HOA painting starts with one question: who owns the walls?
HOA painting starts with one question: who owns the walls? If it's your home or unit, you hire the painter, sign the contract and file with the board. If it's common property, the association or its manager signs, and the job runs like commercial work. Either way, the contractor supplies color samples, photos, a written quote, an insurance certificate and crew names for the gate, then works within the community's palette and quiet hours. What a contractor can't do is secure the approval, because that decision belongs to the board. On South Florida stucco, the paint also needs proper prep underneath or it won't last.
We paint for owners repainting their own homes or units under association rules, and for property managers running whole-complex repaints on apartment and multifamily buildings. From the street the two jobs look alike. They differ in who signs the contract, who files with the board and how the crew schedules around residents.
Owner repaint or association property?
The first question is who owns the walls being painted.
An owner repainting their own home or unit picks from the palette, submits to the board and hires the painter. The owner signs the contract and files the submittal. The contractor's job is to give the owner what the board needs to see, then follow community rules once work starts. We supply color consultations, samples and photos for that package.
Association-run or manager-run property includes clubhouses, common corridors, perimeter walls and whole-complex exterior repaints. These jobs are scoped and scheduled like commercial work. The manager or board signs, and the board decides the colors. What's left to settle is scope, the order buildings get done in, and keeping residents moving. Night or weekend shifts can be an option on this kind of work, where the association's quiet-hour rules allow, so residents and staff can keep using the property.
Some jobs are mixed. The association repaints the exterior while owners handle their own doors, patios or interiors. Take a building where the association covers the stucco and the shared balcony railings, and owners are responsible for front doors and patio walls. The association's bid should list the railings and exclude the doors and patios. Each owner's bid should list only that owner's door and patio. An owner who wants a new door color files that change with the board separately. Put that boundary in writing before anyone bids, so two contractors aren't both pricing the same railing.
What the board or community will ask for
Each community sets its own requirements. A board or community office may ask for any of these:
| What the board or community asks for | Who provides it | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Approved palette and color scheme number | Owner or manager | Association documents, or the paint maker's HOA listing |
| Color samples and photos of the home or building | Contractor, handed to the owner or manager | Contractor's color consultation and site photos |
| Written quote with scope of work and warranty terms | Contractor | Contractor's estimate after a site visit |
| Vendor insurance certificate | Contractor | Contractor's insurance carrier, listing whoever the community requires |
| Gate access list and vendor check-in | Manager, with crew names from the contractor | Community office or guardhouse |
| Quiet hours and work-day limits | Manager or board | Association rules |
To find the palette, check Sherwin-Williams' HOA Color Archive, where partner associations post their approved schemes. If your community isn't listed, the community manager can ask to have its schemes uploaded. Owners should still take the final pick to the board before painting, even when the chip name matches the list exactly.
We're licensed and insured, so we can provide a certificate for the community office. Ask any bidder to get theirs to the office before the start date, because missing paperwork can hold a crew at the guardhouse on day one.
Who files the submittal
The owner or the manager files it, and the contractor makes sure the package is complete. For an owner's home, we hand over the samples, photos and written quote, and you submit them to the board with whatever form the association uses. For association property, the board is the client, and the "submittal" is the scope and color confirmation the manager brings to a board meeting.
Either way, wait for written approval in whatever form your association issues, such as a letter or meeting minutes, before anyone paints. What the owner should have ready before the crew arrives is covered in our guide to preparing for an HOA exterior repaint.
What the exterior quote should spell out
When two HOA bids are far apart, check the prep lines first. Each of these should appear as its own line, together with every surface, the products, the number of coats and the warranty terms, so the board approves the same job the crew will do: pressure cleaning, mildew treatment, crack filling, scraping, primer on chalky stucco, irrigation rust stain handling, and elastomeric where it fits. Our chalky stucco guide and elastomeric coating guide explain those steps. Ours is itemized, with the scope and warranty terms in writing. If a bid says only "prep as needed," ask that contractor to write it out line by line before you compare it with the others.
Scheduling around residents
Behind a gate, the daily schedule depends on how the crew checks in, when it's allowed to make noise and whether the office already has its insurance on file. Settle them with the community office before the start date so the crew isn't sorting out access on the first morning.
For association property, ask for a written sequence. It should say which building or wall goes first, how long each section blocks a walkway or parking area, and when residents get notice. We like to get exterior coats on in the mornings and during dry spells, before the afternoon storms build, but a community's quiet hours may not allow work to start that early. Get the community's start time before anyone drafts the sequence. For lobbies, hallways and other common interiors, night and weekend shifts can keep foot traffic moving while the crew works, where the association's quiet-hour rules allow.
Gate and quiet-hour rules differ from one community to the next, so bring the association's palette sheet, its vendor insurance requirements and those rules to the walkthrough. That way the quote and the sequence reflect them from the start. If your community is in Deerfield Beach, our Deerfield Beach painting services page covers that service area, and you can reach us at (754) 218-9744. Once the board approves, keep the approval letter or minutes with the signed quote. If a question comes up mid-job, you'll have both documents describing the same scope.