Painting a Condominium or HOA Community is an excessively huge and intricate job, and to top it off, it is a job that will need to be repeated. For communities with wooden exteriors, this can be as often as every 6-8 years and stucco/concrete exteriors, 7-10 years.

So, before you get down to business, one of the most essential steps to getting quality painting work completed to the standard you need, is creating a thorough plan. A plan that covers all the basics will not only help you save money in the long run, but it will also ensure that your task is carried out with the least number of interruptions to residents and neighbors around your Condominium or HOA Community as possible.

We at AQP, have compiled a list of best practices and tips that we think might be helpful to you. Through our 12 years of experience we believe the following considerations should be thoroughly explored when considering painting the exterior of a Condominium or HOA Community:

Financial Considerations: As aforementioned, for Condominium or HOA Communities that have wooden exteriors, a full rework of paint should be on the cards at least every 6-10 years. And this is assuming that the job before was of high-quality painting! As long as you have managed to ensure that your condo board has enough funds to cover maintenance costs, repainting should have been planned for and the cash flow to this should be somewhat readily accessible. However, if your current condo board’s reserve is low, you could call upon a cash injection by the individual residences and their owners. This latter option can stall and add months to the project all before it even begins. There are bylaws of Condominium or HOA Communities, notice requirements and more than likely further regulations to comply with before you can obtain the necessary funds. We recommend that the money for the multi-painting services is available long before the project begins. By doing this, you will no doubt avoid issues down the line which may well cost you even more money.
Combine Projects: Why not just do it all at once? Need new exterior windows or doors? Changing substrates? If these will be likely required in the near future, we highly recommend that you consider doing these all at the same time as the multi-painting of the exterior. The reason being, is that a lot of these renovations will need exterior paint anyway when they are completed. These renovations will also require interruptions to residents due to construction crews being present, so why not just rip the plaster off in one big swoop, instead of finishing one project then having to go through the process yet again so soon after! Overall, by doing this your quality of painting will be much higher as you won’t have to keep repainting small patches, and your residents will be happier as they won’t have to keep being interrupted time after time!
Time Management: We at AQP have seen the effects of attempting exterior painting on large communities during rainy or sub-zero conditions. It is best to try and plan too paint during the dryer seasons to avoid delays and imminent costs. With this said, it is important to remember that with condominium communities painting tasks can take up to several months.
Understand your Contract and Scope of Work: As we have said, there is no getting around just how large a task it is to finish a Condominium or HOA Communities exterior paint job. And equally as large it may appear, is the contract that accompanies the job. Make sure that your board and a thorough understanding of the scope of work. Know what is being painted, how it’s being painted and what product is being used. Oftentimes, surfaces need to be fixed in order to ensure a good paint job. Such as Wood Rot or Stucco Repair, it’s best to not assume these are included in a painting scope of work. They should be called out specially as a line item and have their own price associated with them.

Of course, there may be other factors you wish to take into account, but these practices are a sure way to make sure that every base of your project is covered. It will give you the peace of mind you need, knowing that you are tying up all those pesky loose ends. At AQP, we advise property owners to use this list as guidance.