UKH

Hi, 

I've just had a quote to wallpaper two rooms that is more than I had expected from a quick Google and past experience, but I'm conscious the rooms are a bit unusual. I'd like to go with the guy as we got on well, he can start soon and he was especially recommended by our next door neighbours after decorating their whole house last year. I also get the impression he has had a tough time of late. However I don't want to feel like I'm being completely ripped off so would appreciate if anyone knowledgeable thinks it's a terrible quote or not?

The rooms both have high (11 foot) ceilings and a perimeter of 15-20m (with chimney breast etc). He is going to have to strip all the existing paper and apply cross lining paper before the top stuff. He is also going to paint the woodwork (doors, window frames, skirting) and the ceilings. One of the rooms has quite intricate coving to paint.

The quote is just under £1500, excluding the actual top wallpaper (already bought) but including everything else. Does this seem reasonable or at least close?

Thanks!

Possibly a tad high to me. I'd expect around £1300+.  Our decorator puts 2 coats of paint on everything so the cost of quality paint is sometimes quite high in addition to his labour. He's booked up months in advance for work.

And remember if he is VAT registered 20% of the charge will be VAT.

If you want to reduce costs you could strip and sand the walls of the original paper yourself?. I suspect that's where most of the labour lies.

Proper professional decorators who genuinely enjoy what they are doing and take their time to build up good paint finishes are a rare breed. I've been stung in the past using people in the past who have recently retired and think they'll just become decorators. My fault as well for going for cheaper quotes of course. The finish a true professional can achieve using quality materials is a revelation.

Have you seen the job that was done for your neighbour? If it is absolutely top notch your quote may be worth it. It is pretty labour intensive doing a good job.

When we last went in their house pre-pandemic it all looked really good, but we weren't really inspecting it with this in mind.

Hi, I’m a painter and decorator in the trade for 12/13 years. 
 

There’s a fair bit of work going on there, stripping, re-lining, woodwork and all the prep, also looks like it includes all the materials bar the wallpaper, so I’d say the quote seems very similar to something I would charge.

A trade that you have a personal recommendation for from an independent party (your neighbour), whom when you talk to gives you confidence is worth the notional extra couple of hundred quid. Especially as you don't know when you might need him again.

I had a colleague who got a decorator in did a rubbish job, she pointed it out to him, and he just downed-tools and walked out, never finished, never even sent the bill. She had to sand the paint work down before getting somebody else to finish the job!

On the other side of the coin, there's a joiner down the road for me who's absolutely brilliant, highly regarded.  Did a job for me fitting a new sliding door. I wasn't sure about it he arrange for me to see the exact same door he'd fitted elsewhere.  Then because he knew I was going to paint the surround, he put an undercoat on for me before and cleaned-up completely after himself.  Minor door hinge adjustment problem later, round first thing in the morning.

If he is good just pay it. What do you want him to earn .... peanuts ..by the sound of it.

Good trades people are worth their weight in gold.

Thanks all, that's good enough for me. I don't mind paying a bit extra for a good job but wanted to be confident it wasn't totally unreasonable. 

How confident are you in your measuring? A standard 33ft roll of paper will not likely give you 3 drops of an 11ft room so you get about a linear metre per roll. (Depends on what the actual drop of paper is, the pattern repeat and your cutting accuracy. Also where rolls need to end to lose unstraight corners

Rather go 10 rolls large and return them than be one roll short...

Edit - quote seems not unreasonable if he is going to do a top job

I don't think you've mentioned if you've got any other quotes. Obviously often worthwhile.