First fix and second fix are electrician's terms borrowed by every trade on site, and decorating has its own version of both. Getting the definitions agreed at the start of the job stops arguments about whose fault a delay is halfway through.
Before a mist coat, we need walls boarded and taped, sockets and switch boxes capped, and any containment that will be chased into the wall already run. Painting ahead of this means either painting round obstacles that later get cut through, or masking that slows the job down for no lasting benefit.
Second fix is where skirtings, architraves, ironmongery and light fittings go on. Decorators typically return for a final coat after second-fix joinery is fitted and filled, then again for snagging touch-in once switches, sockets and grilles are on the wall. Three visits, agreed up front, is normal — not a sign of poor planning.
Bunching second-fix trades into the same week rather than trickling them in over a fortnight means decorators can return once for the final coat instead of chasing a moving target room by room. A short daily huddle with the site manager during this phase catches most scheduling slips before they cost a wasted visit.
Only for the mist coat and any priming of new plaster, then we usually stand down until second fix trades are close to finishing so the final coat isn't chasing them room by room.
We finish the rooms that are ready and return for the stragglers rather than holding the whole floor. It costs a short return visit but keeps the overall programme moving.
It's better not to — cutting in neatly around a live fitting is slower and less tidy than painting first and fitting after.
Tell us your first-fix and second-fix dates and we will build a two or three visit plan around them.
Decorating naturally happens in stages that mirror first fix and second fix — planning for that avoids surprise return visits.
Speak to a Hampshire commercial decorating contractor that turns up, communicates clearly and delivers a finish that lasts.
