to query painter's new quote?

[sharond101]

Got a quote for painting my hallway and stairs. When giving the quote the painter counted the number of doors to gloss to make the estimate. On arrival yesterday I asked him to gloss a skirting in my kitchen and asked how much extra it would be. We agreed £10 more. Late in the afternoon he said he couldn't do the doors as they have a special finish and it would waste them, something about them being UPVC doors. I asked what to do about the marks on them he said he would patch them up. Anyway, I asked how much it would be now he wasn't going to do the doors fully (11 of them) and he said let's just leave it as it is as he will patch them up. AIBU to think he is being unreasonable? I would have expected it to be cheaper? How would you approach this?

Firstly I'd want to know exactly what 'patch them up means', doesn't sound very satisfactory to me, and yes does sound as if it should be cheaper.

Once you know what's involved you can then judge whether 'patching up' requires as much work as painting.

If it doesn't you can then reasonably ask for a new estimate. If he doesn't agree I'd find a new decorator.

Sounds unreasonable

But more unreasonable is his 'patch up' offer..... You can't patch up paint!

There are a few scratches he is going to fill in as "patch up". He hasn't come today as had a filling done at dentist, poor thing!

The there's no way that can involve the same work and materials. Definitely requires a new estimate.

TBH I'd be a bit worried about who that would look when he'd finished.

My husband runs his own painting and decorating business.

Firstly ten pound to gloss the kitchen skirting is pretty reasonable.

With regards to the doors. What materials is he using to 'patch them up'? How bad are the marks? Usually it's between 15-20 quid per door depending on how many coats if it's both sides. It does sound strange he had determined the price of the hall by calculating the door's. Seems a strange way to get a price. Has he started the job? Could you post a pic of one of the doors and il show my DH. personally I think he has possibly underpriced the job and/or the time it will take to do it and is trying to drop the doors to scrape back what he can.How long has he been in business for?

Exasperated only one wall in kitchen has skirting so not a big deal. Heis using satin gloss and it's only a few chips, nothing major and one side of door only. I assume he counted doors to calculate how much the doors and then how much for the walls, skirting etc, rather than pricing only dependent on doors. He spent almost 6 hours yesterday painting and coming back tomorrow to gloss. Picture of door attached. His original quote was £250, increased to £260. 4 bedroom house. downstairs hall, stairway and upstairs hall.

£260 for all that sounds very reasonable.

£260 to do hall stairs and landing is a huge bargain, doors or not (or I was badly ripped off)

However, this talk of patching up would make me question whether I wanted him to do the work at all.

I think the original quote sounds underpriced to be honest.

I got 2 quotes his and anotherguy was £265.

My painter estimates £300 for a "bog standard, unfiddly room" (with one door!).

Maybe varies depending on whereabouts in the country you are. My DP has a painting and decorating company and would definitely charge more then that for average hall stairs and landing around here.
Depends a lot on state of walls, how much prep is needed and wether it's a similar colour if just emulsioning as dark to light obviously takes more coats to get decent coverage. Even with good walls your quotes definitely sound very reasonable. Does seem wierd that patching up is the same price though, material costs would surely differ for a start.

I supplied paint

I would think the work would take 3 days and would cost around £360 in my area, is he a professional or an odd job man? BTW my hubby is a self employed professional painter and decorator so that is what I have based my prices on.

I'd get another quote and start from scratch, the new quote should have been loads cheaper.

Sounds like an odd job man and not a professional P&D
My DP also says around £350 - £400 for the work you have described. He also says if you can't paint a door for some reason then there's no way you can just touch it up either.