Many people seem to take residential and commercial painting as the same service, even though they’re entirely different. After all, painting is painting, regardless of where or what you paint. No! It’s not that simple.
There are specific differences between commercial and residential painting. Herein, we’ll dive into the world of decorating and painting in commercial and residential environments.
Size Of Project
Painting a commercial or residential property are two different jobs, requiring different skill sets and tools. Painting a commercial space such as an airport, office space, hospital, shopping centre, or any other commercial space is complicated by the increased square footage you’re dealing with. Additionally, you have to contend that the workspace may be affected by inventory, employees, and customers.
Size Of Team
Typically, you need a higher number of painters to paint the required space and also meet deadlines. This means you have to make extensive plans for the human resources and the paint (you’ll need to plant the logistics of supplying the necessary paint).
Materials And Equipment
Owing to the difference in the size of each space, most residential painting contractors only focus on smaller residential projects. In this regard, most residential painters will typically use materials, tools, and supplies that are also available for you if you choose to go the DIY. Whether it’s painting trays, rollers, step ladders, paintbrushes, drop cloths, or cleaning supplies, these supplies are readily available for residential painters as well as homeowners.
Residential painting is a visual project. The paints used in painting houses will focus on aesthetics. As such, residential paints come in a variety of shades, colours, and vibrancies to match the home’s architectural design and interior décor. To achieve the desired aesthetics, residential painters can use different types of paints, including water-based, oil-based, and latex-based paints.
Residential painters also consider the glossiness of different types of paint finishes. Paint sheens range from flat to gloss. Flat paints absorb more light, helping to hide the imperfection that a wall might have. On the other hand, glossy paint reflects more light, lighting up the room.
On the commercial front, painters must have experience and knowledge of dealing with different types of surfaces, including metal, concrete, wood, reinforced plastic, marble, etc. Additionally, they often use a wider range and more complex equipment, including sandblasters, pressure washers, scaffolding, paint sprayers, and even aerial lifts. Finally, commercial paints must have knowledge and experience in using industrial-grade primers, paints, tints, and other types of coatings used in commercial settings.
Services Offered
Companies that specialise in residential painting will or have the capability nor capacity to offer clients the same range and services available for commercial decorators.
Some of the services that commercial painters offer include painting with special surface preparations, industrial coating and paints, metalising, sandblasting, and epoxy coatings, which are services that commercial buildings need.
Aside from exterior and interior painting, other commercial painting services you get from commercial painters include:
Roof coatings
Concrete ceiling repair
Brick waterproofing
Metal door paintings
High-durability coatings
Waterproof coating
Masonry coating
Line striping
Stencilling
Joint expansion sealing
As for residential painting, specialist residential painters offer a range of painting and decorating services, including siding, trim, and deck staining. Residential painters also train on how to paint on a variety of exterior surfaces such as metal, concrete, wood, vinyl, stucco, and fibre-cement. Other painters also train to perform light construction work in preparation for painting. Residential painting services include:
Wallpaper removal and hanging
Interior and exterior painting
Cabinet painting
Garage painting
Deck and fence staining/painting
Plaster and drywall repair
Time to complete job
As you can appreciate, there is a marked difference between residential and commercial painting.