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How to choose a painter and decorator in Cyprus

Real painter and decorator ranges for Cyprus, what moves them, and what to check before accepting a quote.

8 min read

How to Choose a Painter and Decorator Company in Cyprus — illustrasjonsbilde

Photo: Ron Lach on Pexels

ByStavros Loizou· Editor, kitchens, bathrooms and finishes

Stavros covers the rooms that carry the most cost per square metre and the finishes that go into them. He tracks the order trades have to arrive in, which moves a Cypriot renovation bill further than any hourly rate does.

Published

Painting is not a licensed trade in Cyprus. No register will tell you whether a decorator is any good, because no qualification is required to pick up the brush. What you can check is the company behind it: that it exists, that it is registered for VAT, that it carries public liability cover in force on your dates, and that the quote describes a system rather than a colour. Everything else you infer from how the quote is written.

What can actually be verified

Four things, none of them more than a phone call or a public search.

The company exists. The Registrar of Companies is public: registration number, legal name, incorporation date, standing. A trading name that differs from the registered name is normal. A registered name belonging to an unrelated business, or a company incorporated shortly before your quote, is worth a second question.

It is registered for VAT. Registration becomes compulsory above €15,600 of taxable turnover in any twelve-month period. A company quoting for whole-house exteriors without VAT on the paper is therefore either much smaller than it looks or is not accounting for it — and the second version is your problem too, because the reduced renovation rate only exists inside the VAT system.

Public liability insurance is in force. Ask for the certificate rather than a statement, read the two dates on it before the sum insured, then read the sum insured against what is actually at risk: spray drift over parked cars on a Nicosia street, a ladder through a neighbour's glazing, a dropped tin from a balcony above a pavement.

It is registered as an employer. If a crew arrives rather than the person who quoted, those people are either employees covered by the company's social insurance and its liability policy, or subcontractors with their own cover, or neither. Ask which before they start.

What cannot be verified is the thing you want to know: whether the finish will be good. We publish no ratings, no stars and no testimonials, for painters or for any other trade, because a rating is the one item here that cannot be checked against a document. Ordering on our painting and decorating listings is by registrations, insurance and years in business, with the weighting published on the methodology page.

Registrations that matter

Only some of the paperwork changes what you pay or what you can enforce.

The Registrar of Companies entry is the floor. It proves there is a legal entity to hold responsible later, when a south-facing elevation starts chalking. Longevity is not competence, but it is evidence that the company survived its previous customers.

The statutory contractors' register governs building and civil engineering works above a set contract value, sorting firms into classes and categories. Painting on its own rarely engages it; painting as one package inside a larger refurbishment contract does. If a main contractor is coordinating your job, ask which class they hold and what value of work it permits.

ETEK registration has nothing to do with painting — it is the statutory chamber for engineers and architects. A painter who volunteers an ETEK number is quoting someone else's qualification at you.

Manufacturer applicator schemes are the closest thing to a real credential in this trade. Several exterior coating manufacturers keep lists of approved applicators, and their system warranties depend on the work being done by someone on that list, to a specified build-up. The supplier will confirm membership over the phone. If a facade warranty is being offered, this is the check that makes it worth something.

Questions to ask

Ask these of everyone you approach, in the same words, and compare the answers rather than the totals.

  1. How many coats, and over what primer?

    The single largest variable in the price, and the first thing quietly reduced when a company sharpens a quote. Bare render, a strong existing colour and a failed coating all need different build-ups. A quote that does not state the number of coats is not a quote.

  2. What preparation is included, and is it priced or an allowance?

    Filling, sanding, raking out cracks, killing off salt bloom, removing coating that has lost adhesion. Preparation is where the hours go on any Cyprus exterior, and it is the item most often left vague and priced later.

  3. What are you doing about the cracks, specifically?

    Hairline cracking in sand-cement render is normal here — the inland temperature swing around Nicosia is the widest on the island and the render moves with it. Overpainting hides it until the first winter. Ask whether they are raking out and filling, using a flexible coating, or covering it.

  4. Which product, in which finish, and why this one?

    Not "good quality paint" — the product name, the system, the finish. Near the coast at Kato Paphos or Oroklini, salt and humidity drive the choice; on older village properties, a breathable coating over lime render matters more than durability figures.

  5. How are you sequencing the elevations?

    In summer a west-facing wall in the afternoon is too hot to take a coat properly; the film skins before it can level. A company that plans to follow the shade round the building has done this before. One that has not considered it has not.

  6. What is the access, and who is paying for it?

    Ladders, tower or scaffold. On a stairwell in a 1970s Strovolos block, or a facade above a shopfront, access can cost more than the paint. It belongs in the quote, not in a phone call during week two.

  7. Who protects the floors and furniture, and who clears up?

    Masking, sheeting, socket and frame protection, waste removal. Cheap quotes often assume you have emptied the rooms yourself.

What a good quote looks like

Start from the unit rather than the total. Our recorded ranges are per square metre of wall area, with preparation priced separately, because those two figures move independently and a lump sum hides which one you are paying for.

A quote you can act on has: the areas it covers, in square metres or by room; preparation described as work rather than as an allowance; the primer and the number of finish coats; the product name; the access method; a start date and a duration in working days; a payment schedule where the deposit is proportionate to materials actually being ordered; and the VAT rate stated with the reason it applies.

For exterior work it should also say what happens when it rains. Cypriot rainfall is concentrated in the November to March window, which is exactly when seasonal accommodation in Ayia Napa and Protaras empties out and becomes available for refurbishment. The best months for an interior are the worst for an exterior, and a good company will say so unprompted.

Give every company the same written scope. Comparing quotes that describe different work is not comparing anything.

Warning signs

  • A single total with no areas, no coat count and no product name.
  • Cash only, no VAT, no company name on the paper you are handed.
  • "It doesn't need a primer" over bare render or a failing coating.
  • A quote that drops sharply the moment you hesitate. Either the first number was padded or the second has fewer coats in it. Ask which.
  • A deposit larger than the materials being ordered, before anything is delivered.
  • Mobile number only, no fixed address, and pressure to decide today.
  • Claims of being a "licensed" or "certified" painter. There is no such licence in Cyprus, and someone who says otherwise is either confused or counting on you being.
  • Reviews or ratings offered instead of a registration number or an insurance certificate. They are not the same kind of evidence.

Common questions

How often does exterior paint need doing again in Cyprus?

There is no single interval, and the elevations will not fail together. South and west walls take the ultraviolet load and go first; coastal properties add salt to that; a sheltered north elevation can look acceptable long after the rest needs attention. Exposure, the coating system and the quality of the last preparation set the cycle. Judge it by chalking, colour loss and hairline cracking rather than by a date.

Is it cheaper to paint in winter?

Not reliably. Interiors are easier to schedule from November to March, but that is also when hotel and holiday-let refurbishment in the Famagusta district soaks up crews, so availability tightens even where rates do not move. Exteriors in that window carry weather risk, which good companies price for.

Should I buy the paint myself?

Usually not. You lose the reduced VAT treatment on that portion, you take on the risk of buying the wrong system for the substrate, and you give away the argument if the finish fails — the company points at the product and the product points back. If you want cost transparency, ask for the material quantity and product name in the quote instead.

Do I need my building's management committee to agree?

For an apartment, yes, for anything outside your own front door. Facades, stairwells, balcony soffits and external railings are common property and the management committee decides on them. This catches out owners in the 1970s to 1990s blocks around Strovolos and Lakatamia, where one balcony repainted alone creates a patchwork the committee then has to unpick.

Can they paint over damp?

No. Salt bloom and rising damp push any coating off the wall, and the useful life of the repaint starts when the source is fixed, not when it is covered. A company willing to paint over an active damp patch without asking where the water comes from has answered the wider question about itself.

How many companies should I ask?

More than one, on an identical written scope. Use our district and town pages to find companies already working near you: travel time is priced into day rates, so a Larnaca-based crew quoting for Polis Chrysochous is quoting the drive as well as the work.

Painting and decorating companies with checked registrations

8 companies covering this area.

Sources

  1. Tax Department — VAT rates and registration — retrieved 2026-07-28
  2. Department of Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property — retrieved 2026-07-28

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