Are these labour costs reasonable?

[Tarantella43]

Just had new 5 bed house redecorated. We used my DP’s friend who does a bit of everything, rather than separate professionals. He brought in a few helpers here and there.
We have paid around £24,000 for:

• Painting whole 5 bed house. Includes prep, some stripping of wallpaper but no plastering. Doesn’t include cost of paint.
• Tiling an average sized family bathroom, a small en suite bathroom, small downstairs loo, average sized utility room and small porch. Doesn’t include cost of tiles.
• Erecting a small amount of some basic fencing (without posts) by garden gate, and new garden gate, materials included.

Is this broadly reasonable? I think given we didn’t replaster any walls, I would have expected to pay less.

That's probably twice the cost of what we paid. Ours is 4 bedroom (140 sqm, London). 5k for paint, 3k for tiling ensuite and downstairs bathroom. Not sure about garden gate but I would think that 3-4k. Just labour costs, materials probably the same. Material and labour is about the same, just for reference, it's not like it's very specialist labour like carpentry or roofing which are pricier.

Omg I hope that is that a typo. Do you mean £2,400?!

I’m so in the wrong job. How long did it take?

Rip off. Sorry you've been stung.

I hope you don't really mean £24,000.

Well yes it's extortionate but decorating costs (and the cost of paint) are ridiculous now. We'll be doing any further decorating ourselves particularly since the last 'professional' we had in did such a bad job, it took us nearly as long again to rectify his mistakes! Wall coverage was abysmal and the cutting in had to be seen to be believed.... !

Depends - how many days labour was it? How big is a 5 bed house too - that can vary a lot!

If you're talking a 5 bed Victorian house with huge high ceilings etc and grand staircases that's a huge difference from a 5 bed new build with lower ceilings / less grand features.

Did it include materials disposal? And if it didn't include paint / tiles, did it include everything else? Stripping wallpaper + prepping walls can take forever but be needed for a good finish. The helpers also needed paying so again, more labour!

It sounds like 5 rooms have been tiled, a full 5 bed house wallpaper striped (where needed) / prepped / painted and some fencing work. Depending on how many days it took + other bits it could end up being quite expensive! Sounds like a lot of work.

My painter charges £200 per day for labour, so it can add up quickly. That seems somewhat excessive to me though.

Thanks for replies. I think my figure is a bit overinflated as I now realise that also included some work on the previous place I put on the market, but it’s not far off. I reckon getting up to £20k for the current house renovations (excluding most materials). He also ripped out the bathroom sinks and toilets (though I paid a plumber separately to put new ones in). The house is about 1800 sq ft. Ceilings and doors painted too and internal window frames, which took ages as they were 1980’s brown wood stain. The prep took forever. I do think someone else could have been more efficient, though, we both recognise that now.

@keylimedog you’re right, it was quite a bit of work.