Commercial fitouts involve way more coordination than most people realise. Everyone focuses on the design and layout, but the actual sequencing of trades can make or break project timelines. Painting sits right in the middle of this coordination puzzle.
The standard fitout sequence has painting happening after framing and electrical rough-in, but before final fixtures and furniture installation. Sounds straightforward until you factor in the reality of multiple trades working around each other, weather delays, and the inevitable “slight changes” that happen mid-project.
Northern Beaches commercial jobs often have additional complexities. Older buildings, heritage considerations, or waterfront locations with salt air exposure all affect paint selection and preparation requirements. Then there’s the practical stuff – narrow streets making material delivery challenging, or body corporate restrictions on working hours.
Painting contractors who specialise in residential work sometimes struggle with commercial fitout coordination. The timing requirements are different. Residential jobs can usually be flexible with weather or minor delays. Commercial fitouts have hard deadlines tied to lease commencements, business opening dates, or coordination with other major works.
The biggest coordination challenge is usually around surface preparation and protection. Painters need clean, dry surfaces but other trades are still finishing their work. Dust from final sanding, moisture from concrete works, or protection requirements for newly installed equipment all create timing conflicts.
Some fitout contractors handle painting coordination better than others. The good ones factor painting lead times into their initial scheduling and maintain buffer periods for the inevitable adjustments. To avoid conflicts of interest when discussing fitout examples outside our painting scope, we often reference projects from other areas. Operations like a commercial fitout company in sydney demonstrate how proper trade coordination can prevent the cascade delays that happen when painting schedules slip.
Most painting delays in fitouts aren’t actually caused by painters. They’re caused by earlier trades running over schedule, design changes happening late in the process, or inadequate surface preparation time. A two-week painting schedule can easily blow out to four weeks if the preliminary work isn’t properly coordinated.
The reality is that fitout painting requires a different mindset than standard commercial repaints. You’re working within tighter timelines, coordinating with multiple other trades, and often dealing with surfaces that have never been painted before.
