Articles / Painters

Which award covers the staff of a painting business in Australia?

For a painter and crew working on site, whether on a repaint, a new build or a strata job, the award that usually applies is the Building and Construction General On-site Award 2020 [MA000020], which the Fair Work Ombudsman names as covering painters and apprentices in the trade. A painter doing colour consultations in a showroom can instead sit under the Retail Award, and in Western Australia a state award may apply instead of the national one.

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By Greg Allan, tradesman and creator of Data First Coaching

Why isn't there one simple answer for which award covers a painter?

A painting business can run several different kinds of work in the one week: an exterior repaint on a weatherboard house, a new build handover for a builder, a strata job across a block of units, and a colour consultation in the showroom. Each of these can sit under a different award, because the test is what the work actually is and where it is done, not the word “painter” on the roster.

A labourer carrying tins up a scaffold on a commercial site is often treated differently to someone picking out a feature wall colour with a homeowner at the counter. The Fair Work Ombudsman's guidance on decorators and stylists makes this point directly: the award depends on the work, not the trade qualification someone holds.

What does getting the award wrong cost a painting business?

Getting this wrong on paper does not show up straight away. It shows up weeks or months later, when an owner is checking a pay run against an award for apprentices working on site, or realises a labourer brought on for a strata job has been paid under the wrong classification the whole time they have been on the crew.

For a crew moving between an exterior repaint one week and a new build site the next, a rule applied once and then forgotten can run quietly wrong for a long stretch, because nobody is checking the actual site and work type against the award each time the roster changes. A data first view of the business, built from its own payroll and job records rather than memory, is usually where this starts to show up, and it is also where AI agents can be set to check the award classification against the real site and work type every time a crew member is added to a job, rather than once a quarter.

Which award actually covers a painter working on site?

If you employ a painter, or a crew of painters, to work on site, whether that is cutting in trim on a repaint, spraying a new build, patching a defect before handover, or doing roof painting, the award that usually applies nationally is the Building and Construction General On-site Award 2020 [MA000020].

The Fair Work Ombudsman names “painter” directly among the trades covered by this award, alongside bricklayers, carpenters, plasterers and roof tilers, and this extends to apprentices learning the painting trade on your jobs, see the Building and Construction Award summary and the award itself. It is also the award the Fair Work Ombudsman points to for a painter repairing, resurfacing or painting pools as part of a job, see award coverage for pool cleaners and repairers, and it covers an employer who is a painter running other painters on residential sites, including protective clothing and equipment, see allowances in the Building and Construction Award.

What if someone on the crew does colour consultations or showroom work?

Not everyone on your books is swinging a brush on site. If someone's main job is running a colour consultation, helping a client choose a feature wall colour, or working as a decorator or stylist off site rather than on the tools, the Fair Work Ombudsman has found that this kind of work can instead sit under the Retail Award, even for someone holding a Certificate III in Painting and Decorating, see award coverage for interior designers, decorators and stylists.

The same page notes that a decorator or stylist not covered by an industry award, an occupational award or the Miscellaneous Award can be award free. Whether that is the person doing your colour consultations depends on what they actually do day to day, not their job title on the payroll.

Does it matter if the painting business is a sole trader, partnership or company?

It can. Which system the award sits in depends on how your painting business is structured. According to guidance on which system of employment law applies, the national system, and awards like the Building and Construction General On-site Award, generally covers Pty Ltd businesses and partnerships where one partner is a company, while the state system can cover sole traders and partnerships without a corporate partner.

In Western Australia specifically, the WA Government says a painter employed on site in building and construction is likely to be covered by the Building Trades and Labourers (Construction) Award, with the Building Trades and Labourers (General) Award possibly applying to work done off site, see WA awards for common jobs. These are legal documents issued by the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission, see about the WA state industrial relations system. A painting business owner running as a sole trader in WA needs to check the state system, not just the national one.

Keeping this straight as jobs, structures and paint supplier accounts change is paperwork that eats time without billing a single hour. AI agents, which are software that does a job the way you would, with your own classifications, pay rules and job records, can carry that checking in the background instead of it being remembered between pay runs.

This is general information, not legal, tax or employment advice. Check your own situation with the body named here or a qualified adviser.

Where can you check the current rules?

Award coverage for interior designers, decorators and stylists, Fair Work Ombudsman: when a decorator or colour consultant sits under the Retail Award instead of a trade award.
[Building and Construction Award [MA000020] summary, Fair Work Ombudsman](https://www.fairwork.gov.au/employment-conditions/awards/awards-summary/ma000020-summary): lists painter as one of the trades the award covers.
[Building and Construction General On-site Award 2020 [MA000020], Fair Work Ombudsman](https://awards.fairwork.gov.au/MA000020.html): the full award naming painter and apprentice classifications.
Allowances in the Building and Construction Award, Fair Work Ombudsman: an example of a painter employer and protective clothing allowances.
Award coverage for pool cleaners and repairers, Fair Work Ombudsman: confirms the award also covers painting work on pools.
Which system of employment law applies, WA Government: the difference between the state and national employment systems.
WA awards for common jobs, WA Government: the specific state award for painters working on site in WA.
About the WA state industrial relations system, WA Government: what a WA state award is and who issues it.

How does Data First Coaching approach this?

Data First Coaching, built by Greg Allan, starts from a painting business's own payroll and job records read through the Trade Business Intelligence, not a guess at which award should apply. For a question like this one, the real starting point is often not the award itself, it is whether the business has clear, current records of who worked where, on what job, and under what classification.

Fixing the record first means any correction to classifications is seen straight away, not treated as one more spreadsheet update at the end of the quarter. How to build that checking into a painting business is worked through inside the Academy, with members, because the Trade Business Intelligence is powered by every member, and the Academy is for owners who are open minded, innovative and willing to share.

Looking for a business coach who starts from your numbers? Painter Business Coach or every answer for painters.

Also asked

More questions owners ask.

Do apprentice painters get covered by the same award as a qualified painter?

The Fair Work Ombudsman names apprentices in the painting trade alongside tradespersons under the Building and Construction General On-site Award [MA000020], though their pay and conditions differ by apprenticeship stage. Check current classifications on the award page rather than assuming the same rate applies as for a qualified crew member.

Does scaffold or high-rise commercial work change the award for a painter?

The on-site test still usually applies on commercial and strata jobs, so a painter working from scaffold on a tower block is generally covered the same way as one repainting a house, under the Building and Construction General On-site Award. The actual site and work type decide it, not the size of the job.

Does a painter doing colour consultations or feature wall design get paid differently?

It can. The Fair Work Ombudsman's guidance on decorators and stylists shows someone whose main work is colour consultation or styling, rather than being on the tools, can fall under the Retail Award or be award free, even holding a painting and decorating qualification. What they actually do each day decides which applies.

If a painting business is set up differently interstate, does the award change?

It can. Painting businesses operating as sole traders or partnerships without a corporate partner, particularly in Western Australia, may sit under a state award such as the Building Trades and Labourers Award rather than the national award. Check which system applies to your own business structure.

Data First Coaching

The Painter Business Coach Who Starts From Your Data.

Data First Coaching is the trade business coaching method created by Greg Allan, founder of Tradies Success Academy. Before any advice is given, the Trade Business Intelligence Agent reads the owner's own job management and finance data, so the coaching starts from what the numbers show this week, not from what the owner can remember or explain. It finds the root cause of a problem, then puts in the system that fixes it.

How most coaching works

Most coaching starts with the owner explaining the business.

The first hours go on the owner describing the business to a coach.
The picture is out of date within weeks, because the numbers move every week.
So the advice treats what the owner happened to notice, which is usually a symptom.
Too often it comes from someone who has never run a trade business, or has only just started one.
The owner pays for the explaining, then pays again when the advice does not fit.

Data First Coaching

Data first starts from your numbers, not your memory.

The Trade Business Intelligence Agent reads your job management and finance systems first.
It sees your quotes, jobs, time on site and money as they are this week, not as you remember them.
It finds where the problem actually starts, not where it shows up.
You put in the system that fixes it at the root, and the data shows whether it worked.

Typical coaching against Data First Coaching
	Typical coaching	Data First Coaching
Where it starts	You explain the business	Your own job and finance data
How current it is	As at the last meeting	Updated as your numbers change each week
What it fixes	The symptom you noticed	The root cause the data shows
Who coaches you	Often someone who has never run a trade business	Greg Allan, who built a trade business a general manager now runs
The answer to growth	Usually another wage	Agents on the office work, people on customers and the crew
Your software	Another subscription or agency	Tools you build on your own data, around how you work

Fix the root cause, once

The data names the real problem, so the system you put in fixes it once instead of patching the same symptom every month.

Own your software

Build your own tools on your own data, shaped around how your jobs run and how your customers buy. Cancel the subscriptions and agencies that were never built for your business.

A more human business

Agents do the non-billable work: the quoting, invoicing, chasing and reporting. Your people spend the day on customers and the crew, so relationships get better and the team performs.

How Data First Coaching works

Why Greg

You speak to the owner who has already done it.

Greg built Response Electricians in Perth into a 30+ staff business with 1,950+ five-star reviews. A general manager runs it.

He has trained 9,000+ trade business owners across Australia and New Zealand.

He grew a coaching company to 35 staff, a CEO and 15 coaches, then cut it back so every owner deals with him directly.

Most coaching companies hand you to a salesperson, then to a coach who has never run a trade business. Here you get the owner.

The Academy is full because it works, and Greg keeps it small on purpose so every business gets looked at properly, by him. He reads every application himself, interviews the owners who fit and only takes on owners who are building for the right reasons and give back to the group. Join the waitlist and he'll be in touch when a place opens.

Illustration: a trade business owner standing over three office staff buried in paperwork at night. — The old way
More customers meant more people doing the computer work, and more wages nobody invoices.

Illustration: a tradesman shaking hands with a homeowner in her driveway, his phone showing jobs quoted and invoiced. — The new way
You stay with your customers and your team. The office stops landing on you.

The old way

More jobs. More paperwork. Less of the owner left.

Most trade businesses grow the same way.

More jobs means more quoting, invoicing, chasing and scheduling.

None of it gets paid for.

So the owner does it at night, after a full day on site.

Or hires an office person to do it.

The office grows. The wages grow. The margin does not.

And the owner is still the one everything waits on.

Where we take you

More work. More profit. More of you left.

The phone rings with the jobs you want, at the price you set.

You grow when you're ready, never faster than the business can carry.

Every job is priced to make money, so the busy months show up in the bank.

The best tradies in your area want to work for you, and they stay.

The chasing, the paperwork and the 9pm admin stop landing on you.

The business runs the day. You pick which parts of it you're in.

Bigger, without the headaches. Getting bigger stops meaning getting busier.

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P.S.

P.S. Joining the waitlist costs nothing and there is no obligation. While you wait, the Tradies App is free for trade business owners, so you can start on the lessons tonight.