What warranty should I get on a house or building repaint in Florida?
A repaint warranty in Florida should cover two different things in writing: the contractor's workmanship and the manufacturer's coating. Atrium's exterior repaint warranty is one year on labor and seven years on material — the seven years being Sherwin-Williams' own warranty on SuperPaint, assigned to the owner at completion. Epoxy floors carry ten years. On commercial contracts the workmanship year runs from each building's certificate of completion, and the exclusions — sealants, structural movement, roof leaks, surface soiling — are listed in the contract rather than argued later.
Typical project range: $2,500 – $8,500 the middle half of 136 exterior painting jobs completed since 2021 — every one carrying these terms.
The terms, in writing
| Work | Labor | Material | Runs from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exterior repaint, house | 1 year | 7 years, Sherwin-Williams SuperPaint | Completion |
| Exterior repaint, commercial or association | 1 year on all surfaces fully repainted | 7 years, Sherwin-Williams SuperPaint, assigned to owner at closeout | Each building’s certificate of completion |
| Upgraded finish | 1 year | 10 years Resilience · 15 years Emerald Rain Refresh | Completion |
| Epoxy and polymer flake floor | 10 years | Completion |
The warranty wording on a commercial contract
Atrium provides a one (1) year workmanship warranty on all surfaces fully repainted under this contract, running from the date of the certificate of completion for this building. Materials are warrantied by the manufacturer: Sherwin-Williams SuperPaint Exterior Acrylic Latex carries a seven (7) year manufacturer warranty. All manufacturer warranties for materials furnished under this contract will be assigned to the owner at closeout.
Exclusions
| Excluded | Why |
|---|---|
| Sealants and caulking | Sealant is a maintenance item with its own life, spot-treated under a repaint |
| Surfaces not fully repainted under the contract | A touched-up surface is not a repainted one |
| Structural movement | Cracks that follow a lintel or a slab edge are the building moving, not the paint failing |
| Water intrusion from the roof or below grade | Paint cannot hold back water arriving from behind it |
| Impact, vandalism, tenant alteration | |
| Pressure washing by others | High pressure or the wrong chemistry strips a sound coating |
| Surface soiling requiring cleaning rather than recoating | Insect residue, bird droppings and atmospheric staining wash off; they are not coating failures |
What a warranty is worth
On the nine-building warehouse portfolio Atrium completed in 2024 — $987,342 of exterior repainting — the whole warranty punch list, across all nine buildings, was twelve small touch-ups. That is the number behind the one-year term: a properly primed, two-coat acrylic system on cleaned stucco does not fail in year one, and if it does, it is a workmanship matter and it gets fixed.
Sources
- Atrium proposal terms — one-year workmanship warranty from the certificate of completion; Sherwin-Williams manufacturer warranty assigned at closeout
- Atrium contract records, nine-building portfolio, 2024 — warranty punch list of twelve touch-ups across nine buildings
- atriumpaint.com/epoxy-floors, retrieved 2026-09-11 — ten-year epoxy floor warranty as published by the company
Related questions
- What is the difference between a labor warranty and a material warranty?
- The material warranty is the paint manufacturer's promise that the coating will not fail on its own — peel, blister, chalk excessively — and it pays for replacement paint, not for the labor to put it on. The labor warranty is the contractor's promise about the work: prep, primer, coats, coverage. A warranty covering only the material leaves you paying labor twice if the coating fails.
- Why only one year on labor?
- Because that is when workmanship failures show. Paint that was put on chalk without a conditioner, or a single coat sold as two, peels or ghosts inside a year in Florida sun. Beyond that, what fails is the coating, the substrate or the building, which is what the material warranty and the exclusions are for. On a nine-warehouse portfolio Atrium completed in 2024, the entire warranty punch list was twelve small touch-ups.
- What does the warranty not cover?
- Sealants and caulking; surfaces that were not fully repainted under the contract; structural movement; water intrusion from the roof or from below grade; impact, vandalism and alterations by others; pressure washing by others; and surface soiling that needs cleaning rather than recoating — insect residue, bird droppings, atmospheric staining. Every one of those has been claimed on a commercial job, which is why they are written down.
- How do I make a warranty claim?
- Call or email with the address and a photograph. The company inspects, and if it is a workmanship failure inside the year it is repaired. A manufacturer claim on the coating goes to Sherwin-Williams with the product and batch records from the proposal, which is why the proposal lists gallons by product.
- What should I ask another contractor?
- Is the labor warranty in writing, for how long, and from what date? Which product, by name, and what is its manufacturer warranty? Is a masonry primer in the scope? How many finish coats? What is excluded? A contractor who cannot answer those five on paper is not offering a warranty; they are offering a phone number.