Decorating - we've been quoted £13,750 - please tell me they're taking the Michael?

[KindleMum]

We complete new week on our new house and are getting quotes for work at the moment. The first complete quote has been rather a shock and includes £13,750 for decorating - that's just papering and painting, not plastering. Please tell me they're trying to take me for a ride because if all the quotes are in that league I'll have to learn to wallpaper and do it myself.
It does have 3 receps and 5 bedrooms but they are not enormous rooms. And I'd be providing any patterned paper and top colour paint on top of that. They're only including undercoat or lining paper in that figure.

[notarehearsal]

Ive just had some decorating done and paid two men £180 per day. I'm in South East, one charges £80 and the other £100. If the job is quite straight forward as mine is I wouldn't pay anymore than £100 per day and that's a full day, 9-5. I've employed people in the past and their day seemed to start at 10 and finish at 4!

[Lifewithasixyearold]

sorry a bit of a list coming up, a fair bit of experience with this one in our house...

1. absolutely ridiculous price
   
2. yup, the missing Y chromosome, you will get your intelligence questioned time and time again, just wait they'll get your dh's number and double check he is happy with what you've said...
   
3. keep the management consistent, if you are in charge then you remain in charge, if your dh dips in and out then they can bugger you both about
   
4. get EVERYTHING in writing, itemised. every single time you change something get it in writing with a cost.
   
5. get a contract with a fixed price for their itemised list of what they are going to do. Allow them to do nothing until it is signed by both of you. this includes start and finish dates, a payment plan, agreed dates for supply of essential elements like the paint, paper etc
   
6. retain a minimum of 20% of the cost until you are happy with what they have done, any less and they can afford to walk away.
   
7. speak to as many locals as possible to get as many leads as you can and therefore as many quotes as possible. and yes, plastering the walls to make them suitable for painting will save you heaps down the line
   
8. if you go with the friend, make absolutely sure that you are going to survive the 'working for you' scenario. this so often ends badly, be certain that you are ok if its not quite right, not quite professional because your friendship will need to be worth sucking this up
   

I am sure that there are great builders & decorators out there, I am just surrounded by people who are experiencing nightmares at present (we had a fixed price contract but the builder managed to cock up some survey work and we ended up building in the winter not the summer, out of contract and he walked away from the snagging list because the 10% retained was less than the cost of putting right all his fuck ups)
if you want a laugh we also had a plasterer who wouldn't wait for the sparkie to loosen the light switches and plastered over the top of them

[YesThisIsMe]

ZOMBIE THREAD!

[HardcoreLadyType]

ZOMBIE THREAD!

[DoubleCarrick]

Do you know "how good" they are? I just ask because dh has a fair few wealthier clients and will spend 5-7 days in a bedroom rather than just 2 days. They seek and expect perfection and he provides that. Therefore if he were to quote you, your price isn't outside the realm of possibilities. Saying that, we are in the south and he generally charges £200 ish a day for labour, then materials plus about £35 per room for sundries

[BikeRunSki]

If you are in HD8/WF4/S36 part of West Yorks, I can recommend an excellent painter and decorator, who charged £450 for a 4x4m bedroom last year.

[BigGreenOlives]

User - start a new thread

[user1481961890]

Hello everyone. Can anyone please recommend a decorator in Twickenham? I am moving into a small flat in Marble Hill and need a trustworthy and good decorator to paint my flat? Thanks so much

[Smiles26]

Kindlemum, I have a property maintenance business, where are you located?

[AChickenCalledKorma]

We have just paid about 5000 to decorate the whole of our newly extended 4 bed house. That included all paints, including lots of woodwork, but no papering. We are in Surrey.

[serin]

Good God that is ridiculous.

We had a whole new roof for slightly more than that (large 4 bed detached).

[maevesport]

I paid £9000 ish for a large 4 bed,4 recep,kitchen,utility,2 ensuites ,a wc and a family bathroom.
Backing paper and then painted white throughtout.Doors and skirting board as well.
I thought that was expensive but seems not !!

[MmeLindor]

Blimey! I am quite happy with the quote of £1100 to paint our whole house now. That is only painting, and it is a 3 bed ex LA house but still.

That is almost half the budget for our whole house renovation.

[ClutchingPearls]

I've just had a double height hallway painted, I cried at the first quote £1200. Managed to get it down to £650 after getting quotes from every company in the area and offering one guy to do it as a weekend job. I think the moneys going straight into his back pocket, but hey my halls lovely now.

I would expect my whole house to be gold leafed for that price.

[ivykaty44]

Kindlemum - he thinks your thick and is trying to fleece you - problem is he is not very bright and didn't even think about the fact you were an accountant as he probably doesn't understand accountants deal with VAT...

Go and find a large barge pole and keep him that far away from you at all times

then find another decorator and explain when you want the quote you are an accountant and the last builder tried to fleece you thinking you wouldn't understand the accounting part - which will then hopefully sink in that you know about figures and VAT

[UptheChimney]

I am renovating a big old Victorian terrace: 3 receptions, 4 bedrooms. Plastering etc has been done. I only want white semi-satin throughout, with white gloss woodwork, and the quote was for just under £4000.

[Viviennemary]

That sounds a huge amount of money. But I know somebody who got a huge quote for a hall and stairs because they were very high ceilings. Somebody said around £500 per room is reasonable. Less for a small room, more for a larger room. And also £10 per hour sounds about right if an hourly charge is applied. It's not unheard of for a very big job for a quote to be half as much as another one. Hope you get sorted out.

[Moominsarehippos]

A rough guide is £200-500 per room (for everything).

[LadyHarrietdeSpook]

I don't know...when we moved to our current place (also five beds) we had to strip walls of lining paper, replaster and repaint four bedrooms, repaint the front of the house...take paper down in bathroom and repaint...and that was round about £11,500. A different guy painted the loft room (much easier job) - for £300...hall ways £500 (good price) and just under a grand for the two sitting rooms.

I thought ours was expensive at the time. But we're in Greater London...and the job wasn't easy...taking all that paper down including stuff on the ceiling. You are wallpapering...it's difficult to say really. You might get him down to £12K.

I wouldn't be surprised to hear about the 'opportunism' you speak of. But it can be a huge shock to see how much more it is to decorate a larger place. We had budgeted £5K based on our 3 bedroom house...! And had to have a stiff drink after the decorator came round.

[cooper44]

Kindle I just had entire place done (3 bed but big rooms) and it was about £4k I think poss even less. There was tons of prepping work sanding back all the original window frames bannisters etc. only one bedroom wall papered. They worked their butts off. Came back to do any snagging. Generally bent over backwards. I'm
In SW London.
Sorry for typos am on the phone.

[myron]

I have paid £100 day rate (labour only) for a 5 day job - 2 rooms - ceiling, walls, skirting, window ledge & door but that was in Feb '12 when my painter wasn't that busy and accepted a lower rate. In Jul '12, his rate was £250 per day (for 2 men) for a 10 day job. He was busy and he did an excellent job the first time round so I was prepared to pay him his 'normal' rate minus a modest discount for being a repeat customer! SE (outside London)

[herbaceous]

DontSHOUT - I know, ridiculously cheap. And it wasn't even cash-in-hand. They're a retired couple, who do decorating to supplement their pensions. Thus, not a very good comparison. But, say, they both got paid £100 a day, the job would still have been £1600, which is still a damn sight better value than the OP's quote!

[NotAQueef]

Could it be that they don't want the job so have deliberately quoted over the top - a bit like those insurance companies who quote £25000 for teenage boys (ie they don't want to insure them)?

[DontSHOUTTTTTT]

Typo... 'Bloke' not bloe

[DontSHOUTTTTTT]

[Shock] . £800 for two men over 8 days = £50 a day each. That's only just minimum wage.

I pay about £120 - £150 as a day rate. I don't pay cash in hand. (Except for a gardening bloe. Who does a few hours here and there)