme showing exactly where the painting team will be working during each part of the job.

What about residents who are particularly sensitive to disruption?

This needs to be discussed before the programme is finalised.

Aged care facilities are not uniform environments. Different residents have different requirements and some areas may need much more careful planning than others.

Facility staff know their residents.

The painter’s job is to work with the facility rather than assume the same access arrangement will suit every part of the building.

If certain rooms or wings require restricted access times, quieter periods or additional notice, those requirements should form part of the painting programme.

What happens with paint fumes and air quality?

Product selection and ventilation need to be considered for any occupied facility.

JC Painting Solutions has experience working within healthcare environments where air quality, environmental requirements and disruption to occupants need to be taken into account.

The correct product depends on the surface, location and operating requirements of the area.

This is something that should be discussed during the site assessment rather than simply selecting one coating system for the whole facility.

How is safety managed around residents, staff and visitors?

An operational aged care facility requires clear separation between the work area and people moving through the building.

JC Painting Solutions completes safety hazard and risk assessments before work starts, communicates required control measures, requires staff to wear PPE and keeps Safe Work Method Statements on worksites.

Practical controls can also include managing equipment, protecting floors, keeping work areas organised and coordinating access so residents and staff are not unnecessarily moving through active work zones.

Can corridors and common areas be painted without closing them completely?

Often they can be staged.

The exact arrangement depends on the width of the area, alternative access and the work required.

A corridor requiring significant repairs and preparation may need different access arrangements to one receiving a straightforward repaint.

Dining rooms, lounges and other shared spaces can also sometimes be completed during agreed periods when the area is less heavily used.

This is why an onsite assessment is important.

The painter needs to see how residents and staff actually move through the building before proposing a schedule.

What preparation work might be required?

Aged care facilities often have areas exposed to constant use.

Walls can be damaged by furniture, trolleys, mobility equipment and normal day-to-day activity. Doors, frames, corners and corridors may show wear faster than less frequently used areas.

Painting over this damage does not fix it.

Surfaces may need patching, sanding or other preparation before the finish coats are applied.

If there are known damaged areas, it is worth identifying them during the quotation stage so the scope includes the work required to achieve a proper finish.

Should we repaint the whole facility or work in stages?

Both approaches can work.

A full repaint may make sense where a facility is due for a major refurbishment or where the existing coatings have reached a similar condition throughout the building.

Staged maintenance can be more practical where particular wings, corridors or common areas receive heavier wear than others.

The right approach depends on the condition of the building, available budget and how much work can reasonably be completed without interfering with normal operations.

What should an aged care painting quote include?

The quote should clearly identify the rooms, wings and surfaces included rather than simply referring to “internal painting”.

Facility managers should also check what preparation and repairs are allowed for.

If access equipment is required externally, that should be identified as well.

Clear scopes reduce the likelihood of disagreements once the work has started and make it easier for procurement or management teams to compare competing quotes.

Experience in operational healthcare environments matters

JC Painting Solutions has experience painting aged care facilities as well as hospitals, community healthcare centres, rehabilitation facilities, medical offices and other healthcare environments.

The company’s commercial and healthcare work includes projects where facilities remain operational during painting.

For an aged care facility, that experience matters because the job is not simply about getting paint onto the wall.

It is about completing the work safely, communicating with the people running the facility and keeping disruption to residents and staff as low as reasonably possible.

If your aged care facility is planning maintenance painting, a staged repaint or a larger refurbishment, contact JC Painting Solutions to arrange an onsite assessment.