Painting quote help

[JustAnotherDilemma]

For a bedroom measuring 12’9” x 9.3”, how much would you expect to pay for straightforward strip of wallpaper and paint matt emulsion to walls and ceiling with no complications.

WALL 1 (12’9” length) has ⅔ built in wardrobes so only needs ⅓ of the wall painted.

WALL 2 (9’3” length) has ½ French doors so only needs ½ of the wall painted

WALL 1 (12’9” length) has a radiator roughly 4” long

WALL 1 (9’3” length) has a standard doorway

So woodwork is not being painted? Are you in the South or near London? How old is the house and when were the walls last replastered?

The walls are fine, which is what makes it nice and straightforward. Any woodwork is not being painted as it’s natural wood recently varnished and 100% condition. It’s literally strip off paper and repaint walls (as per measurements above) and ceiling with several coats. South but not London area

Don’t forget all that glue has to be removed aswell. Which as a DIYer I can tell you is a pain in the backside and takes ages. The walls will have to be cleaned afterwards several times to get rid or sanded if deemed necessary.

Rad will need to be drained and removed aswel.
Apologies if that’s an obvious one

I was quoted £500 per room (no wall paper stripping etc but extra coats as bare plaster).

could get cheaper, lots of people on 'neighbourhood' but wanted someone who would pay attention to detail.

Have a go yourselves. It might take you longer, but you can do it. Then you have money for something else.

Agree

If you haven't stripped the paper how can you possibly know the walls are fine. The damage often comes when stripping.

You don't just strip and paint on a few coats. You need to prep, prime, fill, sand etc... if it was as easy as peel and slop you would do it yourself.

I have just done it last month on 3 room in my new house and it took us a whole month of working it on nearly every day (stripping 9 walls) and that time was because there where a dozen step between scraping and painting. Im now well versed in the tonnes of different things for different reasons walls need though (from voldens to toupret and from B.I.Ns to guardz to peelstop to Optiva its a pain in the ass getting it right).

The scraping and scrubbing alone is enough to drive you mad.

You also need to wait for the paint to dry before repainting or it will bubble so several coats take time, even if it took 10 minutes to paint on then its at best hours to dry enough to paint again best leaving it until the next day though.

I can’t do it myself because I’m disabled and I know about the walls because the job has already been done. I’m just concerned about how it’s been done and be the pricing.

if the job has already been done then what is your question about?
You think you have been overcharged????

many professional decorators refuse wallpaper jobs because of the danger of the plaster blowing when the paper is removed. You then end up having to replaster and wait ages for it to dry before you can paint.

They actually didn't! Just worked round it

Oh wow. That's tough for people with wallpaper! I had no idea

@Wot23 is quite right
wallpaper is especially an issue on external walls of properties. It’s not the wallpaper that’s the problem, it’s the glue. It traps moisture and blows the plaster.

Oh dear !!!

Amazingly, in this case it didn’t

Yeah… now can you see why I posted because I’ve got a few concerns?!

I want to pay them because when all is said and done, they have stripped wallpaper and painted. However, I am concerned about some of it, not least because they quoted for the most expensive paint and use the cheapest! I wanted to get an idea of how much an uncomplicated paint would be in a room that size so that I can know what would be reasonable to pay them

I’m afraid I can’t help with costs for decorating as I do my own

However I’d start with looking up the cost of the cheap paint they used and offset the cost of the expensive one they were supposed to use
Then I’d want them back to actually finish the job, ie the radiator

I think it should be about £800 for that lot these days, but we had something similar needing doing last year, and were quoted £1500. We went with it even though it was a lot, and when they got here (2 men) they said more work needed doing than they first thought, as they needed to wash all the walls down, and it would need 3 coats of paint - so more labour and more paint! And it would be an extra £300 for the 'materials.'

Ended up being £3000 instead of the original £1500. To paint a 17' X 14' lounge-diner, a small to medium sized kitchen (that's half wall units, 2 doors, and a big window,) a small hallway, (6' x 6,') and a small bedroom, (8' x 10'.) They only needed painting - not wallpapering.

At this point, we cancelled them, paid them for the paint they had already bought, and the day's labour, and sent them on their way. Cost £425, but was better than spending £3000. We did it ourselves in the end. Took a month, but looks amazing now. Already had all the paint which would have cost about £125, so we were £300 down, but it was worth it to save the higher amount of money they wanted. £3000!

Whilst chatting about this to someone, it emerged that these 2 men had done this to people before. Some had sent them on their way, some had paid up/been ripped off.

What did you pay @JustAnotherDilemma ?

I’ve WhatsApped my cousin whose dh is a painter and decorator. He’s at work so will let you know when he gets back to me

They are based in Hertfordshire for price comparison purposes

You need to pay them the cost you agreed. If they didn't use the correct paint them ask them to resubmit the invoice with the price of the correct paint

They didn’t use the agreed paint, they didn’t finish on time and they didn’t clean up as quoted. Yet you’d pay full price?

Why did you let them leave
without doing behind the radiator
without cleaning up
and
allow them to use the wrong paint

I think you’re in a tricky position now

I recently paid £800 for two rooms of that size, no wallpaper removal though. He went over on time, but I've never in my life had a tradesperson not go over so I wouldn't take money off for that.

I've never known a painter to take the radiator off, painting round it is fine for me personally.

If they used the wrong paint I'd get them to amend the quote for that.

Are you actually happy with the quality of the work?

How many coats ?

What make paint did they quote for and what did they use ?
I normally buy my own as I'm specific about which I like to use

Also was the clean up itemised? If so you could deduct that part if they haven't cleaned up or ask them to come back and do it ?

They’re denying it, even though I witnessed it and have a photograph of the paint in the property that they used (no sign of the correct paint at all, not even a used tin)