Houses &
Buildings
Related Jobs
or Working with these Jobs
 
Painters and decorators apply paint, varnish,
wallpaper and other finishes to protect, maintain and
 decorate interior and
exterior surfaces of domestic, commercial and industrial buildings and other
structures. They prepare surfaces by removing old paint
and wallpaper, ensuring they are clean, and covering areas that are not to
be painted. They mix paint and cut wallpaper to size, and apply them
carefully to ensure a flawless finish.
OSCA Codes
OSCA ID & Description:
 361231 Applies paint, varnish, wallpaper and
other finishes
to protect, maintain and decorate surfaces of buildings and
structures.
Registration or licensing may be required.
Alternative names: Painter and Decorator;
Painting Trades Worker;
Specialisations:
Painters and decorators may concentrate on a specific area of work, such as
the internal or external painting of domestic homes, commercial buildings,
industrial structures and equipment. They may also concentrate exclusively
on restoration work.
- Commercial Painter: Focuses on large-scale properties such as office
buildings, retail spaces, and schools.
- Industrial Coating Specialist: Applies highly specialized protective
coatings (epoxies, fire retardants) for industrial sites, bridges, or
marine vessels.
- Caulker / Sealer: Specializes in filling expansion joints and gaps
to waterproof and seal structures, providing an in-demand, related
service.
- Wallpaper Installer: A dedicated decorator who focuses specifically
on complex wallpaper hanging, murals, and fabric coverings.
- Heritage & Restoration Specialist: Focuses on preserving and
carefully restoring the paint and decorative finishes on historical and
heritage properties.
- Decorative Finishes Specialist: Deals with faux finishes,
woodgraining, marbling, and specialty texture coatings.
- Lead-Paint and Asbestos Management: Requires additional compliance
training to safely manage, encapsulate, or remove hazardous paint and
asbestos in older buildings.
Knowledge, skills and attributes
A painter and decorator needs:
- to
enjoy manual work
-
good hand eye coordination
-
good colour vision
- good sense of balance
- to
be accurate and careful in their work
-
physical fitness, with an ability to work at heights
- able to work independently or as part of a team.
(Source:
Your Career)
Duties and Tasks
Painters and decorators may perform the following tasks:
- work out the quantity of materials needed for the
job by taking surface measurements or by looking at job specifications
or drawings
- remove old paint or paper using sanders,
scrapers, heat guns, liquid paint removers and steam strippers as
appropriate
- prepare surfaces by fixing woodwork, filling or
sealing holes, cracks and joints, and washing them down using high
pressure wash systems to remove dust and grease
- select and prepare paints to match colours by the
addition of tinters
- brush, roll or spray paints, stains, varnishes
and other finishes
- when wallpapering, set out the area according to
the pattern match and starting point in the room, cut the paper to the
appropriate length, apply paste to the back of each strip and hang the
paper on the wall, smoothing out any wrinkles or bubbles
- spray paint surfaces using a spray gun or
specialised equipment
- apply decorative paint finishes such as stencils,
colour glaze, graining, marbling and lettering, gold leaf and texture
finishes
- wash equipment and clean work areas.
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Did You Know?
There are two types of painting categories:
a. architectural painting, which involves painting
both interior and exterior surfaces of homes
b. commercial and industrial painting, which is the
painting and most importantly the preservation of industrial structures and equipment.
Usually industrial painting involves using spray painters and protective clothing.
Goggles and masks have to be worn. People with chest complaints or allergies relating to
paints, solvents or dust would find this job difficult.
For more information about what a Painter does,
visit this
site:
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Working Conditions
Due to occupational health and safety laws, most painters work from work
platforms, elevated work platforms or built up scaffolds erected by
qualified personnel. They have to do a lot of bending and stretching.
Painters and decorators work all over Australia,
wherever there is the construction or renovation of domestic, commercial or
industrial buildings. They work either indoors or outdoors, depending on the
job. Outdoor painting is only done in fine weather conditions, so painters
and decorators must be prepared to work in the sun. Indoors, paint or
varnish fumes can sometimes be particularly strong, so they must ensure
proper ventilation through opening windows and doors, which can, in winter,
make their work conditions very cold.
Tools and technologies
Painters and decorators use a variety of different
tools to remove and apply paint, wallpaper and other finishes. They use
steam wallpaper strippers, scrapers, sanders and liquid paint removers to
remove previous finishes. To apply paints and varnishes, they put down drop
sheets and apply adhesive tape to areas that are not being painted. They
apply the paint with brushes, sponges, spray guns, rollers and even
stencils. When applying wallpaper, they use a special wallpaper paste. All
painters and decorators wear protective clothing and hats, especially in the
sun, and some may wear masks when dealing with paint fumes.
Education and
training/entrance requirements
To become a painting trades worker you usually need to complete an
apprenticeship. The painter and decorator, or painting (housing)
apprenticeships usually take 24 to 48 months to complete and are available
as school-based apprenticeships.
You may improve your chances of gaining an apprenticeship by completing a
pre-apprenticeship course.
Employment
Opportunities
Most of the time Painters will work as sole
traders, who run their own businesses and sub-contract to builders. Some of
them will sub-contract to multiple builders at
once and have lots of projects running at the same time. If you wanted to
run a business like this, you would need to be good at time management, and
make sure you are good
at keeping track of time, money, invoicing and projects.
Growth in eco-friendly and sustainable painting practices, such as using
low-VOC or environmentally friendly materials, is also opening new avenues
for Painters who
want to specialise in green building practices.
Summary
(Master
Builders Ultimate Career Guide p.57
)
What should you be good at?
• Painting!
• Working with your hands
• Working in a physical job
• Design and attention to detail
• Communicating
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What should you enjoy?
• Working with people on site
• Working across a few projects at any one time, so
you’ll need to be good with time management
• Painting!
• Creating new designs
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Relevant qualifications
• Certificate III in Painting and
Decorating (CPC30620)
• Apprenticeship
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What subjects are helpful to do at school?
• Art
• Design and technologies
• Industrial design
• Business studies
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See
Industrial Spray Painter for more of the following story of the Sydney
Harbour Bridge
Did You Know?
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is painted continuously? Once the
painters have finished at one end they have to start at the other!
The surface area that requires painting is equal to about the
surface area of 60 sports fields. ...
(Source:
Sydney
Harbour Bridge)
- Gloss - The ability of the finished surface to reflect light
in a mirrorlike manner. The higher the gloss, the more scrubbable and durable the finish.
Degrees of gloss include flat, velvet, eggshell, low lustre, semi-gloss and high gloss.
-
Acrylic - A synthetic resin widely used as
a latex to produce paints with good colour and colour retention.
Acrylic latex paints may be thinned and cleaned up with water.
-
Alkyd - A synthetic resin widely used in
the manufacture of paints and varnishes. Alkyd paint must be thinned
and cleaned up with solvent or paint thinner. Alkyd paint is often
referred to as oil-based paint.
-
Coating system - Paint products used
together to cover the same surface. The film may be the result of
primer, undercoat and topcoat (also called finish coat).
Source:
General Paint: Glossary of Terms
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