In your career as a painter, your job is to provide paint, and paint related products to coat, colour or protect walled surfaces, ceilings, exteriors and any other type of structure. Let’s have a look at what a career as a painter actually involves and how your career as a painter can develop.
Working as a Painter
Your career as a painter means you will many roles on any construction site and will work alongside multiple trades during the course of your work. In general during your career as a painter, your roles will include:
- Preparing an area for painting, including placing and construction of ladders and any necessary scaffolding
- Covering floors, furniture and any other necessary objects with coverings and tarpaulin
- Applying the correct primers, undercoats and sealants to ensure the best possible painted finish
- Filling holes, cracks and blemishes to ensure a smooth finish
- Calculating the correct amount of paint to be used on any particular job
- Applying paint and paint related products using brushes, rollers, sprays etc
- Ensuring that the paint product applied is the correct one for the job in hand
Career Path
Painters play a fundamental part in any construction project, and will work alongside many other tradespeople in the course of their duty. In your career as a painter you will be hardworking, conscientious and have great attention to detail. Some of the other roles you will work alongside will be:
- Foreperson
- Site manager
- Finishing foreperson
- Design engineer
- Purchaser
- Estimator
- Carpenter
- Dry-liner
- Window fitter
- Glazier
- Electrician
- Plasterer
- Roofer
- Health & Safety
Professional Qualifications
One of the most common routes is via apprenticeships, where painters learn the role ‘on the job’ with a painting company and also study the painting skills and techniques which you will need in the course of your role . Once you have established yourself as a painter, you can apply for membership of bodies such as the National Guild of Master Craftsmen. Due to innovation within this sector, constant training and upskilling in new methodologies, materials and equipment is advised if you are to have a successful career as a painter.
How your Career can Develop
As a painter you can choose to specialise in particular areas during your career as a painter, so you will need to upskill and earn any necessary certifications. You can specialise in areas such as domestic or residential painting, industrial construction painting and finishing, exterior painting or other specialist areas. Ultimately you can build up your own client base and start your own painting service or contracting business or work with large firms or contractors that would require your services as a painter.