Do painter and decorators not normally include radiators in their quotes?

[BretonStripe]

Just curious really. We got a quote for £1250 to decorate our large living room-dining room area. They've stated "all ceilings, walls and woodwork" in their email, but then the guy who turned up said "oh, do you want me to do the doors as well?" I replied a bit confused "yes, they're woodwork aren't they?".

It's almost finished but radiators haven't been touched. Hadn't thought about until now. Is this normal? Been over a decade since we had a decorator in and can't remember..

Doors i wouldn’t assume were included - woodwork is skirting, window frames etc
and I’ve never had a radiator painted

Not rads no, plus they can look awful when painted. Doors yes as indeed they’re woodwork.

Oh. I don't think the room would look finished without the doors being painted?

Yeah, maybe the radiators were a stretch. Thinking of getting some black paint and doing them myself (they're white now).

No, doors aren't part of a room, they are adjacent to it. You'd need to request it as an extra and be clear if you want the whole door painted or just the side facing the room that's being done.

Radiators definitely not included unless you have specified. Any time we've paid for a painter it's been when we are replacing an old radiator after the painter has finished anyway.

I wouldn't consider doors woodwork. That's the frames skirting and any painted window frames.

I'd be very upset if someone painted my enamel radiators so I'm not surprised they're not included unless you specifically ask either.

No radiators are not included, doors you need to check sometimes they are and sometimes they aren't.

Doors are separate , woodwork is skirting boards and door frames.

We’ve just had a substantial amount of painting and decorating done post renovation and neither radiators nor doors were included.

No not radiators or doors

Oh, crikey. On reflection, I can understand the radiators, but assumed doors (facing the room being painted) would be included. They've messed us about no end so far, so hopefully they'll do the doors as a good-will gesture !

(quote doesn't include materials btw).

No because more of people don’t paint their doors or radiators so it would need to be specified as a requirement / extra.

I don’t think they’d be included as standard as not everyone has painted doors. Ours are oiled oak. So it would usually be a specified extra.

Dh is a painter,doors would be included and radiators he would always ask.

We’ve never had a radiator painted, they generally shouldn’t need it. If we wanted them done we’d definitely specify it, discuss paint etc.
idk re doors - I think we’ve always specified what we want doing with them.

If someone didn’t want their doors painted would they be offered a price reduction?

Ours are painted white but have gone yellow-ish after circa 13 years of not being painted.

If they were oiled oak we definitely wouldn't be considering painting them.

Whilst radiators are not normally included
Hope theyve painted behind them

Only our second time getting someone in to do the work hence not sure on what is included (I do wish quotes would be mega-clear and say what they include AND what they don't, ie doors if that's the case), and the other two guys who came to quote were looking at the doors and saying about painting them, hence assuming this guy would. One of the other guys was fastidious and was looking closely at the French doors as they have paint all over the glass where the last person did a terrible job, and paint all over the hinges and latches that he said he'd clean off as part of the job. Wish we'd gone with him now!

£1250 for a living room sounds absolutely extortionate, even if it's a big living room.

How much time will he spend there?

Always better to state clearly in writting what you want

including cleaning afterwards and removing splashes and paint on glass, hinges etc. plus disposal of empty pots

Then they will all quote for exactly the same based on your specification

I would assume the doors and radiators would be painted if they already are. I would always paint the when re doing a room.

DH is a decorator. He would include doors as part of the woodwork assuming they were currently painted as per the skirtings etc, but not if they were oiled oak, but would likely clarify that they don’t want them changing. Radiators definitely not included unless discussed specifically to add them to the quote.

That's part of the issue. We were told 2 men x 5 days to do that job + painting all upstairs doors (going from dark brown wood to white so will need shellac/several coats - that is costing an extra £800). But they just sent one man, who obviously didn't do the work in time, so has to come back after half term.

He also told me it would be done "first week of February" but when I asked what time he'd be here the day before, he said he'd got his dates mixed up and actually won't be there til the week after ! (after I'd spent all weekend boxing the room up). He did the quote early December and that 's when we'd booked him in, so we've been working towards early Feb finish. Will now be late Feb. So annoying.

*edited to add quotes we had were around £800 - £900 p/w for a painter & decorator, and they'd take 1.5 - 2 weeks to do the work.

Radiators aren’t always painted so no I wouldn’t assume they were part of a basic quote, nor doors. Woodwork generally means trim - skirting, dado rails, architrave etc.

Live and learn! DH and I are rubbish at this stuff so regularly get caught out. Had our kitchen done a couple of years ago and also learned the hard way that folk tend to just tell you what they do, not what they don't. They assume we do this sort of thing day in, day out, so automatically know what is NOT included, which really isn't the case.

And yeah, he left the room dusty and filthy, so spent Friday night cleaning and mopping :-(