How long?! - UPDATE post 21

AsknAnswer2

It's not a combo - it's cream or white. Sorry I didn't make that clear by the use of the slash.

Cream/white/ivory - they are all the same to me, as I explained to him when he was round. I showed him the kitchen, hall and bathroom which are each painted in one colour but each is a different shade of white as I explained to him that I'm not that fussed, if it's light and resembles white, it'll do for me.

It's a 'whatever' shade that goes with just about anything should I replace my furniture/carpets at a later stage, and easily painted over too.

I'll see what quote I get next Friday, hopefully it will be a bit more sensible than their £1450 plus VAT.

Fed_Up_Tradesman

Alright then 1200 quid ... smock...beret...palette...no tea...late finish ...no extras...and I'll pay me tax - honest ...

Leif

Fed_Up_Tradesman wrote: »

Ah the old plain white / cream emulsion combo rears its soft vinyl head once again.

That might be your problem here.

To the artisan, such a combination of shades detracts from the many long hours spent learning the intricacies of the colour palette and so causes great innner turmoil if you will and detracts from their own sense of right and wrong.

The dilemna is whether to turn down such ghastly, unsophisticated color schemes and risk upsetting the customer or to press ahead and just endure the silent internal screams from the artists finely honed senses.

He's probably loaded the price to include payment for the many long hours of counselling required to overcome the problems such a schema would provoke and before he could even think about attempting his next job.

You'll probably find your neighbour's ex-painter in similar dire straits, wondering around the old back streets of Florence, wearing his beret and a smock, touting the obligatory bottle whilst singing ye olde white / cream painter's lament ...

Painters have feelings too you know ...

I'll do it for 1300 quid ... and I'll wear a smock and beret ...just to get the ambience right ...

What a pile of rambling nonsense. Been at the sherbets have we?

Leif

Is there a reason you cannot do this yourself? Someone with reasonable attention to detail can do at least as good a painting job as a professional, and you will have more time, so you can be more careful. Preparation is key. You need to make sure the walls are prepared, which might mean washing with sugar soap, then filling with Easi-fill or some other power filler, painting a mist coat, then painting proper. It is fairly straightforward if you can think things through, and have reasonable hand eye coordination. People here tend to be very helpful.

Fed_Up_Tradesman wrote: »

Alternatively, why don't you post a job on getapainter.co.uk / mybuilder / myhammer / ratedpeople / findatrade etc?

Do not under any circumstances just employ someone from one of those web sites. You have no idea if they are any good. Only ever use someone via recommendation from someone you trust. Generally you get three quotes, which will tell you the ball park figure. Some trades will quote low cos they is useless, some high because they do not need the work, and some mid price because that is what it costs. Price depends on area and demand. In the north £10 will employ 100 people for a year. In the south £1000 will employ one person for 5 minutes. Sort of.

Fed_Up_Tradesman

Leif wrote: »

What a pile of rambling nonsense. Been at the sherbets have we?

Leif. Maybe this might help you.

{BegingProc;}

<Sense of Humour>

Toggle <On/Off>

<End Sense of Humour>

{EndProc;}

Just a thought.

And no. I don't drink.

AsknAnswer2

Leif wrote: »

Is there a reason you cannot do this yourself?

Unfortunately, yes. I used to do it myself but I injured myself a couple of years ago and it doesn't take a lot to set off pain. Though it doesn't affect my day to day life to any great extreme, it does limit what I can do in terms of manual labour.

becs

We have a much smaller room, prob appx 3.5m x 3.5m. We are stripping the existing wallpaper ourselves and removing the radiator. We have a decorater coming in to plaster the room and then come back the following week to decorate, painting 3 walls and woodwork and papering one wall. We will be supplying paint and paper and the cost is £350. We're in Cambridgeshire.

Fed_Up_Tradesman

becs wrote: »

We have a much smaller room, prob appx 3.5m x 3.5m. We are stripping the existing wallpaper ourselves and removing the radiator. We have a decorater coming in to plaster the room and then come back the following week to decorate, painting 3 walls and woodwork and papering one wall. We will be supplying paint and paper and the cost is £350. We're in Cambridgeshire.

What?

Skim 4 walls and ceiling ?
Mist coat + 2 coats emulsion to 3 walls. (Ceiling?)
Prepare, undercoat & 2 finish coats to woodwork
Line & paper 1 wall

All for £350 ????

350 - 20% Tax - 10% NI = £245 Nett without any materials or one drop of diesel.

How many days will he be working ?

becs

Not plastering the ceiling, just walls. 1 day for plastering and 2 days decorating. No diesel as lives accross the road! Woodwork will be just one coat also as all was done last year. We're only doing it because when we did the rest of the house we douldn't afford to have that room plasterd so it was just decorated by ourselves. Now it's not as good as it could be because of wall damage from the removal of dado rail etc and we can afford to redo it properly now.
That's a max of 2 days decorating as he will be splitting it up if necessary so he's not literally sitting and watching paint dry!

AsknAnswer2

Had another two quotes done. One will take 2 to 3 days and cost £450 to strip, line and paint the walls. They were nice enough but...They didn't turn up on the agreed date. They contacted me soon afterward, asking to do the quote the next day. I agreed. When they got here they were late, they offered no explanation or apology for not turning up the first time or for being late the second time.

The other will take 4 or 5 days but in addition to stripping/painting my walls, they are going to replaster my ceiling and gloss all my woodwork too. Their price is £420 for the lot.

Funny how the ones who gave me the cheapest quote are going to do additional work and still be cheaper! I also got to see work that they have done with before, during and after photos - the other two didn't really sell themselves to me at all.

Guess who the 'winner' is?!