2026 has already made UK weather history. We’ve seen record-breaking heat in May, June, and now into July, with the Met Office confirming this is the first year on record that temperatures have hit 35°C or higher in three separate months. Large parts of England have been under amber heat health alerts for days at a time, and for anyone running a commercial painting or refurbishment project across Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, or the wider Midlands, that heat isn’t just uncomfortable — it directly affects the quality and lifespan of the work going on site.
Here’s what this summer’s heatwave actually means for commercial painting, and how a well-run contractor adapts to it rather than just pushing through.
Why This Heat Is a Real Problem for Paintwork
Most trade paints are designed to be applied somewhere between 10°C and 25°C. With daytime highs pushing into the low-to-mid 30s across much of the Midlands this summer, and surface temperatures on south-facing walls, cladding, and dark render running significantly hotter than the air temperature, a lot of exterior work this season has been sitting well outside that ideal range.
When paint gets applied in this kind of heat, a few things tend to go wrong:
The surface skins over too fast. The top of the coat dries before the paint underneath has properly bonded, which weakens adhesion and shortens the life of the finish.
Brush and roller marks stop blending out. Because the paint is setting almost as it’s applied, lap marks and stroke lines can stay visible in the final finish.
Dark colours suffer more. Dark cladding and render can reach surface temperatures well above the air temperature in direct sun, making them especially prone to blistering and premature failure.
Spray application becomes harder to control. Heat speeds up drying in the air between the gun and the surface, increasing overspray and leading to a patchier finish.
It’s Not Just the Heat — It’s the Dryness Too
This year’s heatwaves have also brought long dry spells, with hosepipe bans introduced across parts of southern and eastern England as reservoirs and rivers ran low. For painting contractors, extended dry weather isn’t automatically a bonus. Very low humidity combined with high heat causes the same rapid-drying problems as the heat alone, and dust and debris from parched ground can settle onto wet paint more easily when everything around a site is bone dry.
How We’re Adapting Our Programme This Summer
With 45+ years delivering painting, decorating, and refurbishment work across Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, Manchester, Birmingham, and the wider Midlands, we’ve adjusted the way jobs are run through this year’s heatwaves rather than just working through them regardless:
Shifting exterior work to the cooler parts of the day — early morning starts to get coats on before surface temperatures peak in the afternoon sun
Re-sequencing programmes so exposed, south-facing, or dark-coloured elevations are tackled when conditions allow, rather than forcing them through the hottest part of a heatwave
Choosing appropriate products and, where needed, adjusting application techniques for hot-weather use
Looking after our teams — hydration, shade, and sensible working hours during amber heat health alerts, in line with UKHSA guidance
Keeping clients informed if a heatwave means part of the programme needs to move, so there are no surprises on completion dates
None of this is about avoiding work in the heat altogether — plenty of commercial sites, from retail units to warehouses, can’t simply pause for a few weeks. It’s about recognising that a rushed job finished during a 34°C afternoon often costs a client more in the long run than one paced sensibly around the conditions.
Planning Ahead for the Rest of the Season
With forecasters expecting further hot spells before autumn, it’s worth building weather contingency into any commercial painting or refurbishment programme now rather than reacting to it as it happens. If you’ve got exterior work planned — or a project that’s already fallen behind because of this summer’s conditions — it’s better to talk it through with a contractor who plans around the weather rather than in spite of it.
Get in Touch
If you’re planning a commercial painting or refurbishment project this summer and want a contractor who factors in the practical realities of this year’s heat, get in touch with the Wallace Contracts team. We cover projects across Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, and the wider Midlands, North West, and Wales, and for larger projects, nationwide.
If you rent a commercial property, the words “schedule of dilapidations” can trigger a sharp intake of breath. For many tenants, it arrives towards the end of a lease and outlines — sometimes in considerable detail — the repairs, reinstatements and redecoration works the landlord expects to be carried out before the keys are handed back.
Understanding what a schedule of dilapidations actually means, and how to approach it, can make the difference between a costly dispute and a straightforward handover. Here we explain the basics and how Wallace Contracts can help.
What Is a Schedule of Dilapidations?
A schedule of dilapidations is a formal document prepared by a landlord or their surveyor that lists the disrepair, breaches of lease covenant and reinstatement obligations at a commercial property. It is typically served on the tenant either during the lease (an interim schedule) or at the end of it (a terminal schedule).
The items listed can range from relatively minor cosmetic repairs — repainting walls, replacing damaged flooring or repairing a broken door — through to more significant structural works, such as removing partitions installed by the tenant or reinstating the property to its original layout.
What Are the Most Common Dilapidation Items?
Every schedule is different, but the works most commonly required include:
Redecoration — repainting internal and external surfaces to the standard specified in the lease
Flooring reinstatement — replacing damaged or worn flooring with materials matching the original specification
Partition removal or reinstatement — removing partitions installed during the tenancy, or reinstating those removed
Joinery repairs — repairing or replacing damaged doors, frames, skirting boards and architraves
Suspended ceiling repairs — replacing damaged ceiling tiles or reinstating ceiling grids removed during the tenancy
M&E works — removing redundant electrical or gas installations and making good
What Happens If You Ignore a Schedule of Dilapidations?
Ignoring a dilapidation schedule is rarely a good strategy. If a tenant fails to carry out the required works, the landlord can engage their own contractors to complete the works and pursue the tenant for the costs through legal action. These costs — which include the landlord’s surveyor fees on top of the actual works — are almost always higher than they would have been if the tenant had managed the works themselves.
There is also the question of negotiation. Dilapidation schedules are not always set in stone. An experienced contractor who can assess the schedule, carry out the works promptly and document everything correctly can significantly reduce the overall liability.
Do You Need an Asbestos Survey First?
Yes — before any dilapidation works can legally begin in a commercial property, an asbestos survey must be completed. This applies to virtually all commercial buildings, particularly those constructed or refurbished before the year 2000. Any asbestos-containing materials identified that will be disturbed during the works must be removed by a licensed contractor before the dilapidation programme begins.
This is a step that tenants sometimes overlook, and it is one of the most important. Failing to carry out an asbestos survey before commencing works can result in serious legal consequences. Wallace Contracts coordinate asbestos surveys with our ARCA-approved partner as part of every dilapidation project.
Should You Use a Specialist Dilapidation Contractor?
Dilapidation projects are different from straightforward refurbishment work. They require careful coordination across multiple trades — decorators, electricians, joiners, plumbers, flooring installers — all working to a specific programme and against the detailed list of requirements in the schedule. Any items missed or completed to an insufficient standard can result in the landlord rejecting the works and appointing their own contractor at the tenant’s cost.
Using a specialist contractor who manages all trades in-house, provides a dedicated project manager and works to a clear programme gives you the best chance of completing the dilapidation schedule on time, to standard, and without costly disputes.
How Wallace Contracts Can Help
Wallace Contracts Ltd have been managing dilapidation projects for commercial landlords and tenants across the Midlands and North West for over 45 years. We carry out all works in-house — there is no subcontracting — and every project is managed by a dedicated project manager who coordinates every trade from asbestos survey coordination through to final decoration and sign-off.
We work across a wide range of property types including offices, retail units, restaurants, warehouses and healthcare facilities, and we provide full H&S documentation and O&M manuals on completion.
If you have received a schedule of dilapidations or your lease is approaching its end, contact us for a free site survey and quotation. We will provide a detailed, itemised quote within 10 working days of survey. You can also find out more about our dilapidations service.
Wallace Contracts Ltd has grown steadily from its roots in Stoke-on-Trent into a commercial contractor operating across a wide area of England and Wales. Over the course of more than 45 years, we have built relationships with clients in retail, hospitality, care, construction, education and property management — delivering projects from single-trade painting jobs to complex, multi-trade refurbishments worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.
As our client base has grown, so too has our geography. Today we regularly deliver projects across the Midlands, the North West, Wales and, for larger projects, anywhere in the UK. This post gives a clear picture of where we work, what we offer in each area and why businesses across the country choose Wallace Contracts to look after their properties.
Based in Stoke-on-Trent, Working Nationwide
Our headquarters is Unit 1 Sneyd Business Park in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire — a central location that allows us to mobilise quickly to sites across a wide radius. Stoke-on-Trent sits at the heart of our operation and remains one of our most active areas, where we work for clients including JD Wetherspoon, Fuchs Lubricants, Hurstwood Holdings, Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Arnold Machin and many others.
For projects over approximately £10,000, we offer our full range of services anywhere in the UK. This nationwide capability has allowed us to support clients with large property portfolios — including national retailers, bookmakers, care providers and automotive groups — who need a consistent, reliable contractor they can trust across all their sites, not just those closest to our base.
The Midlands: Our Heartland
The Midlands is the area we know best. We work extensively across Staffordshire, the West Midlands, Shropshire, Worcestershire and the East Midlands, serving clients in Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Telford, Shrewsbury, Nottingham, Leicester and Derbyshire.
In Birmingham, we have completed projects at the National Exhibition Centre for Magna Projects, office decoration packages for Oktra at Forrester’s head office and Ingenuity House, and retail refurbishments for Coral. In Walsall, we have delivered multiple refurbishment programmes for Ladbrokes and Coral, as well as care home works for Achieve Together and CareTech. In Wolverhampton, our work for Arnold Clark included converting existing rooms into classrooms within their car showroom.
Across Derbyshire, we have delivered an extensive multi-phase refurbishment programme for Eurocell at their Alfreton head office and Ilkeston recycling centre, covering toilet refurbishments, office upgrades, flooring installations and full internal decoration. In Nottingham, we have carried out refurbishment and maintenance works for Ladbrokes across multiple stores.
The North West: A Growing Area of Operation
The North West has become one of our most active regions, with a strong pipeline of work across Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire and Lancashire. We have delivered projects in Manchester, Liverpool, Stockport, Oldham, Wirral, Crewe and a number of smaller towns and cities across the region.
In Manchester, our portfolio includes decoration packages for Oktra at Sevendale House and multiple other office developments, internal decoration at Manchester University’s Williamson Building, refurbishments for CareTech and Hydes Brewery, and numerous projects for Rudy’s Pizza Napoletana, Jamieson Contracting and Coral. In Liverpool, we have completed multi-store refurbishment programmes for Ladbrokes, a comprehensive care home renovation for Mencap, internal decoration at Liverpool Lime Street Station for Jamieson Contracting, and floor and painting works for Arnold Clark.
In Stockport, our work includes the prestigious Stockport Exchange office development for Oktra and internal decoration for JD Wetherspoon at The Wilfred Wood. In Oldham, we have completed decoration works for JD Wetherspoon at both The Ash Tree and The Shay Wake. Across the Wirral and Birkenhead, we have delivered showroom refurbishments, fire door installations and specialist floor painting for Arnold Clark. In Crewe, our projects have included interior decoration at The Broughton restaurant for Parogon Group, office decoration for Assurant and retail refresh works for Frasers Group.
Wales: From North to South
Wallace Contracts is increasingly active across Wales, having delivered projects in North Wales, South Wales and Mid Wales. In Wrexham, we delivered a full decoration package for Wynne Construction at Wrexham University. In Llandudno, we have completed storefront repairs and redecoration for the British Heart Foundation and external decoration for Holland & Barrett. In Llanelli, we painted the café and swimming pool areas at Everlast Gyms. In Cardiff, we delivered internal decoration for Flannels.
We also delivered one of our most ambitious single projects in North Wales — a 13-week full conversion of a residential property into a fully operational care home, encompassing mechanical and electrical installations, fire safety systems, kitchen and bathroom fitting, external groundworks and full decoration throughout.
What We Offer: A Full Range of Commercial Property Services
Across all of these areas, we offer the same comprehensive range of services. Here is a summary of what Wallace Contracts can deliver for your property:
Commercial Painting & Decorating
Our core trade. We deliver internal and external decoration for commercial clients across all sectors, including retail, hospitality, care, office, industrial, education and healthcare. Our decorators are experienced in all finishes and surface types, from emulsion and satinwood through to specialist coatings, masonry paint and airless spray-painted suspended ceilings. We work at height using cherry pickers, mobile scaffold towers and fixed scaffolding, with all operatives holding relevant IPAF and PASMA qualifications.
Property Refurbishment
As an SSIP-approved main contractor, we plan, coordinate and deliver multi-trade refurbishment projects of all sizes. We manage joinery, plumbing, electrical, plastering, flooring and decoration under one contract, providing clients with a single point of contact and a seamless service from start to finish. Our refurbishment portfolio includes retail shopfits, care home upgrades, office conversions, hospitality refurbishments, industrial welfare facilities and residential developments.
Dilapidations
We support commercial tenants and landlords with all aspects of dilapidations works at the end of a lease. Services include strip-outs, making good, redecoration, flooring replacement and external repairs. We work efficiently to lease expiry deadlines and provide clear documentation to support a clean handover. We have experience working alongside chartered surveyors and property managing agents across all of our operating areas.
Minor Works, Maintenance & Repairs
Not every job is a major refurbishment. We also deliver planned and reactive maintenance works for clients across the UK, including gutter cleaning and repairs, roof tile replacement, render repairs, joinery repairs, glass replacement, external redecoration and a wide range of other minor works. Our maintenance clients value our fast response times, our quality of finish and our ability to manage small works programmes with the same professionalism we bring to larger projects.
Shopfitting & Dilapidations
For clients opening new retail premises or exiting old ones, we offer shopfitting and dilapidations services that cover everything from fixture and fitting installation through to full strip-outs and reinstatement works. We have worked with national retailers including Flying Tiger Copenhagen, Goldsmiths, Sports Direct, Flannels and Mind on projects across England and Wales.
The Sectors We Serve
Wallace Contracts works across a broad range of commercial sectors. Our key areas of expertise include:
✅ Retail — shopfits, refreshes, dilapidations and maintenance for national and regional retailers
✅ Hospitality — pub, restaurant and hotel refurbishments and decoration, typically completed outside trading hours
✅ Care — refurbishment, wet room installation, accessibility improvements and maintenance for care homes and supported living facilities
✅ Construction — decoration and finishing packages delivered for main contractors on new build and fit-out projects
✅ Education — decoration and refurbishment works in schools, colleges and universities
✅ Office & Commercial — office refurbishments, fit-outs and decoration for occupiers, developers and property managers
✅ Automotive — showroom refurbishments, fire door installation, specialist floor coatings and maintenance for car dealerships
✅ Industrial — welfare facility upgrades, building repairs and maintenance for industrial occupiers
Why Clients Choose Wallace Contracts
Clients across the UK choose Wallace Contracts for a number of consistent reasons. First, our single point of contact model means there is always one person responsible for the project — someone who knows the brief, manages the programme and answers the phone when you call. Second, our SSIP accreditation gives clients confidence that our health and safety standards are independently verified and consistently maintained on every site. Third, our track record of working for major national clients — including JD Wetherspoon, Arnold Clark, Coral, Ladbrokes, Frasers Group, Achieve Together and many others — demonstrates that we can operate to the standards expected by large, demanding organisations with multiple sites across the country.
We are big enough to deliver complex, multi-trade projects to tight programmes and significant budgets, but small enough to care about every client and every job. That balance — articulated in our strapline, Big Enough to Deliver and Small Enough to Care — is at the heart of everything we do.
Get in Touch
If you have a commercial property project anywhere across the Midlands, North West, Wales or beyond, we would welcome the opportunity to discuss how Wallace Contracts can help. Whether you need a painting contractor for a single store, a refurbishment partner for a rolling programme of sites, or a dilapidations specialist to help you exit a lease cleanly, our team is ready to help.
Every commercial property requires maintenance. The question is not whether the work will need doing — it is whether you choose to manage it on your own terms, or wait until something fails and deal with the consequences.
Reactive maintenance — fixing things when they break — might feel like the cheaper option in the short term. But in practice, it almost always costs more, causes more disruption, and creates more risk than a properly structured planned maintenance programme. Here is why.
The True Cost of Reactive Maintenance
When a problem develops unexpectedly — a leaking roof, a failing boiler, a floor covering that has lifted and become a trip hazard — the costs quickly mount up. Emergency call-out rates are higher. Materials are ordered at short notice without the benefit of negotiated pricing. Works often need to be carried out during business hours, disrupting your team, your customers or your tenants. And if the problem has been developing quietly for months before it becomes obvious, the eventual repair bill is usually far larger than it would have been if it had been caught earlier.
There is also the question of reputation. A poorly maintained property sends a message — to clients who visit your premises, to employees who work there, and to tenants who might choose to renew their lease or look elsewhere.
What Does a Planned Maintenance Programme Include?
A planned maintenance programme is a scheduled, proactive approach to keeping a commercial property in good condition. Rather than waiting for problems to occur, a planned programme identifies what needs to be done, when, and at what cost — giving you predictability over your maintenance budget and confidence that your property will be looked after to a consistent standard.
Typical planned maintenance items for commercial properties include:
Redecoration cycles — internal and external painting and decorating carried out on a rolling programme, typically every three to five years depending on the specification and environment
Flooring replacement — replacing worn or damaged floor coverings before they become a safety or appearance issue
Joinery and door maintenance — adjusting, repairing or replacing doors, frames, skirting and architraves as part of a regular inspection cycle
Roof and external fabric checks — inspecting guttering, downpipes, roof coverings and external surfaces before the onset of winter
M&E servicing — boiler servicing, electrical periodic testing, fire alarm maintenance and access control system checks
Groundworks and external areas — maintaining car parks, paving, decking and site boundaries
The Benefits of Planning Ahead
A well-structured planned maintenance programme delivers several clear advantages over reactive maintenance:
Cost predictability. You know in advance what will be spent and when. There are no budget shocks from emergency repairs, and works can be procured at competitive rates rather than emergency rates.
Reduced disruption. Planned works can be scheduled for times that minimise impact on your operations — evenings, weekends or periods of lower activity. Emergency repairs rarely offer that flexibility.
Longer asset life. A property that is consistently maintained retains its value better and requires less significant capital expenditure over time. A fresh coat of paint every five years costs considerably less than a full redecoration of a property that has been left untouched for fifteen.
Compliance. Many elements of building maintenance — electrical testing, fire alarm servicing, gas safety — are legal requirements. A planned programme ensures these obligations are never missed.
Tenant and staff satisfaction. A well-maintained building communicates that you take your responsibilities seriously. Tenants are more likely to renew leases, and employees are more productive in a well-kept environment.
How Wallace Contracts Approaches Planned Maintenance
Wallace Contracts Ltd deliver planned maintenance programmes for commercial and industrial properties across the Midlands and North West. We manage the full scope of maintenance works in-house — painting and decorating, flooring, joinery, minor electrical and plumbing works, and groundworks — coordinated by a dedicated project manager and delivered to a programme that fits around your operations.
Every planned maintenance client receives a detailed programme of works with agreed timescales, regular communication throughout, and full H&S documentation on completion of each phase. Our 12-month guarantee applies to all works carried out.
If you manage commercial property and would like to discuss moving from reactive to planned maintenance, get in touch for a free site survey. You can also find out more about our planned maintenance service.
Warehouses and distribution centres are among the most demanding environments to refurbish. They are often large, operationally critical and difficult to take out of service — yet they can deteriorate quickly when maintenance is deferred, and a poorly maintained facility creates real risks around safety, staff morale and customer perception.
Whether you are planning a full warehouse refurbishment, a rolling maintenance programme, or simply bringing a tired facility back up to standard before a lease renewal or property sale, this guide covers what to expect and how to approach it.
Why Warehouse Refurbishment Is Often Deferred — and Why That’s Costly
Warehouse and distribution facilities are working environments where operational continuity tends to take priority. Refurbishment work gets pushed back, deferred to quieter periods that never quite arrive, or addressed only when a specific problem becomes impossible to ignore. Over time, the accumulated cost of this deferral tends to be significantly higher than a structured, proactive approach would have been.
Faded and damaged paintwork, worn flooring, failing lighting, damaged dock levellers and deteriorating welfare areas are not just aesthetic problems — they affect staff safety, workforce morale and, increasingly, client and customer expectations. Many large retailers and logistics clients now include facility condition as part of their supply chain audit criteria.
What Does a Warehouse Refurbishment Typically Include?
The scope of a warehouse refurbishment varies considerably depending on the size and condition of the facility, but typically includes some or all of the following:
Internal & External Painting
Structural steelwork, racking areas, walls, loading bay surrounds, external cladding and roof structures all require periodic painting. Industrial environments are harsh — UV exposure, condensation, forklift impact and chemical contamination accelerate deterioration. We use industrial-grade coatings suited to each substrate and environment, applied by trained operatives working to H&S compliant procedures including working at height.
Flooring
Warehouse floors take significant punishment. We install and repair a range of commercial and industrial flooring including safety vinyl, anti-slip coatings and carpet tiles for office areas within warehouse facilities. Line marking for traffic management and pedestrian zones is also available.
Welfare & Office Areas
Staff welfare facilities — canteens, locker rooms, toilets and office areas — are often the most visible indicator of how well a facility is maintained. We refurbish welfare areas including full decoration, flooring replacement, kitchen installation, toilet upgrades and partition installation.
Suspended Ceilings & Lighting
We install and replace suspended ceiling systems in office and welfare areas within warehouse facilities, including integrated lighting. We coordinate closely with electrical contractors to ensure all installations are compliant and certified.
Minor Works & Repairs
Doors and shutters, dock boards, fencing, paving, drainage and general external fabric can all be addressed as part of a warehouse refurbishment programme. Our minor works and planned maintenance teams handle the broad range of tasks required to maintain a large facility to a consistent standard.
How to Minimise Operational Disruption
The most common concern with warehouse refurbishment is how to carry out the works without bringing operations to a halt. The answer lies in careful programming. A few principles that make a significant difference:
Phase the works. Rather than closing down sections of the facility entirely, works can be phased across zones — completing one area before moving to the next, keeping the overall operation running throughout.
Work in off-peak periods. Evenings, nights and weekends offer the opportunity to carry out more disruptive works when the facility is at lower capacity. Wallace Contracts can work flexible hours to accommodate operational requirements.
Agree clear exclusion zones. A detailed programme with clearly marked exclusion zones — agreed in advance with the operations team — prevents conflict between trades and live operations.
Appoint a single project manager. Having one point of contact who is accountable for all trades and all communications eliminates the confusion that arises when multiple contractors are on site without coordination.
Planning for Asbestos
Many warehouse and distribution buildings constructed before 2000 contain asbestos-containing materials — most commonly in roof sheets, insulation boards, floor tiles or pipe lagging. Before any refurbishment works begin, an asbestos survey is a legal requirement. Wallace Contracts coordinate asbestos surveys with our ARCA-approved partner as a standard part of every refurbishment project.
How Wallace Contracts Can Help
Wallace Contracts Ltd have been refurbishing commercial and industrial properties across the Midlands and North West for over 45 years. We work in warehouse and distribution environments for clients in logistics, manufacturing, retail supply chain and third-party logistics — managing all trades in-house under a single project manager and delivering to agreed programmes with minimal disruption to operations.
Our warehouse refurbishment services cover Stoke-on-Trent, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Stafford and surrounding areas, with nationwide coverage available for larger projects.
To discuss a warehouse or distribution centre refurbishment, contact us for a free site survey and quotation. You can also explore our transport, warehouse and distribution sector page to find out more about the work we do in this sector.
