The best residential painters in the country are right here in Nelson.
Stoke-based Total Decorating Ltd won the Residential Master Painter of the Year at the Master Painters New Zealand Awards in Queenstown this winter.
It is the top prize available for residential painters in this country.
The award was judged across a selection of homes submitted by Total Decorating, which included new home interiors, timber finishing, wallpapering and painting at renovations.
The residential side of the awards has 14 categories, each with a section winner, several gold awards and some highly-recommended winners below that.
The Total Decorating team won three sections, another four gold awards, as well as the overall residential award.
It’s a stunning success for Total Decorating, which paints homes for the majority of the region’s major building companies including GJ Gardiner, Signature Homes, Stonewood Homes, Jason Gardiner, You Build, Aspect Builders, Spacecraft Builders, Urban Box Construction, Charlie Harwood Builders, Ferguson Construction and Jennian Homes.
Owner Aaron Mallinson says the supreme award was a shock on the night but the quality of work his team is producing has been to a very high standard for some time.
“We’ve worked really hard to get the right processes in place to make sure our work is of the highest possible standard but none of it would work without the staff. They are the ones doing the work and making sure the homes we work on look outstanding when we’re finished with them,” he says.
Richard Crompton’s wallpaper work secured the wallcoverings section.
But it isn’t just the quality of painting that helped Total Decorating win the supreme award. Branding, presentation of the painters and business structure also contributes to the final decision.
Master Painters chair Brian Miller said the entry from Total Decorating was top quality.
“Total Decorating Nelson presented a portfolio of high quality work, carried out within the pressure of the group housing environment, the work presented was both consistent and of the highest quality. In only their second attempt, being awarded the Residential Master Painter of the Year is a true achievement.”
Dulux Nelson representative Craig Brown says he’s delighted the top award was won by a Nelson company.
“I think the judges liked that Aaron entered a number of homes, they weren’t just one or two hand-picked just for the awards. The judges liked that they could go on any of his sites and see that same consistency.”
Aaron says the biggest thrill of winning was being able to use it to recognise the efforts of his team, which is made up of a dozen painters and an office administrator.
“It’s for them really. They work bloody hard and keep our standards up, so it really does reflect on them. I go through every home before we hand it over, so I keep a really close eye on what we do and the guys don’t give me much to do, the standard is really high and this award highlights that.”
He says the company has made a big effort to implement systems that makes each house as efficient as possible while ensuring the highest quality.
Aaron says they’re far from finished either, as he eyes up next year’s awards already.
“It’s been a three to four year process for us to get here but we’re not done yet. We want to keep striving and keep trying to be as good as we can.”
“I’d also really like to thank Master Painters for putting these awards on, it’s a great way to recognise the hard work that our painters put in and the results we get.”
