Ask for the coating specification by product name and data sheet, not by category. "Two coats of premium acrylic" is not a specification — it is a sentence that can be satisfied by almost anything.
Before and after, side by side
Ask how the schedule maps to the reserve study. If your reserve assumed a ten-year cycle and the specified system has a seven-year useful life, the board has quietly funded a shortfall.
Ask for the resident communication plan in writing: how much notice, delivered how, and what residents are responsible for clearing.
Ask for large-format drawdowns rather than fan-deck chips. Colours read very differently at building scale, and approving from a chip is how communities end up with a body colour nobody recognises.
Ask what happens when a building opens up worse than expected. Every repaint finds something; what matters is whether the contract has an agreed process for pricing it or whether it becomes a dispute.
