Getting your home ready to sell: which walls and ceilings should you tackle?

Which walls and ceilings should you tackle before your home goes on the market?

You do not need to renew everything. Look room by room at what a buyer notices first, and choose the lightest fix that solves it.

Prices from our 2026/2027 price list, valid from 1 September 2026. Prices exclude VAT. For work in a private home more than 10 years old, 6% VAT usually applies; otherwise 21%.

We fill small plug and nail holes first, because paint does not make a wall flatter. That is not included in the price per m² for painting: it appears as a separate item in your quote. A yellowed ceiling stands out even more next to freshly painted walls, so include the ceiling in the same job.

We advise against painting over ordinary paper wallpaper. The moisture from the paint can loosen the old adhesive, and then the wallpaper comes away in places. It also becomes more expensive for the buyer: removing painted wallpaper costs €9.75 per m², unpainted wallpaper €6.99.

If several rooms have old wallpaper, have it all removed in one go. Having wallpaper removed goes at an average of 100 m² per day with us.

What does it cost to get a home ready to sell? A worked example

Take a home with 200 m² of wall and 70 m² of ceiling that is painted entirely in RAL 9010. In the living room there is a dark 30 m² wall that needs a second coat. The measurements are an assumption, not an average.

Prices exclude VAT. For work in a private home more than 10 years old, 6% VAT usually applies; otherwise 21%. The VAT rate is stated in the quote.

If you only have the living room walls done, 45 m², that counts as a small job. You pay 45 × €12.99 = €584.55, plus the small-job surcharge of €249.99 and the call-out charge.

Together that is €934.53: almost a quarter of the amount for the whole home, for a sixth of the m². The surcharge applies to jobs smaller than 50 m², which is why doing the whole home in one go is so much cheaper per m².

If you have a larger home with 250 m² of wall or more, €1.00 per m² comes off the price for painting walls, and from 400 m² it is €2.00 per m².

How do you schedule the painting around the sale?

Schedule the painting before your estate agent’s photographer comes, because the photos are the first thing buyers see of your home. So request the quote as soon as you know you are going to sell.

You receive the quote within 24 hours. If you agree, we schedule the on-site survey: we measure up and look at the walls. After that the final price and the schedule are fixed. We start on the day we agree together.

If a second coat is needed, we allow roughly 1 day between the two coats. According to Sigma, Sigmatex Superlatex Matt can be overpainted after about 4 hours at 23 °C, but a home rarely has exactly those conditions.

A viewing shortly after painting need not be a problem. About Sigmatex Superlatex Matt, the wall paint we use, Sigma writes that it has no troublesome smell and that rooms can be used again straight after painting. According to Sigma, the VOC content is less than 1 gram per litre.

How long your paint smells after painting otherwise depends mainly on ventilation. If you are still living in the house, we work room by room. If it is already empty, or if you first have it cleared, you can also have the walls sprayed: €13.99 per m², compared with €12.99 for rolling.

Isn’t painting before a sale wasted money if the buyer changes everything anyway?

It can feel that way, and nobody can promise you that a fresh coat of paint will raise your sale price. We cannot either. What you do control is what a buyer sees in the photos and at the viewing.

A dark wall, a yellowed ceiling or damaged wallpaper tells a buyer above all: I will have to get to work here first. A white, even wall does not say that.

If the buyer wants their own colour, white gives them an easy base. Sigma gives Sigmatex Superlatex Matt opacity class 2, so white over white often covers in a single coat. Over a dark colour, a second coat is usually needed.

Our advice is therefore: stick to what a buyer sees. Paint in white, take damaged wallpaper off and include the ceiling. Leave new plasterwork or a colour scheme to the buyer.

Who gets your home ready to sell, and how do you request it?

The painting is done by one of our 25 in-house painters, from a team of 97 tradespeople on permanent contracts. If wallpaper has to come off first or a wall has to be repaired, we schedule that ourselves in the right order. Our painters also do the covering and masking.

With your request, send:

• the m² of wall and ceiling, or a floor plan;
• which rooms have a dark colour or wallpaper;
• whether the house is still occupied or already empty;
• when the photographer is coming or the home goes online.

You can work out your m² with the m² calculator. Interior painting carries a 1-year guarantee. We work throughout Belgium: Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia. We charge the fixed rates in our price list.

With us you can have the whole home done in one job, or just have your walls painted. If more needs doing, such as electrics or a new vinyl or laminate floor, we also take on the complete renovation of your home as a contractor, with a single point of contact.

We have recently started working with estate agents for this: your estate agent can refer you to us directly. Is it a large home? Then we would be glad to come and meet you.