Is £1300 reasonable for decorating one average-sized room over three days?

[aimee41]

How much should a painter/decorator cost?
we are not SE/London, £350k for 3 bed semi type area. We need to get some painting done, first quote is £1300 for an average sized 13x10 ft room, said it would take 3 days. It seemed a lot in time and money. I’d be grateful if others could share quotes and rough areas. Thanks

That would be very expensive here (Norfolk). A standard room here that sort of size would cost around £600.

it really does not take 3 days to paint a standard room in good condition.
I do my own decorating and would say probably 1.5 days.
Day one - drape/dust sheets/tape windows etc clean walls/sugar soap and light sand woodwork if needs ( most should be sanded) that takes max 2 hrs.
First coat on woodwork/doors etc another 2 hrs
then first coat emulsion on walls and ceiling.
by time done that can start back at beginning and do second coat of emulsion.
second coat on woodwork next morning

Paying £450 for a bedroom, including ceiling and woodwork, bathroom woodwork, stairs handrail and newel x 3, and front door with fancy wooden faux Grecian porch trim thing. Oh and a bathroom ceiling. 3 days work.
I supplied colour paint, he supplied satin and undercoat.
I feel very lucky- he’s a friend’s husband who decorates as a side line.

We are in London. 5 bed house. Quoted £18,000 and we buy the paint. I choked but friends have said they thought that was a pretty good deal. It's 3 floors and includes painting the staircase.

It's irrelevant though as we can't afford it.

So, £1300 sounds roughly right to me.

£18k? that’s another level of madness especially if anyone pays that. Nobody heard of DIY?

£20k to paint the house including paint. Madness

But if it's a 5 bed house on three floors, that's probably at least 11 rooms plus hall, stairs x 2 and landing...that's £1,200 per room which is less than OP was quoted for one room

Wow! Our two storey extension was £50k 5 years ago. Seems a bargain now.

This is ridiculous. Honestly buy a good ladder and some decent quality paint and do it yourself. These days I only pay people to plaster and/ or wallpaper tricky areas. If the walls are in reasonable condition painting is so easy and I invariably do a much better job myself than a decorator (even with massive walls and 12ft high ceilings (hence the good ladder)!). I’ve also got a good tapered brush so no need to do duct taping and I listen to a podcast/ music and make my partner do all the cooking!!

50k just for the painting? Surely not?

No! For the extension and new kitchen. I painted it myself.

18k!!!! Everything has become so expensive

I can't do it myself. Don't have the physical capability nor the ability. My mate thinks it will cost about 2k to get my 2 bedroom house painted. I don't want to spend that. Looks like I'm.stuck with nursing home mushroom coloured walls !!!

I recently paid 1300 for a 1 bed flat to be painted in it's entirety, including ceilings and woodwork. There was some mould staining to deal with and some pipework that needed boxing in too.
Some of the quotes I received were double that amount, so I'd advise getting a couple more.
I'm in the east of England.