Decorating cost

[Mirrorxx]

I have just received a quote for painting our living room and it is much more than I expected. can anyone tell me if this is the going rate now?
We are in Manchester and they have quoted 650-700 to prep the room which is approx 7m x4m and paint the skirting boards. We have to supply the paint on top of this

Hmm, is the £700 for painting as well as prep? That's quite a large room, and if the walls are in a bit of a state they may need quite a bit of preparation - I'd say that's decent as a quote provided the finished work is to a good standard.

I got quoted £950 for stairs and landing, not including the price of paint (I don’t have a hall as I’m in an upstairs maisonette).
It does appear to be very expensive to have someone come and do the decorating for you now a days, I’m even considering trying to get into it as a trade when I get my driving license

I ended up having to do all my decorating myself as there was just no way I could ever afford the costs.

The stairs remains half painted though as I cannot reach my stupidly high walls/ceilings without risking my life lol.

Can't you paint it yourself?

It also depends if you have high ceilings and cornicing which will be more work.

Sounds reasonable to me.

I'm in Manchester too. Actually if you want to pm me i have a fantastic decorator recommendation, he is currently doing my hall, stairs and landing! It does sound a bit on the expensive side to me, but probably not too outlandish. I would recommend getting a few different quotes and seeing where they land. Check out local.which.co.uk/advice/cost-price-information-painters-decorators (although a bit outdated now). Out of interest, what were you expecting?

That's quite a big room and the quote sounds reasonable to me.

That’s reasonable- sounds like 2.5-3 man days. Prepping such a large space + painting everything including the woodwork with 2-3 layers of paint is going to take that long.

It sounds a little on the high side to me, but not ridiculous. Depends if there is a lot of prep to be done. I also have a fantastic decorator I used in my old house when renting it out and I will be using in our new house when we renovate. Pm me if you would like his details I’m in the Manchester area.