Painters price two things: the work, and the obstacles. An apartment that is ready when the crew arrives gets painted faster, cleaner and closer to the quoted figure — while every unmade decision and unmoved wardrobe converts into billable friction. Here is the readiness list that experienced Maltese painters wish every client had.
Decisions to finish before day one
- Exact colours, by reference code, per room — tested properly first; our colour guide for Maltese light covers how. "We'll confirm the bedroom shade Wednesday" stalls a crew mid-flow.
- Sheen levels: matt hides wall history, eggshell wipes clean — decide per room, especially kitchens and corridors.
- Scope edges: ceilings in or out? Inside of built-in wardrobes? Doors and frames — priced per door in our cost guide — in this job or later?
- The damp conversation: if any wall shows bubbling or staining, decide now whether this job treats it properly or paints around it. The honest options are laid out in our humidity and paint guide — deciding mid-job costs the most.
Physical prep that saves paid hours
- Empty the walls completely — pictures, shelves, brackets, the lot. Decide which screw holes are being filled forever and which fittings return; mark returning positions with tape and photos.
- Move furniture to room centres (or out entirely for full repaints). Two painters shifting your wardrobe is expensive removals.
- Curtains, blinds and their brackets down. Frequently forgotten, always in the way.
- Clear fragile everything — the crew will sheet and mask, but sheets protect against splashes, not against a ladder meeting your vase collection.
- Fridge-level clean is not needed — dust-level is. Cobwebbed corners and greasy kitchen walls need washing before paint anyway; doing it yourself moves that hour off the invoice.
- Sort access: lift permissions, parking arrangements for materials, a key plan if you will be out. In parking-starved streets — Sliema, Gżira, Valletta — the parking note in your brief genuinely affects quotes.
Living through it
Plan around the sequence: prep (dusty), painting (smelly), drying (patient). In humid Maltese months drying stretches, so bedrooms painted last thing stay sticky overnight — schedule bedrooms early in the job. Ventilation helps everything; summer heat, counterintuitively, is decent painting weather indoors if the AC and airflow are managed.
Brief it once, brief it well
Photograph each room including known trouble spots, list the decided colours and scope, and post it on Qabbad's painter page. Approved painters covering your locality quote against the same complete brief — and arrive knowing exactly what job they walked into, which is where on-time and on-quote comes from.
Frequently asked questions
Should I empty the room before painters come?
Walls completely bare, furniture centred and sheeted or removed. Everything you move yourself is billable time saved; everything fragile you relocate is risk removed.
Who fills the screw holes — me or the painter?
The painter, as part of prep — but only you know which holes are permanent departures and which fittings return. Mark the survivors before the crew arrives.
How long does an apartment repaint take in Malta?
Two to five working days for a typical three-bedroom flat, weighted toward preparation. Humid months stretch drying time between coats; an empty, decision-complete apartment sits at the fast end.