Signature Finish Group Camberwell

Four kinds of work,
one standard.

The same preparation, the same product specification and the same written warranty, whether it is a single sash window in Fitzroy or a forty-apartment common property in Hawthorn.

Red-brick bay window with white timber fretwork and leadlight glazing, seen from below after repainting.

01 — Heritage & period homes

Work that respects what is already there.

Victorian, Edwardian and interwar homes were built with materials that do not behave like modern ones. Treating them as though they do is how detail gets lost under a fifth coat.

We strip rather than bury, repair rather than fill, and match sheen levels to the period rather than the trend. Where a property sits inside a heritage overlay, we work to colours and finishes appropriate to the era and can provide documentation to accompany a council enquiry.

Typically includes

  • Lead-safe assessment and containment on pre-1970 homes
  • Ornate plasterwork, cornices, ceiling roses and archways cut by hand
  • Sash window restoration — deglazing, reputtying, cord replacement
  • Cast-iron lacework, verandah posts and decorative brackets
  • Timber repairs, epoxy consolidation and full make-good before priming
  • Heritage-appropriate colour schemes with sample boards on site

02 — Luxury interiors & new builds

Where the wall is the finish.

In an architect-designed home there is nowhere for a poor substrate to hide. Long uninterrupted planes, raking light from a clerestory, and a client who will notice.

We work from the plasterer’s level of finish upward: skim assessment, full-surface sanding under raking light, sealer, then build coats applied in the sequence the light demands. Joinery and doors are sprayed off-site or in a controlled enclosure so there is no orange peel where a hand should never have been.

Typically includes

  • Level 5 plaster preparation and defect rectification
  • Airless and HVLP spray application to joinery, doors and cabinetry
  • Specialty finishes — limewash, Venetian plaster, French wash, metallics
  • Low-VOC and washable systems specified for families and allergy sufferers
  • Trade sequencing with your builder, cabinetmaker and stylist
  • Protection and reinstatement of stone, timber and fixed furniture
Open living and dining space with a curved bulkhead ceiling, marble floor and black steel-framed windows.
Edwardian red-brick home with white timber fretwork gables, mid-repaint beneath a large tree.

03 — Exteriors & weatherproofing

Built for a Melbourne year.

Forty degrees in February, horizontal rain in July, and a facade that has to expand and contract through both without opening a single hairline.

Exterior work is a waterproofing job that happens to be visible. We map the substrate before we quote — render, brick, weatherboard, fibre cement, cladding, trim — and specify the system to match, including flexible membranes where movement is likely and elastomeric coatings where it is certain.

Typically includes

  • Pressure cleaning, mould and salt treatment, and full make-good
  • Render crack repair, bagging and flexible membrane systems
  • Weatherboard replacement, timber repair and rust treatment to steel
  • Eaves, fascias, gutters, downpipes and roof-line trim
  • UV-stable and heat-reflective coatings on north and west elevations
  • Fences, gates, garages, decking and outbuildings

04 — Commercial & strata

Finished before you open.

A dining room repainted between service and service. A foyer redone without a resident noticing anything but the result.

Commercial work is a scheduling problem as much as a painting one. We programme in stages, work after hours where trading demands it, and issue scopes in a form your body corporate or facilities manager can actually take to a committee.

Typically includes

  • Documented scopes and staged programmes for committee approval
  • After-hours and weekend works to avoid trading disruption
  • Apartment common property — corridors, foyers, stairwells, car parks
  • Hospitality and retail fitouts, consulting suites and offices
  • Line marking, anti-graffiti coatings and protective wall systems
  • SWMS, inductions, insurances and a single point of contact throughout
Brick courtyard beneath a black steel-framed glazed pavilion and pergola.

Specialty finishes

Beyond a roller and a tin.

Limewash

Mineral limewash

Breathable, chalky and slightly mottled. Ideal over old brick and render where trapping moisture would do damage.

Polished

Venetian plaster

Burnished lime plaster with real depth. Applied in thin layers over several days — a feature wall, an entry, a powder room.

Sprayed

Two-pack joinery

Furniture-grade finish on kitchens, wardrobes and built-ins. Sprayed in an enclosure and cured before reinstatement.

Textured

French wash & colour wash

Soft, tonal movement across a wall. Restrained enough for a hallway, not so much that it dates in three years.

Metallic

Metallic & pearl

Bronze, pewter and champagne effects for ceilings, alcoves and joinery reveals, applied where the light will find them.

Protective

Anti-graffiti & scrub systems

Sacrificial and permanent coatings for laneway frontages, corridors, schools and high-traffic commercial walls.

Every job

What is always included.

Not extras. Not line items that appear once the scaffold is up. These are in every quote we issue.

A written, itemised scope

Room by room or elevation by elevation, naming the product, the number of coats and the sheen level. The figure at the bottom is the figure you pay.

Sample pots in your light

Two coats, on your wall, viewed morning and evening. Colour chosen under a showroom downlight is colour chosen twice.

Full protection and daily clean-down

Floors, furniture, fixtures and landscaping covered. Site left swept and tidy at the end of every day, not the end of the job.

A named contact

One person who knows your job, answers the phone, and is on site regularly — not a call centre and a rotating crew.

Seven-year workmanship warranty

Issued in writing at handover, alongside labelled leftover product for every room so future touch-ups match.

Common questions

Before you ask.

How long does a typical project take?

A single-fronted terrace interior usually runs one to two weeks. A full exterior restoration with timber repair and lacework is commonly three to four. Commercial programmes are quoted against your trading hours. We give you a start date and an end date in writing, and we tell you early if weather moves either.

Do you handle lead paint?

Yes. Any home built before 1970 is assumed to contain lead-based paint until testing says otherwise. We test, contain the work area, use wet-sanding and HEPA extraction rather than dry-sanding, and dispose of waste through a licensed stream. If you have young children or someone pregnant in the house, tell us at the quote stage and we will programme around it.

Can we stay in the house during the work?

Almost always. We work room by room, seal off active areas, and use low-VOC products throughout so the house stays liveable. The exceptions are whole-floor spray work and heavy lead-safe stripping, where we will recommend a few nights elsewhere and tell you well in advance.

What does a project like this cost?

Honestly, it depends far more on condition than on square metres — two identical terraces can differ by a factor of three once you strip them back. Rather than publish a misleading rate, we give you a firm figure after a site visit, plus a clear note of anything that could change it and what that would cost.

Which paint brands do you use?

We specify per substrate rather than per brand, and name the exact product in your scope before work starts. If you have a preference — or a colour already matched to a particular range — we will work to it.

Are you insured, and what does the warranty cover?

We carry $5 million public liability cover and hold current registration, and certificates are provided with every quote. Our workmanship warranty covers peeling, blistering and flaking attributable to preparation or application, and sits alongside whatever manufacturer warranty applies to the product itself.

Next step

Tell us about the house.

Send a few photos and what you have in mind. We come back within one business day with an honest read on the work, the timing and the range it sits in.

Call Get a quote