Maybe your last role involved managing a team, forecasting budgets, or coordinating projects, and one by one those tasks got handed to a dashboard instead of you. It’s a strange kind of loss, watching your expertise get replaced not by a better person but by a piece of software. Painting is about as far from that experience as a trade gets. A colour consultation, a straight cut-in line, a smooth two-coat finish on a feature wall, these are things a client notices and appreciates because a person did them carefully. Starting your own painting business is a way of putting your name back on work that’s visibly, undeniably yours.

Painting is also one of the more accessible trades for someone pivoting careers, since formal licensing requirements are generally lighter than for plumbing or electrical work. If you’re a qualified painter who’s been working for a larger painting company or builder, going out alone is largely about setting up the business structure and building your own client base. If you’ve never painted professionally, it’s realistic to start as a labourer or offsider for an experienced painter to build genuine skill and speed before going solo, or complete a Certificate III in Painting and Decorating through TAFE for a more structured pathway.

What Does It Take to Start a Painting Business?

Most states don’t require a specific painting trade licence for residential work below a certain contract value, though several states do require painters to hold a contractor licence once jobs exceed a threshold (commonly $5,000–$20,000), so check your specific state regulator. A completed apprenticeship or genuine hands-on experience matters enormously for speed, surface preparation and finish quality, which is what separates a professional result from an amateur one. Temperamentally, this trade rewards patience, a good eye for colour and finish, physical stamina for repetitive rolling and cutting-in, and the customer service skills to manage a client’s expectations about a two or three day job happening inside their home.

Setting Up the Business

Register your ABN and start as a sole trader, moving to a company structure once you’re taking on staff or larger commercial contracts. Check whether your state requires a contractor licence for painting work above the relevant threshold — Queensland’s QBCC and NSW Fair Trading both have specific painting licence categories, for example.

Public liability insurance (typically $5–10 million minimum) protects you against paint spills, damaged floors or accidental property damage, which happens more often than you’d think. Tool insurance covers your sprayers, ladders and equipment. A White Card is required if you’ll do any construction or new-build site work. If you take on any older properties, familiarise yourself with lead paint safety requirements, since removing or disturbing pre-1970s paint has specific safety obligations.

What It Costs to Get Started

Painting has one of the lower barriers to entry among the trades:

  • Tools and equipment (brushes, rollers, drop sheets, ladders, an airless sprayer): $3,000–$8,000
  • A ute or van for transporting equipment and materials: $10,000–$35,000
  • Licensing (where required) and insurance in the first year: $1,500–$4,000
  • Initial paint and consumables stock: $500–$1,500
  • Quoting and invoicing software: $30–$100 per month

Because paint and materials are usually charged directly to the job, working capital needs are lower than trades that carry expensive stock, which makes painting an attractive entry point for someone rebuilding after redundancy.

Finding Your First Customers

Interior and exterior painting is highly visual, so a Google Business Profile with genuine before-and-after photos converts extremely well for searches like “house painter [suburb].” Real estate agents are a strong ongoing source of work, since rental properties and pre-sale homes constantly need repainting between tenants or before auction, and one good relationship with a property manager can produce steady repeat bookings. Local Facebook community groups are excellent for painting recommendations, particularly around school holidays when families tackle home projects. A clean, signwritten vehicle parked outside a job for several days is effective local advertising, and letterbox flyers in the immediate streets around a current job often pick up a neighbour or two. Ask every client for a Google review as soon as the final coat is dry and they’ve seen the result.

Common Mistakes First-Time Owners Make

  • Underestimating preparation time (sanding, filling, masking) when quoting, which is where most jobs actually lose money
  • Not factoring in the cost of premium paint when clients expect a premium result
  • Skipping a written scope of work, leading to disagreements about what surfaces were included
  • Taking on too many jobs concurrently and stretching drying and recoat times too thin

Your First 90 Days

Weeks 1–2: register your ABN, sort insurance and any required licensing, and set up simple quoting software.

Weeks 3–4: build your Google Business Profile with any photos of past work, reach out to real estate agents and past colleagues, and get your vehicle signwritten.

Month 2: prioritise smaller, fast jobs that build a photo portfolio and reviews quickly, while following up every quote you send.

Month 3: review pricing accuracy against actual time spent, and start building a relationship with one or two property managers for recurring work.

Thinking through your options? A few related guides worth a look: roofing business, landscaping business and pool cleaning and maintenance business.

If a career built over many years can be quietly handed to software, it’s worth remembering that a steady hand with a brush still can’t be. Painting offers a genuinely low-barrier way back into being your own boss, on your own schedule. When you’re ready to build a proper local presence, GrowOnline can help with the market research, website and marketing systems to keep your painting calendar full.