Maintenance Assistant, Painter - Multiple Positions

The Department of Facilities Management & Development at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University is seeking a full-time Maintenance Assistant, Painter.

Distinguishing Characteristics
Maintenance Assistant (Painter): non-competitive; as a semiskilled employee, performs interior and exterior painting, generally not requiring fine finish or the mixing of paints and matching of colors to decorate interiors of structures.

Generally, Maintenance Assistants (Painter) work under the supervision of a skilled trades or supervisory maintenance position; in turn, they may supervise Facility Operations Assistants 1 and other relatively unskilled workers in performing manual tasks involving elementary skills.

Illustrative Tasks
Prepares and applies protective and decorative coats of paint to interior and exterior surfaces of buildings, furniture, equipment, guiderails, fences and like surfaces.

• Arranges, assembles, and erects scaffolds and ladders at work site.

• Places drop cloths over shrubbery, furniture or floors to avoid paint splattering.

• Moves furniture and moveable equipment from area to be painted.

• Prepares surfaces for painting by such methods as washing surfaces with soap and water, the use of paint remover, blowtorch, wire brush, or chipping hammer to remove all paint, and by sanding surfaces to smooth them.

• Removes electrical wall plates prior to painting and replaces when job completed.

• Fills cracks, crevices and holes with putty, plaster, or other materials.

• Mixes paints following standard proportions to achieve desired color.

• Paints surfaces usually not requiring fine finish, using brush, spray gun, paint roller, or mittens following oral or written instructions.

• May install or replace window glass.

• Cleans brushes and equipment with soap and water, turpentine, or other solvents.

• Cleans work area of spotted paint and dirt.

• May assist in covering interior walls with wall coverings:

  • Prepares and cleans surfaces to be covered.

  • Cuts wall covering to proper lengths.

  • Mixes paste, brushes on back of wall covering, and places and smooths strips on wall.