Painting
What an HOA repaint includes before the finish coat
Primer on a grooved exterior wall. The finish coat goes on after the wash and the repairs, not instead of them.
Precision Concrete & Construction paints HOA communities in Orange, Seminole, Brevard, Volusia, Osceola, and Lake counties. The work covers perimeter walls, townhomes, condominiums, apartments, and amenity-center clubhouses. A repaint that lasts in this climate is a sequence, not a color. Skip a step and the finish fails in the humidity before the board has stopped hearing about the project.
The sequence starts with a wash. Central Florida walls grow mold, mildew, and algae, especially on the north side, under trees, and anywhere irrigation overspray hits the paint every morning. Paint applied over that growth does not bond. The wash is part of the job. If another vendor pressure washed the wall last month, say whether it was washed to be painted or only washed to look clean for a tour. A tour wash is not surface preparation.
Repairs before any paint
Holes, cracks, failed caulk at windows and doors, rotten wood, loose siding, and cracked stucco all read through a new coat, and some of them get worse once they are sealed in. Wood walls, concrete block, and stucco are different repairs. A punch list that says “paint the townhomes” without noting rotten fascia or a stucco crack at the second floor will be bid two ways, and the board will pick the cheaper one without knowing it left the rot in place. Photograph the damage. A close photo of the crack and a wide photo that shows which building are enough.
Caulk is the item most often left off a low bid. Open joints at windows, doors, and trim let water behind the new paint, and the peel starts there. If the association wants those joints cut out and recaulked, it has to be a line, not an assumption. The same is true of a balcony or a stair rail the painter cannot coat because the metal is already failed. Exclude it in writing or repair it first. A price that is silent on repairs is a paint-only price.
Primer, spray, and the manufacturer spec
Primer goes on the repaired and bare spots, and on any wall the manufacturer requires to be primed. Then the finish coat is sprayed and back-rolled while it is wet, so the paint locks into the surface instead of sitting on it as a skin. That back-roll is the difference between a sprayed wall that looks even from the street and one that peels in sheets. The crew follows the specification from the paint manufacturer the association chooses. If the board has not chosen a product, the estimate should name the product it is based on, so a second bid using a cheaper line is not treated as the same scope.
Ask for the number of coats and where primer is full versus spot. Two finish coats over a sound, washed, same-color wall is a different price from a color change that needs primer everywhere. Directors compare those prices as if they were the same sentence. Write the sentence down: which buildings, which walls, what is repaired, what is washed, what product, how it is applied.
Color, fences, and the calendar
Color is an association decision. Many communities need architectural-committee or board approval before a color changes, and some need the existing color matched so a phased repaint does not show a seam between buildings. Do not leave “owner to choose color” as a blank the crew is expected to resolve on a Saturday. Pick it before the start date. Lead time on a custom color is a scheduling fact.
Common-area painting often arrives with two neighbors: pressure washing of walks and entries, and fence repair. A wood fence that is falling apart should be repaired before it is painted, or the paint bid should exclude it in writing. Pool fences, dumpster enclosures, and the monument at the entry are the pieces residents actually look at. Putting them on the same estimate lets the board see the whole exterior. Leaving them off means a second project the month after the walls look new.
Plan the calendar around the people who live there. Townhome paint means cars moved, windows closed, and a day the crew can reach the wall. Clubhouse paint fits a gap between events. Irrigation should be off the wall during the wash and the coating, or the overspray that grew the mildew will spot the new paint. The manager sends those limits with the approval.
Precision Concrete & Construction writes the repaint as its own estimate, or on the same board packet as the concrete and paver work when the manager wants one vote. Either way the scope names the wash, the repairs, the primer, and the manufacturer spec. Call (407) 925-7873 or email info@precisionpaintandconstruction.com. The company paints for HOA management companies and licensed community association managers in Orange, Seminole, Brevard, Volusia, Osceola, and Lake counties.