Painting and decorating
Painter and decorator in Cyprus — the questions people actually ask
Real painter and decorator ranges for Cyprus, what moves them, and what to check before accepting a quote for repair, maintenance or urgent work.
7 min read
Photo: Pavel Danilyuk 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
Most questions put to a painter in Cyprus are one question wearing different clothes: is this a decorating job, or a repair job pretending to be one. Paint that is peeling, blistering or staining is reporting a fault behind it, and a coat over the top buys a season. The ranges we hold are in the table below, read at page load. What follows is what decides the price.
The ten questions that come up most
- Is this quoted per square metre or per day, and which should I want?
- Why do two quotes on the same flat differ by half?
- How often do exterior walls need repainting here?
- Can anything be painted in July and August?
- My paint is peeling — is that a paint problem or a damp problem?
- Who pays when the plaster underneath turns out to be bad?
- Is there such a thing as an emergency painter?
- Do I buy the paint, or does the painter?
- Does a painter in Cyprus need a licence?
- Can I repaint the outside of my building in any colour I like?
Short answers
1. Both are legitimate; the job decides. Per square metre suits plain repeat surfaces where everyone measures the same thing. Per day plus materials suits work whose extent nobody can see yet. A fixed price is worth having only against a written room list every firm receives identically.
2. Preparation, almost never paint. The cheaper quote is usually buying fewer coats, less filling, no stabilising primer on repaired plaster, or leaving masking, furniture and waste with you.
3. Exposure sets it, not a calendar rule. A shaded inland elevation and a south-facing coastal parapet are not on the same cycle. A better system buys a longer interval — ask each firm to state it.
4. Interiors yes, exteriors mostly no. A wall in direct sun in high summer is too hot for a coating to form a film. It skins before it levels and surfaces a year later as flaking. Crews follow the shade and stop before the heat.
5. Almost always the substrate. Peeling along a bathroom ceiling is condensation. A horizontal line low on an external wall is moisture rising through masonry. Blistering on sunny render is a film that could not breathe.
6. Whoever wrote it into the quote. Making good after another trade is the commonest gap between two quotes that look alike. Have it stated either way: included with a standard, or excluded with someone named.
7. Yes, but it is rarely a painting job. Urgent call-outs are water damage after a burst pipe or failed roof, storm damage to a facade, or a rental that must be presentable for an arrival. Paint is the last hour of that work.
8. Usually the painter should. A firm supplying materials owns coverage and whether the system suits the substrate. Supply it yourself and the extra labour when it fails to cover is yours.
9. Ask each firm what it holds rather than assuming one licence covers the trade. You can verify registration at the Registrar of Companies and a liability certificate in force on your dates, with the dates visible.
10. Not always. Where a property is listed or sits in a designated preservation area, colour and coating system can need approval from the Department of Town Planning and Housing. In a block, the facade is common property and the committee decides.
Where the answer depends
Every figure carries the number of quotes behind it and the month it was recorded. Four things decide where you land inside them.
Coast or inland. On exposed coastline — the Kato Paphos seafront is the clearest case — salt-laden air is a standing condition, which is why galvanised and marine-grade fixings are normal there. Salt comes off the surface first, external metalwork needs a system built for the exposure, and the seaward elevation comes round sooner than the inland face. Inland there is no salt at all, so a marine specification quoted in Strovolos or Dali is a real cost on the materials line and fair to question.
Temperature range. Nicosia's inland position gives it the widest temperature swing on the island, and that works the building as well as the diary. Render cracks at material junctions, window heads and parapets open and close through the year, and filler alone does not hold. Elastomeric exterior systems are specified at this latitude for that movement as much as for UV.
Season, and whose season it is. Exterior work has two comfortable windows, spring and autumn, and every capable crew is chasing them. Holiday accommodation in Ayia Napa or Protaras runs on the opposite clock — refurbishment concentrates in November to March, because the rooms are full the rest of the year — so those quotes are off-season programmes with a reopening date attached.
What you own. In a block, stairwells, lobbies and the facade are common property: the quote belongs to the block and committee agreement is the real lead time. In a stone village house the right system on lime-bound masonry is breathable rather than a plastic film that traps moisture, and a shorter list of firms does that work.
What nobody asks but should
"What is under the paint, and did you test it?" A firm that scraped a test patch and checked adhesion on the existing coating is quoting what is there. A firm that quoted from the doorway is quoting a hope.
"Is that rust staining structural?" Brown streaks or blown concrete under a balcony edge in 1970s to 1990s stock is corroding reinforcement, not a decorating defect. Cut out, treat the steel, reinstate, then decorate. A facade quote with no concrete repair line means the firm either checked and found none, or never looked.
"What interval am I buying?" The useful comparison between a cheaper and a dearer exterior system is cost divided by years to the next repaint. Ask for the expected interval on your elevation.
"Which VAT rate is in this quote, and on what basis?" The standard rate is 19%. A reduced 5% rate applies to qualifying renovation of a private residence in use for at least three years, with conditions on how much of the value is materials. Settle it in writing before work starts and confirm the current conditions with the Tax Department.
"Who is insured for the access?" Anything above ground floor means towers, ladders or scaffold. Ask for the liability certificate covering your dates, and who arranges permission to stand equipment on a pavement.
Our painting and decorating trade pages list companies by district against what a document can prove: registration checked at the Registrar of Companies with the date of that check, insurance as supplied, coverage and years active. Nobody pays for position. The area pages separate local firms from those travelling in, which matters on short repair jobs.
Painting and decorating companies across Cyprus
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.
Common questions
Can a painter fix damp, or do I need someone else first?
Someone else first, in nearly every case. The cause — a failed balcony membrane, a leaking waste, condensation in an unventilated bathroom, moisture rising through masonry — sits with a different trade, and paint applied before it is fixed fails again on roughly the same timescale. A competent painter will refuse to coat over it.
What counts as emergency painting work?
Water damage after a burst pipe or roof failure, storm damage to a facade, or a rental turnaround against a booked arrival. In all three the urgent part is drying and repair; decoration is the last stage. A firm offering to paint a wall that is still wet is a reason to call someone else.
Do you publish reviews or star ratings for painters?
No. Companies are ordered on what a document can prove — registration, insurance, coverage, time in business — because that can be confirmed at source and an opinion cannot.
Is a maintenance contract worth it for a block or a rental?
Worth pricing where the same surfaces come round predictably: stairwells, communal corridors, holiday-let interiors between seasons. The value is in scheduled visits at an agreed specification rather than in the rate. Check what it covers outside, because that is the expensive part and it is often excluded.
Does exterior repainting need permission?
Ordinarily no. It changes when the property is listed or lies in a designated preservation area, where colour and coating system can need approval and the Department of Town Planning and Housing is the starting point. It also changes in a block, where the facade is common property. Establish which applies before taking quotes.
Sources
- Department of Town Planning and Housing — listed buildings and preservation areas — retrieved 2026-07-24
- Tax Department — VAT on renovation of private residences — retrieved 2026-07-24
- Department of Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property — retrieved 2026-07-24
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