£1,600 external house paint and preparation quote

[Wauden]

A man came round who is boss of company and quoted me £1,600 to:
Prepare all external paintwork, clear out gutters, paint prime coat and two top coats, barge boards, fascia, gable, external work. Shed door, small window, replace cill. Windows themselves are uPVC.
Pay at end. Approve green colour shade first.
What do you think?
It's not like me to engage a cold caller but he sounds like he is kosher. I checked out website.
Thanks!

What is he painting? Your post isn’t clear? Your house exterior walls? Doors? How big is your house? As in how much painting?

More context needed OP

He was a cold caller!

I would say that someone who cold calls your house to tout for work is to be avoided. Good tradespeople don't need to do this.

3 bed house.
Fascia, gutters, one door, 2 small lintels, gable timber.
One pebble dash panel.
No walls.

I would avoid at all costs. Sounds like a reasonable quote, but I wouldn’t accept unsolicited caller to my home. I know a lot of people who have accepted similar and had items disappear around the time of the work, which may or may not be connected.

His business card has his brother's details. Not his. I called brother, says they co- own the company.

If he was good he would be busy. Not knocking on random doors.

I would be put off by anyone cold calling
At the very least seek out a quote yourself to compare

Agree with PP - reputable tradespeople currently have waiting lists and they aren’t touting for work.

Cold caller aspect concerns me

Absolutely not!

Obviously you need to get three quotes and compare - as with any work you have done!

How are we meant to understand what he is quoting for, the breakdown you have is only useful for other tradespeople giving you quotes. Get them to provide one based off his and then consider the best option.

Again, I would be asking for recommendations from friends, family or a local Facebook group rather than engage with some random cold caller without consulting other options.

AVOID!!

Any good builder/painter/plumber etc etc never needs to knock on doors. They always have plenty of work booked in or they advertise in local directories. In fact, good tradespeople tend to have too much work on their books which causes all sorts of scheduling problems.

Why are you even considering paying someone money to do work on your house when you didn't even ask them for a quote in the first place?

Does it include the cost of the renting, erecting and striking of the scaffolding they'll need for that job? If not, how are they planning to get up to the gable end?

If they say they'll use a ladder, tell them to piss off as they are cowboys.

(Ex construction H&S Inspector)

Not sure if it is the same everywhere but finding a tradesman round here at the moment is a nightmare. If you are lucky they will put you on a waiting list for a quote. When I got a quote I was happy with, for a bathroom refit, I waited 3 months for him to start. His phone never stopped with people trying to get him to do quotes.

@CagneyNYPD

AVOID!!

Any good builder/painter/plumber etc etc never needs to knock on doors. They always have plenty of work booked in or they advertise in local directories. In fact, good tradespeople tend to have too much work on their books which causes all sorts of scheduling problems.

Why are you even considering paying someone money to do work on your house when you didn't even ask them for a quote in the first place?

^ this

Get other quotes & see what they come in at

As per other comments, I have never known a good tradesman cold call, you have no idea if their workmanship is any good, find 3 other reputable companies and get quotes and check reviews, or even better get a recommendation from someone who has had similar work done. Using some random unknown person who just happened to knock on your door is asking for trouble

It’s also sort of job you can’t check. Unless you are watching all day every day. Whack on one coat paint tell you it’s been prepared and 2 base coats. Same with gutters etc

No no no

No mention of scaffolding which was odd.

Its way too cheap, he's a cold caller, and had no work on.

Not a chance.

They say on these consumer advice programmes NEVER to employ a cold caller.

My Dad is a painter and decorator. It's hard to gauge the quantity of paint and duration of the job without seeing the size of your house and current state. For context, he does materials at cost (so quick look on b&q would give you rough idea of cost) and charges between 150 - 200 a day (£200 a day for external summer jobs as he can do a good 10+ hours with daylight). As PP has mentioned a gable end would likely need scaffolding, where we are ooop noooorth you're looking at around £300 for a week including set up and dismantle. Average 3 bed in our area would probably take him and one of his lads 3 days (so 6 days labour) he'd probably charge 900-1000 for that, approx 250 materials if just using off the shelf products like sandtex (I. E. Nothing trade mixed in specialist colours) and c£300 for scaffolding. So £1600 sounds reasonable. But there are a lot of assumptions built into that and we are north west where its cheaper than day south east.

And he's never had to cold call. Doesn't need to advertise as its all word of mourh. He didn't bother getting his trade logo and mobile number on side when he got most recent van as doesn't 'need' the custom - there's only so many hours in the week and he's plenty of work on.
So, although the price might be reasonable, I'd question the quality of someone having to cold call. If they're just starting up fair enough and every credit to them, but it's an unusual approach.

@ohidoliketobe thanks for the inside knowledge.

Thanks to you all, it is significant that he tried to put time pressure on me.