Best painters in Canberra

The ranking

1. 1

   Number 1: ant-painting

   Meets four of the five published checks, missing only an accreditation. It is tied with the entry below it and sits first only because a tie on four is broken alphabetically.

   Trading at antpainting.com.au as a father-and-son painting business covering Canberra and the ACT, with Belconnen, Gungahlin, Woden, Tuggeranong, Inner North, Inner South, Weston Creek and Molonglo Valley listed as areas served. Residential and commercial, interior and exterior, with the site stating “repaints, heritage jobs, renovation finish-ups and pre-sale presentation”. It publishes Denman Prospect, ACT as its base, with no street address, a “Five year workmanship warranty”, and two ABNs, one per contractor. It publishes its safety training as text: “White Card held, Asbestos awareness held, Crystalline silica awareness held, Public liability certificate available”. That is not one of the five checks and scores nothing here. It states the licensing position plainly: “No. Painting is not a licensed trade in the ACT. Ask for public liability insurance, an ABN and references instead.” It also says “Tony’s father was a painter before him. Tyson is the third generation.” That is family history, not a credential, and it is scored as nothing here, in the same class as the “over 20 years of experience” lines other businesses on this list publish. The site names no association membership and no paint-brand accreditation, which is the one check it misses. Disclosure: tyso built and maintains this business’s website, and Tyson Farrington co-runs it with his father. When this list was researched it met two checks and ranked seventh. It now publishes a base suburb and a warranty period, so it meets four. The criteria and the alphabetical tie-break were set before either appeared and were not changed: it moved because it published more.

2. 2

   Number 2: Fluid Painting Solutions

   Meets four of the five published checks, missing only an address, and it is the only business here that publishes both an ABN and a named association membership.

   Residential and commercial, interior and exterior, plus cabinets, spray finishing, texture coatings, epoxy flooring and fire damage restoration. The site states “Proud Member of Master Painters Australia” and a “Master Painters Award for Excellence 2025” in the spray painting category, and describes the owner as “a third-generation, trade-qualified painter and decorator with 20 years of experience”, holding a Certificate III in Painting and Decorating. It publishes a five year workmanship warranty and ABN 67 650 995 150. What it does not publish is an address: the service area is given as “Canberra & Queanbeyan” with no street or suburb, which is the one check it misses.

   www.fluidpaintingsolutions.com.au

3. 3

   Number 3: Paint 2 IMPRESS

   Three of the five checks, with an accreditation and a warranty period stated, but no ABN published and no recent date on the site. It is first of the businesses on three, alphabetically.

   Based at Watson, covering residential and commercial, interior and exterior, plus wallpaper, colour consulting, deck restoration and plaster repairs. The site states “We specialise in providing high quality residential house painting services”, “over 20 years of experience”, and that proprietor Ashley Barber began his painting and decorating apprenticeship in 1999. It states Dulux Accreditation and membership of Master Painters Australia, publishes a public liability cover figure in the tens of millions, and states a five year workmanship warranty. The site publishes no ABN and its footer reads “Copyright © 2020”, so it misses those two checks. The old footer date is not a sign the business has stopped: checked on ABN Lookup on 2026-08-11, ABN 27 238 029 327, Barber, Ashley Scott, is active from 2004 with GST currently registered and no end date, its postcode is the ACT 2602 that covers Watson, and its registered business name is active. That register entry is where the ABN above came from. The website still does not publish one.

   paint2impress.com.au

4. 4

   Number 4: Paint Plus Canberra

   An accreditation, a warranty period and a current site, but no address and no ABN.

   Residential, commercial, heritage, strata and body corporate work, interior and exterior, plus wallpaper, with the site stating “Residential Painting, Commercial Painting, and Heritage Painting Services” and “over 20 years of experience”. Credentials stated in text: “Dulux Accredited Painters”, “Secure Local Jobs Certified”, a public liability cover figure in the tens of millions, plus Ebix Trades Monitor and Working with Vulnerable People registration. It states a “Five-Year Painter’s Workmanship Warranty”. No street address or suburb is published, only “Serving all Canberra and ACT areas”, and no ABN.

   www.paintplus.net.au

5. 5

   Number 5: Sattlers Painting Pty Ltd

   An ACT street address, association membership and a current site, but no warranty period and no ABN.

   A Franklin-based family business covering residential and commercial work, interior and exterior, pressure washing, renovations and extensions, describing itself as a “fourth-generation, family-owned and operated company”. It states “proud HIA members for over 20 years” and “Master Painter Associate”, that it is “fully licensed, and insured”, and publishes licence number 118644C and an ACN. No warranty period is stated, only a free, no-obligation quote, and no ABN is published. The licence number checks out, with two qualifications the site does not mention. 118644C is NSW contractor licence 118644C (class: Painter), issued by NSW Fair Trading, status Current, first issued 22 September 2000 and running to 22 September 2028, with no conditions and no disciplinary or tribunal record on the public register. First, it is a NSW licence, not an ACT one, which is consistent with the note at the top of this page that painting is not a licensed trade in the ACT: NSW requires a licence for residential painting work over a threshold amount, and this business advertises that it services Queanbeyan. Second, the licence is held by the partnership R H & L Sattler, not by Sattlers Painting Pty Ltd, which is the entity named on the website. The published claim is true, it is just incomplete, and if the licence matters to your job it is worth asking which entity will be on your contract. One other thing worth asking about: the site states “over 30 years of experience” in one place and “over 20 years” in another.

   sattlerpainting.com.au

6. 6

   Number 6: A&J Painting

   Publishes an ABN and a paint-brand accreditation, but no address, no warranty period and no date anywhere on the site.

   Residential and commercial work, strata and body corporate, interior and exterior, plus wallpapering and water damage repairs, with the contact page reading “A&J Painting Services Canberra”. The site states “over fifteen years” of experience and “Dulux Accredited Painter”, and publishes ABN 56 640 736 515. It gives its location only as “Canberra”, with no suburb or street address, states no warranty period, and makes no insurance statement. No year appears anywhere on the site, so currency could not be confirmed.

   www.ajpaintingservice.com

7. 7

   Number 7: Canberra Painting Service

   The longest published trading history on this list, but its Master Painters and Dulux claims are logos only, with no statement in text.

   Abbreviated “CPS” on its about page, covering residential, commercial and strata work, interior and exterior, plus rendering, waterproofing and specialised finishes. The site states that “CPS has proudly served the local region, offering expert painting, decorating, rendering, and specialised finishes since 1992”, which is the longest published trading history here. It publishes ABN 56 186 618 725 and a PO Box at Duffy, but no street address. Master Painters Association and Dulux Accredited Painter logos are displayed with no text statement of either, so under the published rule above they are scored as not stated. No warranty period is stated.

   canberrapainting.com.au

8. 8

   Number 8: Glendening Painting

   An ACT street address and association recognition, but no warranty period, no ABN, and a site last dated 2020.

   A Fyshwick business covering residential, commercial, heritage and government work, interior and exterior. The site states “Established in 1992”, that “We are a Master Builder and HIA recognised company”, and that it is “fully licensed and insured”. On the warranty it says only “Our work is guaranteed and we pride ourselves on completing our tasks on schedule”, with no period. No ABN is published. The experience claims are inconsistent, with “over 28 years” and “over 25 years” both appearing alongside the 1992 date, and the footer reads “©2020”. On the register the business looks fine: checked on ABN Lookup on 2026-08-11, ABN 30 118 845 168 is active from 2006 with GST currently registered and no end date, and its ACT 2609 postcode matches the Fyshwick address on the site. What could not be found is anything the business itself has published in the last twelve months. That is an absence of evidence, not evidence that it has closed, and it is the reason the site-date check is scored as not met. A phone call will settle it faster than any register will.

   www.glendeningpainting.com.au

9. 9

   Number 9: Experience Painting Canberra

   Meets one of the five checks. It publishes no address, no ABN, no named accreditation, and three warranty claims that contradict each other.

   Residential and commercial, interior and exterior, plus roof painting, plastering, wallpapering, bathroom renovation and tiling, so a broader spread of trades than most here. The site states “Since opening its doors in 2017, Experience Painting has developed a reputation for quality workmanship”, “15+ Years of experience”, and that owner Hossein (Hassi) Khazaei has over fifteen years in the trade. On credentials it says only “100% Licensed and Insured” on the homepage, with no licence number, no association membership and no ABN. Three different warranty claims appear on the site, “Fully guaranteed work”, a one-year workmanship and waterproofing guarantee, and a ten-year paintwork guarantee, which cannot all be true, so the warranty is scored as not stated. The published email address is also on a different domain from the website.

   experiencepaintingcanberra.com.au

Side by side

Compared

Questions

About this list

What does this ranking actually measure?

What each business publishes about itself on its own website, checked against the five checks at the top of the page and last re-checked in full on 2026-08-11. It does not measure the quality of anyone’s painting. Nobody at tyso has hired any of these painters, and no rating, review count or review text appears anywhere on this page. A painter low on this list may be excellent and simply publish very little. Anthony and Tyson Farrington is a tyso client, marked as such wherever it appears, and is measured on the same five checks as everyone else. Position is never for sale.

The business at the top is a tyso client. How does that work?

It is disclosed, on its entry and here. The site was built and is maintained by tyso, and Tyson Farrington co-runs the business with his father. It ranked seventh when this list was researched, meeting two of the five checks. Its site then published a base suburb and a five year workmanship warranty, which took it to four and tied it with Fluid Painting Solutions, and ties on this page are broken alphabetically. The five checks and the tie-break were written before either fact appeared and were not changed. It still names no accreditation.

Some of these websites look old. Does that matter?

It matters enough to be one of the five checks, because a site nobody updates can carry prices, staff, services and phone numbers that are years out of date. What an old site is not is evidence that a business has closed. A good painter can be terrible at websites. There is a far better signal, and it is free: ABN Lookup at abr.business.gov.au shows whether an ABN is active and whether GST is currently registered, and a business that stops trading almost always ends its GST registration. Two businesses on this list have a visibly stale website and a GST registration that has run continuously for years, so the old footer date told us nothing about whether they are open. Every business here was checked that way on 2026-08-11. Phone anyway before you plan around anyone.

Has anything been removed from this list?

Yes. One business was removed on 2026-08-11, after the checks described above showed it had ceased trading: its GST registration had been cancelled a couple of months earlier and its website no longer served a working site on any address. It is not named here. Naming a business as closed does nothing for a reader choosing a painter, and it is a damaging claim to make about a business if it is ever wrong. The removal is recorded rather than hidden so that the list length and the ordering can be reconciled against an earlier version of this page.

Do painters need a licence in the ACT?

No. Painting and decorating is not a licensed occupation under the ACT’s Construction Occupations (Licensing) Act. Carpentry, bricklaying, tiling, plastering and waterproofing are unlicensed too. The ACT Government has been consulting on extending trade licensing to include painting and decorating, but as of August 2026 it has not commenced. This means a Canberra painter cannot show you an ACT painting licence, because one does not exist. The licensing position on this page was checked against the ACT Government planning site, not against any painter’s claim.

Then what should I ask for instead of a licence?

Four things, all checkable in minutes. A current public liability insurance certificate, with the cover amount and expiry date. An ABN, which you can check free at abr.business.gov.au to confirm the entity is registered and the GST status matches the quote. Two recent local references you can actually phone. And a written scope of works. Note that several painters on this list state they are “fully licensed” on their websites. Since painting is not licensed in the ACT, ask them what licence they mean. It may be an interstate licence, a builder’s licence, or loose wording. Only one business here publishes an actual licence number, and when we checked it on the issuing register it turned out to be a current NSW painting licence, held by a partnership rather than by the company named on the website. That is a real credential in New South Wales, and it is not an ACT one. It is also exactly the kind of thing you find out by asking.

What should a proper quote include for prep work?

Prep is where painting jobs are won or lost, and it is where a cheap quote hides. A quote should say what is being washed or sugar-soaped, what is being sanded, what filling and patching is included and what is charged as a variation, whether gaps are being caulked, how many coats of what primer or sealer go on bare or patched areas, and how many topcoats. “Two coats” alone tells you nothing about what is under them. Ask specifically what happens if the existing paint is failing or the substrate is chalky, and get the answer in writing.

What does a workmanship warranty actually cover?

It covers the painter’s labour, not the paint. If the film peels, blisters or flakes because of how the surface was prepared or applied, the painter returns and fixes it. It typically does not cover fading, movement cracks in the substrate, water ingress from a building fault, or damage. Four businesses on this list publish a five year workmanship warranty. Ask for the warranty terms in writing before you accept a quote, because a period without terms is a number, not a warranty. Paint manufacturers offer separate product warranties.

What is Master Painters Australia membership, and does it matter?

Master Painters Australia is the industry association for painting and decorating contractors, with an ACT branch that runs annual awards. Membership is voluntary and paid, so it is not a guarantee of quality, but it is a checkable third-party fact rather than a self-claim, and it gives you a body to complain to. Dulux Accredited is a similar thing run by a paint manufacturer rather than an association. Both are worth confirming directly with the body rather than taking the logo on a website at face value.

Do I need to worry about lead paint or asbestos in a Canberra house?

If the house was built before 1970, assume lead paint until tested, and before roughly 1990, assume asbestos may be present in eaves, sheeting and some textured coatings. Sanding either one is a genuine health risk to your household, not just to the painter. Ask whether the painter holds asbestos awareness training, and how they intend to handle disturbed surfaces. One business on this list publishes its safety training explicitly. Most do not mention it at all.

Does Canberra’s climate change what should be used or when work happens?

Canberra has cold winters with frosts and hot, dry, high-UV summers, and large day-night temperature swings. Most exterior paints have a minimum application temperature, often around 10 degrees, and applying below it or too close to dusk in winter risks poor curing. Exterior work is generally scheduled for the warmer months for that reason. Ask a painter quoting exterior work in June or July how they plan to handle overnight temperatures.

How many quotes should I get, and how do I compare them?

Three is a reasonable number. Compare them on scope, not on the total. Line up what each includes for prep, how many coats, which product and which finish level, whether furniture moving and protection is included, whether the price covers making good, and whether it is fixed or an estimate. A quote that is much cheaper is usually cheaper because it is doing less, and the difference is almost always in prep. Ask each painter to price the same written scope so the numbers mean something.