Concrete Painting Across Melbourne's Western Suburbs

Paint fails on concrete for one reason: it was put onto a surface that wasn't ready for it. Concrete is dense, often sealed from when it was poured, and outdoor slabs collect years of dirt, oil, moss and tyre marks. If you paint straight over that, it lifts and peels within a season and you've wasted your money. So I spend the time up front: a thorough clean to strip back the grime, degreasing where oil has soaked in, filling and making good any cracks or chips, and priming so the coats actually key into the surface instead of sitting on top of it. It's slower and less glamorous than rolling on colour, but it's the difference between a finish that lasts and one you're redoing next year.

• Thorough wash and degrease to get back to sound concrete
• Cracks, chips and pitting filled and made good
• Primed so the paint bonds properly instead of peeling
• Hard-wearing coats built for foot and vehicle traffic
• Clean edges against garden beds, walls and paths

Outdoor concrete is the first thing people see when they pull up to your home, and it's usually the most neglected surface on the property. Painting a driveway, path or porch is one of the cheapest ways to sharpen up the front of a house, especially alongside a fresh coat on the render or weatherboards. Garage floors are the other one worth doing, because a painted floor is far easier to sweep and keep clean than bare concrete that soaks up every drip and stain. I'll walk the area with you first, tell you honestly whether the slab is in good enough condition to be worth painting, and give you a straight quote before anything starts.

• Driveways, paths, porches and steps
• Garage and shed floors
• Verandahs, patios and alfresco areas
• Concrete and retaining walls
• Factory, workshop and warehouse floors

I want to be straight with you, because concrete work covers a lot of trades and I'd rather tell you up front than waste your afternoon. I am a painter, so what I do is paint concrete. I don't do epoxy floor coatings, and I don't do concrete sealing, resurfacing, grinding or line marking. Those are different trades with different equipment, and you'll get a better result from someone who does them every day. If that's what you're after, say so on the phone and I'll point you in the right direction rather than take the job. But if you want concrete painted properly, prepared the right way and finished with quality paint, that's very much what I do.

• Concrete painting — yes
• Epoxy floor coatings — no
• Concrete sealing or resurfacing — no
• Line marking — no
• Honest referral if it's not my trade