Workmanship and guarantee terms

Your rights on a paint job come from the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993. We add no separate written guarantee or warranty on top of that for now, so read nothing on this site as one.

Four things the law expects of any painter

Anyone paid to paint your house in New Zealand has to meet these standards:

• care and skill at the level of a competent tradesperson
• a result that suits the purpose you explained, unless they warned you up front that they could not promise it
• completion in a reasonable time when no finish date was set
• a reasonable charge when no price was fixed beforehand

For the detail, read the Consumer Guarantees Act guide from Consumer Protection.

Raising a fault in the paintwork

Say so early, ideally with a photo of the spot. Where a fault can be fixed, the starting point is a fix within a reasonable time. If that does not happen, the Act lets you pay someone else to fix it and claim back a reasonable cost, or end the contract. A serious failure can justify ending it and asking for your money back. Claims up to $60,000 can be heard by the Disputes Tribunal.

Wear is not a fault

BRANZ puts a typical exterior repaint cycle at about 7 to 10 years, and less on walls that cop full sun, salt spray or poor prep. Gradual fading and chalking are paint ageing as it should. Paint lifting or flaking within months is different: it usually traces back to preparation or application, and it is worth raising.

Keep the written quote

Quotes go out in writing and name each surface, the preparation, the paint system and how many coats. Hold on to it. If a question about the job comes up later, it settles what was agreed.