Need a Painter for Your Rental Portfolio?
Ten units means ten turnovers a year, and every one is days of empty rent while the walls dry. What a manager needs is not a nicer white. It is the same white, the same patch standard, the same crew, and a date you can hold a tenant to.
North York is built for this work. The Greater Toronto Area holds roughly 2,000 concrete apartment towers put up between 1945 and 1984, and a heavy share of them sit here. We are based at 25 St Dennis Drive in Flemingdon Park, the apartment city that took its first occupants in 1961. Those buildings are past sixty now. The suites have been repainted six or seven times, and the corridor walls carry every couch ever dragged down them.
The newer half of a portfolio looks nothing like that. Rental condos around North York Centre, Sheppard, and Don Mills Road came in builder-grade flat white that marks if you look at it wrong. The damage is different. Scuffs at chair height and shelf anchors, not cracked plaster over the door frames.
We paint both, plus the single-family rentals and low-rise walkups, on repeat specs. One neutral wall colour, one trim white, a patch level written down, and photo confirmation at handover.
Rental property painting services only hold up when the spec is written down and the same crew works it. That is how a portfolio stays consistent from one building to the next, and how you can price a turnover before it happens instead of guessing at it.
What Property Management Painting Takes
The written spec sheet is the whole game. Product, sheen, colour code, and patch level defined once, then repeated on every unit for years. Without it you renegotiate scope at every vacancy and compare three quotes that are not measuring the same job.
Patch level is where the arguments start. "Fill the holes" means one thing to a manager and another to a painter working to a number, so we write it down. Nail and anchor holes filled and sanded flush, drywall damage over a set size cut back and taped, settlement cracks taped instead of filled again, and anything structural photographed first. Skim coating a whole wall is its own line, never something that hides inside a per-suite rate.
There is a code side too. Toronto's property standards bylaw, Chapter 629, says every wall and ceiling has to be kept clean and free of holes, cracks, and deteriorated surface material, and that each repair has to be finished to reasonably match the existing wall or ceiling. In public areas it goes further. Marks, stains, graffiti, and smoke damage get removed and the surface refinished. A patch is not allowed to read as a patch. For buildings of three or more storeys and ten or more units, the City's RentSafeTO evaluations add a score every two years, and lobby walls and ceiling, interior hallway walls and ceiling, and stairwell walls and ceiling are each their own scored line. Cosmetic items weigh less than health and safety, but they still count toward the score posted at your front door.
Occupied units run on a legal clock. In Ontario a tenant gets 24 hours of written notice before anyone enters to do work, and the notice has to state the reason, the date, and a time between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. We plan to it instead of turning up hoping the super has a key. For vacant suites we take lockbox codes, elevator bookings, and loading dock windows up front.
Order matters. Repairs cure, then paint, then flooring, then cleaners last. Water stains get sealed with a stain-blocking primer first, or they bleed back through within weeks.
At handover you get dated wall photos and an invoice split per suite or per building. Certificates of insurance and a live WSIB clearance go over before day one. Single-family rentals in Don Mills, walkups in East York, and full towers all run through the commercial side of our Painting North York work.
Property Management Services in North York
Multi-unit turnover program
Scheduled repaints between tenants on a fixed spec. One neutral wall colour, one trim enamel, one patch standard, priced per suite so you can forecast a year. A one-bedroom is one to two days on the walls once prep is done. Two-bedrooms and units with anchor damage in every room run longer, and we say so at the quote.
Single-family rentals
Whole-house repaints at the end of a long tenancy, when five years of living shows up at once. Walls, ceilings, trim, doors, and closets in one visit, with kitchens and bathrooms taken to a washable sheen because those are the walls the next tenant scrubs. Older bungalows and side-splits usually need plaster work first, quoted as its own line.
Common areas on a maintenance cycle
Lobbies, corridors, stairwells, laundry rooms, and elevator vestibules on a recurring schedule instead of an emergency. We stage it so a hallway is never fully closed and residents keep a clear path to a door. Common area walls get a scuff-resistant finish built for high traffic commercial space, not the flat that went on the suites. Graffiti removal in stairwells and back entries rides the same cycle, since the City expects marks and graffiti off the wall and the surface refinished.
Drywall repair included
Standard holes, TV mount anchors, door handle punches, and settlement cracks patched before paint on every turnover. Anything larger gets its own price and a photo, so it is a decision rather than a surprise. Older towers move with the seasons, so the cracks that reopen every winter get taped instead of filled again.
Colour records per building
Same product, same colour code, same sheen across a property, recorded in a file with your name on it, so a touch-up in year three disappears into the wall. Leftovers go back labelled by building and suite type, not as unmarked cans nobody trusts.
Insurance and documentation
Certificate of insurance naming the ownership, a current WSIB clearance certificate, and dated completion photos for your file. A clearance is valid for up to 90 days and it is what keeps the building owner off the hook for a contractor's premiums, so we send a live one instead of a copy from last spring.
Work in buildings that never empty
Occupied properties get low-VOC, low-odour products with quick return-to-service dry times, so a hallway is back in use the same day. The service elevator, the loading dock window, and the building's quiet hours get booked before day one.
Why choose us
Why North York Property Managers Choose Us
We prep sixty-year-old suites the safe way
Canada did not limit lead in paint until 1976, so we treat the lower layers in any pre-1980 unit as lead-bearing, not a surprise found halfway through a turnover. Dust gets contained and prep stays wet. In a building where the neighbours never moved out, that matters.
One spec, repeated, for years
Your colour codes, sheens, products, and patch standard live in a file with your name on it, and the crew works to that sheet every time. A touch-up in year three melts into the wall instead of showing as a square in side light.
Insured, cleared, documented before day one
100% insured and licensed in Ontario, with the certificate of insurance and a current WSIB clearance in your hands before we lift a brush. Floors, elevator thresholds, and corridor carpet get covered, and the site gets swept daily.
Fifteen years on the tools, backed for three
Our crews average fifteen years of painting and we are rated 5.0 across 70 Google reviews. The workmanship carries a three-year warranty. On a building you will still own in five years, that matters.
Nine Things Worth Knowing for Portfolio Painting
- Standardize the palette. One wall colour and one trim white across the portfolio means a touch-up years from now still matches.
- Put the patch level in writing. "Fill the holes" is not a spec. Nail holes flush, drywall damage over a set size taped, anything structural photographed first. Arguments end where that sheet starts.
- Batch your vacancies. Two suites in one week is one mobilization and one elevator booking. The same two a month apart is two of everything, and you pay for it.
- Photograph every finished unit and date it. Wall photos at handover settle deposit questions.
- Never put flat paint in a corridor. Rental traffic eats it, and cleaning a mark leaves a burnished shiny patch. A scuff-resistant eggshell or satin takes the abuse and takes a wipe.
- Book ahead of the summer crunch. Vacancies bunch up through July and August, and by then every crew in the city is committed. A spec agreed in spring gets you a summer date.
- Label the leftovers by building. Colour name, code, sheen, and suite type, written on the can itself. One labelled gallon in the storage room saves a service call.
- Sequence the trades. Repairs cure, then paint, then flooring, then cleaners last. Painting around brand new vinyl plank costs more and puts the floor at risk.
- Keep one painter instead of chasing five quotes. A crew that already holds your spec and your access process prices faster and finishes faster than the cheapest number you find each vacancy.
FAQ
Property Management Questions, Answered
Do you offer portfolio pricing?
Yes. Volume and a repeat spec bring the per-unit price down, because nobody is re-quoting from nothing at every vacancy. We walk a sample of your units, read any spec you already have, and come back with a rate card we hold for the term.
How fast is a suite turnover?
Most one-bedrooms are one to two days on the walls once prep is done. Two-bedrooms and units carrying heavy patching run longer. The date that matters is when the unit is back in your hands, so that is the date on the quote.
Can you match the colours already in my buildings?
Yes. We record the product, colour code, and sheen per building and keep them on file. If nothing was ever documented, we match off a section nobody will notice, then write down what we matched to.
Do you paint occupied units and common areas?
Yes. Occupied suites run on the 24-hour written notice rule, with the reason, the date, and a time between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on the notice. Corridors and stairwells get staged so a section stays open, and low-odour products keep residents in their apartments.
Can you invoice per suite?
Yes. Per suite, per building, or per project. Tell us how your accounting is set up and we bill it that way, with the unit number on the line.
Do you provide insurance certificates and WSIB clearance?
Yes, before work starts. A certificate of insurance naming the ownership, plus a live WSIB clearance certificate. Clearances are only valid for up to 90 days, so we send a current one rather than a copy from last quarter.
What about small emergency repairs between turnovers?
Call us. Patch-and-paint after a leak, a hole punched in a corridor, or graffiti in a stairwell usually slots between scheduled units. Water stains get sealed with a stain-blocking primer first, or they bleed back through within weeks.
Do you handle the drywall repairs too?
Yes. Standard holes, anchor damage, and cracks are part of a turnover, not an extra. Larger drywall and plaster work gets its own line, so you see what the repair costs instead of finding it buried in a per-suite rate.
Will corridor paint actually hold up?
It does if the product is right. Common areas get a scuff-resistant finish made for high traffic commercial walls, so wiping a mark off the hallway does not leave a shiny patch. Flat paint in a corridor never lasts.
How do we start?
Call or send the form. We walk a couple of your units, look at the common areas, and come back with a written spec sheet and a rate card. Nothing is booked until the price is in writing.