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

Blimey. DH's mate is a decorator and we use him because he's good, not because he gives mates rates (he doesn't).

He did the whole of DH's one bedroom rental property for £1,000 a few years ago and it took him about a week!

Yeah, I've had people laugh when I say it takes DH and I almost a week to decorate a room, and they say they've "done" theirs over the weekend. They mean they have just sloshed another coat of paint on. We mean we have emptied the room, taken down curtains and blinds, rolled back the edges of the carpet, dustsheeted it, rubbed down all skirtings, doors and frames, filled and rubbed down any holes and cracks, then cleaned and wiped down everywhere, before using 2 coats of undercoat and one of gloss on the woodwork, and however many coats of emulsion on the ceiling and walls it needs for good coverage. What standard of job are they quoting for, and what exactly does it include?

@sciaticafanatica 70 year old woman here. going to be painting my grandaughter's room this week then building up new flat pack furniture. she currently has ikea drawers which are now 25 years old and when I built them I glued every single joint and stucturally it is still perfect. just the tops are done. always did out decorating throughout our whole married life until 4 years ago when we got a painter to paint the lounge and ceiling (11 feet high so I could never reach it) and the hall through the house to the bedrooms. cost 900 and i thought it was a rip off. 60 for paint, brushes, roller and I am set. diy is the way to go.

If you've done the hard bit (the prep) then why not just do the "easy" bit as well?

Cash costs the same as cheque or bank transfer, unless you are ripping off the HMRC, which is not to be advised, then tax has to be paid regardless.

Any professional decorator will want to apply 2 coats of paint and prepare to a standard that are happy with. seems an entirely reasonable quote.
things to factor in

1. travel time
2. Insurance
3. hourly rate
4. equipment use, ladders, dust sheets, pint brushes etc
5. materials

think about what your hourly rate is at your place of work multiply by 2 working days for 2 people add the above costs and see what that is?

these guys need to earn a living just as much as you do, if you think its unreasonable then best you DIY

We recently had our whole 3 bedroomed semi-detached house painted (and ome wall papered) including skirting boards. 1 weeks work of 2 people, we supplied the paint and the totl labor was £1,800. Your quote for 1 room is crazy IMO! In The North east but still :)

I've got a large lounge and including stripping layers of wallpaper, washing the walls, filling in holes and cracks, sandpapering and painting it took me months. It took me a while week just to paint many coats of white paint. I had considered hiring someone but I think the price would have been the same as yours.

Everything is so expensive and quotes for things vary widely.

Just paint it yourself then?

2 workers over 3 days includes- time, insurance, tools, fuel but also the years & years of experience which you presumably don’t have.

I rarely resent paying for trades as I know they have the time, tools and expertise I don’t.

Makes my £3000 for 3 weeks painting of almost my entire house seem a bargain.

They propably don't want to do a simple job like that so they upped the price.

Roses is correct. I have big issues with having to chase trades for quotes, start date etc. Do they not have diaries. We are very flexible. One of us is always working at home so no issue with access and yet....

But the OP has clearly left out all the things that Roses is listing. I often see on Next Door people who are looking for a trade and claiming the job will only take 30 mins, 5 mins etc and not taking into account travelling time, parts etc.

I also have to question why its needing to be done again after 3 years. Its really not just a question of repainting with furniture in situ etc.

Love the idea of people in training doing it but it might not always be perfect. I also recognise that there are always two sides to a story. Maybe they quoted knowing that your job was going to be tricky.

That sounds a bit exploitative of you.

The majority of the cost will be fixing the half arsed job you did years ago.

I am just older than you and have always done all the decorating. I had the time because I was a SAHP and then worked part time. Most people now do not have this time.

That's insane!

I've just been quoted for some building works, £6k for
1000 soft red bricks
a whole new wooden window, glazed and ready painted
Propping a single-storey garage and taking down 12 feet of wall
Rebuilding, including fitting the window and putting back the electrics
Disposal of all waste

So 7k for for what sounds like 7-10 days decorating (depending on the amount of gloss needing to be done) is bonkers.

I’ve just had a large double bedroom painted two colours white and pink. Included prep, filling of holes, cleaning, all woodwork painted white gloss including skirting, bed frames, window sill and a build in wardrobe. Old tv cables removed and holes plastered. £300 total done by a professional

@PropertyDits being done as we have decided to have new lights new windows new woodwork new doors new flooring new furniture new.

Hmm I'd definitely do it myself.

Sounds cheap, I'd bite their hands off

Also sick pay, bank holidays, pension, time between jobs and travelling to jobs... I did accounts for a self-employed friend and it worked out that she needed to charge roughly double per hour what she'd get paid as an employee to earn the equivalent overall.

Third quote is in , £290 for 10 hours he said .
so I’ve gone with him .

I felt like that after doing my front room, I did a really good job and people thought that it had been done by a professional. However it nearly killed me, moving all the furniture, sanding the woodwork, filling the cracks, cleaning the walls down then two coats on walls, ceiling and woodwork. Never again! I need loads of decorating doing but am dreading the expense and upheaval, wish i could just snap my fingers and it would be done by magic.

That is good, I am trying to get my emotional strength up to get some quotes for decorating and have been following this thread with interest

Glad you got some more realistic quotes op