Quick answer: Usually not on its own. Repainting a home because it is tired, scuffed or the wrong colour is an ordinary living cost, and the NDIS list of supports that are not NDIS supports names “standard home repairs, home improvements, standard renovations and maintenance” as things plan funds cannot buy. Painting can be funded when it is part of a home modification recommended by an occupational therapist, or when it remedies damage caused “exclusively” by disability-related behaviours or NDIS-funded equipment, which sits inside the home modification design and construction category. Minor home modifications generally cost under $25,000 and complex ones over $25,000, and every request must pass the reasonable and necessary test. The NDIA decides, not the painter and not the plan manager. Below we set out where the line falls, what evidence gets a claim over it, and how we paint occupied SIL and SDA homes without disrupting the people who live there.
When is painting NOT fundable?
The NDIA’s page on what is reasonable and necessary says a support must relate to your disability, help you work towards your goals and be value for money, and cannot “include day-to-day living costs”. Its page on what NDIS supports are adds two lists: 37 categories that are NDIS supports and 15 that are not. The excluded list is blunt about housing. It names “standard home security and maintenance costs, fencing, gates and building repairs”, “standard home repairs, home improvements, standard renovations and maintenance” and “direct costs of compliance with a person’s tenancy agreement, including bond, pest control, exit cleaning, general damage repairs”. So a cosmetic repaint, an end-of-lease repaint, cyclical repainting of an SDA or SIL house, or exterior repainting to protect the building cannot be claimed. Spend plan funds on these and the Agency “might ask you to pay NDIS funding back”, which is why we never describe a standard repaint as an NDIS service on a quote.
When can painting be part of a funded home modification?
The NDIS defines home modifications as “custom-built changes to where you live that help you access and use areas of your home”. Painting sits inside that work in three situations.
1. Making good after modification work
When a builder widens a doorway, removes a hob or installs a ramp, grab rails or a hoist track, the patched plaster and new framing need sealing and painting. That is part of the modification, not a separate cosmetic job. The Agency says it will “only pay for home modifications completed by tradespeople who are qualified to complete the type of work”.
2. Repairing disability-related damage
The funded category “home modification design and construction” expressly includes “internal and external building modifications to remedy damage arising exclusively from disability-related behaviours or use of NDIS funded assistive technology or equipment”. Gouged corridors from a power wheelchair, or walls marked by behaviours of concern, can fall here. “Exclusively” matters: general wear does not qualify.
3. Sensory or accessibility finishes recommended by an OT
The NDIS specialist disability accommodation page describes “improved liveability” housing as having “walls and floors that are very easy to see”. Contrast painting of door frames, step edges or the wall behind a white toilet can be part of an OT’s recommendation for low vision or cognitive impairment. The test is the Agency’s own exclusion of “cosmetic finishes like tiles or tapware, which aren’t needed as part of a home modification”: if the paint is needed for the modification to do its job, it is in; if it is just nicer, it is out.
Want a written scope for the painting component of a home modification, or a straight quote for a maintenance repaint of a group home? Contact Trent for a free written quote or call 0425 116 817. You deal with Trent from the quote to the final walk-through.
Scenario by scenario: who decides and what evidence is needed
| Scenario | Likely funding position | Who decides | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interior repaint because walls are tired or marked | Not an NDIS support (“standard home repairs, home improvements, standard renovations and maintenance”) | Participant, landlord or SDA provider pays privately | None; a normal painting quote |
| Painting patched walls after an OT-recommended bathroom or doorway modification | Generally fundable as part of the modification | NDIA, on the assessor’s recommendation | OT assessment, written owner or landlord consent, itemised quote (2 quotes if complex) |
| Repairing walls damaged by a power wheelchair or hoist equipment | Can be fundable as damage “arising exclusively from disability-related behaviours” or NDIS-funded equipment | NDIA; plan manager checks the invoice fits the plan | Letter linking damage to disability or equipment, photos, quote for affected areas only |
| Contrast colour on frames, step edges and fittings for low vision | Can be fundable where an OT recommends it | NDIA | OT assessment stating the functional purpose and surfaces |
| End-of-lease or “make good” repaint | Not an NDIS support: “direct costs of compliance with a person’s tenancy agreement” | Tenant or provider pays | Not applicable |
Thresholds are from the NDIS guide to home modifications (simple adaptations “cost less than $1500 each”) and the home modifications page (minor under $25,000, complex over $25,000).
What evidence does a plan manager or support coordinator need?
The NDIS page on home modification assessments says “a qualified occupational therapist must complete minor and complex home modification assessments”, that the Agency needs “written approval from your landlord” if you rent, and that it needs “2 itemised quotes for complex home modifications”. For the painting element, expect to be asked for:
- The OT’s assessment or letter naming the painting task and its functional purpose.
- A quote that itemises modification-related painting separately from anything cosmetic, with the support category or line item where asked. The NDIA’s pricing arrangements page lists the NDIS pricing schedule effective 1 July 2026, the Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits 2025-26, and a home modifications code guide effective 24 November 2025.
- Before-and-after photos. We supply completion photos on every job.
- Proof the painter is a real trade. The NSW Government painting work page requires a contractor licence for residential painting “valued at more than $5000 in labour and materials (including GST)”, with an exemption since 2015 for stand-alone internal paintwork. Rolling Strokes holds NSW painter and decorator licence 463404C, and you can check any painter’s licence on the NSW Fair Trading register before work starts.
How do you check a painter on the NDIS Provider Register?
The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission’s find a registered provider search looks up any provider by business name, legal name or ABN, shows whether registration is “currently registered” or “suspended or revoked”, and offers the whole register as a CSV download. Search any painter you are considering by business name or ABN, confirm the status shows currently registered before work starts, and ask them for their registration details in writing. From 1 July 2026 the NDIS says all providers delivering SIL must be registered, so expect SIL providers to ask.
How do you paint an occupied SIL or SDA home without disrupting residents?
Most of our disability work is ordinary maintenance painting of group homes, paid for by the SIL or SDA provider, where the hard part is doing it around people who live there. Our NDIS, medical and safety painting service is built around that.
Low-VOC, low-odour products
Paint odour is a real problem for residents with sensory or respiratory sensitivities. The Australian Paint Approval Scheme’s AP-D181 VOC limits cap specification 0215 “Interior Latex Paint, Low Odour, Low VOC” at less than 5 g/L in every finish, against 60 to 70 g/L for standard interior water-based paints. The AP-S0215 specification is written for interiors “where paint odours during application and drying may cause distress such as in nursing homes, hospitals and high density living”. As one example, Dulux states its envirO2 Interior Low Sheen is under 1 g/L VOC; GECA certification is the other label to look for. Low-VOC paints dry faster and can lap, so we follow Dulux’s low-VOC application advice: synthetic sleeves and immediate back-rolling.
Staged rooms, routines and communication
We paint one bedroom or zone at a time in an order agreed with the house manager: common areas while residents are at day programs, bedrooms when the resident is comfortable elsewhere, each space handed back the same day with furniture returned. Mealtimes, medication rounds and quiet hours are fixed points we plan around. Before starting we ask staff which residents should not be approached, which doors stay locked, what equipment cannot be moved and who signs off each stage. The same small crew stays for the whole job and we never photograph residents.
Site safety in a shared home
Drop sheets are taped flat so wheelchairs and walking frames roll over them, ladders never sit unattended in corridors, paint and tools go back to the vehicle at every break, and wet-paint areas are cordoned with signage staff have agreed to. Ask your painter for a public liability certificate of currency, and check the sum insured, before day one.
What this means in the Eastern Suburbs
Eastern Suburbs disability housing is a mix of purpose-built SDA apartments in newer blocks around Mascot, Rosebery, Eastgardens and Little Bay, and older group homes in converted Federation and post-war brick houses in Maroubra, Randwick, Kingsford and Matraville. The older homes are where modification painting most often comes up: widening a doorway in a 1920s hallway means patching hard plaster and matching a picture rail, not rolling plasterboard. Coastal salt from Maroubra through to Malabar and La Perouse also shortens the life of exterior paint, and that cycle is a cost for the SDA provider or landlord, not an NDIS item. Being based in Maroubra, our Maroubra painting team can stage group home work across short visits, which suits providers running several houses in one postcode. For families doing a modification alongside a general refresh, our residential painting service quotes the two parts separately so the plan manager sees exactly what is modification work and what is private.
Frequently asked questions
Does the NDIS pay for house painting?
Not as a stand-alone job. The NDIS list of supports that are not NDIS supports includes “standard home repairs, home improvements, standard renovations and maintenance” as day-to-day living costs. Painting is only fundable when it forms part of a home modification recommended by an occupational therapist, or remedies damage caused exclusively by disability-related behaviours or NDIS-funded equipment.
Can painting be included in an NDIS home modification?
Yes, where it is needed for the modification to be complete or to work. Making good patched plaster after a doorway is widened, sealing new framing around a hoist track, or contrast-painting fittings on an OT’s recommendation can all be included. Purely cosmetic finishes that are not needed for the modification are excluded by the NDIS.
Who pays for repainting a SIL or SDA group home?
Routine repainting is maintenance of the dwelling. The NDIS says SIL funding pays for support workers and cannot be used for rent or day-to-day expenses, and SDA payments go to the SDA provider, who is responsible for the building. Cyclical interior and exterior repainting is therefore a provider or landlord cost, not a participant’s plan cost.
What does a plan manager need to approve painting?
An OT home modification assessment or letter naming the painting and its purpose, written owner or landlord consent to modify the home, an itemised quote that separates modification-related painting from anything cosmetic, and for complex works two quotes. Before-and-after photos help. The NDIA makes the funding decision; the plan manager checks the invoice matches the plan.
Does a painter need to be NDIS registered?
Not necessarily. Plan-managed and self-managed participants can use unregistered trades for funded work, while agency-managed plans need registered providers. You can check any provider on the NDIS Commission’s Provider Register by business name, legal name or ABN and confirm the status is Approved. Rolling Strokes is not a registered provider, which does not affect self-managed or plan-managed participants.
VOCs are the solvents that give paint its smell. APAS specification 0215 caps low-odour interior paints at under 5 g/L, compared with 60 to 70 g/L for standard interior paints, and the specification is written for hospitals, nursing homes and high-density living. Lower odour means residents with sensory or respiratory sensitivities can stay in the house while we work.
