Strata Exterior Repaint in Canada Bay: A Three-Storey Walk-Up on Regatta Road

AKD Painting repainted the full exterior of a three-storey strata walk-up on Regatta Road, Canada Bay: tired ochre render, grey balconies and faded trim taken to a warm off-white scheme with charcoal window frames, fascias and garage doors, with every resident in place and every driveway open. This page shows the block before, during and after, and explains how a repaint like this is run for an owners corporation.

Project snapshot

Location: Regatta Road, Canada Bay NSW 2046, between Five Dock and Concord
Building: three-storey rendered walk-up with balconies and under-croft garages
Scope: all rendered walls, eaves and soffits, fascias, window surrounds, balcony undersides and garage doors
Access: extension ladders and poles, one elevation at a time, residents in place, no scaffold
Colour change: ochre render and dark grey balconies to warm off-white with charcoal accents
Warranty: 5-year written workmanship warranty issued to the owners corporation

Why this block needed more than a colour change

Regatta Road sits a few hundred metres from the Canada Bay foreshore and the Bay Run. The block faces north over its driveway, so the front elevation cops full sun most of the year, while the side and rear sit under mature gums that drop leaf litter and keep the render damp after rain. The result was the usual pair of problems on a rendered walk-up of this age: chalking and fading on the sunny faces, and grime, staining and hairline cracking on the shaded ones. The ochre scheme also dated the building, and the committee wanted it to read as a cared-for block again before the next round of sales and lettings.

Before and after, the same three elevations

Each pair below is the block from the same side, before the crew arrived and after the last coat: the front elevation from the driveway, the side elevation off the lawn, and the driveway corner with the garages.

Front of a three-storey strata walk-up in Canada Bay before repainting, ochre render and dark grey balconies seen from the driveway — **Before:** the driveway frontage in its old ochre render

Front elevation of a Canada Bay strata walk-up after repainting, warm off-white render with charcoal window frames and balconies — **After:** the same frontage in warm off-white with charcoal trim

Three-storey strata walk-up in Canada Bay before repainting, ochre render and dark grey balconies — **Before:** faded ochre render seen from the side lawn

Canada Bay strata walk-up after exterior repaint, warm off-white render with charcoal window frames — **After:** the same side-lawn view, off-white with charcoal frames

Strata apartment block in Canada Bay before exterior painting, faded ochre render from the side lawn — **Before:** the driveway corner and balconies under the gums

Strata block in Canada Bay after repainting, off-white render, charcoal frames and fresh eaves — **After:** the driveway corner with the new charcoal garage doors and eaves

How a repaint runs when the residents stay

An exterior repaint on an occupied block is a logistics job as much as a painting job. We walked the whole building with the committee first and wrote a fixed scope elevation by elevation, the same process we describe in what is involved in repainting a strata block. Then the work ran one face at a time: wash down, scrape and fill, spot-prime bare and patched render, two coats on the walls, then the charcoal trim on frames, fascias and garage doors last so the lines stay crisp.

Because every elevation had clear, level ground, the crew worked from extension ladders and poles rather than scaffold, which kept the cost down and meant no driveway or garage was blocked for more than a morning. Residents were told which face was being painted each day, cars were moved in the morning and back by the afternoon, and balconies were done while owners were at work. Our guide to access and safety on apartment block painting covers when ladders are enough and when a block needs a boom lift or scaffold.

AKD painter on an extension ladder cutting in a window on a Canada Bay strata block — **In progress:** Cutting in the window surrounds from an extension ladder

AKD painter rolling fresh off-white paint on the rendered wall of a Canada Bay walk-up — **In progress:** cutting in the window surrounds from the ladder

Two AKD painters working from ladders on the top floor of a strata block in Canada Bay — **In progress:** Top-floor window and eave work on the north face

The result

Corner view of a repainted three-storey strata building in Canada Bay — After: the corner of the block from the carpark

Rear of a Canada Bay strata block after repainting with charcoal garage doors — After: the rear elevation and repainted garage doors

The same three angles, the same building, a different block. The warm off-white lifts the whole street frontage, and the charcoal frames, fascias and garage doors give it the definition the old grey balconies never had. Under the colour, the render is washed, filled and sealed, so the shaded faces will shed water and grime instead of holding them, and the sunny faces have a modern exterior system that will not chalk the way the old one did. The owners corporation holds a written scope, a colour record and a 5-year workmanship warranty for the next committee to file.

The same job across the Bay Run walk-ups

Canada Bay, Five Dock, Drummoyne, Concord, Abbotsford and Russell Lea are full of blocks like this one: rendered or red-brick walk-ups from the 1960s and 70s, three storeys, under-croft parking, a committee of owners and a managing agent who needs a scope they can take to a meeting. We paint them the same way every time, and the committee and managing agent guide explains what we need from each side to keep the job moving. For the full service, see strata and apartment painting across the Inner West or our commercial painting and exterior painting pages.

Questions committees ask about a job like this

Does a three-storey strata block need scaffold to repaint?

Not always. This Canada Bay block was painted from extension ladders and poles because every elevation had clear ground access and the render was sound. Scaffold or a boom lift comes in when the height, the ground or the condition of the surface calls for it, and we say which in the written scope so the committee knows the cost up front.

How long does an exterior repaint on a small apartment block take?

It depends on the size of the block, the amount of repair and the weather, so we give each committee a fixed program after the on-site inspection rather than a guess. Work runs one elevation at a time so driveways, garages and entries stay open throughout.

Can the strata change the colour scheme when it repaints?

Usually yes, with a committee resolution and, for some schemes, a by-law or council check. A move from a dated colour to a lighter scheme, like the ochre to off-white change on this block, is one of the most common requests we get, and we supply drawdowns on the actual render before anyone commits.

What warranty covers a strata exterior repaint?

Every AKD strata job carries our 5-year written workmanship warranty. It sits alongside the paint manufacturer's product warranty and is issued to the owners corporation, not to an individual owner.

More AKD projects: the Newtown cottage and terrace exteriors, the pressed metal ceiling restoration, the timber deck restoration, the commercial exterior repaint, the Annandale renovation interior, protective coatings at IKEA Rhodes and the before and after portfolio.

Repainting your block?

AKD quotes strata exteriors in writing after a walk of the whole building, with a fixed program, a colour record and a 5-year workmanship warranty for the owners corporation.

Get a Written Strata Quote