Commercial Cost Guide

How much does commercial painting cost in Melbourne?

By The WTD Editorial Team · Last reviewed November 2026 · Methodology

Updated November 2026·Independently researched·12 min read

Commercial painting in Melbourne is priced $15-$45/m2

per m² of wall and ceiling area, with surface prep, access and after-hours work priced separately

Repainting a Melbourne warehouse in Dandenong South costs $15–$45 per m² of wall, with $30 typical, and an adjoining epoxy floor with line marking $30–$55 per m². Washing, sanding, patching and priming are charged on top at $8–$25 per m² of prepared surface.

+3.9% Commercial painting costs in Melbourne are up around 3.9% over the past year, re-verified against 90+ sources in November 2026. Year on year

Typical Office Repaint in Melbourne

$30/m2

interior, per m² of wall area, two coats supplied & applied

Interior office repaint

$20-$45/m2

Exterior facade repaint

$40-$90/m2

Warehouse / industrial coating

$15-$45/m2

$20/m2$30/m2$45/m2

Melbourne commercial painting is priced at $15–$45 per m² of wall and ceiling across most interior and warehouse jobs. Building height and access, the state of old brick and render, and the number of weather days allowed in the program are what move a quote within that range.

Work ranges from CBD and Docklands towers to heritage shopfronts and terraces in Carlton, Fitzroy and Richmond, and newer commercial strips and business parks in the south-east around Skye, Cranbourne and Clyde North. Weather that turns quickly means exterior programs allow for lost days, and towers bring swing-stage or rope access costs on top of the paint.

Facade work is priced separately at $40–$90 per m², and owners with a portfolio can plan a repaint cycle at $2,000–$30,000 per project, typically $8,000. All prices include GST.

Quick answerCommercial painting in Melbourne is priced per square metre and varies widely by substrate, surface prep, access height and whether work runs after hours. Verified bands are $15-$45/m2. Get free Melbourne quotes →

Commercial Painting Prices in Melbourne 2026: Cost Table, Price List and Hourly Rates

Service	Low	Typical	High
Colour and spec consultation (inspection usually free)	$200per job	$350	$500
Interior commercial repaint (walls & ceilings)	$20per m²	$30	$45
Exterior commercial repaint (facade & render)	$40per m²	$65	$90
Warehouse & factory wall painting	$15per m²	$30	$45
Structural steel & metalwork repaint (maintenance, in situ)	$15per m²	$30	$45
Protective / industrial coating system	$50per m²	$90	$140
Intumescent / fire-rated coating	$45per m²	$90	$130
Surface preparation (wash, sand, patch, prime)	$8per m²	$15	$25
High-access work (EWP / scaffold loading)	$500per day	$900	$2,000
After-hours / night-shift loading (two-painter crew)	$250per day	$500	$900
Line marking & epoxy floor coating (adjacent)	$30per m²	$40	$55
Repaint cycle / maintenance contract	$2,000per project	$8,000	$30,000
Commercial painter hourly rate	$60per hour	$75	$95
Metal roof / wall cladding repaint (warehouse)	$20/m²	$35	$50

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Prices include GST. Melbourne metro, November 2026.

Commercial Painting Costs by Sector in Melbourne

CBD and St Kilda Road office floors

$20–$45 per m²

Tenancy floors along St Kilda Road and in the CBD are usually repainted between leases or at make-good, with lifts and loading docks booked around the building's other tenants. Walls and ceilings come in at $20–$45 per m², and night or weekend shifts carry a crew loading of $250–$900 a day.

Victorian shopfronts on Chapel Street and Sydney Road

$40–$90 per m²

Two-storey brick and render shopfronts along these strips often hide cracked render, failed parapet coatings and several layers of old paint under the current colour. Facades price at $40–$90 per m², and the stripping, patching and priming is a separate line at $8–$25 per m² that can decide the final figure.

Warehouses in Dandenong South and Laverton North

$15–$45 per m²

Tilt-up and block warehouses in Melbourne's south-east and west are painted inside at $15–$45 per m² on the warehouse rate. Steel cladding on the outside of the shed is a separate item at $20–$50 per m², and racking or forklift traffic usually means working in zones around a live operation.

Apartment towers in Docklands and Southbank

$500–$2,000 a day

Owners corporations in the tower precincts budget the access as much as the paint: swing stages, rope access or scaffold run $500–$2,000 a day on top of facade coats at $40–$90 per m². Wind off the water and sudden showers can halt elevated work, so programs allow for lost days.

What Melbourne Commercial Painting Jobs Actually Cost

Weekend repaint of a St Kilda Road office floor

$25,500–$59,400 total

About 1,200 m² of plasterboard walls and ceilings on a single Melbourne tenancy floor, painted over three weekends so the business keeps trading. Coats at $20–$45 per m², with six weekend days of crew loading at $250–$900 a day.

Sydney Road shopfront row in Brunswick

$23,600–$59,750 total

Around 450 m² of brick and render across a row of two-storey shopfronts, with parapets and upper windows reached from a lift. Preparation at $8–$25 per m², facade coats at $40–$90 per m² and four days of access at $500–$2,000 a day.

Dandenong South warehouse walls and cladding

$56,500–$164,500 total

About 2,500 m² of internal block and tilt-panel wall at $15–$45 per m², plus 800 m² of faded external cladding recoated at $20–$50 per m². Six days of boom lift at $500–$2,000 a day reach the high walls above the racking.

New childcare centre in Clyde North

$18,200–$41,000 total

Roughly 900 m² of new plasterboard walls and ceilings in a purpose-built centre, painted before handover with little preparation needed. A colour and specification consult at $200–$500 per job, then coats at $20–$45 per m² on the interior repaint rate.

Facade repaint of a Docklands apartment tower

$86,000–$204,000 total

Roughly 2,000 m² of render and painted concrete on a residential tower, worked from swing stages over a dozen working days. Coats at $40–$90 per m² and access at $500–$2,000 a day, with the program allowing for days lost to wind and rain.

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What Affects Commercial Painting Costs in Melbourne

Melbourne commercial painting covers CBD towers, inner-city heritage terraces and warehouses, and business areas in the south-east such as Clyde North, Cranbourne and Skye. Changeable weather, height access and the mix of render, brick and cladding drive the price more than floor area does.

Changeable weather

Rain, wind and cold snaps interrupt exterior work and slow drying. Programs often allow for weather days, especially through winter, and those days carry a cost.

CBD towers and height

Towers need swing stages, rope access or scaffold, plus booked loading docks. Access setup and footpath protection can cost as much as the paint on taller buildings.

Heritage brick and render

Inner-city buildings in Carlton, Fitzroy and Richmond often have old brick and render that need repair and breathable coatings. Preparation runs $8–$25 per m², with detailed trims adding time.

South-east business parks

Newer commercial and industrial buildings in Clyde North, Cranbourne, Skye and Frankston South often have tilt-up concrete and cladding. Warehouse wall painting runs $15–$45 per m², with platforms for high walls.

Interior repaints by the square metre

Office and retail interiors run $20–$45 per m², and occupied spaces often require after-hours work. Higher ceilings, feature walls and frequent colour changes add cost.

Repaint cycles

Owners with several sites often plan repaint programs across a number of years. These range $2,000–$30,000 per project and usually earn better rates than one-off jobs.

How to Control Commercial Painting Costs in Melbourne

Confirm the substrate and prep scope before tendering - paint over poor prep fails fast and the prep, not the topcoat, is where Melbourne quotes really differ.

Specify the exact coating system and number of coats so quotes are comparable rather than priced on different products.

Plan after-hours or staged access into the brief up front - it is a known cost, and surprises here cause the biggest blowouts.

Scope access early - EWP, scaffold or height loading for facades and high warehouse walls drives both cost and program.

Bundle adjacent works like line marking and epoxy floor coating into the same mobilisation to save on setup and access.

Get multiple fixed-price quotes on an identical scope and spec rather than comparing rough per-m² estimates, and consider a repaint cycle or maintenance contract for ongoing value.

Commercial painting cost by area in Melbourne

Quick answerCommercial painting in Melbourne is priced per square metre of wall and ceiling area; total cost scales with the area painted plus prep, access and after-hours requirements. Verified bands are $15-$45/m2.

Commercial painting costs in Melbourne scale with the painted area first, then with prep and access. A single tenancy and a full multi-level facade are quoted on the same per-square-metre logic, but the substrate, the surface prep and how the crew reaches the work move the rate more than the raw area does.

Several factors push a Melbourne job above the typical band: heavy surface prep or remediation, high-access work needing EWP or scaffold, protective, industrial or fire-rated coating systems, strict site compliance, and after-hours staging around an operating business. Larger areas, strata schemes and ongoing repaint cycles usually attract keener per-m² rates.

Our Methodology

These are independent, GST-inclusive estimates from commercial contractors, suppliers and rate guides, and no contractor can influence them, so always get several written quotes. Read our full methodology →

Commercial painting cost per m² in Melbourne: interiors, facades and warehouse walls

Commercial painting in Melbourne is priced per square metre of painted surface, and the rate depends on what is being painted. An interior repaint of office walls and ceilings is $20–$45 per m², with $30 per m² typical. Exterior facade and render repaints are $40–$90 per m², and warehouse and factory walls $15–$45 per m². Surface preparation, meaning washing, sanding, patching and priming, is priced on top at $8–$25 per m².

The city's commercial stock is varied. Period brick and render shopfronts line the streets of Richmond, Brunswick and Carlton, office floors in South Yarra and St Kilda are mostly plasterboard and glass, and tilt-up warehouses and newer retail strips sit in the south-east around Clyde North and Cranbourne. Older brick and render facades can need more of the preparation line than newer tilt-up panels. Metal roof or wall cladding on an industrial building is repainted at $20–$50 per m², and a fire-rated intumescent coating on structural steel runs $45–$130 per m².

Small jobs that are hard to measure are charged by time, at $60–$95 an hour with $75 an hour typical. A good Melbourne commercial painting quote lists each area in square metres with its own rate, shows preparation as a separate line from the paint, names the paint system and the number of coats, and says whether access equipment and after-hours work are included.

What a Compliant Commercial Painting Quote Includes — Cost in Melbourne

A Melbourne commercial painting quote should separate CBD tower work, suburban retail strips and converted warehouses, because access, hours and preparation differ for each. The items below are what a complete quote sets out.

Square metres for every wall, ceiling, facade and door schedule, with the rate per m² beside each line and the measurement method stated
Tower induction time, loading dock bookings and lift protection for CBD and South Yarra offices, shown as included or charged by the hour
Night shifts for trading strips in Richmond, Brunswick or Carlton, each with its loading, $250–$900 per day
Preparation on its own line with the scope described, $8–$25 per m²
A coating specification by surface, covering primer, finish product, coats and sheen, with data sheets available on request
Weather allowance for Melbourne winters and sudden changes, stating whether exterior downtime affects price or only dates
Whether GST is included, the payment stages, and who inspects and signs off each floor before the next invoice
Protection of carpet, workstations and glazing, plus removal of paint waste, listed as included or as an extra

Frequently Asked Questions — Commercial Painting Cost in Melbourne

How much is commercial painting in Melbourne?

Our Melbourne table puts an interior repaint at $20–$45 a square metre, an exterior repaint at $40–$90 a square metre and the hourly rate at $60–$95 an hour.

What does facade painting cost on a Melbourne commercial building?

Facade and render repainting in Melbourne runs $40–$90 per m², with $65 per m² typical. Period brick and rendered shopfronts in Richmond, Carlton and Brunswick often need crack repair, paint stripping and primer before topcoats, which sits in surface preparation at $8–$25 per m². Melbourne's changeable weather can interrupt exterior work, so allow some flexibility in the schedule.

How much does commercial painting cost per square metre in Melbourne?

In our Melbourne table: an interior repaint $20–$45 a square metre, an exterior repaint $40–$90 a square metre and warehouse and factory walls $15–$45 a square metre.

What does commercial painting cost in Clyde North, Cranbourne and Melbourne's south-east?

Rates in Clyde North, Cranbourne and nearby south-east suburbs follow the Melbourne bands: interior walls and ceilings $20–$45 per m², and warehouse and factory walls $15–$45 per m². Newer shops, childcare centres and tilt-up warehouses in these growth areas usually need lighter preparation, which keeps many jobs close to the typical $30 per m².

How do Melbourne owners budget a staged repaint across several buildings?

A planned repaint cycle or maintenance contract in Melbourne is priced at $2,000–$30,000 per project, with $8,000 per project typical, depending on how much of each building a stage covers. Owners of terraces in Carlton and Richmond, or business parks around Clyde North and Cranbourne, often stage work by elevation or by site. Interior stages are budgeted at $20–$45 per m² and exterior facades at $40–$90 per m², with weather days allowed through winter.

How much does office painting cost in Frankston?

Office repainting in Frankston is priced on the Melbourne bands: walls and ceilings run $20–$45 per m², with $30 per m² typical. Medical suites, real estate offices and professional rooms around the Frankston city centre often have lots of doors, trims and patching, which painters may charge at $60–$95 per hour. Ask for both the m² rate and the hourly rate on the quote.

What does surface preparation cost per m² on a Melbourne commercial job?

Surface preparation in Melbourne is $8–$25 per m², with $15 per m² typical, and is listed separately from the coats. Period render and brick shopfronts in Brunswick, Richmond and St Kilda often need paint stripping, crack repair and a bonding primer, which lands them towards the upper figure, while a tidy plasterboard office floor in the CBD needs little more than a fill and spot prime. A low quote that trims this line rarely stays low once the topcoat starts peeling.

What is the hourly rate for commercial painters in Melbourne?

Commercial painters in Melbourne charge $60–$95 an hour, with $75 an hour typical. Time-based pricing suits make-good touch-ups when a tenant leaves a South Yarra or Carlton office, patching after new fixtures go in, and small repairs that would take longer to measure than to paint. Once a job has a clear area, such as a full tenancy at $20–$45 per m², the quote switches to square metres so quantities can be verified against the floor plan.

What does intumescent fire-rated coating cost per square metre in Melbourne?

Intumescent or fire-rated coating on structural steel in Melbourne is $45–$130 per m², with $90 per m² typical. The price moves with the dry film thickness specified for each beam and column, the coats needed to build it and access to the steel, which in CBD fit-outs often means night work and a loading of $250–$900 a day. It is kept as its own line in a quote so the documentation for the applied system can be matched to it.