About Us

Women at Work Painters specialises in residential & commercial painting throughout Melbourne, both interior and exterior.

How did we get started?

The idea for a female Melbourne painting & decorating service germinated over many years of coffee mornings with kindergarten and school mums who all had a horror tale to tell of their experiences with trades people. Market research later undertaken showed both men and women from a range of backgrounds unanimously complained of the non-existent service from painters.

Women at Work Painters started in Melbourne in 1996 with a simple mission to: “provide an all-female painting & decorating service to clients which is punctual, reliable, respectful and professional”. Reinforcing this mission, every quotation contains the Women at Work promise:

we promise to turn up on time,
treat your property and its occupants with respect,
work on consecutive working days,
complete the job within the specified time; and
clean up all mess we create

Due to growth in both house & commercial painting our painting teams now include male painters. Sometimes it is more like “Men at Work” than “Women at Work” – we are focussed on finding the best painters regardless of gender.

Who We Are

Avril Southon, Managing Director

Hello there my name is Avril Southon, I have been the owner/Managing Director of Women at Work Painters since December 2001. Back then we were mainly painting houses with a splattering of offices and only employed female painters.

Over time we started doing more commercial work and painting 2 and 3-storey buildings. Nowadays we also undertake quite complex projects involving power companies, councils, booms and scaffolds such as this fabulous home in Clifton Hill. They can test our brain cells at times with the planning and management required – it’s just so worth it in the end to see a home or commercial building come to life with a great paint job!

We are also experienced in stripping paint from timber and lead paint management.

We’ve also broadened our painting criteria to include male painters. We look for painters who you will be happy to have in your home or office and who have the technical skills to perform the work to Australian Standards.

If you have any questions you are welcome to call me directly on 0411 756 709.

How are we different from other painters?

we have been awarded multiple Painting in Excellence Awards for a variety of different projects – please click here for more information on these projects and others
we provide detailed quotes specifying the work to be undertaken including preparation, no. of coats and paint to be used so you know what you are getting
our jobs are supervised to ensure the work we quoted for is undertaken to specification
we sign-off our jobs with our clients to ensure nothing has been missed and you are happy with the painting
we are members of Master Painters Association and have been for over 20 years

as we have been in business for over 25 years you can feel assured we’ll be around to honour our 5-year warranty
we only use premium products so your painting looks good for longer and is easy to maintain
we use a regular team of painters whom we know can perform the painting to the required standards
our painting is undertaken to Australian Standards
our painting experience is broad so we have the knowledge and skill to meet your requirements be they straightforward or complex