please help! "friend of a friend" decorating quote

crystalwings

Hi, Please be gentle as it's my first post

We have asked a friend of a friend to decorate our new home and i'd like to know if it's a good rate (mates rates?).........£1000.00 + £300.00 on materials.
It's a small house and we helped strip the walls - he's already started work.
Rough measurments are livingroom 12 x 12
2 x bedrooms 10 x 10
small kitchen 10 x10
and VERY small entrance.

All ceilings are woodchip, so he covered with super fresco which has now to be painted, all walls covered now with lining paper and any gaps filled, also to be painted, all the skirtings to be lightly sanded and painted, four new doors to be painted.
He is a decorator by trade, but currently on the sick, so not working at the moment.
I've paid £500.00 and £300.00 for the materials already - obviously have to let him carry on, but need to know if this price is ok for our own peace of mind!! Oh, and we live in East Scotland.
Thanks

renegade

It's a bit late to ask people's advice when you have already employed the man!
Personally I would not think that is a reasonable price to pay for such a small house/rooms, especially as he a 'friend of a 'friend'.
Is he self employed or employed, if the latter he will be getting sick pay no doubt!

Batchy

Personally I think its easy to gauge...
if you didnt think it was fair you would be doing it yourself. If he didn't think it was worthwhile, he wouldn't be doing it, so you'd end up doing it yourself.

The fact he is sick, and doing the same he would be doing while at work, is ridiculous! He should be ashamed of himself!

nickj_2

i could say yes that quote is ok to give you peace of mind , but from what you've said it sounds like a couple of weeks work - £500 per week so it's not over the top price - i don't know what mates rates are , i charge all my customers the same whether they are mates or not and i expect them to do the same for me , but if he is too sick to work and he is capable of working for you what exactly is wrong with him ? .
is he papering over the woodchip - this doesn't sound like a great idea , they should be stripped idealy .

andy111

nickj wrote: »

i could say yes that quote is ok to give you peace of mind , but from what you've said it sounds like a couple of weeks work - £500 per week so it's not over the top price - i don't know what mates rates are , i charge all my customers the same whether they are mates or not and i expect them to do the same for me , but if he is too sick to work and he is capable of working for you what exactly is wrong with him ? .
is he papering over the woodchip - this doesn't sound like a great idea , they should be stripped idealy .

Two weeks work for four small rooms?

I would hope anyone calling themselves a professional decorator could see that level of work off well within five days, and probably substantially less.

ormus

4 days work max.
he must be the slowest pro in the UK.

fluffpot

perhaps he's so slow coz he's got a broken arm and a broken leg!!

Fluff

McKneff

If he's defrauding the tax man, and so are you. Do you realise that if he gets caught fiddling and has to list his customers you get done too.

Wonderful thing, this peace of mind thing isnt it.

crystalwings

Thanks everyone for replying and making me see things more clearly.x

I understand what most of you seem to be saying. I should'nt have let him start the work first without checking the price.
Thing is, he said he would give us a really good price - and I suppose that's my fault for trusting him.
He was self employed and as I understand it, not getting any pay for this (I'm worried about that side of things now!).
And yes, he has papered over the woodchip on the ceilings.

Yooj_2

Give the poor bloke a break...

Anyway, ask yourself this, how is the quality of the work? If rough or not up to scratch, then it is over-priced...If you like what you are seeing, then the price is not extortionate.

crystalwings

Give him a break from what exactly ?