QP 9 – Commercial Painting

To be accredited to the QP 9 standard, Commercial Contractors must demonstrate competence in several key areas:

• Management procedures
• Technical capabilities
• Job quality procedures
• Safety, health, and environmental procedures

Technical capabilities

These areas are evaluated through a series of submittals to SSPC describing the Contractor’s business operations. An impartial, on-site audit of a representative active job site and headquarters offices is performed to verify that the programs and practices are in fact implemented and used. The on-site audit criteria can be found in both the QP 9 application and its internal audit checklist. SSPC suggests that the contractor perform an internal audit using the checklist to ensure all areas of evaluation are addressed prior to an audit.

QP 9 background

This procedure, as described by the SSPC-QP 9 standard, encompasses the application of coatings in the commercial or institutional sectors only. Its objective is to determine if a painting contractor has the competence as described above to perform surface preparation and architectural coating application of the required quality as specified by the owner.