Quote for repainting house exterior

puc

hi
been quoted £1000 including materials to repaint the outside of a 3 bed semi. this involves surface prep, 1 coat undercoat, 2 coats masonry paint. some minor filling, paint fascia boards at back of house, paint guttering and downpipes at the back. estimate for 1 worker to take 8-10 days.

is this reasonable?

Dave101t

work it out: cost of labour, materials etc. id say it was reasonable so long as they do all the work quoted and dont cut corners, i.e. 1 quick coat.

puc

thanks,
breaks down as £200 materials, £800 labour. they are a first class firm, well respected locally. works out as £80-100 / day, seems like a lot of hours but they're only leaving 1 chap on the job.

misgrace

Seems a lot of days to paint your house even for one person.

You havent mentioned windows, so I would presume they are UPVC, and you havent said whether 'firm' will provide a tower or scaffold, or is the painter working off a ladder.
Are they going to sheet up your windows?, cover the area around them when they paint?

I did my own about 6 years ago, admittidly I am a P&D, but gave up external work a couple years before that.
I didnt cover windows, as I am a very careful and clean worker anyway, I always have a cloth with me, something a lot of tradespeople dont know what a cloth is for lol.
My windows are UPVC, and I had someone to foot the ladder for part of the job. (check that as well, if he is on his own, and working off a ladder, he will need someone to foot the ladder) H&S regs.
I did lose a little bit of time, as sometimes I would have an audience, or people would stop me and comment on 'what on earth is a woman doing up there painting'? lol

It didnt take me any longer than 4 days, and I did the soffits, guttering, pipes, (UC and gloss) as well as applying 2 coats on walls., and I even varnished the front door.

But I am very fast, as have been decorating for years, and I am WonderWoman, (well my DH thinks so)

Meant to say, mine is a 3 bed semi, but I did start early in the morning, (as I lived on the job) :rotfl:also best to get painting before it gets too hot.
I would stop for a few hours as sun was getting hot, but then go back to it late afternoon and work till about 7pm.

You need to make sure that matey stays on the job, as 8-10 days could mean 8-10 half days instead of full days.

Exterior work usually costs more in Labour, but looking at your price, it seems that matey isnt getting much per day, that if he works the full 8-10 days, as the firm who hire him want thier cut, so it doesnt leave much wages for matey, which make me wonder if he is something along the lines of a EE worker, Just a thought......

sujman

The time taken for the job is useful to know but ultimately irrelevant. If you have confidence in the firm providing the service expected and feel the price seems fair, then those are the key factors.

On the face of it £1,000 seems reasonable, if a little high but I've never had external walls painted, just internal.

My entire house (small semi detached house), was painted top to bottom, including skirting, doors (sanded down as well) and ceilings - all for just under £1,000, all in.

In my experience, firms always overestimate the time taken, usually by a factor of 2 - so actual time will prob be 4 - 5 days work.

My house painting job - estimated 2 weeks work. He started Monday morning and was done by Friday lunch. Finished in half the time!

PS Job done was superb, no cutting corners.

Noel80

The quote for the OP's exterior work sounds fair. When you say "undercoat" does that mean it hasn't been painted before or is it a change of colour?

The time taken for the job is useful to know but ultimately irrelevant. If you have confidence in the firm providing the service expected and feel the price seems fair, then those are the key factors.

Good point.

Goes to show that people work at different pace. It would take me a week just to prep a full 3 bed house internal job. Let alone paint it as well in that time! But I wouldn't charge £1000 for a week's work so it's swings and roundabouts etc.

LeeSouthEast

Sounds fair. Friend of mine paid exactly the same 2 months ago.

john0612

well i charge around £700-£800 for a 3 bed semi including paint (magnolia) slightly more if it's a tint.

adding in the woodwork and guttering i'd say it's a very fair price, but you'd be amazed at the amount of folk that gasp at the price you quote.

puc

thanks for the replies everyone.

i am going to go for this as they'll do a good job and my house wont be the shabbiest in the street anymore

POC_2

puc wrote: »

hi
been quoted £1000 including materials to repaint the outside of a 3 bed semi. this involves surface prep, 1 coat undercoat, 2 coats masonry paint. some minor filling, paint fascia boards at back of house, paint guttering and downpipes at the back. estimate for 1 worker to take 8-10 days.

is this reasonable?

so many experts decs giving advice too you!the first question should be,what the materials to be used are!dulux weathershield is the best by far but is expensive.ask the person who gave you the quote to tell you what materials he plans on using.

puc

the quote specifies sandtex smooth masonry paint, forgot to say that there is a roughcast finish to the exterior.