DH Painter & Decorator takes on commercial painting in Westone, the mainly residential NN3 district 2.6 miles north-east of Northampton town centre. The business premises here are a hotel, pubs and small shops, so Dean plans each job around guests, customers and opening hours.
A small, specific set of premises
Westone is overwhelmingly residential, so commercial painting here is a short list rather than an industrial estate. A local estate-agent description of the Weston Favell and Westone suburb mentions two pubs, general stores and a hotel, the Westone Manor Hotel on Ashley Way. The Wellingborough Road frontage is where most passing trade sees a business. The larger Weston Favell Shopping Centre, opened in 1974, is close by but sits in a separate district centre, so this page is about the smaller premises in Westone itself.
What those premises have in common is that they keep trading while they are decorated. Customers come in, guests check in, deliveries arrive. The painting has to fit around that.
Hotel work around guests and period detail
Westone Manor was built in 1914 as the home of shoe manufacturer William Sears and has since gained modern extensions. Its own description notes an original fireplace, bay windows and architectural mouldings. Any hotel built this way presents two jobs under one roof:
- Period rooms where cornices, mouldings and fire surrounds need hand cutting and careful filling, and where heavy rolling would blur the detail.
- Modern extension wings where corridors and bedrooms need durable, washable finishes that stand up to luggage and cleaning trolleys.
For a hotel we would normally work room by room against the bookings calendar, use low-odour water-based paints so rooms can be re-let quickly, and keep corridors clear and signed. Function rooms are easier to tackle between events, and we agree start and finish times with the manager so noise and smells do not reach occupied rooms.
Pubs and shops facing the A4500
The Wellingborough Road is a busy A road along Westone’s southern edge, and traffic grime builds up on any frontage that faces it. For exterior work on a pub or shop there, washing down is a full stage of the job, not a quick wipe. Paint over a film of road dirt and it lets go early. We also expect frontages along that road to need recoating sooner than a sheltered elevation would.
Working on a main road also changes the logistics. Ladders and access towers need safe footing clear of the footway, parking is tighter than on the side roads, and the work may need to start early or be split across quieter days. Inside, a pub bar or a shop floor is usually easier to paint before opening or on a closed day, with stock and seating covered and fresh paint dry before customers arrive.
General stores and small shop units
No source we have read describes the inside of the general stores credited to the Weston Favell and Westone suburb, so each one is surveyed before pricing. In a small store that stays open while it is decorated, the practical questions are which runs of shelving can be cleared at a time and whether the wall behind the counter, which takes the most knocks, should get a tougher washable finish than the rest.
How we plan a commercial job here
Every commercial quote starts with a visit to see the premises and talk through when you can and cannot have work going on. From that we put together a schedule, by room, by elevation or by day, so you know which areas are out of use and for how long. Dean is fully insured for commercial work. The wider approach is on our main commercial painting page, and if the job is mainly the signage and frontage of a shop, see shopfront painting. Our Westone page covers the residential side of the area.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
