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Over £3000 to decorate a very small house?

24 replies

Toddlerteaplease · 01/06/2019 17:01

Had a quote to decorate my small 2 bed house of £3150. I am absolutely gobsmacked. I thought it would be several hundred £ but not that much. Is this typical? It's East Midlands.

OP posts:
Fluffy40 · 01/06/2019 17:07

Get some more quotes, it sounds too high.

didireallysaythat · 01/06/2019 17:33

Around here a painter costs £150-175 a day - did they give you an idea of how long and did it include the paint?

GreenTulips · 01/06/2019 17:36

Stairs are expensive

Get a few more quotes but painters and decorators dontake their time prepping and generally do an excellent job

Liverbird77 · 01/06/2019 17:52

It was over 600 for my tiny flat. North West.

ChequersDog · 01/06/2019 18:55

Are they just painting over paint or will they be having to strip wallpaper?

Fluffycloudland77 · 01/06/2019 20:07

Well their going to want to earn at least £150 a day each & then the cost of materials.

Chocolate1984 · 01/06/2019 20:13

Guy decorated our 2 bed flat for £450. Skirting, walls, ceiling over 4 days. Worked 6am-3.

lovelyupnorth · 02/06/2019 16:36

@Chocolate1984

If that included materials he’d be not even getting minimum wage.

JoJoSM2 · 02/06/2019 18:29

What's included? Just wall painting? Or woodwork too? Any wallpapers to strip or put up? And dodgy holes/cracks to fill? Whereabouts in the country are you? It's also a good idea to get 3 quotes for any job. Equally, not sure what you could possibly get done for just a few hundred.

wonkylegs · 02/06/2019 18:59

What's included and how small is your small?
Our stairs and hallway cost £1k + alone but that was for stripping, filling, lining and painting both walls, ceiling and woodwork - they provided everything (Dulux paint) - we have a lot of woodwork, and the walls weren't in a great condition
Our bedroom was similar work and was £500
I painted the kids rooms it was hard going!

Toddlerteaplease · 02/06/2019 23:18

It only needs a lick of paint. O wallpaper to strip. Abs single colours in each room. When I asked how long it would take, as the cats will need to be in the cattery he just said it "wont be a couple of days"

OP posts:
Toddlerteaplease · 02/06/2019 23:18

*no wallpaper

OP posts:
cocodash · 02/06/2019 23:20

When we decorated, we done as much as we could ourselves to keep costs down.

We painted, stripped wallpaper, glossed. We both worked full time so it took us longer than getting people in but was worth it cost wise.

And I am also one of the weirdos who find stripping wallpaper therapeutic lol

nc100 · 02/06/2019 23:21

What needs a lick of paint? The doors? The walls? The skirtings? I'll assume it needs an undercoat? Anything removing?

Unless you say what needs doing and the space it's impossible to tell

BlueEyedBengal · 02/06/2019 23:51

Sounds expensive for just painting Evan if paint was supplied by the decorator. Get some other quotes and shop around there many many decorators out there.

Fluffycloudland77 · 03/06/2019 06:36

Could you manage it yourself?.

I do ours, dh edges but I do everything else.

StoorieHoose · 03/06/2019 06:38

He's priced it High cos he doesn't actually want to do the job and if you agree then he will do it and be quids in!

BillywilliamV · 03/06/2019 06:40

We are having three bedrooms and a bathroom done this week in the East Midlands, lots of holes and preparation. 2 quotes both under £900.
Get another quote!

Bluntness100 · 03/06/2019 06:46

The going rate here is 150 a day, when you say small what are you talking about?

Living room, kitchen, hall, bedroom (s) bathrooms, doors, skirtings etc?

Obviously get some more quotes but for that I'd assume take away vat, so saying 2.5 approx, he's looking at 16/17 days work which seems excessive, is he also supplying rhe paint?

Bluntness100 · 03/06/2019 06:50

Also some are just rip off merchants. I had quotes in to paint rhe beams on the outside of my house, two came in in the three grand range. One came in at nearly ten.

I couldn't friggen believe it. They tried to justify it too.

MarieG10 · 03/06/2019 09:30

It depends on where you are etc. But if he charges £150 a day, then that is 21 days work and if every room then doesn't sound unreasonable if he does the job properly. We got fed up with decorators that had a reasonable price but the preparation was absolutely shite and ultimately looks a poor finish. I suggest you be clear what it involves and actually ask fr quotes with a written spec.

For example

Rub down all paintwork
Prime any bare wood
Prime wood knots with sealer
Undercoat all wood.
Two coats of paint

Decide if you want water based or oil based undercoat. Water based dries quickly but from my experience chips really easily when bashed

What you may find is the cheaper ones may not have undercoat (using one of the combined paints). Having seen all sorts there is no substitute for having all the above done properly

Ilovefluffysheep · 03/06/2019 12:00

I had a couple of quotes recently to decorate my bedroom. It's a pretty large room (above the double garage). Wallpaper to one wall, and painting the rest. No ceiling or woodwork to be done (new build, so not required).

One guy quoted me £260. The other quoted my £1100!! No guesses for who I went with, he was also recommended locally and did a fab job.

Toddlerteaplease · 03/06/2019 22:22

Tiny kitchen. 50% tiled, tiny bathroom also 50% tiled. Box room & bedroom lounge and hall. That's it.
No holes to be filled. Nothing to strip and plain colours and white gloss in each room.
I suspect he doesn't really want the job as well. He completely forgot the first quote appointment and was an hour late for the second. The bloke the landlady uses is also giving me a quote and he charges £125 a day so hopefully he'll be more reasonable. The landlady was going to get it done this summer but is selling me the house instead!

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userxx · 03/06/2019 22:58

£3150 is ridiculous. I've just had the porch, lounge, kitchen, stairs, landing and bathroom painted for less than a £1k, that also included the paint. My house is a smallish two bedroom. Definitely shop around.

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