Double award win for Phoenix Painting and Decorating at Master Painter and Decorators Australia Awards

A passion for the industry and a drive to instil the same dedication in its workforce led Phoenix Painting and Decorating to claim two awards at last month’s Master Painter and Decorators Australia Awards for Excellence. The Albany company claimed Master Painter and Decorator of the Year in the small to medium size business category and also won the top prize in the category for commercial repaints valued over $100,000. Phoenix owner Michael Noakes said being recognised by the industry was an amazing achievement. “I’ve loved the painting and decorating industry ever since I got into it 22 years ago,” he said. “I was trained by a master painter and decorator, and if I ever had a goal set at the highest level to achieve, it was to become a master painter and decorator. “Here we are, 22 years later — 4 1/2 four and a half years into running my own business — I’ve got that recognition through the industry.” When announcing the decorator of the year award, the MPDA said of Phoenix that the “consistently high standard of workmanship from this contractor goes hand-in-hand with the professionalism of the business operations”. “The founder of Phoenix Painting, Michael Noakes has ensured that all his employees are well trained and up to date with the latest innovations, techniques and technology,” the MPDA said. “This has clearly brought out the best in the performance and skill level of his team and is reflected in the quality of work they produce.” Mr Noakes said it was important that he was able to pass on his experience to his employees, but he learnt from them as well. “To be open to the new-age apprentices, that are going through with modern training, to teach me something back as well,” he said. The commercial painting prize was won for the work Phoenix did on Albany’s Dome, which was given a perfect score. Mr Noakes said the judges visited the cafe and touched every surface to make sure it was blemish free. “It was really good to be involved with that because its Albany’s oldest standing primary school,” he said. “They judges said the preparation was ‘second to none’ and ‘the application of paint was professional’. “We can say we helped restore a little bit of Albany’s history and keep it going for another 25 to 30 years before the windows have to be replaced or something like that.”