Commercial painting and decorating

Painting a business that has to keep trading

For most small businesses, closing costs more than the painting. Commercial work is therefore planned around trading hours: evenings and nights after closing, early starts before opening, or days when the unit is quiet. Larger jobs can be split into phases, such as back-of-house first, then one side of the shop floor at a time.

Fast-drying, low-odour water-based paints mean staff and customers can be back in the space soon after the work finishes, which matters for food businesses and treatment rooms.

Finishes for heavy use and food areas

• Shop floors and corridors: scrubbable, high-durability emulsions that can be cleaned without going shiny.
• Kitchens and food preparation areas: hygienic, washable coatings that stand up to regular cleaning, chosen with your food safety obligations in mind.
• Salons and clinics: wipeable, stain-resistant finishes that tolerate cleaning products.
• Doors, frames and counters: hard-wearing trim paints that cope with constant contact.

Where particular hygiene or fire performance is needed, product data sheets can be supplied so you can check them against your own requirements. In busy units, corners and door edges that are knocked daily can be fitted with clear or metal guards after painting, which saves repainting them every year.

Brand colours and shopfronts

Brand colours need matching exactly, usually from a colour reference or a physical sample, and checking in the real light of the unit before the whole area is painted. Strong reds, yellows and oranges often need a tinted basecoat to reach full colour.

Shopfronts face the street, and changes to them can need planning or advertisement consent, particularly on listed buildings and in conservation areas, which cover parts of Ealing's town centres. Painting a timber shopfront also needs exterior preparation and microporous paint; the exterior painting page explains more.

Risk assessments, method statements and site visits

Many commercial clients, landlords and facilities managers ask for paperwork before work starts, usually RAMS: risk assessments and method statements. They set out how the work will be done safely around staff and the public, what access equipment is used and how the area is protected. If you need them, say so in your enquiry; the decorator confirms what will be supplied with the quote.

A site visit is usually needed for commercial work, to measure the space, check access and agree working hours. Starting with the Instant Quote, with photos and a short description, means the visit can focus on the details; the fixed quote follows it.

Deliveries, parking and building rules

Units on busy high streets across Ealing, Acton and Southall often have no loading bay, restricted delivery times and controlled parking outside. Materials and equipment are planned around those limits. Where a unit is part of a managed parade or building, the landlord's or managing agent's rules on working hours, noise, alarms and keys are agreed before the start.

What affects the cost of commercial painting

The size and height of the space, the number of phases, whether work happens out of hours, the finishes specified and the protection needed for stock, equipment and fittings all shape the price. A small café repainted over two nights is a very different job from a clinic done room by room around appointments.

The quote lists the areas included, the preparation, the products and the agreed working hours, so it can be approved by a landlord, franchisor or head office where that is needed.

If you are looking for commercial painters in London for an office rather than a shop or restaurant, see the separate office painting page.