Painting external windows and doors

Ashvine

Hello everyone,

This is our first time engaging trade people since we weren't sure about painting upstairs windows (height etc). We are in SW London/Surrey and live in a tiny 1-bed terraced house. Windows and the doors etc are in fair shape with front ones just start peeling off a little.

First quote was over 1200GBP ... (a local listed in checktrade.com) the below is our second (listed in yell.com). Still much higher than 2-day labour costs of decorators discussed in these forums.

EXTERIOR AREA: Front and Rear Woodwork
• Prepare woodwork: (Front Door / Porch/ Windows and Soffits) 1) Sand down to Key surfaces 2) Fill and sand all minor cracks and holes 3) Clean/Wash down surfaces 4) Prime any bare wood 5) Apply knotting solution to any live knots
• Replace putty, if required
• Apply two coats of woodstain
Price for Redecoration: £815.90 (Inclusive of all labour and material costs)

As we don't know any neighbours well enough to ask for recommendations, we'd appreciate if someone can give us a rough idea of fair costs that we should aim at.



Thanks in advance!

Dan-Dan

Ashvine wrote: »

Hello everyone,

This is our first time engaging trade people since we weren't sure about painting upstairs windows (height etc). We are in SW London/Surrey and live in a tiny 1-bed terraced house. Windows and the doors etc are in fair shape with front ones just start peeling off a little.

First quote was over 1200GBP ... (a local listed in checktrade.com) the below is our second (listed in yell.com). Still much higher than 2-day labour costs of decorators discussed in these forums.

EXTERIOR AREA: Front and Rear Woodwork
• Prepare woodwork: (Front Door / Porch/ Windows and Soffits) 1) Sand down to Key surfaces 2) Fill and sand all minor cracks and holes 3) Clean/Wash down surfaces 4) Prime any bare wood 5) Apply knotting solution to any live knots
• Replace putty, if required
• Apply two coats of woodstain
Price for Redecoration: £815.90 (Inclusive of all labour and material costs)

As we don't know any neighbours well enough to ask for recommendations, we'd appreciate if someone can give us a rough idea of fair costs that we should aim at.



Thanks in advance!

If you all have similar properties , i would be getting to know the neighbours well enough , so that you might find a better deal

Ashvine

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, we haven't really bumped into people much around here so don't know any of them well enough yet ... hence posting here.

Anyway, would be good to hear from other experienced people if the quote sounds reasonable.

cattie

Don't rely on places such as checkatrade etc. as usually the people on these kind of sites pay to be featured.

I can't really fully comment on the quotes you've received as I've never had anything similar done & though friends have had the exterior of their houses painted, both have had upvc windows & doors. But I have to say living on the borders of London/Kent, that it does sound a touch pricey to me.

The job doesn't sound as if it would need more than one person & I wouldn't expect to be paying more than £225 per day top whack for properly experienced & qualified labour of this kind. That said, it does seem that quote no. 2 is pretty comprehensive in what it includes as part of the labour costs. I would hope that the cost is total, ie, won't have any vat added?

Try to get at least one more quote. Even if you haven't seen any neighbours to ask, have a look around your area & see if anybody appears to be having any work done on their houses & see if they can recommend the people they are using.

Sometimes local estate agents will know reputable trades people who they will use on rented properties that they manage, so always worth asking in any ea's local to you.

If you get any freebie local papers, you could perhaps come up with another couple of people you can ask for an estimate if you search the small ads for trades people. And you could try phoning your local council as I know some councils keep a list of registered & trusted tradespeople in an effort to stop people being ripped off by cowboys.

I personally never use trades people who only have a mobile no. I like to ensure that they live reasonably local & have a landline listed along with a mobile. Too many fly by nights are only contactable by mobile.

Ashvine

Yes, the quoted amount is inclusive of all (doesn't mention a separate VAT amount).

Thanks a lot for your many helpful advice. As the weather gets warmer, hopefully we should be able to spot more people doing external works.

Meanwhile, as you suggested, we will get another quote. Just heard back from a local trade supplier. They kindly sent us a list of their long term customers on their books though they made it clear that they cannot recommend any particular company.

DIY seems easier in some sense

LouisePollit

Since i Live in Toronto i only know the price range here. For painting walls, it will cost around $250-$300 per room. For doing trims, it costs somewhere around $100-$200 per room. This includes window frames and doorway frames. When last time we had a small renovation we replaced the old windows and changed the broken and brittle glasses( which weared out in winter). We hired windows choice( a windows installation company in Toronto) for window installation and old window replacement. Also, painted our hall and master bedroom and exterior door.