From Smart Coat
What is the process for painting a commercial building?
The six stages of a commercial or HOA exterior in South Florida, from the walkthrough and the survey to the punch list — and what each one is for.
Published Updated 3-minute read
Commercial and HOA exteriors in South Florida run through the same six stages whatever the building is. What changes between a two-story office and a four-building community is the scale and the phasing, not the sequence.
1. Walkthrough and survey
The first visit is not a measure-up. It is an inspection: the condition of the existing coating, where it is chalking, blistering or peeling, where the stucco sounds hollow, the state of sealant joints at windows and control joints, where water is getting in, and how each elevation will be reached.
On a condominium building this stage also asks whether there is an engineer's report in play. If the building has had a milestone inspection, the repairs it identifies drive the scope and the schedule — see our guide for boards.
What comes out of it is a written scope with quantities: how much repair, of which kind, on which elevations, and what coating system over it.
2. Repair
Nothing is coated over an unresolved defect. Stucco cracks are cut out and patched, hollow areas are removed and rebuilt, spalled concrete is repaired back to sound material, and failed sealant is cut out and replaced rather than skinned over.
Repairs then cure. This is the stage that sets the calendar rather than the crew, and a program that paints a fresh patch the following day is buying a failure — the manufacturers' own cure requirements are in our timing guide.
3. Cleaning
Every surface is washed before anything is applied. In this climate that is not cosmetic: buildings accumulate dirt, mildew and — near the coast — a salt film, and salt left on a wall is one of the causes paint manufacturers name for a new coating peeling off an old one.
Pressure is matched to the substrate. Stucco and coated concrete take different settings, and washing at a pressure that opens the surface creates work rather than removing it.
4. Protection and masking
Windows, doors, storefronts, signage, light fixtures, railings, landscaping, pool cages and vehicles are protected before any coating leaves a container. On an occupied building this is the stage residents actually experience, so the notice schedule agreed with management is put into effect here: which elevations on which days, what has to come off balconies, where not to park.
5. Priming and coating
The coating system follows the substrate, not the catalog. Bare or repaired stucco needs a masonry primer; a chalked surface needs a conditioner or sealer before anything else will hold; a wall taking on water needs the water addressed and may need a waterproofing coating rather than a decorative one — see waterproofing.
Then coats, to the manufacturer's specified film thickness and number, with the recoat interval the product data sheet requires. Colors on multifamily and commercial buildings frequently need association or municipal approval before this stage, and that approval is confirmed in writing before any material is ordered.
6. Inspection, punch list and handover
The building is walked with management, elevation by elevation, and everything noted goes on a punch list with a date. Protection comes off, the site is cleaned, and the handover package says what was applied where — product names, colors, film thickness and the areas repaired — so the next contractor to touch the building, in five or ten years, is not guessing.
Where Smart Coat differs
Most of the above is what any competent contractor does. The part worth comparing is stage two.
Smart Coat holds a Florida Certified General Contractor license, so the concrete restoration, stucco repair and waterproofing sit on the same contract as the coating. On a building working to an engineer's report and a statutory deadline, that removes a coordination problem that boards otherwise have to solve themselves — and it removes the argument about whose repair the new coating is failing over.
More on HOA and community painting, surface preparation and concrete restoration, or ask us to walk the building.
About the author
Florida Certified General Contractor #CGC1534419 · Florida DBPR
Written and maintained by Smart Coat Painting & Construction, a licensed Florida general contractor working from Miami to West Palm Beach. We publish under the company name rather than a byline, because the company is answerable for what is on the page.
More about Smart CoatFAQ
Common questions
Short answers first. If yours is not here, ask us — we would rather answer it than guess at it.
How much notice do residents and tenants get?
Enough to plan around it. On an occupied building we agree a notice schedule with management before mobilizing — which buildings and elevations are being worked, on which days, what has to be moved off balconies, where parking is restricted, and when windows have to stay closed. On a phased community repaint that notice repeats building by building.
Do you need a permit to repaint a commercial building?
Repainting itself is not permitted work in the jurisdictions we work in. The repair work that usually precedes it can be: structural concrete repair and waterproofing carried out under an engineer's plan need building permits, often with sealed drawings. Many cities and associations also require color approval for multifamily and commercial buildings before painting starts.
What happens if the surveyed repair quantities turn out to be wrong?
They are carried as unit rates rather than a lump sum. Concrete and stucco repair quantities cannot be known exactly until the surface is opened, so the contract prices them per unit, the quantities are measured as the work proceeds, and management is shown the measurement. That is the honest structure for this work; a fixed lump sum for unseen repairs is either padded or about to become a change order.
How long does a whole community take?
Longer than one building, and it is normally phased so that residents are only disrupted once. Weather, cure times for repairs and the coating's own recoat window all set the pace; our timing guide sets out what each of those actually requires.
Who is responsible for protecting cars, landscaping and pool areas?
We are, and it is part of the scope rather than an assumption. Vehicles, walkways, landscaping, pool cages, signage and light fixtures are protected or relocated before work starts on that elevation, and the area is cleared at the end of each working day.
No obligation
Ask us to price the work
Send the details and we will walk the property, write a scope you can read, and price it line by line.