Servicing Carlton 3053 and the surrounding inner north. No callout fee.
Carlton is terrace country. Most of what needs painting here was built in the 1870s and 1880s — lath and plaster walls that move, ornate cornices and ceiling roses that have to be cut in by hand, three-metre ceilings, and a front door you can only reach from a street with no parking. Add the rentals and student housing near the university, where the work has to be finished before a lease date, and it is a different job from painting a 1990s house in the outer suburbs.
Melbourne City Maintenance has worked across Melbourne’s inner north since 2005 on exactly this kind of housing. We come to you, look at the property properly, and tell you what it actually needs before anyone quotes a number.
Request a free quote · or call 0403 162 374
- Trading since 2005 across Melbourne’s inner north.
- 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.
We Come to You in Carlton
Coverage. All of Carlton 3053, and the streets either side of it — Carlton North, Parkville, Fitzroy and North Melbourne are all part of the same run for us.
Travel. No callout fee. Carlton is well inside the area we work in every week, and you are not charged for us turning up to look.
Timing. We do not take same-day work. What we do instead is agree a start date with you, based on what the job actually needs and what is already booked in. Most enquiries get an answer the same day, and you will get a real date rather than a window we might miss.
Quoting without a visit. Painting needs someone to look at the plaster, the existing paint and the timber — photographs hide the things that decide 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 Carlton Homes Usually Need
Single- and double-fronted Victorian terraces, Italianate and boom-style facades with cast-iron lacework, rendered parapets and bluestone plinths, plus shop-top dwellings and converted apartments closer to Lygon Street. The recurring jobs are interior repaints where the plaster needs proper repair first, exterior work on rendered and timber elements, and end-of-lease turnarounds on tenanted properties. Much of Carlton also sits in a heritage overlay, which can affect external colour changes visible from the street — worth checking with the City of Melbourne before committing to a scheme.
What We Do in Carlton
Interior painting
Full houses, single rooms, ceilings and decorative plaster. Cornices, arches and ceiling roses are cut in by hand — they lose their detail under thick paint and it does not come back. More on interior painting.
Exterior and heritage facades
Rendered parapets, cast iron, timber sash windows and verandahs, including the preparation and repair that decides whether the finish lasts three years or ten. More on exterior painting.
Plaster and crack repair
Cracks in a period home usually have a cause behind them. Filling and painting over one buys you a year. We find what is moving first. More on plaster repairs.
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.
How Pricing Works
Painting is quoted per job, after we have seen the property. On an old house the preparation drives 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
Carlton sits in the middle 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.
Worth Reading Before You Book
Common Questions
Do you charge to come out and quote?
No. There is no callout fee and quotes are free. Painting is quoted after we have seen the property, because on a period house the preparation is what drives 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 soon can you start?
We do not take same-day work. What we do is agree a start date with you based on what the job actually needs and what is already booked in. Most enquiries get an answer the same day, so you will know quickly rather than waiting on a callback.
How do you get materials into a terrace with no side access?
Through the front door and down the hallway, which is how it has to be done and why it is planned before the job rather than on the morning. On an attached house it also means a word with the neighbours, because work on a party wall happens against their side too. Protecting the hallway, the floors and the stair is part of the job, not an extra.
What will it cost?
Painting is quoted per job after a site visit. 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, and prices are for business hours, Monday to Friday.
Get a Quote for Your Carlton Property
Old houses hide things. The useful first step is having someone walk the property and tell you what is actually there — which is free, and takes about half an hour.
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.
