Painting by yourself vs paying for walls to be painted

nickj_2

most people are capable of doing their own painting , however it comes down to time . i've just down a large cottage which took me 4 weeks of 8-00am to 6-00pm to complete , if you were doing that at weekends and evenings it would take you months .
also people doing their own stuff ,as a rule aren't prepared to do the things that tradesmen are to do a quality job ,

Leif

fatbikersbouncebetter wrote: »

It never ceases to make me laugh that most people donot consider paining and decorating as a trade wothy paying for.

despite a 4 year apprentaship, 40 years in the trade, my old man always charged too little for very high quality work.

Would you plumb a new bathroom in
Rewire your house
Render a wall
All pretty easy to do, but most would not think to pay less than a working wage for any of the above.

Decorators do it for a living not for fun and as a TRADE expect to pay for their services. Or DIY every few years.

Rant Over..... I still do my own.

A builder who did my bathroom saw my painting, and said it was better than could be done by two decorators he knows. That is the problem. I have seen a house painted by professionals to a very high standard (which set the example I tried to follow), but I can't take the risk of wobbly lines along architraves and windows, which is the more likely outcome.

A friend did his own bathroom. He said the plumbing was hard. And having replaced a mounting box for a wall socket, I'd say that rewiring was not easy, and anyway it has to be checked and certified, and many electricians do not want to do that.

Meadows

Do it yourself, take time, empty a room as much as possible, give it two coats for a good coverage (might look okay with one coat but on close inspection you see little dots of old colour.

Many years of living in Forces accommodation where decorators came in has proven to us we can do a far better job.
I do the cutting in hubby does the rollering (unless I do small rooms on my own while he is at work), we both share the gloss work.

Over the bank holiday weekend did a large living room in two days (all furniture back on day three), day one an 11am start first coat done in a few hour, day two 8 am start emulsion second coat done in a few hours, long lunch break, did the gloss in a few hours, tidied up sat down for the evening by 4:30. Day three all furniture back by mid morning, job done.