Painting

Painting services in Dubai — roller, tray and ladder against a freshly coated wall on an Abdulla Carpentry EST site

Painting services in Dubai — villa, apartment and office

In-house painters, fit-out grade preparation and a written rate per square foot before a brush is lifted. Ras Al Khor workshop, work across Dubai and the northern emirates.

Painting services in Dubai are priced by measured area, not by the room. Abdulla Carpentry EST has been running painting works Dubai clients keep coming back for since 1984: a same-colour repaint on sound walls sits at AED 12–16 per sq ft, a colour change with full preparation at AED 16–22 per sq ft, and exterior wall coating at AED 18–32 per sq ft. We survey free, measure the walls and ceilings, and put the rate and the coat count in writing before anyone opens a tin.

Who you are hiring

Painting contractors Dubai owners call back

We are painting contractors Dubai residents and facilities managers use when the finish has to survive being looked at in strong light. The painters in Dubai who work on our jobs are on our own payroll, not day labour picked up for a week, and the same charge hand who measures your walls is the one who walks the snag list with you at the end. That continuity is the whole reason professional painters Dubai wide get judged on their second visit rather than their first.

As a painting company in Dubai that also does joinery, gypsum and waterproofing, we rarely arrive to paint and find something we cannot fix. Cracked plaster, a swollen skirting, a stained ceiling from an old leak — the trade that repairs it is already in the van. People searching for painting services near me usually want one number to call and one invoice at the end, and that is what a single-source contractor gives you.

Craftsman spray-finishing a dark timber cabinet in Dubai for a furniture repaint
Spray finishing for depth a brush cannot reach.

We work across Dubai Marina, Downtown, Business Bay, JVC, Dubai Hills, Arabian Ranches, Damac Hills, Mirdif, Springs and Meadows, and out to Sharjah and Abu Dhabi where the job justifies the travel. Community rules, access hours and lift bookings are handled by us, not left with you.

Painter rolling an even coat of white emulsion during interior wall painting on a Dubai apartment1984Painting and fit-out under one licence
Detached homes

Villa painting, inside and out

Villa painting is a different animal from an apartment. Double-height stairwells need towers rather than ladders, the ceiling area is often larger than the floor area, and the outside of the house is fighting sun, dust and salt every day of the year. We price the interior and the facade as separate lines so you can do one now and one later without re-measuring.

Inside, home painting on a villa usually means a full repaint through the ground floor, colour changes in the bedrooms and a careful hand around the joinery. Outside, villa facade painting is about the system as much as the shade: a UV-stable, elastomeric coating over properly treated cracks will hold its colour for years, while a cheap emulsion on the same wall will chalk by the second summer.

House painting in progress on a Dubai villa interior, walls rolled in a warm neutral shade
Interior repaint running room by room through an occupied villa.
Flats and towers

Apartment painting between tenancies

Apartment painting is the part of our painting services in Dubai that is mostly a question of timing. Handover painting has to be finished before the keys change hands, and a tower with one service lift does not care about your schedule. We book the lift, mask the corridor, and work the unit in an order that lets the first rooms dry while the last ones are still being cut in.

Move-in painting and move-out painting are the two jobs we are asked for most. A move-out repaint puts the walls back to the handover shade so the deposit comes back whole; a move-in coat lets you take a flat that somebody else chose the colours for and make it yours before the furniture arrives. Apartment repainting for tenants is usually a two-coat job in the original colour, while landlord painting across several units is priced as one contract and sequenced so the block is never fully out of service.

Sprayed white villa doors with gold detail drying in the Abdulla Carpentry EST paint booth
Doors sprayed off site so the house is not full of overspray.

Where the walls are sound and the shade is unchanged, a one-coat refresh is honest value and we will say so. Where the old colour is dark, or the plaster is patchy, one coat will ghost and we will quote two-coat or a full repaint instead of letting you pay twice.

Working around a business

Office and commercial painting after hours

Office and commercial painting is scheduled around trading, not against it. Most of our commercial work happens between Thursday evening and Sunday morning, or overnight in floors that never close. Desks are sheeted, servers are boxed, and the floor is handed back clean enough to sit down at on Monday.

Retail units and restaurants get the same treatment against a fixed opening date. Schools and clinics get low-odour, washable systems applied in term breaks or after hours. Warehouses and plant rooms get epoxy floor painting in garages, loading bays and workshops, plus line marking where forklifts run.

Cabinet door being filled and sanded flat before repainting in the Dubai workshop
Filling and sanding until the surface takes the coat evenly.

Because we are a fit-out contractor, a commercial repaint can absorb the small making-good items that always surface — a partition patch, a ceiling tile, a damaged door edge — without a second mobilisation or a second invoice.

Children’s room in Dubai finished with a hand-painted mural and soft pastel wall coloursNightsand weekends, at no premium rate
Rooms

Interior wall painting, ceilings and doors

Interior painting is the bulk of what we do, and the part of our painting services in Dubai that gets looked at every day. Wall painting, ceiling painting and door painting are quoted separately because they behave separately: walls take the wear, ceilings show every roller mark in raking light, and doors want spraying rather than brushing if you care how they look up close.

Ceiling painting is where corners get cut by others. A ceiling that has had a leak needs a stain-blocking primer or the mark will bleed back through within weeks, however many coats of emulsion go over it. We seal it properly the first time. Door painting, where the door can come off, goes to the booth in Ras Al Khor and comes back with a sprayed finish no brush will match.

Freshly sprayed white door frames curing on trestles before installation in a Dubai apartment
Frames sprayed and cured before they go back on site.

Sheen matters as much as shade. Matte hides a wavy wall and suits bedrooms and ceilings; silk and satin finish wipe clean and belong in hallways, kitchens and children’s rooms; a washable paint or a good emulsion in a family room will survive a damp cloth for years. We bring sample pots and paint a patch on your own wall before you commit.

Facades

Exterior painting and villa exterior repainting

Exterior wall painting in this climate is a coatings job, not a decorating job. Between the UV load, the swing from air-conditioned inside to 45 degrees outside, and the salt carried inland off the water, a facade takes more punishment in a Dubai year than a northern European wall takes in five.

Painting services in Dubai live or die on the facade, so villa exterior repainting starts with the substrate: cracks cut out and filled, efflorescence brushed off and treated, render repaired, and only then a weatherproof paint system that can move slightly with the wall instead of cracking over it. Compound walls, boundary walls, balconies, soffits and parapets are all measured and priced on the same schedule.

Painter cutting in a clean white line along a window frame during interior painting in Dubai
Cutting in by hand where masking would leave a ridge.

Metal painting goes on the same visit where it makes sense. Gate and railing painting is a strip, prime and topcoat job with a rust-inhibiting primer — skip that primer and the brown streaks are back down the wall by next winter.

Paper

Wallpaper installation and removal

Wallpaper installation is a trade of its own and we treat it that way. The wall has to be flatter for paper than for paint, because a seam will telegraph a bump that emulsion would have forgiven, so a skim coat and a lining paper are often the difference between a wall that looks fitted and one that looks stuck on.

Wallpaper removal and installation usually arrive together. Old vinyl comes off wet, the residual adhesive is washed down rather than painted over, and the wall is sized before the new drop goes up. Pattern repeats, drop matching and cutting around switches are set out before the first length is pasted, and we order enough roll from one batch so the colour does not shift halfway across the room.

Spray finish being applied to timber joinery in the Abdulla Carpentry EST paint booth in Dubai
Joinery sprayed in the booth rather than brushed on site.
Specialist finishes

Decorative and texture painting

Decorative work is where painting services in Dubai earn their reputation. Texture paint and stucco build a surface you can read with your hand; Venetian plaster is burnished back in thin layers to a depth that no printed paper imitates; micro-cement gives a seamless concrete look across a wall, a counter or a bathroom without a single joint.

An accent wall is the cheapest piece of interior design in the building. Feature wall painting in a strong shade, a metallic glaze, or a geometric layout changes a whole room for the price of a few square metres, and it can be undone in an afternoon if you tire of it. We mock up the finish on a board first so you are choosing from the real thing rather than a brochure.

Roller applying white paint to a textured vaulted ceiling during ceiling painting works in Dubai
Textured and vaulted ceilings worked with the roller the profile needs.
Joinery

Wood, furniture and cabinet painting

We began as a carpentry workshop, so of all our painting services in Dubai joinery finishing is the part of painting we are least willing to rush. Wood staining brings the grain up rather than burying it, varnish and PU lacquer give a hard wearing surface for a table or a stair, and a sprayed two-pack on a door leaf is a finish you can run your hand across without feeling a single brush line.

Kitchen cabinet repainting is the best value job on this page. The carcasses stay where they are; the doors and drawer fronts come off, go to the booth, get stripped, filled and sprayed, and come back on new hinges a few days later. You get a new-looking kitchen for a small fraction of what replacing it would cost, and none of the demolition.

Wardrobes, vanities, TV walls, bookshelves and loose furniture go through the same route. If a piece is worth keeping, refinishing it almost always beats buying its replacement.

Wall being skim-coated smooth in preparation for painting on a Dubai renovationBoothSpray finishing at our Ras Al Khor workshop
Making good

Wall repair, crack filling and plastering

Paint hides nothing. Every hairline the decorator paints over is still there a week later, only now it is a hairline in a fresh colour. Crack repair is therefore the first item on our schedule, not an afterthought: cracks are opened up, filled, taped where they are structural in origin, and feathered flat before anything else happens.

Putty and skim coat work levels the small stuff — nail pops, patched sockets, the shadow where a shelf used to be. Wall plastering handles the larger areas, and a full skim gives you a surface flat enough for a dark or a gloss shade, both of which show every defect the light can find.

Wood table top being sealed with a clear protective finish during furniture painting in Dubai
Clear finishes and lacquers applied under controlled conditions.

Where there has been a leak, water damage and mould treatment before painting is not optional. The source gets fixed, the affected plaster comes out, the area is treated with a fungicidal wash and sealed with a stain block. Painting over damp only moves the problem a few months down the calendar.

How it runs

How a painting job runs, start to finish

Wall cracks filled and feathered flat before painting starts on a Dubai job

1

Free survey and colours

We measure each wall and ceiling, test the plaster, then agree the shade and sheen on your walls.

Power sander smoothing MDF panelling ahead of primer on a Dubai painting job

2

Masking and protection

Floors, joinery, sockets and furniture are all sheeted and taped before any single tin is opened.

Timber cabinet being sanded by hand to key the surface before repainting in Dubai

3

Repairs and preparation

Cracks are cut out and filled, stains sealed, surfaces sanded flat, then the primer is rolled on.

Paint colour swatch fan, brushes and roller laid out for choosing a shade in Dubai

4

Coats in the right order

Ceilings first, then walls, then joinery, and each coat gets the drying time that label asks for.

Protective coating being rolled over a prepared surface during painting works in Dubai

5

Snagging and handover

We walk the rooms with you, touch in whatever is marked, lift the masking and leave it all clean.

The paint we buy

Jotun, Dulux, Asian Paints and National Paints, specified per surface rather than per job, with the tin listed on your quotation.

Low odour, low dust

Dust-free sanding on extraction and low-VOC or odourless paint where the room has to be slept in the same night.

Fast turnaround

Same-day painting on a single room, and a fast turnaround on empty units where the handover date will not move.

Before and after

We photograph every room at survey, so the painting before and after comparison is yours and not a stock picture.

Money

Painting cost in Dubai, by measured area

Painting cost per sq ft Dubai wide is the only honest way to quote this trade, because two flats with the same bedroom count can differ by a third in wall area once you count the ceilings, the stairwell and the double-height void. Villa painting cost and apartment painting cost therefore both come off the same rate card below, applied to what we measure on the day.

Scope Typical range Notes
Repaint, existing colour, sound walls AED 12 – 16 / sq ft Light making good, two coats
Repaint with colour change or heavy prep AED 16 – 22 / sq ft Full fill, sand and prime before two coats
New plaster or skim, first decoration AED 15 – 20 / sq ft Mist coat plus two finish coats
Feature wall in a specialist finish AED 120 – 400 / sq m Microcement, Venetian or metallic
Wallpaper hanging AED 45 – 90 / sq m Labour only; lining extra where required
Door and frame, sprayed in our booth AED 700 – 1,800 each Removed, stripped, filled, sprayed, rehung
Kitchen respray, existing carcasses AED 9,000 – 22,000 Fronts removed and sprayed off site
Exterior wall coating AED 18 – 32 / sq ft UV-stable, elastomeric where movement exists
Epoxy floor coating AED 22 – 45 / sq ft Garages, plant rooms, utility areas

What moves a quotation up: ceilings above three metres, dark colours being covered, heavy crack repair, and anything that needs scaffolding rather than a tower. What moves it down: empty units, sound walls, and a shade close to the one already there. Everything is itemised, so if you want to drop the exterior or postpone the wallpaper you can see exactly what comes off.

Hand-painted rainbow mural in a Dubai children’s room beside plain neutral painted walls
Hand-painted murals and feature walls set out on site.

There is no charge for the free site visit and painting quotation, and no obligation after it. We would rather lose a job at survey than argue about a variation in week three.

Common questions

Painting services in Dubai — common questions

How much does it cost to paint an apartment in Dubai?

Apartment painting is priced on measured area, not on bedroom count. A repaint in the existing colour on sound walls runs AED 12–16 per sq ft of wall and ceiling area, and a colour change with full preparation runs AED 16–22 per sq ft. We measure the flat at the free survey and give you a fixed total against those rates, so the figure is yours rather than an average.

How much does villa painting cost in Dubai?

The same interior rates apply — AED 12–16 per sq ft for a like-for-like repaint and AED 16–22 per sq ft with a colour change — but a villa carries far more ceiling and stairwell area than its floor plan suggests. Exterior wall coating is quoted separately at AED 18–32 per sq ft, including crack treatment and a UV-stable system. Interior and facade are always shown as two lines so you can take them in either order.

How long does it take to paint a 2-bedroom apartment?

An empty two-bedroom flat in a straight repaint is usually three to four working days: a day of masking and preparation, two days of coats, and a half day of snagging and cleaning. Add a day or two for a colour change, heavy crack repair, or an occupied flat where we work room by room around you.

Which paint brand is best for Dubai weather?

For exteriors, a UV-stable, elastomeric facade system — Jotun and Dulux both make one — will outlast a standard emulsion by years in this sun. For interiors, any of Jotun, Dulux, Asian Paints or National Paints will perform well; the sheen matters more than the badge, with silk or satin in the wet and high-traffic rooms and matte on ceilings. We specify per surface and put the product on the quotation.

Do I have to move out while you paint?

Rarely. We work room by room in occupied homes, sheet everything that stays and clear the site each evening. With low-VOC or odourless paint, a bedroom painted in the morning is usually fine to sleep in that night. Full villa repaints do move faster if the house is empty, but it is your call, not a condition.

How many coats will you apply?

Two, in almost every case. A one-coat refresh is honest value only where the walls are sound and the shade is unchanged, and we will tell you when that applies. Over a dark colour, new plaster, or patchy repairs, one coat will ghost, so we quote two-coat or a full repaint rather than let you pay for the job twice.

Can you paint kitchen cabinets instead of replacing them?

Yes, and it is the best-value job we do. The carcasses stay in place; doors and drawer fronts come off to our booth, get stripped, filled and sprayed in PU or lacquer, and go back on fresh hinges. Kitchen cabinet repainting on existing carcasses runs AED 9,000–22,000 depending on the door count and finish.

Do you handle wallpaper as well as paint?

We do. Wallpaper removal and installation usually come together: old paper is taken off wet, adhesive washed down rather than painted over, the wall skimmed or lined, then sized before the new drop. Hanging is AED 45–90 per sq m as labour, with lining priced separately where the wall needs it.

What happens if there is mould or a water stain?

It gets treated, not covered. The source is traced and fixed, the affected plaster comes out, the area is washed with a fungicidal treatment and sealed with a stain block before any colour goes on. Painting straight over damp or a ceiling stain simply moves the problem a few months forward.

Do you do move-in and move-out painting for tenants?

Regularly. Move-out and handover painting puts walls back to the original shade so the deposit comes back whole, and move-in painting lets you set your own colours before the furniture lands. Landlords with several units get the block priced as one contract and sequenced so it is never entirely out of service.

Which areas of Dubai do you cover?

All of it. Most of our painting works are in Dubai Marina, Downtown, Business Bay, JVC, Dubai Hills, Arabian Ranches, Damac Hills, Mirdif, Springs and Meadows, and we go out to Sharjah and Abu Dhabi where the job justifies it. Community access rules, permits and lift bookings are arranged by us.

Do you guarantee the work?

Yes. Our painting carries a written workmanship warranty against peeling, flaking and premature failure of the system we specified, on top of the manufacturer’s own product warranty. If something lifts because of how we prepared or applied it, we come back and put it right.

References

Standards and paint systems we work to

Useful background if you want to check a specification, a product or a regulation for yourself before you sign anything.

Get a painting quotation

Send a floor plan or a few photographs and we will tell you roughly where it lands. Book the free site visit and painting quotation and you get a fixed figure, a coat schedule and a start date in writing.