Writing a Commercial Painting Scope

On a house, the homeowner and the painter can stand in the living room and agree what is being painted. On a commercial building (an office park, a strip center, a medical building, a mixed-use block), there are too many surfaces, too many people and too many assumptions for that to work. If you are the owner, the facilities manager or the property manager, the most useful thing you can do before asking anyone to bid is write down the job.

This article is about that document: the scope of work that goes out to bidders. Reading a single estimate once it arrives is a related skill, covered in our guide to reading a painting estimate.

What makes a commercial painting scope clear?

A clear scope leaves nothing for the bidder to imagine. It names every area and surface, the preparation each gets, the product category, sheen, color and coats, and the site conditions: working hours, access, protection, phasing and safety rules. It lists the exclusions, the change process and what counts as finished. Two contractors reading it should picture the same building.

Start with the areas, not the paint

Divide the property into areas a stranger could find: Building A east elevation, second-floor corridor, suites 101 to 108, stairwell 2, parking structure level 1. Mark them on a site plan or a set of photographs. For each area, list what gets painted: walls, ceilings, doors and frames, railings, soffits, fascia, trim, columns, curbs, signage poles. And list what does not, so nobody prices the handrails because they were standing next to them.

The finish schedule

The heart of the scope is one table, usually called a finish schedule. A simplified version looks like this:

Area	Substrate	Preparation	Primer	Finish coats	Sheen	Color
Exterior elevations	Stucco	Wash, repair cracks, spot-prime repairs	Masonry primer on repairs	Two	Flat or low sheen	Body color
Exterior railings	Steel	Remove rust, prime bare metal	Rust-inhibiting primer	Two	Semi-gloss	Trim color
Corridors	Drywall	Patch, sand, spot-prime	On patches	Two	Eggshell	Wall color
Doors and frames	Hollow metal	Clean, sand, prime bare spots	Bonding primer as needed	Two	Semi-gloss	Door color

Your own schedule will be longer and more specific. The point is that each row tells the bidder what is being coated, how it is prepared, and what goes on it.

Name the product standard

“Two coats of quality paint” means whatever the least careful bidder wants it to mean. Instead, name a product line or a category with a clear standard (exterior acrylic for masonry, rust-inhibiting primer for ferrous metal, scrubbable interior acrylic for corridors) and ask bidders to attach the product data sheets for what they propose. Many owners list one or two acceptable lines from Dunn-Edwards or Sherwin-Williams and allow an equal with approval. The data sheet then sets the spread rate, recoat times and temperature range for the job.

Preparation standards, in words

Preparation is where bids differ most and where shortcuts hide. Write it out: wash method, how cracks in stucco are treated, how failing paint is removed, how rust is dealt with, what gets caulked, what is spot-primed. On older stucco buildings in Chula Vista or the older commercial streets of La Mesa, crack repair and chalk removal may be a large share of the work, and a scope that does not mention them gets bids that do not include them.

Where the quantity of repair is unknown until the work is open, ask for a separate line for repair quantities so the base bid stays comparable and the extra is priced the same way for everyone.

The site conditions

This is the section most scopes forget, and it changes the job as much as the paint does:

• Working hours. Business hours, nights, weekends, or a mix by area. Night work and weekends affect the schedule and how a contractor staffs the job.
• Access. Which elevations need lifts or scaffold, where equipment can be staged, where the crew parks, which restrooms and water connections they may use, and whether badges or escorts are required.
• Occupancy. Which areas stay open during the work, which tenants need notice, and how long before an area must be handed back.
• Protection. Floors, landscaping, vehicles, signage, rooftop equipment, glazing.
• Phasing. The order of areas, any fixed dates, and how each phase is accepted before the next begins.
• Safety rules. Your site’s own requirements, and the expectation that the contractor follows Cal/OSHA rules for ladders, lifts, scaffold and fall protection.

Exclusions and the boundary of the job

Write down what the painter is not doing: roofing, structural repair, electrical, moving furniture, removing and reinstalling fixtures, permits, anything another trade is responsible for. Ebenezer’s own rule on every job is to stick to the agreed boundaries, and a scope that states them protects the owner as much as the contractor. When the boundary is on paper, nobody discovers in week three that they each thought the parking stripes were someone else’s.

Changes, punch list and closeout

Three short paragraphs finish a good scope:

1. Changes. Who on the owner’s side can approve one, and that the contractor will explain the steps and how the change affects the work and schedule before doing it, in writing.
2. Punch list. A walk-through at the end of each phase and at the end of the job, with a list of items to correct and a time to correct them.
3. Closeout. What the contractor hands over: the final color schedule with product names, formulas and sheens, the product data sheets, and labeled leftover paint for touch-ups.

The pre-bid walk

Invite every bidder to walk the site, ideally together, and set a date for written questions. Send every answer to every bidder. It keeps the bids honest and comparable, and it tells you something about each contractor: who looks closely, who asks good questions, who never shows up.

Bidding a scope like this

Commercial projects run weeks to months, and the clearer the scope, the steadier the job. Ebenezer manages every project personally, holds a C-33 Painting and Decorating license (CSLB 1120008, issued to Lemoon’s Painting Inc), and prices by the hours and the difficulty of the preparation, which is exactly what a precise scope lets him do accurately. For buildings across San Diego, the commercial painting page explains how it runs.

If you have a property and a scope in progress, or only the property, ask for a free estimate. Ebenezer will walk it with you, ask the questions a bidder should ask and help make sure the job on paper is the job on the building.