Guide
What preparation actually involves — and why it is most of the price
The paint is the cheap part. What you are paying for is the days spent making a surface that will hold it, and that is where two quotes for the same house diverge. This is what those days consist of.
-9%
Real change over ten years in the price paint manufacturers charge for paint and varnish, after removing consumer inflation — against +21.3% for residential building construction over the same window. The paint is not what got expensive. The full comparison.
Stats NZ — Business price indexes (PPI and Capital Goods Price Index), March 2026 quarter · March 2026 quarter
The operations
Preparation is seven distinct jobs, not one line item
Each is separately skippable, separately priced, and separately visible in the outcome two years later. A quote that compresses them into "prepare surfaces" has told you nothing about which ones it includes.
- Washing. Removing dirt, salt, mould and chalk. On an Auckland exterior this is not cosmetic: coatings do not adhere to a chalking surface, and the humid, marine, mould-friendly climate guarantees there is something there.
- Scraping and removing failed coating. Anything flaking, blistering or lifting has to come off, because the new coat is only as sound as what it sits on. This is the operation that most often turns out to be bigger than the quote assumed.
- Sanding and feathering edges. So the boundary between removed and retained coating does not telegraph through the finish.
- Timber repair and replacement. Where the substrate has gone. Where it has gone because water is getting in, you are no longer having a painting conversation — this is how to tell.
- Filling and stopping. Nail holes, splits, joints, cracks in plaster. Then sanding flush, which takes longer than the filling.
- Priming and sealing. Bare timber, filled areas, stains and any bare substrate need the right primer, not a topcoat used as one.
- Protection and masking. Windows, joinery, planting, paths, neighbouring surfaces. Unglamorous, genuinely time-consuming, and the first thing cut when a price has to come down.
Stats NZ — Labour market statistics, Quarterly Employment Survey, March 2026 quarter · March 2026 quarter
Why it dominates the price
A repaint is a labour purchase with some paint in it
| Series | Nominal | CPI | Real |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paints and varnishes (producer price) | +24.5% | +36.8% | -9% |
| Residential building construction (producer price) | +66% | +36.8% | +21.3% |
| Construction ordinary-time hourly earnings | +50% | +36.8% | +9.6% |
Real change is the series change after removing the change in CPI all groups over the identical window. An index measures movement, not the level of any price — none of these figures is a cost.
Stats NZ — Business price indexes (PPI and Capital Goods Price Index), March 2026 quarter · March 2026 quarter
That is the argument in one table. The materials in a repaint have been roughly flat in real terms for a decade; the hours have not. So when a quote comes down, it comes down in hours — and preparation is where the hours are.
It is also why "we use premium paint" is a weak selling point and "here is our preparation schedule" is a strong one. What an exterior repaint involves, and an interior one.
Questions people actually ask
Can I skip preparation to save money?
You can reduce it, and the saving is real. What it buys is a shorter interval before the next repaint, because adhesion is decided by what is underneath. On a sound, recently painted surface light preparation is legitimate; on chalking, cracked or bare timber it is not.
Why is the paint such a small part of the bill?
Because the producer price of paint changed -9% in real terms over a decade while residential building construction prices rose 21.3% in real terms. A repaint is a labour purchase with some paint in it. The full series.
How do I tell whether the preparation was done?
Before the first coat, not after. Bare timber primed, filler sanded flush rather than proud, sharp edges where coating was removed, and no chalk on a dry hand. Once two coats are on, a badly prepared wall looks identical to a well prepared one for about eighteen months.
Does a water blast count as preparation?
It is one operation of seven, and on older weatherboard it can do damage of its own — forcing water behind boards and into joints that then have to dry before anything can be applied. Washing matters; pressure is not the same as thoroughness.