Painting new construction by own effort

We did it, and since we are/were no professionals, we were convinced by the result or rather satisfied with it. 170 sqm living area. Everything was prepped to Q3, well let's say Q2.5. Ceiling on the ground floor painted with 160g/mm2 painter's fleece and the rest of the walls/ceilings painted with wet abrasion class 2 paint (at least twice). A few tips: 1x fine filler bucket 25kg costs about €40 (awesome stuff and can be sanded 30 minutes later depending on thickness, where only Q2 or worse was). A handy work light for raking light is a must. 120 & 160 grit (hand) sandpaper. Sufficient ladders, rollers, tape, covering foil, painter's fleece (the thin one is more than enough), renovation sockets, primer (colorless and not the pink one, it's cheaper), dish soap & good fingertips for pulling acrylic (or such plastic scrapers). As I once said in between, "Filling, sanding, painting and then sanding again —> surface like a blackboard (smooth) —> the 'unevenness'/texture of the paint roller should be the goal." It took the three of us about 3 weeks and the offer was about 6k (company) versus 3k (with qualitatively better materials) like wet abrasion class 2 instead of 3, fleece 160g instead of 130g. Exhausting, fun but you become more skilled afterwards, since when moving in there are the one or other spots that need touch-ups.

Definitely do it yourself! We glued painter’s fleece in Q2, which is really easy and can be done alone with a ladder if necessary. You need little equipment and the material doesn’t cost much. With all due respect to the painter profession – but if not this, then what else do you want to do yourself? It doesn’t get easier in construction. One YouTube tutorial is enough. After a practice day, I wallpapered three rooms alone per day (walls, sloping ceilings, window reveals), painting (double coat) was similarly fast. However, you need an empty house without people constantly needing something from you. The stairwell without stairs was relatively tricky, so I had to get a small aluminum scaffold. Insulation between rafters is also a good tip! Laminate, baseboards, suspending ceilings, building a terrace, all in the garden – you can save a lot of money. You just need the time. I would claim: with two people, three weeks of vacation, and good planning and preparation, wallpapering, painting, and laying (simple) floors are doable.

Definitely do it yourself! We applied painter’s fleece on Q2, which is really easy and can be done alone with a ladder if necessary.

I would be really cautious there. Q2 still has some unevenness that becomes extremely visible under painter’s fleece. A small plaster crumb can cause the fleece to form a little tent over it. So I would at least sand it again beforehand. And even then, it probably won’t meet high standards if you’ve never done it before. At the time, we had structured, slightly thicker painter’s fleece (called fleece fiber) applied by a semi-professional wallpaperer, who also did some sanding (but probably not up to Q3), and still there were several spots where you could tell that it would have looked better if more money had been spent.

And do you have to prime somehow or do you apply the paint directly (presumably 2-3 coats)?

If you ask like that, the answers below somehow don't make sense.

Hi anyway, with Q2-Q3 you usually have to sand and fill again. I generously double my effort estimate there.

So our work steps are: filling, sanding, priming, 2 x painting - right?

If you know "walls" from your previous job, then you should be aware of the condition. And then the question here for us is how the final product should look. We have: also the good Q2(-3), primed and painted ourselves with tinted paint. And it should be like that, completely without fleece, wallpaper, or smoothed plaster. Only the drywall of the sloping ceilings held us up with the re-sanding: so we spent 2 weeks for two people in the attic, one in the ground floor. But we had scaffolding work due to air space and on the ceiling area a taped white stripe. So: I am for doing it yourself, estimate 3 weeks (without fleece), and expect that you won't be working on it 10 hours every day if you don't do any other physical work. After four days the body's refusal to continue sets in. Painting is no magic, I would be wary of sticking fleece.

I would be really careful there. Q2 still has some unevenness that you can see really well under painter's fleece. A small plaster crumb and the painter's fleece will tent up like a little tent. So I would at least sand over it once more beforehand. And even then, it probably won't be suitable for high standards if you have never done it before.

At the time, we had slightly thicker structured painter's fleece (called fleece fiber) applied by a semi-professional, and he sanded a bit more (but probably not up to Q3), and still we had some spots where you could see that there would have been more if you had spent more money.

Definitely do it yourself! We stuck painter's fleece on Q2, which is really easy and can be done alone with a ladder if necessary. You need little tools and the material doesn’t cost a fortune. With all due respect to the painting profession – but if not this, what else would you want to do yourself? It doesn’t get easier in construction. One YouTube tutorial is enough. After one practice day I wallpapered three rooms alone per day (walls, sloping ceilings, window reveals), painting (two coats) was similarly quick. However, you need an empty house without people constantly wanting something from you. The stairwell without stairs was relatively tricky, I had to get a small aluminum scaffold. The insulation between rafters is also a good hint! Laminate, baseboards, hanging ceilings, building the terrace, all in the garden – you can save a ton of money. You just need the time. I would claim: with two people, three weeks of vacation, and good planning and preparation, wallpapering, painting, and laying (simple) floors is doable.

Properly painting a stairwell including scaffold is quite a big challenge. In the end, we only did the basement ourselves and had the actual living area done by a professional. That was the right decision.

If you have the 15-20,000 EUR that painters nowadays charge for a 150m² house, for 200m² it can quickly become 25,000 EUR.

Why do you actually want silicate paint or, on gypsum, only dispersion silicate paint works anyway... if you are sealing the wall underneath with adhesive and fleece anyway?

A diffusion-open paint only makes sense if it is applied directly to the plaster and there is no diffusion-tight barrier from painter’s fleece in between?
The plaster behind and the masonry should remain diffusion-open and thereby regulate part of the indoor moisture.
The few millimeters of silicate paint won’t do you any good there...

You might as well use the significantly cheaper dispersion paint.

As for me, I have decided to rather see a few cracks than seal my new build made from monolithic masonry from the inside again with fleece, like a milk carton.

Besides, you save yourself the extremely laborious step of wallpapering, including the cost of the materials... especially with fleece it takes an extremely long time if you are not a professional; the painter sticks 1m wide strips.
And you have to putty/sand to Q3 anyway. Whether fleece or not...

PS:
In the end, it’s always the question of how perfect it has to be. I am willing to accept small flaws if I can say, "I did this myself and saved the price of a compact car"...