Does this sound right to you?

[RedPandaFluff]

A friend of a friend is doing some work for us, so I'm sure it's fine, but I've never paid someone to paint/decorate before so I have no idea whether this is reasonable!

£2500 (excluding materials) to:

1. Paint hallway, stairwell and landing (including skirtings and banister, skim and paint ceiling)

2. Paint living room (including repair cracks in ceiling, skirtings, door frame)

3. Paint three bedrooms (including skirtings, doorframes, windowframes and ceilings)

He says it will take two weeks and we're in the north west of England.

What do you reckon - fair and reasonable?

Assuming he's working 8 hour days for a 5 day week, that's roughly £30 per hour. I think that's a bit high unless there's something "special" about the work. It would sound reasonable for a large house in the south including materials.

It’s about £400-£500 a room here (standard size) and £800-£1000 for landing/hallway and banisters. That’s roughly what we have recently paid. Bannisters take a while as does wood work. That was about avwrage of what we were quoted.

So sounds very reasonable to me.

Where are you, @PinkAvocado . . . ?

We're in the north, @LoopyLu2019, and it's a standard semi rather than a large house, and materials aren't included . . .

It's so hard to know! I'm wondering if I should get quotes from another couple of decorators . . .

That seems a lot for that length of time (I.e day rate of £250!!!) but not for all that work if that makes sense? £250 for a day sounds a lot, here (small town also in North west) day rate is about £100 for painter decorator

All this talk of of 'is it worth it?' 'Does that sound right?' really pisses me off. This person has every right to place a value on their work. If you're not happy with the quote, absolutely fine. Don't use them. Get more quotes. But that's the price they want to do the work. They wouldn't be in business very long if they just made prices up off the top of their head would they. How you can possibly gauge this by asking strangers on the internet is bizarre. Get some other quotes!

You'd be foolish to go ahead without getting more quotations for the job; you'll know then whether his is reasonable or not.

@M0reGinPlease . . . bad day?! 😏

No @RedPandaFluff but thanks for asking.

If it’s not a big house....I feels like a bit much.

I would get another quote for comparison.

I think average is about £125 per day but we have paid more when the decorator is fixing things and spindles etc do take a long time . Our decorator just spent 2 days on a high ceiling 13ft x 13ft room but that was with very little repair or anything else. Just walls woodwork ceiling . We supplied paint etc

I'm in thr south east, going rate is about 150 a day. You're paying 250. I think that's a bit much.

However it's a lot to do in ten days, I'd get other quotes then judge it.

They wouldn't be in business very long if they just made prices up off the top of their head would they

Lol. I think you'll find it's primarily market based pricing and they need to be competitive. They can't just say well I value myself highly, so charge way above market rates, they wouldn't be in business very long then either.🤣

Thanks for opinions everyone - the consensus seems to be that it's a little high, so I'll arrange for a couple more quotes to gauge.

It just makes it slightly awkward that it's a friend of a friend - on one hand it's good to have a personal recommendation, but I don't want to insult him either by saying his prices are too high.

If you get other quotes in then you can simply be factual. Don't pay over the odds. Just to be nice, if he's charging you above market rate, then he's not being very nice, it's clearly not mates rates you're getting.

I got quotes in for painting the beams on the outside of my house, the lowest was 2.5 k, the highest 9.5. I nearly fell over. 9.5! I coildnt believe it.

The same happened for decorating downstairs, the quotes ranged from 1500 to 2500. I went for the cheapest, they were all professionals, and rhe work was excellent.

I'm off the opinion that some people either,,,see you have a big house and take the piss thinking you can afford it, think uou aren't getting other quotes so take the piss again thinking you've no clue, or think because there is a sort of relationship, they can take the piss as you're bound to use them. And if someone is having you over, do you really want them doing the work?

Get other quotes then you'll know for sure.

A lot depends where you are in the country. You say skim a ceiling. If you mean plastering that would make it a lot more expensive.

RedPandaFluff
I’m in the South but in a town that has less competition compared to nearby bigger towns. It is mostly an affluent area. To get a decorator, you need to book months in advance! If they just had to paint a room I guess our quotes may have been less but they fill in any small holes, smooth rough areas etc and that takes time.

Is it one or two painters working? Given that it sounds about twice the day rate I recently paid, up getting twice as much done, I would check if he works with an assistant before writing him off!

Up getting? Autocorrect of 'but getting'!

North Yorkshire here, I had a quote of £1750 to paint two reception rooms, smaller one 12 x 10, bigger one 20 x 10 with an extra 8ft square (L shaped room) bit.

That was for ceilings, walls (which are 10ft high in the smaller room), doors, frames, skirting boards and a total of 11 sash windows, 5 of which are 8ft high.

I haven't had it done yet but when I think about all the windows and woodwork I think it is quite reasonable.

2 weeks? Is that 10 days?

Does he give start & finish times?

Mmmm... that does seem a little on the high side and I would have thought that about £150 a day would be more like it, especially as materials etc would be extra.

Ex-dh is a painter and decorator and does sometimes put in high quotes if he doesn't particularly want the job, so as to put people off. Occasionally they say yes!

Agree with others, it would be best to get other quotes and then compare the prices. You might get someone quoting similar, but including materials, which would be more like it.

I think it sounds perfectly reasonable. We paid approx that to have the same amount of work done. We're in West Yorkshire. This was about 2 years ago.