Renovata puts clients in Ghent in touch with painters from their own region. From a complete townhouse stairwell with mouldings to a flat that needs to be painted white again between two tenants: describe your job and hear from tradespeople who can handle old paint layers, plasterwork and narrow Ghent streets.
Ghent consists largely of terraced houses and townhouses in the densely built city centre, with neighbourhoods such as Sint-Amandsberg, Ledeberg, Gentbrugge and Wondelgem around it, where 19th-century workers' houses and interwar homes are the norm. Many buildings stand wall to wall, with narrow facades, small courtyards at the back and old vaulted cellars.
A large share of these homes is owned by landlords and lived in by students or young households. You notice this in the state of the installations: electrics and pipes are often decades old, and work has been kept to a minimum in the past. When a house is sold or re-let, that backlog suddenly comes to light.
In the protected townscape inside the R40 ring road, extra rules apply to facades, dormer windows and windows. Work on the outside often requires an environmental permit or advice from the heritage department.
In 19th-century townhouses ceilings reach 3.5 or 4 metres and there are mouldings, ceiling roses and profiled skirting boards. That is not roller work: mouldings are painted by brush, and cracks in the plaster must first be stabilised with a suitable filler. Expect more labour hours per square metre than in a modern home, plus mobile scaffolding for the stairwell.
On woodwork, windows and banisters in pre-war Ghent buildings there is often still lead-based paint under the recent layers. Dry sanding or burning off then releases lead dust or fumes. The correct approach is wet sanding, scraping with extraction or chemical stripping, with the room screened off. Ask your painter explicitly how they handle this if the building is old and there are children in the house.
Ghent terraced houses rarely have a proper damp-proof course at the base of the wall. On the ground floor you therefore see white crystals, peeling paint and stains up to 60 to 100 cm high. Painting over it without tackling the cause will not last a year. First let the wall dry, knock off the salts, apply renovation plaster or anti-salt primer, and only then a breathable paint.
Around the Overpoort, Sint-Amandsberg and Ledeberg tenants often change in July-August. Then walls have to be filled and painted in a few days between two contracts: sealing nicotine and mould stains, filling holes, two coats of matt wall paint. Landlords here usually work with a fixed price per room or per flat instead of per hour.
Exterior painting on a facade in the centre of Ghent often means there is no room for mobile scaffolding on the pavement without a public space permit from the city. Many painters then work with a ladder lift or aerial platform in an agreed time slot. For a facade in a protected townscape, the choice of colour is also not always free.
Open jobs on Renovata for painter in and around Gent. This list is updated with the latest jobs when the page opens in your browser.
Post a job yourselfGuide prices based on common rates in East Flanders, excluding VAT. Prices per m² apply to a normally prepared surface; old paint layers, damp or plasterwork increase the price. Your tradesperson makes a quote after a site visit.
Painter hourly rate excl. materials |
€40 – €60/hour |
Rolling walls and ceiling two coats, smooth surface |
€8 – €14/m² |
Painting a room (rental property, 12–15 m²) walls + ceiling, materials included |
€350 – €650 |
Townhouse room with mouldings and high ceiling extra for mouldings and scaffolding |
€900 – €1,800 |
Painting interior joinery (door, frame) sanding, primer, two coats |
€120 – €250 per door |
Pre-treating salt deposits or damp patches knocking off, renovation primer, excl. damp treatment |
€25 – €60/m² |
Painting a facade in the city centre incl. aerial platform or ladder lift |
€35 – €70/m² |
For buildings built or painted before 1945 that is realistic, especially on exterior joinery, interior doors and stairs. Your painter can check it with a quick test. If lead is present, there is no dry sanding but wet sanding or extraction, with screening and dust removal. That takes more time, but prevents lead dust in the house.
No, not permanently. Peeling at the bottom of a Ghent ground-floor wall almost always points to rising damp with salt deposits. Painting over it without tackling the source causes new damage within a few months. The right order is: find the cause (possibly injection or drainage by a damp specialist), let the wall dry, and only then paint with a breathable system.
Not freely in a protected townscape or on a listed building: colour and type of paint may be subject to advice from the heritage department, and some natural stone and brick facades may not be painted at all. Check with the City of Ghent planning department before you give the job. A painter who works in the centre usually knows the practice.
A typical one-bedroom flat can be done in two to three working days if no plastering is needed. In July and August Ghent painters are fully booked because of the student changeover: ask six to eight weeks in advance. Outside that peak, planning one to two weeks ahead is enough.
In many Ghent streets, yes. For scaffolding or an aerial platform on the road or pavement, the contractor needs a public space permit from the city, and sometimes a parking ban. The tradesperson applies for this and it is included as an item in the quote; allow a few working days for the application.
Post your job for free and normally hear from several tradespeople in East Flanders within 24 hours.
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