Condo Painting in Newton, MA.

The buildings condos occupy here vary widely. Across all of the city's housing, about 7.6% of units sit in buildings of fifty or more units, while two-family structures alone hold about 15.5% and three- and four-unit buildings another 5%. Where a small association occupies an older two- or three-family house divided into units, that can mean a two-person board, a shared old staircase and an exterior that may be over a century old.

The practical difference is who decides and who pays. In a large complex, a management company usually runs the project. In a two-unit association, the two owners are the board, and painting the outside means agreeing with your neighbor on colors, scope and timing.

Owners: painting inside your unit

Unit owners typically control the paint inside their own walls, but the master deed and rules decide where your unit ends and the common area begins. Entry doors, hallway sides of doors and shared stair walls are often common elements even though you see them every day. Check before you pick a color for them.

In a building built before 1978, sanding or scraping more than six square feet of painted surface in a room calls for lead-safe renovation practices under Massachusetts rules, and in a small converted house the dust can reach a neighbor's unit through shared stairs and old floor gaps. We seal the work area and keep shared spaces clean every day. See our lead-safe painting page for what that involves.

• Walls, ceilings, trim and interior doors in the unit
• Kitchen and bath cabinets (more on our cabinet painting page for Newton)
• Turnover painting for owners who rent out their unit (about 30% of occupied homes here are rentals)
• A neutral refresh before listing

Associations: halls, stairwells and lobbies

Common areas need to stay open while they are painted. We work stair by stair or floor by floor, post the schedule in advance, and use washable, low-odor finishes. In mid-rise buildings, we reserve the elevator for material moves only at agreed times.

For boards, the scope is easier to approve when it is broken into pieces that match the budget. Our written estimate can be split by floor, by building, or by interior and exterior so the work can be phased across reserve years.

Certificates of insurance and access

Before any work in a common area, most managers and boards ask for a certificate of insurance naming the association, and some want the unit owner named as well. AJ Painting is licensed and insured and provides the certificate in the form the association needs. Ask your manager for the exact wording early so it does not delay the start date.

Unit work in a building that is not owner-managed may still need the manager's sign-off for parking, keys, elevator pads or work hours. We follow whatever the rules say rather than working around them.

Exteriors of condo buildings in historic districts

If your association's building falls inside one of the local historic districts (Auburndale, Chestnut Hill, Newton Upper Falls or Newtonville), a few extra rules apply. Repainting the exterior, including a color change, does not require a certificate under the city's design guidelines. Replacing trim, railings or porch elements is reviewed, and the guidelines discourage vinyl or aluminum siding. Boards considering a siding change to cut maintenance should check with the commission first.

The city's guidelines also suggest repainting exterior wood every five to eight years, which gives associations a reasonable cycle to plan reserves around. Whether the building is in Newton Corner, on a side street in Nonantum or elsewhere, the steps are the same: confirm what the documents say, get the certificate in place, and agree on a schedule. For the exterior work itself, see our Newton exterior painting page.