Short answer: yes, you can paint your Toronto condo — the interior of your unit is yours to change — but the building will have conditions, and a painter who knows them is the difference between a two-day job and a two-week argument with management. Most boards want a certificate of liability insurance, a written scope of work and an elevator booking. On cost, condo painting in Toronto is priced on floor area like any interior: Complete Home starts at $970 for the first 100 sq ft of floor and one door, then $4.10–4.70 per square foot of floor area, so a 600–700 sq ft one-bedroom works out to roughly $3,025–3,800 as a Complete Home job (walls, ceilings, baseboards, casings and the first door), and a 900–1,000 sq ft two-bedroom roughly $4,250–5,200, before HST. In Toronto the package start is the smallest job. Below: what boards ask for, a cost table by unit size and package, how long it takes, and what is different about painting in a high-rise.
What Toronto condo boards usually require
Every building has its own rules, and the property manager will tell you exactly what applies. The requests that come up in nearly every Toronto condo are:
- Certificate of liability insurance from the contractor, naming the corporation where the building asks for it. It is usually the first thing management wants to see from any contractor. IntraBuild carries liability insurance.
- A written scope of work — which rooms, what is being done, roughly how long. Some boards want it on their own form.
- Contractor references for buildings that vet trades before approving them.
- Service elevator booking for bringing in materials and taking out waste; booking windows fill up, so this is done a week or more ahead.
- Working hours — typically weekdays, roughly 9 to 5, with no noisy work outside that window. Painting is quiet, but sanding and moving furniture are not.
- Protection of common areas — floor coverings in the corridor from the elevator to your door, and nothing stored in the hallway.
- Waste — empty cans, drop sheets and debris leave the building with the contractor, not in the chute.
We are not on specific building lists at the moment. We carry liability insurance, and a written scope comes with every quote. Ask your property manager early exactly what the building needs from a contractor, because most boards sign off within one to two weeks of submission — so send the request the same day you get the quote. More on how we work in the city is on the interior painting in Toronto page.
Condo painting Toronto cost by unit size
Painting is priced per square foot of floor area, and the packages are the same ones on our interior painting page. Each start covers the first 100 sq ft of floor: Fresh Start at $700, then $2.65–3.05 per sq ft (walls, two coats); Full Refresh at $800, then $3.45–3.95 (walls and ceilings); Complete Home at $970, then $4.10–4.70 (walls, ceilings, baseboards, door and window casings and the first door); and Signature Finish, priced after a visit (all of that, with enhanced preparation and premium coatings). Take the first 100 sq ft off your unit size, multiply by the rate, add the start, and you have a working budget. The figures below are that arithmetic, rounded up to the nearest $25, before HST: the low end is the smaller unit with walls in normal condition, the high end the larger unit with every room needing extra prep.
| Unit | Typical floor area | Fresh Start (walls) | Full Refresh | Complete Home (one door) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | 450–500 sq ft | roughly $1,650–1,925 | roughly $2,025–2,400 | roughly $2,425–2,850 |
| One-bedroom | 600–700 sq ft | roughly $2,025–2,550 | roughly $2,525–3,175 | roughly $3,025–3,800 |
| Two-bedroom | 900–1,000 sq ft | roughly $2,825–3,450 | roughly $3,575–4,375 | roughly $4,250–5,200 |
Doors with their frames, both sides, are $120 each; Complete Home includes the first one, so a unit with four of them is a different job from a unit with one. Signature Finish — enhanced preparation and premium coatings — is priced in writing after a visit, which is why it has no column here.
Complete Home covers walls, ceilings, baseboards, door and window casings and the first door; Signature Finish adds enhanced preparation and premium coatings. Every further door is counted separately rather than buried in a rate, which is why a unit full of doors and a unit with two of them do not cost the same to finish. Anything else outside the package you choose — closets, major repairs, specialty finishes — is identified and priced in writing before work begins. Nothing is added without your approval. The package start is the smallest job, and it already covers 100 sq ft of floor; that matters for a single accent wall or one bedroom in a small unit, because rooms booked together share one start — bundling the hallway or bathroom into the same visit gets full value from it. Access — elevator bookings, paid parking and carrying everything in from the loading dock — does not change the rate; anything the building’s rules add is in the written price before you agree. A full breakdown of what moves painting prices, room by room, is in our guide to interior painting cost in Ontario.
How long condo painting takes
Typical timelines with an empty or lightly furnished unit and walls in reasonable shape:
- Studio or one-bedroom: one to two days.
- Two-bedroom: two to three days.
What adds a day: painting ceilings as well as walls, dark or saturated colours that need a third coat, wall repairs that have to dry before paint, and a unit that is fully furnished and has to be worked around. What does not add time but has to be planned: the elevator window and the building’s hours, which set when work can start and stop.
What is different about painting a condo
Concrete ceilings
Many Toronto towers have exposed or skim-coated concrete ceilings rather than drywall. They take paint well once primed, but older buildings from the 1970s to 1990s often have a sprayed popcorn texture on that concrete. That texture cannot be painted to look new, and removing it comes with an asbestos question in buildings of that age — the options and costs are in our guide to popcorn ceiling removal.
Ventilation and smell
Condo windows open a few inches and the HVAC is shared. Low-odour, low-VOC paint helps keep the unit livable the same evening and the corridor free of solvent smell, which is also what most boards expect — ask about it when you request the quote.
Small areas and minimums
A condo is efficient to paint — short walls, no stairwell — but a single small room still pays the full package start. Bundling a bedroom with the hallway and bathroom, or doing the whole unit at once, gets better value from the visit, because the start is paid once.
Wall repairs first
Anchor holes from TV mounts and shelving, scuffs from moving, cracks at window corners: a condo wall usually needs a round of patching before paint. Repairs beyond basic prep are identified and priced in writing before work begins, and they are quoted with the painting so there is one contractor and one invoice; details on our drywall repair page and, for the city specifically, drywall repair in Toronto.
Furniture
There is nowhere to put it. Furniture gets moved to the centre of each room and draped, and we work around it; a unit cleared before we arrive paints faster and cleaner.
Repainting between tenants or before a sale
The two most common condo jobs in Toronto are a landlord’s repaint between tenants and a pre-sale refresh. Both are usually done with standard-quality paints, as a Complete Home job or a Fresh Start, in a single neutral colour throughout — which shades work and why is in our guide to paint colours that sell and rent — it photographs well, hides the previous tenant’s accent wall, and lets the next occupant see the space rather than the paint. An investor with several units often standardizes one colour and one sheen so touch-ups are simple later. If the unit is being staged, the painting happens before the stager, and the elevator gets booked for both.
Downtown towers vs midtown low-rise
A unit in a waterfront or downtown high-rise means a loading dock, a freight elevator, a concierge and paid parking, all of which make the booking the critical path; anything they add is listed in the written price before you agree. A midtown or east-end low-rise with a walk-up and street parking is closer to painting a house. Either way the per-square-foot rate is the same; access is what changes. If you also own a home in the west end of the GTA, the same packages apply there — see interior painting in Mississauga.
How to get a written price quickly
- Send the floor area (it is on your listing or floor plan) and a photo of each room.
- Say what you want painted: a Fresh Start (walls only), a Full Refresh with the ceilings, or a Complete Home with baseboards, casings and the first door as well — and count the doors, because every further door is $120. Note any dark colours.
- Photograph the wall damage — anchor holes, cracks, scuffs — so repairs are on the quote.
- Tell us the building name, the floor, and what management needs from a contractor (scope form, elevator window, hours, insurance paperwork) — we will tell you what we can provide.
We reply the same business day; with photos and room sizes, a written price usually follows within 1–2 business days. IntraBuild paints condos across Toronto with a written price, a written scope for your board and no distance charge. Get a Toronto condo painting quote or call (647) 558-8723. Owner-run and liability insured. The person who quotes your job is responsible for it.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need condo board approval to paint my unit?
Painting the inside of your own unit rarely needs approval of the colour, but the building will need to approve the contractor’s access: a certificate of liability insurance, a scope of work and an elevator booking are the usual requirements. Most Toronto boards approve within one to two weeks.
How much does it cost to paint a one-bedroom condo in Toronto?
Before HST, a 600–700 sq ft one-bedroom works out to roughly $3,025–3,800 as a Complete Home job ($970 for the first 100 sq ft and one door, then $4.10–4.70 per square foot of floor area), or about $2,025–2,550 as a Fresh Start with walls only ($700, then $2.65–3.05). In Toronto the package start is the smallest job. Extra doors, wall repairs and a premium paint line move it up; the exact number comes from the floor area and a look at the walls.
How long does it take?
One to two days for a studio or one-bedroom, two to three for a two-bedroom, within the building’s working hours. Ceilings, dark colours and repairs can add a day.
Can you paint concrete ceilings?
Yes. Bare or skim-coated concrete is primed and painted like any ceiling. A popcorn-textured concrete ceiling is a different job — it needs to be tested and either removed or covered before it will look clean.
Do you work weekends?
Only where the building allows it. Most Toronto condos limit contractor work to weekdays, typically 9 to 5, so we schedule inside those hours and book the elevator to match.