AIBU to feel this is taking the piss because of my postcode?

[LostGirl123]

I live in a "posh" area of London but in a run-down cheap aparment. Trying to make it nicer to live in, and want to paint the lounge. Have chronic illness so wanted to avoid doing it myself, and called ad on Gumtree who advertise painters, handymen, etc.

Quote for lounge was £120, excluding paint. That sounds high to me?

Aibu? Does this sound about right? Fully prepared to be told I am unreasonable, but it just sounded like quite a lot for one room to me. Then again I have never hired a painter before, always done my own, so what do I know.

Whenever I've been to an interview, they have paid my travel expenses...

Very reasonable. To wall paper with lining and then painted is about 450 plus materials for a very modest size room where I live. They have to run a van and make profit, labour is always expensive.

How do you know it's a easy job Chandler. There could be lots of cutting in, for example, or a lot of prep.
I'd its going to take over half a day (which it will, with drying time between coats) then it makes sense to charge for the whole day as the decorator will be unable to fit another job in.

£40 per hour, and unskilled? if it is that easy why are you not doingit? and it will include paint and sandpaper, equipment like dustsheets, paint remover, brushes, step ladders and a lot of experience.

I paid £300 to have the boot room painted. 2 coats of emulsion, no woodwork and I finished the job myself because the "decorator" was piddling about so much, otherwise he'd have charged me for a third day. I supplied all paint and brushes etc and more coffee than your average Arabic village could drink in a day. I'd pull my own teeth out to have my lounge painted for £120.

How do you know it's a easy job Chandler. There could be lots of cutting in, for example, or a lot of prep.

Having painted plenty of rooms myself (and had the attempted cutting remark of a tradesman in to quote on a different job saying "At least you got a proper painter and decorator in" about my handiwork), if there was loads of prep I'd expect it to be higher still. And not all painters and decorators will sand down walls, fill in holes, etc.. But for a chap off gumtree, £120 - nah, can probably get a same or similar standard job for £50 or so. Unless of course he had attached examples of his stunning work to his gumtree ad, proper business details, etc..

That sounds pretty reasonable. Have you consideredd that dependent on your illness/benefits received you might be able to get some assistance from voluntary organisations to redecorate? Worth looking into.

how can it take a day to paint a room?

Really?

Stripping paper if necessary, Filling holes and/or cracks, sanding back, cutting in, first coat, second coat, ceiling, primer on woodwork, first coat of gloss/eggshell, second coat of gloss/eggshell, third if nec, leaving to dry inbetween.

Takes ages to do a proper job. Even in a small room.

It's not hourly though is it. It'll probably be the only job they do that day, and there's travel time etc. As someone else said, self-employed people have to charge what's worthwhile for them. If you think anyone professional could be arsed to paint your room for less then you're a bit out of touch.

Well, that's the thing though. I am not expecting a highly skilled professional decorator from Gumtree, just the average jack of all trades sort of handyman who can slap on two coats of paint. I expect it would take about 5 hours. No paper to strip, no fiddly bits, no cracks or woodwork. I dunno. I can't believe the people who pay hundreds for painting but maybe that's top notch handiwork compared to my rough and ready needs!

Thank you for all replies. I will check out another quote or two, and if that's the going rate then ah well, I shall woman the fuck up and do it one wall at a time over a few weekends or whatever.

It sounded a lot to me and I couldn't afford to pay someone, but the working out posters have done sounds reasonable. They have to earn enough to pay for the in between bits when they are not getting paid. Travelling, making quotes etc

What about a college or something that do painting and decorating courses? Contact them and ask if they send in their students for hands on experience, you know like the hairdressing colleges. They get experience,a nd you get your room painted for less.

The only way to get it cheaper is to find someone who has a job, but wouldn't mind earning a bit extra on the weekend.

Very reasonable - I paid £850 for medium sized sitting room and dining room. There's novpoint working out how vastly inflated you think their hourly rate is - tradesmen charge per job to do something you are unable or unqualified to do. Skills carry a cost.

Reasonable I'd say . What condition are the walls in ? Has he got to prepare and make good or even move furniture? What about the ceiling and skirtings ? dd's small bedroom took me at least 2 days, 2 coats to ensure even coverage.

About 5 years ago I paid £100 per room for complete prep (including moving furniture and covering everythibg, sanding down) and repaint (2 coats) of ceilings, walls, doors/window and door frames and skirtings and clean up. This was really cheap for that very expensive home counties area, and I grabbed it. £125 there now would also be expensive.

I have been quoted £800 for my current kitchen, diner, hall, bedroom and bathroom. I'm in a nicer looking house in a cheaper town now, and I tend to gwt overcharged more these days.

I live in London - and this sounds v reasonable - but as kim147 said - get a couple more quotes. Also make sure you find out whether it includes prep and one or two coats.

Think in terms of how long it will take a guy to do it, (include going to buy paint, prepping, packing up, cleaning brushes etc) to get an idea of how much per hour he'll be paying himself. It often sounds more reasonable if you work it out like that.

I would say very reasonable. Even from Gumtree they may well be a decent painter-decorator. There will almost certainly be some prep involved - I'm always amazed at how long our decorator spends prepping but it makes a huge difference to the finish. And he's quite possibly allowing for 3 coats as it often does take a 3rd to get a really good finish.

Sorry - realised I x-posted with several pps.
Hope you get what you want anyway OP - especially if you are feeling unwell.

The price sounds the same as where I live in the suburbs. I am afraid that's probably a fair price.

It sounds really reasonable to me.

Up north, I think I paid about £600 for living room and dining room. Minimal prep required, two coats of Dulux Diamond Matt, plus ceilings and woodwork done. The guys moved all the furniture and cleaned up immaculately every evening. That price included the paint.

Sounds cheap to me, my dad owns a large decorating company, I am smiling at the semi skilled comments - If you have painted your house yourself I am willing to bet you have no idea how bad it looks to professional eyes :)