Painting and decorating
Painting and decorating in Cyprus: comparing your options
Four ways to get a Cypriot property painted, what each one really costs you in preparation, access and repaint cycles, and which suits which building.
7 min read
Photo: Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels
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
A painter and decorator earns their money on preparation and access, not on brushwork. That is the whole test. One interior room with sound walls is a weekend you can do yourself. A rendered exterior with chalked paint, salt bloom and a first-floor elevation is a job where doing it yourself means hiring access equipment, buying the wrong system, and repainting sooner than you should have.
The options
Four routes, and they are not variations of the same thing — they move who buys the materials, who carries the risk if the surface turns out to be worse than it looked, and who is responsible when the coating fails early.
Do it yourself. Materials, your time, and hire cost for anything you cannot reach from a step ladder. Works well for interior walls and ceilings in sound condition. Falls apart on exteriors, where the failure is almost never the paint and almost always what was under it.
A decorator on a day rate, materials on your account. You pay for days and buy the paint yourself from a merchant. You keep control of the specification and you see exactly what is used. You also carry the risk: if preparation runs days longer than anyone expected, that is your cost, not theirs.
A fixed-price quote from a painting and decorating firm, supply and apply. One number for a defined scope, materials included. The firm carries the risk of the surface being worse than it looked, which is exactly why a competent one will want to see the property before quoting. This is the normal route for exteriors and for whole properties.
Bundled into a main contractor's package. If painting is the tail end of a renovation, it goes in the contractor's programme with everything else. You pay a coordination margin and you gain a single point of responsibility, plus sensible sequencing — decoration after the plaster has dried and after the second-fix trades have finished making holes in it.
Running underneath all four is the specification, and that is what actually decides your cost over a decade. Standard acrylic emulsion is the default on interiors and on sheltered elevations. Elastomeric and high-build exterior systems tolerate the movement cracking that Cypriot render develops and carry longer repaint intervals. Silicone-resin and mineral coatings shed water while staying vapour-open. And on old stone and lime-rendered village properties, a plastic film coating traps moisture in the wall and causes the very decay it was bought to hide — those buildings need lime or mineral paint.
Side-by-side comparison
| Route | You pay for | Who carries surface risk | Access included | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself | Materials, hire, your time | You | No — you hire it | Interior rooms in sound condition |
| Day-rate decorator | Days worked; you buy paint | You | Usually not | Rolling interior work, unclear scope |
| Fixed-price firm | Defined scope, supply and apply | The firm | Yes, priced in | Exteriors, whole properties, blocks |
| Main contractor package | Scope plus coordination margin | The contractor | Yes, shared with other trades | Decoration at the end of a renovation |
Two things that table cannot show. First, a day rate is quietly geographic: travel time from the contractor base in Paphos out to Polis Chrysochous is built into the rate, so the same decorator costs more the further you are from where they start the morning. Second, a fixed price is only comparable to another fixed price if both were given the same written scope — number of coats, whether preparation includes stripping failed paint back to a sound edge, whether filling and priming are included, and whether furniture moving and masking are yours or theirs.
Which suits which property
A flat in a 1970s to 1990s block. Much of Strovolos is exactly this stock. Inside your own flat, interior redecoration is a realistic self-build job. Outside it is not yours to commission: the common areas, stairwell and facade belong to the management committee, and a single owner paying to repaint their own balcony soffit usually just creates a patchwork.
A high-rise or a coastal apartment building. Facade and balcony decoration here is an access job before it is a painting job, which pushes it firmly to fixed price with a firm that carries public liability cover in force on the dates of the work. Ask for the certificate.
A seafront property in Kato Paphos. Salt-laden air is the governing condition. South and west elevations chalk first, metalwork needs the correct primer rather than the same paint as the walls, and the repaint interval is shorter than on the same house set back from the shore. Buying a longer-life exterior system here is easier to justify than almost anywhere else on the island.
A hillside plot in Peyia. Steep access limits the size of vehicle and platform that can reach the property, which changes both the price and who can realistically quote. Mention the access when you ask for quotes, not when the lorry arrives.
An inland house around Nicosia. The widest temperature range on the island means render moves, and movement cracks reopen through rigid coatings. A flexible exterior system matters more here than the colour card does.
A holiday let in Ayia Napa or Protaras. The constraint is the calendar. That stock is seasonal, and refurbishment concentrates between November and March — which is also when rain and low surface temperatures interrupt exterior work. In practice that means booking a decorator early for a shoulder-month slot, and accepting that interiors are the safer winter scope.
An old stone village house. Get the specification right or nothing else matters. Vapour-open mineral or lime paint, and a decorator who has worked on that stock before. Cement-based and plastic film coatings on those walls cause damp and salt decay rather than preventing it.
Cost over ten years
The single number in a quote is not the cost. The cost over ten years is roughly the number of repaint cycles you go through multiplied by the full cost of each cycle — and the full cost of an exterior cycle is dominated by preparation and access, not by paint.
That has a blunt consequence. On an exterior job where scaffolding or a powered platform is needed, you pay for that equipment every single time you repaint. A specification that buys you extra years before the next cycle is therefore worth considerably more than the same money spent on a slightly better colour. Doing it cheaply twice is a common way to spend more than doing it properly once.
What moves the cycle length, in rough order of influence:
- Preparation. Painting over chalked, blown or salted surfaces fails first, regardless of what goes on top.
- The coating system. Elastomeric, silicone-resin and mineral systems hold up longer on exteriors than standard emulsion, and cost more per square metre.
- Exposure. Coastal and south-west elevations degrade fastest; sheltered north elevations can run for years past their neighbours.
- Substrate condition. Live movement cracks and damp behind the render will break any coating, so those get fixed before anyone opens a tin.
For the do-it-yourself route, count the whole cost honestly: materials, access hire, waste disposal, the days you are not doing something else, and the non-trivial chance of buying the wrong system for the substrate. Interior work usually survives that arithmetic. Exterior work usually does not.
One more reason not to defer a cycle indefinitely: the labour and materials inside a quote do not sit still. CYSTAT publishes construction cost and building materials price indices, and they are the sensible place to check whether a quote that looks higher than the one you remember from a few years ago is actually higher in real terms or simply current. Waiting for a better year is a strategy that has not paid off often, and the surface degrades in the meantime.
Our painting and decorating pages list firms by district with what can actually be documented — registration and insurance status — and the coverage pages exist because travel and access genuinely move the price. Nothing on this site is ordered by payment, and ## Common questions
Is a painter and decorator worth it for one interior room?
Usually not, if the walls are sound and you have the time. The value is in preparation, access and coating choice, and a single sound room has little of any of them.
How often does an exterior need repainting in Cyprus?
It depends on exposure and system rather than on a fixed calendar. Coastal and south-west elevations go first; sheltered inland elevations last considerably longer. Ask the decorator what interval they expect from the system they are quoting, and treat vagueness as an answer.
Should I buy the paint myself?
Only on a day-rate job where you want control of the specification. On a fixed-price job, splitting supply from application also splits responsibility, and you lose the argument when the coating fails.
Can exterior painting be done in a Cypriot summer?
Yes, with sequencing. Surface temperature in direct afternoon sun can be far above air temperature, which makes coatings dry too fast to bond properly. The practical answer is to work early and follow the shade around the building rather than to stop for the season.
What should a painting quote actually say?
The scope by area or room, the number of coats, what preparation is included, the product and system by name, whether access equipment is priced in, and who moves and masks. A single total with none of that cannot be compared to anything.
Painting and decorating firms by district
8 companies covering this area.
Autocolor
Latsia, Nicosia
Autocolor is a paint supplier in Latsia, in the Nicosia district.
Migalangelo
Latsia, Nicosia
Migalangelo is a paint supplier in Latsia, in the Nicosia district.
Mikis Hadiikkos Paints
Agioi Omologites, Nicosia
Mikis Hadiikkos Paints is a paint supplier in Agioi Omologites, in the Nicosia district.
T.N.C. Paints
Strovolos Iii, Nicosia
T.N.C. Paints is a paint supplier in Strovolos Iii, in the Nicosia district.
Crown Paints
Skala, Larnaca
Crown Paints is a paint supplier in Skala, in the Larnaca district.
P&Y Cat Paint
Dromolaxia, Larnaca
P&Y Cat Paint is a paint supplier in Dromolaxia, in the Larnaca district.
Sandis
Skala, Larnaca
Sandis is a paint supplier in Skala, in the Larnaca district.
Spies Hecker
Chrysopolitissa, Larnaca
Spies Hecker is a paint supplier in Chrysopolitissa, in the Larnaca district.
Sources
- Statistical Service of Cyprus (CYSTAT) — construction cost and materials price indices — retrieved 2026-07-24
- Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry — retrieved 2026-07-24
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