£1,000–£1,500 to paint a medium lounge?! Is this normal?

I agree.

Decorators daughter here, dad started at 14 on an apprenticeship and retired at 65. This post nails it 💯

There is often an assumption that decorating is an easy trade and anyone can do it. There is also a world of difference between the walls in an old house and those in a newer house that have only ever been emulsioned.

As for expecting the decorator to clear the room? That’s ridiculous, my dad used to go to some people’s houses and they would still have their curtains up!

and lets not even get into some people buying their own materials which are often poor quality and not trade standard to save a few quid.

Have you requested a Farrow and Ball paint maybe? If so that could have pushed the price up. It has a bad reputation with trades people. I discovered why when I used it myself in our house and had to do 5 coats!

I had a similar quote for my living room 4 years ago, which I thought was outrageous back then. Ended up paying a cash in hand guy £600 plus materials. The work took 3 days, so your quote sounds about right now.

Not only the practical side of the job is included but also the cost of
Van and associated costs
Up keeping of equipment
National insurance
Tax
Public liability insurance
Probably a insurance to cover any sickness

The price isn't just about slapping on a coat of paint. They have to pay their own bills too and earn a wage to support themselves.

I don’t know if it’s reasonable because I do it myself and I’ve never paid for this. I could do it in a day if it’s not a huge room, so it does make it seem a bit expensive.

We live on the South Coast (Hampshire) and had our sitting room redecorated just this week. It's 22 x 20ft and has alcove cupboards and bookshelves. We bought the paint and cleared the room. The job took four days and cost £575, and has been completed to a very high standard.

The decorator is self-employed and works from home, so has few overheads and prices accordingly. He has good reviews and is never out of work.

I would be inclined to shop around, ask for recommendations. Larger companies with significant overheads will always be more expensive and not necessarily better.

You’re the one being rediculous. Where are you getting this information from? Guesswork?

Make sure its quality trade paint , not retail. It's not just the price thats different. Trade paint is more expensive because it is a better quality.

I’ve had quotes like this before but don’t understand it, why not just say you don’t want the job/ it’s not worth your time? (I know it’s not you!) is it just on the off chance someone says yes to a silly quote?

Because they WILL do the job at a price that works for them, i.e. it's worth them doing it if they get paid more to deal with whatever problems they expect, whether that's plaster falling off the wall, having to fill holes in wood, having to move furniture, having to unscrew loads of sockets and switches, even having a longer/congested journey twice a day, or even because they think the occupant may be "too fussy" and want things rectifying when other customers would be happy with the odd issue.

I’d say that’s what makes quite a big difference. As that can take up a lot of time. Maybe £1k then is normal for our area. It’s why I’m going to be doing a lot of our house that doesn’t need that type of prep work myself. But for rooms that do I’m happy to pay someone to do a good job

I’m not from your area, so don’t know the pricing around there, but get in writing what you actually expect the decorator to “do”. I made that mistake once. Went with a cheaper quote and the paint peeled straight off. Apparently the quote was to “paint the walls” but didn’t involve any cleaning, sugarsoaping, prepping, sanding, filling or anything else. Simply putting paint on over the top of the tobacco stained walls 🤢
(we were young and just moved into a house that had belonged to a smoker and needed work doing to it, really naive)

No, not true. Yoh normally have to do more than one coat. Also, prepping does take time

I’ve never paid a decorator. I have painted every room in my house myself.
Yes, it takes a bit of time but it’s so much cheaper.
If I were you I would pop down to Wickes and buy some paint and rollers and put the £1,500 towards a holiday 😹

As OP siad its only for walls not woodwork or ceiling even. On top of fhat she also confirmed her walls are in good condition. So yes its actuslly reasonable to be able to do it in a day.

It's completely unreasonable but unfortunately most will charge this much

It depends on the state of your walls and woodwork and how far you want to take it. Decorating isn't just slapping some paint on, it's really hard graft, especially when you get into stripping/ filling/ sanding/ filling again/ sanding again/ woodwork etc. then you have caulking, lining. Ask for a breakdown of costs but I bet it's not the most expensive quote you'll get. You also get what you pay for, if someone wants to do it for £500, be very wary.

It'll always be cheaper to do things yourself rather than get someone else to do it, whether decorating, cleaning, gardening, car maintenance, etc. People pay someone else to do things they don't want to, or can't do.

We are in Herts and paid £2k to have kitchen and utility (walls, wood work and ceilings) painted in May. There was a lot of prep as we'd had all skirting and architraves replaced and there were a fair number of movement cracks, so I didn't feel this was unreasonable, especially considering the time it took and the quality of the finish.

If your room is just four large walls then £1-1.5k sounds like a lot. It isn't the large surfaces which take the time, it is the fiddly bits like skirting, architraves, doors, window frames.

It’s too easy to say “ridiculous” and “it can be done in a day” if you’ve ever actually done it. I’m pretty good at decorating but unless it was a new build and none of the walls or wood was damaged I call bullshit on a day.

You also risk a lot of waste in materials like filler, caulk and paint that a pro decorator just uses on the next job. I’m a florist for example and use 20 roses across several bouquets and funeral pieces.

I don’t think I’d cut my teeth on a living room, without having done a couple of smaller rooms.

Your room sounds a fairly easy job OP, but a professional will do a quality job that will likely last twice as long and the finish will be much more pleasing.

I do think your quotes are on the high side though for the scope of the job you want.

You have got no clue 😂 management level my backside.

it sounds a bit high to me we are paying that for most of downstairs, maybe keep looking