Decorating Costs

chez_2 · 12 April 2006 at 12:35PM

I've just had a quote for decorating my house.

It's a 4 Bedroom house with;

Downstairs
Hallway, Toilet, Study, Kitchen/Breakfast Room, Utility Room, Dining Room, Lounge, Stairway.

Upstairs
Landing, Bathroom, 2 Double Bedrooms, 1 Single Bedroom, Master Bedroom and En-Suite.

There are quite a few chips/dents in plasterboard and most of the window sills etc have cracks around which would need filling etc..

Outside
2 bay windows, 2 large windows (4 pane) and 7 small windows (2 pane).

All windows are wood, painted white. Fascia boards etc need painting and gutters cleaned etc.

The quote came back as -

Outside Materials = £65
Outside Labour = £890
Inside Materials = £190
Inside Labour = £3540

Total Cost = £4685

This seems excessive to me. Is this right?? Perhaps I had underestimated the cost of putting paint on walls?

Al_Mac · 12 April 2006 at 12:44PM

Can't comment on outside.

Most we've paid for an inside room is £360, loung. We tend to supply wallpaper.

:beer:

woodbutcher_2 · 12 April 2006 at 12:48PM

The material and labour costs seem totally disproportionate to me.I am a joiner and i am sat here with my brother painting my living room.When i read the figures to him he laughed and said if he charged them sort of prices he would have retired years ago.He said to get at least two more quotes.

chez_2 · 12 April 2006 at 12:51PM

Well, funnily enough I just heard back from a second company who are saying 3935+VAt, which works out at roughly the same.

I think I'm going to try a 'local handyman' type of decorator, rather than a company, if you know what I mean...

chez_2 · 13 April 2006 at 11:44AM

Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

Thanks
Richard

woodbutcher_2 · 13 April 2006 at 5:31PM

I would ask around for recommendations for a jobbing decorator in your area.Stay away from the big companies.I don't know if the prices you have been quoted are a regional thing but up here in the poor north,they seem extortionate to me and my brother,who is a decorator.Since my last reply,i have had a visit from a mate who used to be a decorator and he thought the prices laughable.If your'e not sure about someones ability,you could get them to do a small job,say a room,then expand the work if you are happy with them.

darrahman · 13 April 2006 at 11:26PM

sounds fairley reasonable to me around 2400 for interior and exterior 2000 max could be as little as 800 quid??? :T

chez_2 · 14 April 2006 at 12:09AM

darrahman - not sure what you're saying.. The quote for outside was under £1000, inside was over £3500.. ??

SUPERJULES · 14 April 2006 at 12:34AM

My oh has quoted for an outside today £750 for an average sized outside. I know he has done a full inside for about £2000 and £1000 when he was just emulsioning one of our neighbours.

He used to work for another decorators and their prices were a lot more.

I would try a smaller local decorator and ask if there's an outside that he has done that maybe you could drive past and have a look at.

doozeruk · 19 April 2006 at 12:05AM

You have got to understand that you cant just say 'my house is so big with x amount of doors and y amount of windows and bedrooms' Every house is unique even if your neighbours house is identical it is quite possible that one is in a poorer condition than the other and that would therefore have a reflection on the price of the job.

Obvisouly the price reflects the condition of your property and the reputation of the decorator. I work with my father as a 2 man decorating family business, est. in 1913 by my great grandfather the quality of our work ensures that we maintain a high level of customer satisfaction and that is the way it should be. To achieve this high level of work takes time and of course time is money!

If we were to arrive at your house and your lounge (for example) was 20' x 12' with one bay window, one door, a radiator, skirting all around and the house was in good condition i.e. Good plaster walls, no serious cracks, no wall paper to remove you would be looking at; around 2 days for the two us to fill cracks and blemishes, sand down, 2 coats of vinyl emulsion to ceiling and walls, prime (where needed), fill, undercoat and gloss paintwork.
That would equate to around £360 for labour alone, you could round off to approx. £400 with materials. Remember this is for 2 people for 2 days.

However if we were to arrive at your house and your lounge needed more than a light fill, paper removing, burning off on parts or all of your windows and doors then you would of course be looking at a substanial amount more. Here in Norfolk we are charging £23 per hour for 2 men, no VAT which of course can make a bill alot more astronomical.

Same applies to the exterior. We never start any exteriors until the last week of May and finish generally in the last week of September. I cannot remember the last exterior painting I done where there was no carpentry to be done, fortuantley we are carpenters too, so we dont have to rely on other trade persons. Unless you have plastic all around or you keep on top of the exterior paintwork you can almost guarantee rot somewhere. In that respect it can be difficult to quote. It is amazing though at how quickly you can get around the exterior if the repairs are minimal.

Finally a good decorator is likely to be busy, ourselves, we cant take on any more work until October and already have 2 exteriors on our books for 2007! A busy tradesman says alot about his quality and his price.

Hope that helps a bit:)

steve_cov · 19 April 2006 at 12:23AM

To the OP:
Where are you? Someone may be able to recommend a tradesperson local to you... at perhaps a lower cost than you have so far been quoted.

To doozeruk:
I note what you say, but it's the early worm who gets caught by the early bird...

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