Strata and body corporate painting in Hobart.
A strata repaint is only about 60 percent a painting job. The rest is working out which surfaces are common property, getting the right resolution through a general meeting, funding it without a levy nobody wants, and running the work on an occupied building without twelve owners ringing the strata manager on the same afternoon.
Read the plan before anyone writes a scope.
Under a Tasmanian strata plan, external walls, eaves, common stairs, landings, balustrades and the roof are almost always common property. The body corporate maintains them and funds the work. The inside of a lot belongs to its owner. That much is straightforward. The arguments are always at the boundary: front doors, window frames, the soffit under a private balcony, a courtyard fence, garage doors. These sit differently on different plans, and there is no general rule - only your plan and your by-laws.
Getting the resolution right the first time.
Maintenance and repair of common property is a core body corporate function under the Strata Titles Act 1998, so a like-for-like repaint of a deteriorated common surface is ordinary maintenance, normally resolved at a general meeting in the usual way. Three things raise the bar. A colour change alters how the building presents and owners will reasonably want a vote. Contract value may cross a threshold in your by-laws or your strata manager's delegated authority. And heritage brings in a separate pathway - a listed block in Battery Point or New Town may need planning approval first, and our heritage paint permit guide sets out which system applies.
Sinking fund, staging, and not annoying twelve households.
A scheduled repaint is what a sinking fund exists for, and plenty of Hobart blocks cannot absorb one because the contribution was set against a cycle that assumed mainland weather. Here an exterior runs 6 to 8 years for weatherboard and 8 to 10 for render, and exposed south and west elevations set that clock rather than the building average - the detail is in how often Hobart exteriors really need repainting. When the fund is short, staging usually beats a large special levy: worst elevation this year, the next two over the following two years. It costs somewhat more in total but it protects the elevation that actually needs it and does not hand owners a bill they have to borrow against.
Then there is the part that decides whether the committee enjoys the next twelve months: running the work on a building people are living in. We treat communication as part of the job rather than a courtesy. A written program goes to every lot before we start, so owners and tenants know which elevation is when. A notice goes on each affected door 48 hours before work reaches that elevation, so people can move a car off the hardstand, bring the washing in and shut a window. We work elevation by elevation instead of opening the whole building at once, which keeps at least three sides of the block normal at any time. Scaffold on an occupied block gets ground-level hoarding and lighting, because it is a walkway for residents, not just access for us. And there is one named contact for the whole job - not the strata manager fielding twelve calls about something they cannot answer.
A ten-unit walk-up in Moonah.
A ten-lot two-storey walk-up in Moonah, built in 1968, rendered masonry with steel balustrades to the common landings and stairs. Roughly 720 square metres of wall surface once the elevations, eaves and common areas are measured off the plan. Last painted around 2014, and the south and west elevations are carrying established lichen and some spalled render. Fully occupied throughout, which shapes the job as much as the surface does.
The scope: surface schedule against the strata plan, no charge. Lead swab testing, 280 to 480 dollars, mandatory at this age. Scaffold and access to AS/NZS 1576 for a two-storey occupied block, 9,000 to 16,000 dollars. Render repair to spalled and cracked sections, priced on inspection. Steel balustrade preparation and coating, treated as corrosion work rather than decorative work because that is what it is. Then 720 square metres of wall at 45 to 85 dollars per square metre applied - two-storey access and render repair push this toward the upper half - so roughly 40,000 to 61,000 dollars.
All in, the order of 55,000 to 85,000 dollars, or roughly 5,500 to 8,500 dollars per lot. If the sinking fund covers it, it happens in one November-to-March window. If not, we stage south and west this year at roughly 55 percent of the cost and north and east the year after - which is the right call anyway, because those two are where the failure is. Rates from the 2026 Hobart pricing guide. Work runs through our commercial and strata painting process, and timing follows the Hobart painting calendar rather than the meeting calendar.
Common questions about strata painting in Hobart.
Who pays to repaint the outside of a strata unit block in Hobart?
The body corporate does, out of common funds, because external walls, eaves, common stairs, balustrades and the roof are almost always common property under a Tasmanian strata plan. Owners pay for the inside of their own lot. The arguments are at the boundary - a front door, a window frame, a balcony soffit, a courtyard fence - because those sit differently on different plans. The answer is not a general rule, it is your plan, and somebody needs to read it before a scope is written.
What approval does a body corporate need before repainting in Tasmania?
Maintenance and repair of common property is a core body corporate function under the Strata Titles Act 1998, so a like-for-like repaint of a deteriorated surface is normal maintenance, generally resolved at a general meeting in the ordinary way. What raises the bar is scale and change: a significant colour change, a contract value crossing a threshold in your by-laws, or a heritage listing. Have your strata manager confirm the resolution type before you go to quote, not after.
Should we fund a strata repaint from the sinking fund or a special levy?
The sinking fund is what it exists for, and a well-run block should absorb a scheduled repaint without a levy. The problem is contributions set decades ago against a repaint cycle that assumed mainland weather. Here an exposed exterior runs 6 to 8 years for weatherboard and 8 to 10 for render, so a fund built on 12 years will be short. If yours is short, staging usually beats a big special levy - worst elevation this year, the rest over the following two.
How much does it cost to repaint a unit block in Hobart?
Work it per square metre of surface, not per unit, because unit count tells you little about surface area. Exterior wall in Greater Hobart runs 45 to 85 dollars per square metre applied, and a two-storey block pushes toward the top of that band and adds scaffolding. As a sighting shot, a two-storey walk-up of eight to twelve units usually lands between 55,000 and 110,000 dollars including access, or roughly 5,000 to 10,000 dollars a lot.
How do you keep a strata paint job from disrupting residents?
By treating communication as part of the job. A written program to every lot before we start, then a notice on each affected door 48 hours ahead of work on that elevation so people can move a car, bring the washing in and close a window. We work elevation by elevation rather than opening the whole building at once. Scaffold on an occupied block gets ground-level hoarding and lighting. And there is one named contact for the whole job.
Strata work across Greater Hobart.
Strata manager or committee member? Start with the surface schedule.
Send us the strata plan. We will mark up what is common property, scope it once so every quote is comparable, and tell you which elevation genuinely cannot wait.