Many people believe that residential and commercial painting are essentially one and the same. While they recognise that a residential painting job may be smaller, they misguidedly believe that these types of jobs involve the same tasks. However, that is not quite the case.

In this article, we look at the differences between residential and commercial painting and what these differences may mean for your business.

Before we go into the specifics, let’s take a look at each form of painting.

What is Commercial Painting?

As the name implies, commercial painting involves painting business buildings and entities for a commercial client. When you perform a job for a business, you are essentially engaged in commercial painting. Given that business entities are involved, this kind of painting is usually performed on a large scale.

Large residential complexes, manufacturing plants, malls, and bars and restaurants are among the businesses involved. Depending on the industry, commercial painting tends to be more practical than attractive. However, certain commercial painting jobs might need to be visually appealing to draw in potential customers.

What is Residential Painting?

Residential painting involves painting private houses and residences. It can involve both interior and exterior work. This type of painting is typically straightforward when compared to commercial painting.

Some people choose to paint their own homes rather than engage a professional painter. If you wish to specialise in this area, your challenge is to convince them that using your services is the better idea.

What are the Differences Between Residential and Commercial Painting?

1. The size of the job

The size of each project is the key distinction between these two forms of painting. When it comes to commercial projects, think big. For instance, painting a factory will involve a lot more work than painting a two-bed flat.

A factory painting project will take a lot of preparation, labour, and painting. Take multi-family homes as a further example. Due to its size, painting a full apartment building for a client will represent commercial painting, while painting a family’s residence within that apartment will be a residential job.

2. Degree of planning involved

For practically all enterprises, time is money. Large-scale projects don’t always go according to plan. As such, commercial painters need to be flexible to some degree. However, they will also need to ensure their tasks are completed on time; otherwise, they could hold up an entire project. In that sense, the majority of commercial painters try to accommodate a company’s schedule and will make themselves available to work, even during unusual hours. Residential painting can often be performed according to your availability, and the client can work around you. However, not all home painters may be willing to work strange hours unless the remuneration is substantial.

3. The painters’ background

Commercial painters are superior to their competitors in terms of experience and knowledge. Keep in mind that commercial painters must devote a lot of time to each project. Given the enormous demand for commercial painters, there is a very high likelihood that painters on jobs of this type have completed a lot of similar contracts in the past.

Commercial painters typically have transferable skills that entail they could also work as house painters. However, the opposite may not be true for residential painters. It could be challenging for a house painter to succeed in commercial jobs due to the experience issue. However, with the right instruction, the house painter can quickly advance to being a skilled commercial painter.

4. Insurance requirements

The degree and type of risk involved in commercial and residential work are completely different. As such, the level and type of risk you will need to operate as a painter in these contexts will change. The best approach is to fully research insurance for painters to better understand the type of coverage you will need and how you can put it in place.

5. The quantity and type of paint required

The process of painting a house is primarily visual. As a result, the majority of the paint used in house painting is decorative.

The type of paint chosen varies depending on the homeowner. However, the majority of house paintings emphasise the quality of the paints because they expect an attractive finish.

Commercial painters do not skimp on quality, but the quality of the paints is less important. After all, the majority of these painting jobs are purely functional. Except for a select few establishments, like hotels and restaurants, most business owners are loath to shell out on pricey paints.

Additionally, choosing pricey paints could end up costing the business a lot of money because commercial painting uses a lot of paint.

A few paint cans will be needed to finish painting a house. In contrast, you can expect to use thousands of litres of paint when painting commercial buildings.

5. The services provided

The services provided by commercial painters are very different to those offered by home painters. This is primarily because residential homes and commercial spaces have very different architectural styles.

Many house painters are also capable of performing a variety of home repairs in addition to basic painting services. For instance, they can fill any holes or gaps in the wall.

Commercial painters are similar to home painters in that they can perform some masonry repairs.

Whether painting a home or business, use professionals.