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

It’s standard practice for trades to overprice jobs they don’t want to do.
Job too small, too busy, too awkward, unpleasant conditions, difficult customers … etc

edit - didn’t RTFT… already been said.

It will need more than one coat

How tall are the ceilings? Are they bringing scaffolding in - that can add time and cost.

These 2 students play disability cricket with my foster son. They just completed their first year of a 2 year college course. I wanted to give them a start. They are trying to save up to buy a van for end of course next year. They did a really great job. They were a bit slow but as they charged me for job it didn't really matter. DH cleaned up after them cleaning all paint brushes etc whilst I drove them home. They took lots of before and after photos for their portfolio's.

These 2 students play disability cricket with my foster son. They just completed their first year of a 2 year college course. I wanted to give them a start. They are trying to save up to buy a van for end of course next year. They did a really great job. They were a bit slow but as they charged me for job it didn't really matter. DH cleaned up after them cleaning all paint brushes etc whilst I drove them home. They took lots of before and after photos for their portfolio's.

one man took about 4- 5 days to paint my
living room a few years ago. It was small

Typically a Painter and Decorator will be looking at £200-£250 a day, he will have all his costs off that price. Running a van, tax and all the expenses of running a business. Everything has gone up for sole
traders and small businesses too.
If you think it won’t take as long as the quote in man hours then they probably have put a high quote in because they don’t want the job.

Wow, we had the whole outside of our house painted last year, the guy and his worker did loads of prep work, undercoat, painted all 3 sides plus the L shaped extension, the bits round the bottom, top, window ledges. He needed a platform because it house is old and quite tall (10ft ceilings) . He has an excellent reputation locally for using quality materials (important because we live by the sea) it took best part of a week and £1200 , which I was a bit astounded by until I saw the work they did. The finish was immaculate. It feels like a bargain now

Friends of ours had a new bungalow built.
It’s not that big and consists of an open plan lounge, kitchen ( half tiled) diner, a short hallway and 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms ( fully tiled so just ceilings).
Supplying their own paint.
They were quoted €22k. to paint the brand new walls and skirting throughout.

They did it themselves in two weeks, long days tbf. Would have taken the 2 guys 3/4 weeks.

You are the one being ridiculous. That's a very normal quote. Trades need to earn enough to pay tax expenses set aside holiday pension and sick pay and all the liability insurances now required. The peasants don't work for peanuts any more.

If you take off 30% from that price, they each take him just under £150 per day. And I assume tax and business expenses come fo more than 30%.

A family member has just built a house, large 5 bed detached. They've just paid 20k for someone to paint every room, hallways etc. Not including paint. My jaw nearly hit the ground. Things are expensive.

I'm a spark, if you think the decorators are dear, try us, or the plumbers!! - the quote sounds reasonable at today's rates.

Remember that a lot has to come off what we charge you - tax has to be paid at 20 or 40% (most of us pay higher rate on at least some earnings), the running of a van, the planned replacement of tools (which is costly, just purchased a new vacuum cleaner nearly £600), the purchase of consumables, the cost of insurance and trade body memberships - in my case also the annual calibration of test instruments, cost of courses and inspections to stay compliant.

On top of which prudent reserves for holiday pay, pension contributions, sickness insurance or reserves for sickness etc. etc.

How is it 'fully prepped'? Have you sanded down all the woodwork, washed the walls, moved the furniture etc? And if so, why not just finish the job and paint it yourself?

It doesn’t sound a two man job. Get some more prices.

This. I think the quote is reasonable.

I've just painted a bedroom and done a cracking job if I do say so. It dragged on a bit because life interrupted, it was lived in, I misjudged paint and so had to order and wait for another tin, etc. But including sanding and prep I reckon it took me 2 days plus a bit (for the faff of constantly moving furniture/curtains and so on).

I like painting but our large living room leading on to dining room, kitchen, hallway, stairs & landing is a big job that needs doing, so I thought I'd get the professionals in so it didn't take me an age in a busy house.... I know it's a big job, but seeing some of these prices for small jobs I think I'll treat myself to some more brushes and save myself from the heart attack a quote would no doubt bring!

Yes - and people seem to assume that workmen can work a full 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year. Bring self-employed doesn't work like that and there are lots of other expenses.

I'm shocked at people paying just £100-150 a day, and thinking they got a bargain. After tax, the people doing the work are receiving very little. No wonder half the country is on UC.

Something I've noticed, on MN, and IRL is that a lot of people don't think anyone doing something practical that potentially they could do themselves (whether to the same standard is debatable) should earn barely more than minimum wage. Often see people complaining about the cost of cleaners, hairdressers, decorators, cake makers, carpenters etc.

200/day is not an outrageous hourly rate , considering they are likely self employed and need to take out tax, pension etc

Never seen a thread complaining about mechanics for example and their hourly rate (where I go) is 80-90/hr

The problem is you keep saying it is fully prepped and only needs one coat, but I don't think any professional decorator is going to do just one coat , and I also think they would prefer to do the prep work to thier own standard. If the job is as easy as you say it is, just do it yourself if you don't want to pay a professional rate, I don't think it sounds as outrageous as you say.

Airtasker. You’ll get it done for £300

Finish it yourself then.
My husband is a P+D.
What you think is prepped he would laugh at.

No, but it can easily be made that way by them turning up late, knocking off early while lying that they'd be there early the next day and nipping out to "get some materials", aka attend to something personal

The last ones I had like this - the one and only time I used one off these post-your-job-for-repliess sites - they did all that AND stole the paint I'd bought myself

Some tradies are indeed getting ridiculous, but you'll get no thanks from thosse who say they're married to one and that nobody appreciates what the job entails

I think you may have touched upon one of the factors at play here. Whenever we embark on a house project, it's all-consuming and we work long days on it - I'll often be painting or wallpapering at midnight. If we have tradespeople in for stuff we can't do (rewiring, gas work etc), they turn up an 9 and knock off at 5 at the latest. As you would expect! It's their day job. So the time difference in good long it took your mates to do their house v the estimate from the decorator probably isn't that massive.

Reading these quotes though, I'm eternally grateful to my mum for teaching me how to decorate! It sounds like it's saved me 10s of thousands over the years!