Repainting the breezeways of an occupied apartment community in Florida works best one building at a time, with every schedule coordinated through the site team, the right primer for each surface, and a walkthrough of each building before the crew moves on. The other piece owners and managers should insist on: if the existing coating is failing, the contractor should test it and fix the cause instead of painting over it.

Here is how that played out on a recent breezeway repaint at a 314-unit apartment community in Clearwater, managed by Greystar, and what property managers and asset managers in Tampa Bay should ask any contractor before a similar project.

1. Breezeways are where residents live with the work

On an apartment repaint, the breezeways, stairwells and unit doors are the parts residents walk through every day. That often makes them the hardest part of the job to schedule and the part residents notice first when it is done well or done poorly.

The Clearwater community has 10 buildings and 314 units, built in 2022, and it stayed fully occupied the whole time. The scope covered breezeways, stairwells, unit doors and the community’s garage doors. Greystar needed the work done one building at a time with as little disruption to residents as possible.

Ask your contractor: How will you sequence the buildings, and how will residents know when their breezeway is next?

2. Work building by building, on the site team’s schedule

We worked building by building and coordinated every schedule with Greystar’s site team, so residents knew when their breezeway was next. Finishing one building before starting the next keeps the disruption in one place at a time and gives the site team a clear answer when a resident asks what is happening outside their door.

Protection matters as much as sequencing in a breezeway. Stairwells were masked and protected, and railings, stair stringers and garage doors were prepped and masked before coating.

Ask your contractor: Who on your team talks to our site staff each day, and how far ahead will you confirm which building is next?

3. Every surface needs its own primer and finish

A breezeway is not one surface. At Clearwater, each building had fiber-cement siding, wood trim, metal unit doors and stair systems, and each needed its own primer and finish under the Sherwin-Williams specification. Fiber-cement siding, trim, stair systems, unit doors and garage doors were all coated to the specified system, with the right primer for each surface.

When a bid lists one product for “all breezeway surfaces,” that is worth a question. The coating system should match what is actually on the wall, the door and the railing.

• Fiber-cement siding: the specified primer and finish for that substrate.
• Wood trim: its own prep and primer before finish coats.
• Metal unit doors, garage doors and stair systems: a system suited to metal, applied after the surfaces are prepped.

Ask your contractor: Which primer and finish will you use on each surface, and is that the manufacturer’s specified system?

4. When the existing coating is failing, test it before you paint

The most important moment on this project was not in the original scope. During the work we identified a failing existing coating. New paint applied over a coating that is no longer bonded to the surface can only hold as well as the layer underneath it, so painting over it would have put the new finish at risk.

Instead we brought it to Greystar’s attention, conducted adhesion testing, and coordinated with Sherwin-Williams to determine the right corrective solution. That is how Greystar described it afterward:

“When they identified a failing existing coating, they proactively brought it to our attention, conducted adhesion testing, and coordinated with Sherwin-Williams to determine the appropriate corrective solution rather than simply painting over the issue.”

Bryan Grackin, Senior Director, Construction Services, Greystar

For an owner or manager, the takeaway is simple: you want a contractor who stops and tells you when something is wrong, brings in the coating manufacturer, and agrees on the fix with you before moving forward.

Ask your contractor: If you find peeling or poorly bonded paint, what will you do before you keep painting, and who decides the fix?

5. Walk every building before moving on

We walked every building with the crew and finished touch-ups before moving on to the next. Closing out each building as you go means touch-ups are handled while the crew and materials are still there, and the site team is not left with a long punch list across 10 buildings at the end.

The result: the breezeways, stairwells and unit doors in all 10 buildings, plus the community’s garage doors, were repainted while residents stayed at home.

Breezeway repaint checklist for property managers

• Confirm the building-by-building sequence and how residents will be told what is next.
• Name one contact on each side: your site team and the contractor’s supervisor.
• Ask for the coating system by surface: siding, trim, doors, railings and stair systems.
• Ask how stairwells, walkways and doors will be protected while residents use them.
• Agree up front on what happens if failing existing paint is found.
• Require a walkthrough and touch-up of each building before the crew moves on.

If you are planning work on a condominium rather than an apartment community, our post on repainting an occupied high-rise condo in Florida covers access and board communication, and you can see more multifamily work on our projects page.

Frequently asked questions

Can apartment breezeways be repainted while residents are living there?

Yes. At a 314-unit community in Clearwater, Bayshore Painters repainted the breezeways, stairwells and unit doors in all 10 buildings while residents stayed at home, working one building at a time and coordinating every schedule with the property’s site team.

What should happen if the existing paint in a breezeway is failing?

The contractor should stop and tell the owner or manager rather than paint over it. On the Clearwater project, Bayshore Painters brought the failing coating to Greystar’s attention, conducted adhesion testing and coordinated with Sherwin-Williams to determine the corrective solution.

Do breezeway surfaces need different coatings?

Usually, yes. Breezeways often combine fiber-cement siding, wood trim, metal doors and stair systems, and each needs its own primer and finish under the manufacturer’s specified system.

Bayshore Painters repaints occupied apartment communities, condominiums and HOAs across Tampa Bay and Central Florida, from breezeways and stairwells to full exteriors. See our services, or request a property assessment and we’ll walk your property with your site team before work begins.