Best painters in the Perth Hills (2026)
Table of Contents
These are the best-rated painters working the Perth Hills, from the character streets of Kalamunda, Lesmurdie and Gooseberry Hill through Darlington, Glen Forrest and Mundaring, down the scarp to Boya and Helena Valley, out to the foothills at Forrestfield, High Wycombe, Maida Vale and Wattle Grove, and south to Roleystone and the Sawyers Valley bush blocks. They’re ranked on real Google reviews, not on who paid us. The hills are a smaller market than the metro flats, so this is an honest list of the local painters we could confirm are actually based up here, eight of them, not a list padded out to a round ten with metro drop-ins that pin to the middle of the map. Below you’ll find what a paint job really costs in the hills in 2026, why timber, tree cover and bushfire-prone eaves change the job up here, the red flags that tell you to keep your wallet shut, and a quick checklist to run before you let anyone near your walls.
Featured painters
These spots are for Perth Hills painters who want to stand out on this page. None are taken yet, so the full review-ranked list is right below. That ranking is earned off Google reviews and never for sale. Are you a local painter? Featured spots start at $50 a year.
Get a Featured spot ▸How we ranked these
- Google reviews do the ranking. We start with every painter’s live Google star rating and the number of reviews behind it, pulled fresh from Google Maps.
- Rating, weighted by volume. A 5.0 from a couple of jobs isn’t proof yet, so we weight the score by review count. A proven 5.0 from dozens of customers isn’t beaten by a 5.0 from a handful, and it’s why a well-reviewed 4.9 can sit right up near a thinner 5.0.
- Hills operators only. Every painter here has a confirmed base in the hills, from Kalamunda, Boya, Wattle Grove and Maida Vale up to Roleystone and Sawyers Valley. We checked each one’s Google address or map pin. Plenty of metro painters list a service area and pin to the middle of the city with no real address, so where we couldn’t confirm a business is genuinely based up the hill we left them off rather than guess. A few of the operators below run as service-area businesses, but their map pin sits firmly in the hills, not on the generic metro centroid, so they earned their place.
- A smaller market, kept honest. The hills simply don’t have the number of painters the metro corridors do, so this is a genuine eight, every one review-bearing and hills-based. We won’t pad a list with out-of-area firms just to reach ten.
- Paid spots are labelled, and never jump the queue. When a business pays for a “Featured” spot it’s marked as such. The review-based order below does not change to favour a payer. Right now, no spots are sold.
Faire & Co
A flawless 5.0 held across 82 reviews is comfortably the strongest result on the page, and keeping a perfect score over that many jobs is about the clearest signal you’ll find in home painting. Based right in Kalamunda on Haynes Street, so they’re well placed across Lesmurdie, Gooseberry Hill, Walliston and Carmel and down to Boya and Helena Valley. The safest first call for a repaint anywhere in the hills, timber character home or newer brick alike.
View listing & contact ▸T Harris Painting
A clean 5.0 across 67 reviews is a big, consistent body of feedback, run out of Boya just below the Mundaring scarp. Holding a flawless score at that volume takes tidy work over a lot of jobs, and being based on the hill they know the older character homes around Darlington, Glen Forrest and Mundaring as well as the newer places down at Boya and Helena Valley. A dependable pick for a whole-home repaint.
View listing & contact ▸Blue Sky Painting WA
A near-perfect 4.9 across 33 reviews rounds out a strong top three, based at Wattle Grove in the foothills. That’s a solid, proven track record, and being down on the flat side of the hill they’re handy across Forrestfield, High Wycombe, Maida Vale and the newer render homes through the foothill estates. A safe choice for interiors and exteriors both.
View listing & contact ▸5.0 (6)
5.0 (6)
5.0 (4)
What a paint job actually costs in the Perth Hills (2026)
Nobody likes ringing a painter blind on price. These are honest Perth metro ballpark ranges for the common jobs, GST included. They’re a guide to keep you from being overcharged, not a quote. Up the hills the big swing is the amount of timber and the access. The older character homes around Kalamunda, Gooseberry Hill, Darlington and Mundaring carry a lot of painted weatherboard, timber eaves, fascias, verandahs and decking that all need prep and the right primer, while the newer brick and render homes in the Forrestfield, High Wycombe and Maida Vale foothills price more like a standard metro job. Add steep or bush blocks and high gable walls and the access line on the quote starts to matter. Painting price swings hugely on prep and coats, so the number that counts is not the day rate, it’s what’s written on the quote.
| Job | Typical metro range | What pushes it up |
|---|---|---|
| Painter day rate (per painter) | $350-$500/day | Specialist finishes, height, steep or bush-block access |
| Single interior room repaint (walls) | $350-$700 | High or raked ceilings, dark-to-light change, heavy prep |
| Whole 3-4 bed interior (walls, ceilings, doors) | $4,000-$9,000 | Number of coats, feature colours, cornices and trims |
| Ceilings only (per room) | $150-$350 | Water stains, decorative or timber-lined ceilings, sealing |
| Doors, skirting & trims (per door + surrounds) | $80-$180 | Gloss enamel over old oil-based paint, sanding back |
| Timber weatherboard or character home, full exterior | $8,000-$18,000 | Extent of timber, flaking and lead-safe prep on pre-1970 homes, access |
| Brick or render home, single-storey exterior | $4,000-$8,000 | Brick vs render, prep, access |
| Eaves, fascias & timber trim (bushfire-prone homes) | $2,500-$6,000 | Rotten or split timber, height, gable ends, gutters and soffits |
| Timber deck or verandah, oil or stain | $800-$3,000 | Size, grey weathered jarrah, sanding back, number of coats |
Two topcoats over a primer or undercoat is the standard for a finish that lasts; a single “colour over” is cheaper but rarely goes the distance, and up here it fails faster. The hills split into two kinds of job. The older homes, plenty of them weatherboard or brick from the 1950s to 1980s around Kalamunda, Gooseberry Hill, Darlington, Glen Forrest and Mundaring, are heavy on timber, and anything built before about 1970 can carry lead-based paint, which needs careful wet-scraping and containment rather than a dry sand. Raw or weathered timber also needs an oil-based primer before topcoats or it won’t hold. The newer brick and render homes in the Forrestfield, High Wycombe, Maida Vale and Wattle Grove foothills paint much like a standard metro place, though west-facing render still takes a beating from the summer sun. Two things are near-universal up the hill: heavy tree cover means shaded, damp south-facing walls that grow mould and lichen and must be treated before painting, and most of the hills is a designated bushfire-prone area, so timber eaves, fascias and decks need to be kept sound and well coated. Painting is not a licensed trade in WA, so a detailed written quote and current insurance count for a lot here (see the checklist below).
Don’t get ripped off: red flags
- No written quote naming the paint and the number of coats. “We’ll give it two coats” said out loud is not a spec. Get the product, sheen and coats in writing, or you have no way to prove what you paid for.
- No prep line on the quote. Washing, sanding, filling, gap-sealing and masking are most of a good paint job. On a hills home that also means treating mould on shaded walls, dealing with flaking and lead-safe scraping on older timber, and priming any raw weatherboard. If the quote is all “paint” and no “prep”, the finish will flake and peel inside a year or two.
- Dry-sanding old paint on a pre-1970 home. The older weatherboard and brick homes around Kalamunda, Gooseberry Hill, Darlington and Mundaring can carry lead paint, and dry-sanding it spreads toxic dust through your yard and bush block. A proper painter wet-scrapes, contains and cleans up. If they wave that off, walk.
- No plan for mould and damp on shaded walls. Under the hills tree canopy, south-facing and tree-shaded walls grow mould and lichen. If a painter just paints over it without treating and killing it first, it bleeds straight back through the new coat within months.
- Ignoring the timber eaves, fascias and deck. Up the hill the timber is where homes fail first, and it matters more in a bushfire-prone area. A painter who quotes the walls and skips split fascias, bare soffits or a greyed-off deck hasn’t looked properly.
- Vague on steep or high access. Hills blocks are often sloping or split-level with tall gable walls. Ask how they’ll safely reach the high work: proper scaffolding or an access plan costs more than a ladder-and-hope, but it’s the difference between an even job and a rushed one with missed spots up high.
- Big cash deposit up front, no ABN, no receipt. A modest deposit for materials is normal. Handing over half the job in cash with no paperwork means no warranty and no comeback.
- A verbal price that looks too cheap, then creeps. Lowball quotes get “recovered” with extra-coat, timber-repair and prep add-ons once the job’s started and your old colour is half stripped.
- No public liability insurance. Overspray and splatter on your roof, paving, windows or a neighbour’s place is your problem if they’re not insured. Ask to see the certificate.
Before you hire: quick checklist
- Written quote. Itemised and in writing, naming the paint brand and product, the sheen, and the number of coats, with prep included. Do this before work starts.
- Insurance. Ask for current public liability cover and sight the certificate. It protects your home, and the neighbours, from overspray, splatter and accidents.
- Prep, spelled out. Confirm exactly what’s included: washing, mould treatment on shaded walls, sanding, filling, gap-sealing, undercoat and masking. On an older timber home ask specifically how they handle flaking, lead paint and priming raw weatherboard. Prep is where a hills paint job is won or lost.
- Timber and access, checked early. Point out the eaves, fascias, verandah and any deck, and if you’re on a steep or split-level block confirm how they’ll safely reach the high work before a brush is lifted.
- Coats. Two topcoats over an undercoat is the standard for a durable finish. One “colour over” is not, no matter how good the paint.
- Recent reviews. Look for recent, specific reviews, ideally with before-and-after photos of local jobs. A steady stream beats one old burst.
Frequently asked
How did you rank these painters?
By their live Google star rating and the number of reviews behind it, pulled from Google Maps. We weight the rating by review volume so a proven 5.0 from dozens of customers isn’t leapfrogged by a 5.0 from a handful. We also checked each business is genuinely based in the hills, so metro-wide operators that pin to the middle of the map with no confirmable hills base aren’t padding the list.
Why only eight painters, not ten?
Because the hills are a smaller market than the metro corridors, and we’d rather show you eight painters we could genuinely confirm are based up here than pad the list out to a round ten with out-of-area firms. Every painter on this page is review-bearing and hills-based. As more local painters earn reviews, they’ll earn their spot.
Which suburbs does this cover?
The Perth Hills across the Shire of Kalamunda, the Shire of Mundaring and Roleystone: Kalamunda, Lesmurdie, Gooseberry Hill, Walliston, Carmel, Pickering Brook and Bickley, the foothills at Forrestfield, High Wycombe, Maida Vale and Wattle Grove, Boya and Helena Valley below the scarp, Darlington, Glen Forrest, Mundaring, Sawyers Valley, Stoneville, Parkerville and Chidlow, and south to Roleystone and Karragullen. Every painter on the list has a confirmed base in that catchment.
Are these paid placements?
No. This list is ordered on Google review data. Businesses can pay for a “Featured” spot at the top, which is clearly labelled, but paying never changes the review-based order below. As of this update, no spots are sold.
Do painters need a licence in WA?
No. House painting is not a licensed trade in Western Australia, unlike electrical or plumbing work, so there’s no “painter’s licence” to check. That’s exactly why Google reviews, public liability insurance and a detailed written quote matter so much here. For larger building jobs (generally over $20,000 in value) a registered builder can come into play, but a standard domestic repaint doesn’t require a licence.
My place is an older weatherboard or brick home, does that change things?
Yes, and it’s very common up the hill. Homes built before about 1970, and there are plenty around Kalamunda, Gooseberry Hill, Darlington, Glen Forrest and Mundaring, can carry lead-based paint, which must be wet-scraped and contained safely rather than dry-sanded. Weatherboard and timber eaves, fascias and verandahs also need more prep and the right oil-based primer than a newer brick home. Ask any painter directly how they handle lead paint and raw timber, and make sure it’s written into the quote.
My walls are shaded and go mouldy under the trees, what should I ask?
Very common under the hills canopy. South-facing and tree-shaded walls hold damp and grow mould and lichen, and if it’s just painted over it bleeds back through the new coat. Ask the painter how they treat and kill the mould before painting and what finish they’ll use, so it doesn’t come straight back. It’s also worth clearing overhanging branches so the wall can dry out.
How much does it cost to paint a house up the hills?
As a rough 2026 guide: a whole-house interior repaint on a 3-4 bed runs about $4,000 to $9,000, a single-storey brick or render exterior about $4,000 to $8,000, and a full timber weatherboard or character-home exterior from around $8,000 up to $18,000 depending on the timber, the prep and the access. It swings on prep, coats, timber and how easy the block is to work. Always get it priced in writing before work starts.
How often is this page updated?
Monthly. Ratings and review counts move, new painters earn their spot, and we re-pull the data so the list stays honest and current.
Are you a painter in the Perth Hills?
Get in front of homeowners who are ready to hire. Claim your free listing, or ask about a Featured spot on this page.
Get featured ▸ Claim your free listingRankings based on Google review data collected 24 July 2026. Ratings change, we re-check monthly. Blue Collar Business · Western Australia’s Trades & Home Services Directory.