A Property Manager’s Guide to Hiring an HOA Painting Contractor in Tampa Bay

A property manager we’d worked with on another project called us with a problem. Her HOA had hired a different painting company for a multi-building repaint, and partway through, it fell apart. The coverage wasn’t right, and the crew hadn’t prepped the surfaces properly. Soon, the promised schedule fell apart too, and updates stopped coming. By that point, the board was unhappy with both the quality and the timeline, and nobody could tell her when the problems would actually be fixed.

She asked us to take a look and see if we could get the project back on track. We walked the property, reviewed the scope of work line by line, and put together a plan to finish the job properly.

We get calls like this more often than you might think. When an HOA repaint starts to go sideways, problems tend to show up in a few familiar places: prep, staffing, scheduling, and communication. On a multi-building project, one weak link can affect the entire community.

Painting is only one part of a large HOA or multifamily repaint. Someone also has to coordinate buildings, residents, repairs, crews, other contractors, and a schedule the board can actually follow. After managing projects like these throughout Tampa Bay, we’ve learned that the coordination behind the work matters just as much as what goes on the walls.

HOA Painting Contractors Should Start With a Scope Everyone Signs Off On

Before we schedule anything, we sit down with the HOA president or property manager and put a scope of work in writing: what’s included, what isn’t, and what “done” means for this specific community. It sounds like a formality. It isn’t. Many painting problems in HOA communities trace back to a scope nobody nailed down up front.

On a recent 39-building townhome community, each building held six to eight units, and the board wanted a full color change. Before we painted a single wall, we brought in a color consultant to help finalize the palette and a separate contractor to inspect every building for stucco and wood repair needs. We schedule structural repairs like that before painting starts, not halfway through.

Sequencing Around Everything Else Happening on the Property

HOA repaints rarely happen in isolation. Roofing, gutter, repair, and paving projects may all be happening around the same time, and the sequence matters.

We recently worked through this with the president of an 11-building community that was planning new roofing and gutters, stucco and wood repairs, exterior painting, and new asphalt.

We started with the gutters and downspouts. Taking those off first gives us access to the areas behind them and lets us see whether any wood or stucco needs repair. Those repairs come next, followed by the painting.

In this case, we wanted the painting done before the new roof went on. Overspray can happen on a windy day, and we’d much rather have a little white paint land on an old roof than a brand-new red one. The roofing contractor can then follow behind us. If their work leaves us with a few minor paint touch-ups, we’re still on the project and can handle them.

The new asphalt goes last. By then, the repair crews, painters, and roofers are finished, and nobody needs to bring equipment back across a freshly paved driveway.

That sequence came out of a conversation with the HOA president about everything they had planned for the property. That’s a big part of managing these projects well: looking at the whole picture before everyone starts showing up to do their part.

Keeping Residents in the Loop

A community repaint affects everyone who lives there. Residents need to know when crews will be outside their homes, when they need to move a car or clear a patio, and when someone will be working right outside their front door. If they don’t know, the property manager is usually the one who hears about it.

That’s why we include resident communication in our planning from the beginning. Once the scope and sequencing are set, we build a building-by-building schedule and share it well before crews show up. That plan usually covers:

• Which building is being painted and when, so nobody is caught off guard.
• When cars need to be moved away from the building.
• A separate “door day” for exterior doors, so residents can plan for crews to be at their entryway.
• What needs to be cleared off patios and balconies before work begins.
• How many days we expect to be working on each building.

We normally split that communication between our estimator or ownership, the HOA president or property manager, and our internal coordination team, who handle signage and resident paperwork. Residents should know what’s happening before they have to ask, and the property manager shouldn’t have to spend the entire project answering, “When are they getting to my building?”

Beyond the Buildings

HOA and community painting projects often cover more than the townhomes or condo buildings themselves. We regularly paint monument signs, privacy walls, clubhouse interiors and exteriors, hallways, doors, and other common areas throughout the property.

Privacy walls are especially worth looking at during the initial walkthrough. Many are stucco, and Florida sun and rain can be hard on them over time. If the coating is failing or the stucco is beginning to deteriorate, it’s better to catch it while we’re already evaluating the rest of the property.

The same goes for clubhouses, entry features, and other shared spaces. Even if the board isn’t ready to include everything in the current project, we can identify those areas during the walkthrough and make sure they aren’t overlooked when discussing scope and budget.

Know What’s Under the Paint

A new coat of paint is only as good as the surface underneath it. That’s why we pay attention when something doesn’t look right, even if it means slowing the project down.

Peeling paint around a metal window, soft or damaged wood, cracking stucco, or a coating that isn’t bonding properly can point to a bigger issue. Painting over it may make it look better for a while, but eventually the problem will come through the new finish.

When we’re not sure what’s happening with a surface, we’ll bring in our Sherwin-Williams rep to test it and help determine the cause. Then we talk through what we’ve found with the property manager or board before we keep going.

Sometimes that leads to repair work that wasn’t part of the original budget. Nobody loves that conversation, but it’s a much better one to have before the paint goes on than after a newly painted building starts peeling.

Exterior Painting Experience Shows Up in the Details

The more HOA and multifamily projects you manage, the more you learn where problems tend to show up. Sometimes it’s resident communication. Sometimes it’s discovering repairs once the gutters come down. Other times it’s figuring out how to keep painters, roofers, and paving crews from getting in each other’s way.

We’ve had property managers bring us into additional communities after working with us on the first one, and we’ve moved from one phase of a development into the next. That familiarity helps, but every property still has its own set of variables.

Those differences are also why we don’t price HOA projects with a quick per-building number.

What This Means for Your Budget Conversation

We price every HOA and multifamily project individually, because the variables are real: building material, unit count, access, whether it’s a full color change or a recoat, and whatever else is happening on the property at the same time. We won’t hand you a per-building estimate off the top of our heads, and if a contractor does, that’s worth asking more questions about.

The more useful first step is a walkthrough and a detailed, line-itemed proposal, so your board sees exactly what’s included and can make the case to ownership with real numbers instead of a rough guess. A 3-year workmanship warranty applies to community and commercial projects the same as it does to residential ones, which is worth having in hand when you present a proposal to your board.

Planning a Repaint for Your Community?

If you manage an HOA or multifamily property in Tampa Bay, learn more about our HOA and multifamily painting services and how we handle larger community projects.

Already have a project coming up? Click “Get a Free Estimate,” and we’ll schedule a walkthrough to discuss the property, scope, timing, and any other work that needs to be coordinated.

Frequently Asked Questions About HOA and Multifamily Repaints

Q. How much does it cost to paint an HOA or multifamily community?

A. It depends on too many variables to give a single number: building material, unit count, access, whether it’s a full color change or a recoat, and what else is happening on the property. A detailed walkthrough and a line-itemed proposal is the most reliable way to get a real number for your community.

Q. How long does it take to repaint a multi-building HOA property?

A. It depends on the number of buildings, their size, and the scope of prep work needed, but a well-staffed, HOA-experienced crew can move through a large property faster than most boards expect. One recent project covered 13 buildings in about a week and a half.

Q. Who coordinates a repaint with the HOA board or property manager?

A. Normally it’s a group effort between our estimator or ownership and the HOA president or property manager, with our internal coordination team handling resident communication, signage, and scheduling logistics.

Q. Should other capital projects like roofing or paving happen before or after painting?

A. It depends on the project, but as a general rule, gutter and downspout removal happens first, repairs come next, painting happens before new roofing goes on, and paving happens last. Getting that order wrong is how a project ends up with paint on a new roof or damage to a freshly painted building.

Q. Do HOA and commercial painting projects come with a warranty?

A. Yes. Presto’s 3-year workmanship warranty applies to HOA, multifamily, and commercial projects the same as it does to residential work.