How to Choose and Manage a Body Corporate Painting Contractor
Working with body corporate can be tricky, especially when it comes to design changes and hiring contractors to implement them.
But it’s not impossible to see eye to eye with others in the body when you have the same goal. There’s one thing all body corporations have in common: They want their collective properties to look good, regardless of the opinions of what that looks like.
In this article, we’re going to take a look at how to choose and manage a professional body corporate painting contractor.
Dealing with different opinions
In a body corporate, you’re dealing with different people. For instance, there will be residents, stakeholders, and management staff who will all have a say in what happens to the area.
These people have different tastes and viewpoints that all have to align when it comes to choosing a professional decorator for their residency.
Despite these differences, it’s important to emphasise one major point when it comes to choosing and managing body corporate painters: they need to be experienced professionals who’ve been in the game for a while and have experience with body corporate projects.
How to Choose the Right Body Corporate Painters for Your Property
Before anything, the body corporate needs to select the right residential painting contractor for the job. This is an important decision because these individuals will deal directly with residents while they’re performing their tasks, and how they’re received can significantly impact their future as the service providers for that residency. To help you make a good choice, here are some tips:
Check their credentials
In Australia, you want to look for body corporate painters that are licenced and certified to operate. Checking their credentials will also give you some insight into their experience, skills and knowledge which could all be valuable indicators of whether they’re in the team for the job or not.
Consider their reputation
In the service-based business industry, people talk. Good service builds a good reputation.
So, put your feelers out and contact individuals who are a part of other body corporate committees and see if they’ve heard of the contractors you’re considering.
Chances are that if they have a good reputation, someone will know them. This is also a convenient way to dodge a bullet if they’re unreliable.
Do they have a portfolio?
In most cases, an established professional painting company should have a portfolio that displays their past work with references for potential clients to look at.
If they don’t, then you won’t have a reference to check the quality of their work. If this is the case, you could also ask to visit one of the sites that they worked at.
How do they present themselves?
Reputable companies take pride in how they present themselves. Consider the consequences of having individuals inappropriately dressed, walking around a residential area and tending to people's homes. They might feel uncomfortable and resistant.
So, you want your painters to go in looking approachable and professional, showing respect towards the residents.
What’s their management structure like?
Ask them how they operate as a company. Do they have a chain of command, and how does it work?
During their employment at your estate, you don’t want to have to speak to several people to get a simple task done. It would be better to communicate with one individual who can relay the tasks to the rest of the team and facilitate the work as needed.
Try to find a company that has a well-established leadership structure that works well.
Dealing with the residents
Remember, when it comes to maintenance or painting projects, the residents are the ones who’ll bear the inconvenience of the projects, but they’ll also enjoy the benefits. Considering this, try to make painting projects as easy and convenient for them as possible. There are a few ways you can do this:
Communicate projects in advance
Always communicate maintenance projects or changes to residents' homes far in advance so they can plan around the inconvenience.
You can let them know by sending them a small letter or giving them a phone call informing them of your plans and even asking them when the most appropriate time would be for them to paint.
Likewise, give them a clear outline of how long the work will take and how they should prepare for it. For instance, if you need to paint the interior of certain rooms, they’ll need to cover their furniture and remove important items. Give them due notice.
Be smart about how you schedule projects
Try your best to minimise the disruption of painting projects by scheduling them when residents are away or when it’ll be the least disruptive for them. Your residents will appreciate the consideration you’ve taken regarding them and will likely comply with your requests.
Update your residents regularly
Whether it be via email, on a WhatsApp group, or through a phone call, keeping your residents updated with the progress of a project will be greatly appreciated.
Give them specific information like when there will be excessive noise or when and when they can’t go into certain areas of the estate. This will ensure that no accidents happen and prepare them for what will happen during certain phases of the project.
Final Thoughts
Be meticulous when you’re choosing body corporate painters. You want a company that’ll service your estates for the long run, you don’t want to have to chop and change between painters.
Likewise, be sure to communicate projects clearly with your residents, ensuring that they’re updated with each phase of the projects and heard if they have concerns.
Jenny Kakoudakis likes to blog about interiors. She launched the award-winning Seasons in Colour in 2014. When she is not chasing criminals out of the financial system (her day job), she gets creative by redecorating her own home.
Download her free bathroom renovation guide here.
