Cost of a decorator

Lizmoretti

We recently had a decorator do our hall and landing.  He quoted £1500 but didn’t give any indication of how many days it would take nor a day rate.  We accepted.

It took him 3.5 days and he’s invoiced £2,000 as there were a couple of extras - that’s £500 per day which seems very excessive.  Especially as we supplied the paint.

We live in Oxfordshire.  Does this price seem high to those in the know?

Leon_W

Checkatrade are estimating an average of £230 a day for a decorator so, yes, he's taking the p!ss !

Tucosalamanca

If you were happy with the price and the end result, what does it matter how long they took?
Would you have been happier if they took twice as long to reach the same result?

I'm assuming that you took several quotes and this decorator met your requirements best?
Can't see a problem myself....

Lizmoretti

I felt £1,500 was expensive but assumed stairs, walls, ceilings etc would take more than just a few days.

 His original quote also included paint, so when we said we’d be getting the paint, I thought the cost would reduce.

 To then be charged £2k is quite a shock. 

greensalad

Taking the !!!!!!. 

We recently had our hallway and stairs painted. Full ceiling paint, then a half on top and half on bottom different colours (for the downstairs). All woodwork, including all stairs, skirtings etc. Even some filling and repair work to cracks and more. He said he normally charged £180 a day and we got it for mates rates at £130. 

£2,000 is a !!!!!! take. 

FaceHead

How good is the work? If it has been prepped properly and done well, then the £1500 that you agreed to should be paid. 3.5 days to do a hall and landing sounds within the range, but halls and landing vary incredibly. It's conceivable they did a good job. 

When you agreed to supply the paint, you should have also agreed the reduction at that point. At this point, you need to chalk that up to experience. 

What are the extras, and were they agreed beforehand? If they are BS unagreed 'extras' that really were in the £1500, then you shouldn't pay them. If they really are extra work, and you agreed to that, and it's been done well, then pay it. 

In future, get several quotes, ask about duration (pitch it as you want to know when you'll have your house back), and if things change (e.g. you supply paint or there are extras) agree them at that point rather than waiting for the invoice - it's always more that way round: They will charge top dollar for the extra as they aren't under pressure to bring it down to make the sale. 

TELLIT01

Irrespective of anybody thinking the painter is taking the proverbial.  He quoted for a job and the OP accepted the quote.  The only question is how much the final bill should be reduced by with the OP supplying the paint.  The OP shouldn't expect a reduction by the amount they paid for paint as the painter would certainly have been able to get it cheaper.

boots_babe

Oh my goodness, we just had a decorator in about 2 months ago, he was here was almost 3 weeks and charged £100 per day, so cost us less than £1500 altogether. Your tradesman sounds as though he's trying to rip you off :-(

TELLIT01

£100 per day is ridiculous low for a self-employed person to be charging, unless they are retired and just looking for pin money, or they are claiming benefits and working fraudulently.  Most 'trades' will charge upwards of £20 per hour, some a long way upwards from that figure.

macman

Even in London, £300 per day would be about the maximum.

sevenhills

A friend paid around that price for the whole house painting. But that was a cheap job in West Yorkshire, Oxford will be more. You should get the quote written down and any quite should be binding.