Weatherboard repairs and painting across Richmond 3121 and the inner east. No callout fee.
Richmond is better known for its brick terraces, but there are weatherboard cottages all through it — single-fronted, more than a century old, and squeezed onto frontages with no side access and nowhere to put a ladder. On a house like that the timber problems are the same as anywhere else; getting to them safely is the part that decides the job. Boards fail where water sits and where nobody can see them, which on a Richmond cottage usually means high up near the roof line and low down where the wall meets a path rather than a garden bed.
Melbourne City Maintenance has been repairing and painting weatherboard homes since 2005. We come to you, put a hand on the timber, and tell you what has to be replaced before anything gets painted.
Request a free quote · or call 0403 162 374
- Trading since 2005 across Melbourne’s inner suburbs.
- Licensed and insured — $20 million public liability, WorkCover registered.
- A three-month check-in after every job, to make sure it still looks the way it did the day we left.
A Richmond Weatherboard, 19 Years Between Coats
This Richmond home had gone nineteen years without a repaint and was more than a hundred years old. The owner noticed the faded paint and the missing boards and started the job himself — and got as far as most people do before the height and the access stopped him.
The missing boards were up near the roof line, and the pitch made working from a ladder unsafe. Part of the job was erecting a scaffold, both so the work could be done safely and so it could be finished on schedule rather than stretched over weeks of awkward access. The rotten boards were cut out and replaced with new, then sealed with an undercoat and two top coats.
The architraves had gone the same way as the boards. Rather than send the client looking for a match, we sourced the profile from a local timber supplier so the replacements matched what was already on the house. That is usually the difference between a repair you can see from the footpath and one you cannot.
We Come to You in Richmond
Coverage. All of Richmond 3121 — the streets either side of Bridge Road, Church Street and Swan Street, and across toward Burnley and Cremorne. Abbotsford, Collingwood, Clifton Hill and Carlton are all part of the same run for us.
Travel. No callout fee. You are not charged for us coming out to look at the job.
Timing. We do not take same-day work. We agree a start date with you based on what the job actually needs and what is already booked in. Where scaffold is involved the date is set around its hire and erection rather than guessed at. Most enquiries get an answer the same day.
Quoting without a visit. Weatherboard cannot be quoted from photographs. Soft boards, failed joints and rot behind a downpipe do not show up in a picture, and on a tight Richmond frontage the access is half the price. Handyman and repair work is different: for most of it we can give you a rough guide over the phone or from a few photos, and confirm it on the day.
What Goes Wrong on a Richmond Weatherboard
Three places, over and over. The bottom two or three boards, where rain splashes back off a concrete path with no garden bed to absorb it and the timber never fully dries. Around windows and under sills, where a failed joint lets water in behind the board and it rots from the back. And high up at the roof line and gable ends, where nobody looks until a board is visibly missing — which is exactly the area that is hardest and most expensive to reach, so it tends to be left. On a party-wall cottage there is the added problem that one whole side of the house may only be reachable with the neighbour’s cooperation, which is a conversation worth having before the job is booked rather than on the day.
What We Do in Richmond
Weatherboard and timber repairs
Rotten and split boards, architraves, sills and fascias cut out and replaced with matching profiles, then sealed properly. More on weatherboard repairs.
Exterior painting
Full exteriors on timber, brick and render, including the preparation and repair that decides whether the finish lasts three years or ten. More on exterior painting.
Interior painting
Whole houses, single rooms, ceilings and decorative plaster. More on interior painting.
Handyman work
The list of small jobs that never quite gets finished, done in one visit instead of one trade at a time. More on handyman services.
We use and recommend Australian-owned and made paints from Haymes.
How Pricing Works
Weatherboard and painting work is quoted per job, after we have seen the property. The amount of repair hiding under the old paint and the access needed to reach it drive the number more than the paint does, so a quote given without looking is a guess.
Handyman and repair work is booked by time. A half day is four hours on site at $90 an hour — $360. A full day is $640, which works out at $80 an hour, and applies once a full day is completed. Materials are charged separately. Prices are for business hours, Monday to Friday.
Quotes are free, and we will tell you if something can wait a season rather than being done now.
Nearby Areas We Cover
Richmond sits at the southern edge of the area we work in most weeks. We also cover:
The full list, and how far we travel, is on our areas we serve page.
Common Questions
Can the boards be filled rather than replaced?
Sometimes, and it depends on what is left. If the timber is sound and the damage is surface-level, filling and sealing is legitimate. If a board is soft enough to take a screwdriver, filler is holding nothing together and the repair fails from behind within a season or two. We will tell you which one you have rather than quoting the cheaper answer and coming back.
Do you charge to come out and quote?
No. There is no callout fee and quotes are free. Weatherboard work is quoted after we have seen the property, because the repair and the access are what drive the price. Handyman and repair work is different — for most of it we can give you a rough guide over the phone or from a few photos and confirm it on the day.
How long should a repaint last?
On properly prepared and repaired weatherboard, around ten years. The house above had gone nineteen, which is why it needed board replacement rather than a coat of paint. The gap between a repaint that lasts three years and one that lasts ten is almost entirely in what happens before the first coat.
Get a Quote for Your Richmond Weatherboard
The useful first step is having someone walk the exterior and press on the boards, including the parts you cannot see from the ground. It takes about half an hour, it is free, and it is the difference between a quote and a guess.
Request a free quote · or call Melbourne City Maintenance on 0403 162 374.
A friend found reviews of this company on a neighbourhood website so I included MCM in my list when I sought quotes for repairing and painting weatherboards on my house.
