Fast loans for painters and decorators

Painting looks simple from the street, but the money behind a job is anything but. Paint, masking, sandpaper, drop sheets and scaffold hire are paid for up front. Wages for the crew go out every week. The invoice, meanwhile, waits on a builder’s sign-off, a strata committee meeting or a developer’s payment run. That gap is where good painting businesses get squeezed.

The painter’s cash cycle

Materials first. A large repaint can need several hundred litres of paint before a brush touches a wall, and trade suppliers expect payment on an account that has limits.

Scaffold and access. Hiring scaffold, a boom lift or an extension tower for a multi-storey job is an upfront cost that cannot be negotiated away.

Wet-weather weeks. Exterior work stops when it rains, but apprentice wages and van payments do not.

Slow strata and body corporate payments. Committees meet monthly, so an approved invoice can sit for weeks before it is paid.

Retentions on commercial jobs. A builder may hold back a slice of the contract until practical completion, long after your last coat dried.

A cash flow lender looks at your recent bank deposits and sees a patchy month. A secured lender looks at the property behind the business.

What a painter’s loan can cover

1. A large paint and materials order for a multi-unit repaint.
2. Scaffold or lift hire for an exterior job.
3. Crew wages and super across a wet fortnight.
4. A spray rig, compressor or airless pump.
5. A work van, ute repairs or a wrap.
6. Insurance, licence and white card renewals.
7. A BAS or PAYG bill that has fallen due.

How the loan works

Loans run from $20,000 to $50,000 on the strength of property, at up to 80% of residential or 70% of commercial value net of debt. A formal valuation is not needed to begin, cash flow evidence is not asked for, and funding can happen in 24 hours once approved. Our page on easy loans with almost no questions explains what we do ask.

A worked example

A painting company wins a repaint across three apartment buildings. Paint and consumables come to $18,500, scaffold hire is $7,200 and the crew costs $9,000 a fortnight. The strata manager pays forty-five days after the final inspection. The director owns a unit worth around $700,000 with $330,000 owing. Going with $35,000 secured on real estate funds the paint, the scaffold and the first fortnight of wages, and prepaid interest for as long as three months ensures that nothing falls due before the invoice is paid. The amounts are examples only and are not an offer.

Tips that keep painting jobs profitable

• Ask for a deposit on any job over a few thousand dollars.
• Quote paint as a separate line so a price rise does not eat your margin.
• Order only what the first stage needs, and return sealed tins for credit.
• Photograph each room before and after, because disputes are easier to settle with pictures.
• Make GST and PAYG a first call on every payment received.

Repayments

Weekly repayments follow an opening period in which up to three months of interest is already paid. Most painters repay from cash flow as jobs are paid, and some refinance into a cheaper product once the invoice backlog clears. The mechanics are laid out in prepaid interest and weekly repayments. Check the total cost and ask about repaying early.

Working with builders and property managers

Builders often pay on thirty-day terms from the end of the month the invoice is received, which can stretch to sixty days. Invoice the moment a stage is signed off, quote the purchase order number and send the invoice to the correct accounts contact. Residential property managers are usually faster, but a rental portfolio can bring bursts of small jobs that need materials bought at once. A simple customer ledger that shows who owes what, and for how long, makes a conversation with a lender or an accountant far easier.

Costs painters forget

Ladders and scaffold towers need inspections, spray equipment needs servicing, and workers’ compensation and public liability insurance arrive as large annual lumps. Brush and roller replacements add up across a crew. A weekly reserve for these items is cheaper than a loan, but a short loan can smooth the year when several arrive together.

Apply

Share the basics on the application form: how much, the property’s estimated value, the debt on it, your state, the monthly cash flow and your business name. Somebody will call you soon after. Any loan is subject to assessment. The information above is not an offer of finance.