Just had a quote to paint my living room

[sciaticafanatica]

It’s a big standard terrace living room.
no doors to paint.
4 walls a ceiling and skirts
all white.
it took me a day and a half to paint 3 years a go.
just been told it’s a 2 man job over 2 possibly 3 days and £850.
i honestly couldn’t stop laughing.
Trades are getting ridiculous

Maybe if it needs painting again 3 later you didn't do it well enough?

How many coats of paint?
Sanding and knot painting the skirting boards?

What about prep: sanding and caulking and other crack filling?
break it down into man days - day 1 - 1/2 day prep, first coat on walls and ceilings; day 2 second coats ceiling and walls and painting woodwork.

2 man days : £500 labour plus materials about £150-200 depending on the paint you choose.

Honestly it would need 1 coat of white as it’s already prepped.
I was totally gobsmacked

@sciaticafanatica I’ve been quoted £750 for our small bedroom, we have to supply the paint and been told it will take 5 days to complete xx

It’s not a 2 man job though and it’s definitely not 48 hours worth of work

Do what I did pay 2 students who are on a painting and decorating course to do the work. They wallpapered one wall will a pattern they had to match up and go around inglenook then painted other 3 walls. They charged me £250 for the job. I had to collect them as they don't drive and I had the paper, wallpaper table, paste and all painting brushes and paint. I did drive them to KFC for their lunch too but they did a fabulous job and I had them back one day the following week to do my dining room and they did ceilings too. That cost £320. In a couple of weeks they are coming to wallpaper my bedroom.

@Rosesanddaffsthats just ridiculous

I know, I was gobsmacked when he told me the price 😂

Blimey!
we had our hall, stairs and landing done recently. 5 doors that needed glossing, plus 3 extra doorframes plus the skirting board and ceilings. They supplied the paints etc. 2 people, 3 days. £750.

@Muchtoomuchtodo thats a bargain, where are you based? I’m in London

They probably don’t actually want to do it so have upped their price to put you off.

@Stripeyanddottyive just thought that

How did you find out where to find such students? I think that was a great idea.

I think that's quite reasonable. It'll take 2 days so they can let bits dry between coats. Paint it yourself if you're going to moan about the cost of getting professionals in.

@IMissSparkling they can’t be that professional if it takes 2 men longer to paint a fully prepped room , than it took me to do it myself

South Wales

You think that’s bad…..I was told it would cost £7k to paint my hallway, living room & kitchen. He would need…..wait for it a whole month!!!!! Suffice to say I nearly burst out laughing when he told me the cost. My husband would probably have turned the air blue with his reaction had he been there. I only live in a 4 bed semi detached!

Was he Michaelangelo in a past life?

I’m paying £750 for a small double bedroom and a single bedroom (estate agent would describe single as a small double but that just means it’s a single room rather than little box room). That includes ceilings 2 wall colours per room and all the wood done. I need to by coloured paint on top (decorator provides white paint for ceiling and window sill/door/skirting). He is top end of pricing but is amazing and has done all our decoration in our last house and this one so I’m happy to pay knowing it’ll be perfect.

When you say it's fully prepped, do I take it you have:

Unscrewed the light switches
Taken down the lights
Moved and covered the furniture to the middle of the room
Covered the carpets and taped the edges of the floor and skirting
Sandpapered the skirtings/window frames/doors, etc
Sugar shaped the ceiling and walls
Filled any cracks
Taken down the curtains

If not, you clearly aren't expecting a professional job.

Sounds the right price to me for a professional job. Our decorator always does a couple of rooms and perhaps an outside job so he has stuff to do whilst paint dries.

That’s why you always get 3 quotes.

I had 3 quotes for our open plan kitchen,dining and living room. 2 quotes were 1 thousand and 50. Another was £571. Guess who I went with. Their name has always been recommended in our local Facebook groups too. They did a brilliant job.

There is no light fittings or switches
the walls and ceiling and freshly plastered, with base coat on.
The skirts are new sanded and undercoated.
there are no doors and the windows are not being done.
there room is empty and there is no flooring at the moment.
like I said, he is taking the piss!
@RosesAndHellebores

@Cataholic72ive got a couple of others giving quotes tomorrow

I was wondering - why have you decided not to do it yourself this time?