The outside of our house needs painting. Just the back, so one face of it only, a french door and five small windows too. Has anyone had this done and got a rough price?
I don't know whether it's the "Cambridge phenomenon", but the price I'm being quoted from my known and trusted painter seems, shall we say, to exhibit some difference to those I can find on a rough internet trawl.
Of course those prices are "we think you should be paying approximately", from sites like webuyanytradesmanandsetyouupbigtime.com and not actual prices, hence asking here.
I'm happy to put the price up if anyone cares, or you can guess.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Mon 21 Mar 16 at 08:16
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Need to know how wide / high..... With this you can work out amount of paint needed. Patio doors + 5 windows suggests it might be quite big. Does it go up to the ridge, or stop at gutter height? Is there access for a ladder or is he proposing to use a tower - or in fact scaffold the whole thing? What's the finish like, smooth or roughcast?
I would be DIYing, and by the sound of it thinking of 2 days for 2 coats. So you might get 1 days labour for a pro - £250 - 300, plus the paint?
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Is it masonry paint over the whole wall and/or woodwork round the doors and windows or what?
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Masonry paint on brickwork, woodwork on windows and doors. Total area is roughly, oh, perhaps 100 square metres of masonry I would guess. Ladder access possible.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Mon 21 Mar 16 at 08:34
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Hmm let me see
Hell be charging you for three days. Prep, undercoat, top coat. Cambridge rates? Guessing £200 a day.
100 sq metres of Brickwork?
Stabiliser, Undercoat, top coat 75 quid
Door windows? another 50 quid.
I'm thinking he is charging you around 750 quid.
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You see, that's what I thought, ish. Thanks all, you've confirmed, I think, that our quote seems a trifle high.
The quote is £3500, and this is from our man we've used before and we know does a very good job, which is why we started with him. We therefore got another quote from someone else - £4000.
Sigh.
We've also just had a quote for a repair to a glass roof - eleven pieces of safety glass cut to size (they are all different shapes and sizes), then fitted. No other work involved. £2300.
Every single time we get quotes for anything at all it's always seems to be vastly more than anyone else seems to be paying, which is why I wondered if this is a Cambridge thing. Feels like we pay top-end London prices (but we don't get London salaries).
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At those prices my strategy of let the windows rot out and then replace seems very cost effective.
I wonder if he is insisting on full scaffolding?
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>> The quote is £3500, and this is from our man we've used before and we
>> know does a very good job, which is why we started with him. We therefore
>> got another quote from someone else - £4000.
>>
>> Sigh.
Sounds like scaffolding is involved
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>>Sounds like scaffolding is involved
>>
I agree.
Got a quote for sorting a blockage in a hopper on a down pipe.
It was about two and a half tall stories up
£1K+ including replacing pipe.
I suspected it was some thing simple.
Cost £60 cash to remove a small piece of roof tile by a man and a ladder :-)
Want to replace a simple pendant light unit in a tall landing that is difficult to get to.
Scaffolders already next door wanted £500.
Elf n safety rules re ladder access now ensure the scaffolding business is booming.
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"but we don't get London salaries"
evidently the painters do!
What is access like - have they got to put us scaffolding/platforms?
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All four walls of my house needed doing. My window cleaner pressure washed them for about £50 and they then looked as good as if newly painted.
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I'll check the scaffolding thing. If ever there was a business I should have got into, it would have been buying a load of old metal poles and some clips and charging a million pounds an hour to hire them out to other people and let them put them together themselves.
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My brother has a e storey town house in Eastbourne. He had a slipped tile on the roof and was quoted £1,100 to fix it as it needed scaffolding erected.
Another small builder was approached. He came round to give a quote and said. "I'll do it now"
Got the ladder from the roof of his van, climbed up and fixed the tile in ten minutes and charged £75.
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Some people seem to tell us that scaffolding is a legal requirement. Others seem to tell us that it's only a legal requirement to work safely, which could involve items such as scaffolding.
I don't know whether this job needs it offhand, and I'll ask, but I do wonder whether those that don't use scaffolding are playing fast and loose with the law or exercising common sense.
Nor, therefore, do I know what my liability might be these days if someone shins up a ladder on my property and falls off.
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Good point, your household insurance should have public liability cover but would you be classed as an employer?
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>> Good point, your household insurance should have public liability cover but would you be classed
>> as an employer?
no he is self employed, not employed by you. As self employed he should have public liability insurance.
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>> Nor, therefore, do I know what my liability might be these days if someone shins
>> up a ladder on my property and falls off.
your ladder, your problem. His ladder, his problem,
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We're going down same route albeit only for bargeboards/soffits etc. Working at height regulations, introduced about 10yrs ago, seem to be the constraint. While not prescriptive they set out steps and risk assessments required for work at roof level. Message seem to be that ladders are ok up to gutter level but not for gables.
Three of us who've lived here since places were built need high level work. Looking at combining together to get 'economy of scale' for workman/men and hire of cherry picker.
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Glad I bought a bungalow. I need soffits and facias doing. I'll be doing it myself.
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>>Message seem to be that ladders are ok up to gutter level but not for gables.
www.hse.gov.uk/work-at-height/faqs.htm
" As a guide, if your task would require staying up a leaning ladder or stepladder for more than 30 minutes at a time, it is recommended that you consider alternative equipment."
www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/735/contents/made
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The Cambridge effect is similar to the Aberdeen effect. Snow 3 years ago brought down the guttering in almost all the houses on my son's estate. The houses were outwith the 2/3 yr warranty given by the builder.
The issues were due to not enough brackets, the builder said it was very heavy snow.
Cowboys were quoting north of £500 for each house..............neighbour of my son had a dad who did odd jobs. He did street loads @ £100 per house - roughly 3 hours per house and he was at it for weeks.
Padding out Invoice by Factor
Repainting the windows, roofline timbers etc on a 4 storey block of flats - £500 per house - painters selected by the factor ( who looks after gardens, cleaning communal areas etc etc) had a quote - Cherry Picker Hire + estimated time & materials + 2 hours travel time per day for squad of painters.
The problem was resolved with the owners getting quotes from a local painter, set of long long ladders and he took under £150 from each home owner. Job Done!
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It's a cold day in hell before I let any tradesperson near this house.
When folks talk about past jobs and what they consider a "reasonable" price I often shudder but keep quiet.
As in...
We've (being the local guy chatting, not us) just had a new gas boiler, not a bad price, tidy job and it was all done in a day.... £2700. I ask more to hear it was just one guy and broadly a like for like replacement. So £1200 for boiler and minimal materials leaves him £1500 for a day's work. OK he has overheads but come on...
Or...
I've also known decorators charge around £5k to do a rendered house "because of the scaffolding cost".... and arrange to do it while the owners are on holiday... "so we're not being a nuisance to you madam".
Owners go on hols and a tatty old van turns up with 3 guys who use rollers on very long poles to do the greater area and a ladder for access to neaten the edges. Done in a couple of days.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Mon 21 Mar 16 at 11:40
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>>t's a cold day in hell before I let any trades person near this house.
>>
That was generally my approach too.
Now my joints are getting creaky I am no longer prepared to climb ladders so i have to get Mr Suck Teeth mumble mumble ELf n Safety trusted craftsman to do the job :-)
May your good health continue.
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There comes a time, my bungalow gable ends are beyond my reach these days. I may bite the bullet and get the whole roofline done in plastic.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Mon 21 Mar 16 at 11:58
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>>>Now my joints are getting creaky I am no longer prepared to climb ladders so i have to get Mr Suck Teeth mumble mumble ELf n Safety trusted craftsman to do the job :-)
That's a fair point. Perhaps we'll retire to a UPVC house.
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>> Perhaps we'll retire to a UPVC house.
>>
I can still paint the front door step but then have to creak back up upright again :-)
I had the more expensive aluminium windows and a patio door fitted.
So pleased with the appearance.. The neatest, cleanest slimest design I have ever seen.
I had all my remaining cast iron down pipes and soil pipes replaced plus all existing plastic waste
pipes. I supplied all the components and am well pleased as it is the neatest, cleanest job you will ever see. ( he modestly says).
So not much left that needs painting.
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I live in a well heeled town in a rural area and last year I paid £850 for repainting my part-rendered 2 storeyed gabled house. It's probably about 80m2. He took best part of four days as it took two coats in some areas and three in others. So £200 quid a day feels about right. He used a ladder and two and a half large pots of masonry paint. Seemed a fair price. I got him via check a trade.
Other quotes using a tower or scaffolding were much more.
I had done it myself the last time and said afterwards I'd never go above gutter height again. Male pride meant I couldn't stop and get a man in once I'd put paint on the high apex.
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Crikey, martin. It's got to be the suspected scaffolding then, plus local high prices.
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Not sure if I could get on with a bungalow. Something primeval in me wants to sleep at the top of the tree away from the snakes and tigers.
Having said that, I once had an upside down house with the bedrooms on the ground floor and the sitting room and kitchen upstairs.
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>>Having said that, I once had an upside down house.............
....I think NOFM has been close to having one of those..........
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Mine was in Bath. Odd place Bath. Nice enough, but odd. Bloke next door kept a horse in his garage. It had access to the back garden, but y'know, a horse in the garage?
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....damned uncivilised those Southerners.......what's wrong with the parlour......
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>> Mine was in Bath.
One or two around area I was brought up, between the valleys of the Aire and Wharfe. Usually places with outstanding views.
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>> Odd place Bath. Nice enough, but odd.
Nearest thing I have to a home town.
There used to be an old-fashioned chemist's shop in the Abbey precinct that had one or two bullet holes in the corner of one of its very thick plateglass windows. I wonder if the bullet holes are still there?
In later life I had a room in Ndjamena, Chad, which had a couple of bullet holes in its picture window overlooking the river Chari. The holes made me feel right at home.
Rough lot, human beings.
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Bloke next door kept a horse in his garage. It had access to the back garden, but y'know, a
>> horse in the garage?
What else would you expect to keep in there, a car - don't make me laugh?
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I keep mountain bikes in mine.
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>>SFA 'cos i aint got one.
ditto, but I've got three sheds.
:}
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Had a fair phew! of those o'er the years :(
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>> horse in the garage?
The couple who owned my house in the 80s (when it was also run as a hotel) kept animals in the garden including a horse.
Normally it was indeed stabled in the garage.
Apparently when winter was cold enough they let the horse spend the night in the utility room just inside the back door.
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One of the best investments I've made was to buy a scaffolding tower about twenty years ago. I think I paid about £500 delivered from a bloke based in Southampton. It's light but strong, easy to erect and stable. Even if I don't need the height I often put up a couple of levels as it's so much safer and more relaxing that working off a ladder.
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Oh now that's cool Snowman ! Proper man cave stuff that. Like a petrol powered garden implement. Real deal.
;-)
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We borrowed one when we took a chimney stack down. SiL has a friend working for a national hire firm so it didn't have a deadline to be taken back. It was free as well !
I'd already fitted Rawlanchors around the house at first floor level and ratchet strapping the tower to two of them gave an incredibly solid platform. It was the tower which had interior ladders and trapdoors. Nice piece of kit to work on.
SiL's dad gave him a small box trailer some years ago and it came with a scaffolding tower in it. Not enough to reach the roof but useful nevertheless.
Last edited by: Ted on Tue 22 Mar 16 at 22:44
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>> It was the tower which had interior ladders and trapdoors.
S'like the one I hired a phew years ago in Truro to do some exterior bodging cosmetic refurbishment prior to sticking the gaff on the mark it. Now, I have a fear/phobia of climbing ladders (snakes are ok, as are stockings & susp....!)
You' see, I fell orf a ladder when I was a window cleaner @ 15 years young. Knocked me 'clean' out too, ended up in Guys, and ain't bin right since.
8-)
Standing a'top of said scaffold tower, I felt purrfectly ok funnily enuff, in fact I rather enjoyed being up there so, I may well in vest in a tower some time soon but, it wood have to be a proper one, like, where yoos can alter the height of the legs to cope wiv uneven ground - mucho round 'ere.
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>> Anything like this Melty, or is yours a bit more salubrious:
>>
>> www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Superb-5m-DIY-Aluminium-Alloy-Scaffold-Tower-Trapdoor-Platform-/301900619739?hash=item464aaddfdb:g:Z0wAAOSwPcVVn7ke
>>
Not really, that one looks light duty. At 5m it would be OK for modest use. Mine is made up of long and short sections, from memory I think you end up with a five foot by three foot tower capable of I think 12 metres height. The highest I've needed to work at is just over seven metres so I've got some spare if I want to make two smaller towers and plank across. It's really easy to put up, the sections slot into one another and then you pinch up a bolt on each inter-locking piece. You do need to tie it in at higher builds and it must be level as it will twist. I have a number of chunky pieces of timber for that.
Never had any regrets buying it, it's paid for itself many times over.
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>> think you end up with a five foot by three foot tower capable of I think 12 metres height.
12metres, crikey! - that's some tower.
>>it must be level as it will twist. I have a number of chunky pieces of timber for that.
The one I hired a few years back could be adjusted to take into account any uneven ground, which was ideal for me at the time because I had to work over a small flight of steps leading up to the garden, so two of the legs were actually standing on steps lower than the patio (if that makes sense) It looked totally unsafe - but I lived to tell the tale.
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I think you've got the 12 metres wrong. Thats like 40ft!!
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Maybe - but it must be getting on for 10m. I've never actually used the whole lot. The highest build I've needed on our property was 7.5m and there were quite a few pieces spare. When it was delivered years ago, it filled up most of the back of a Transit.
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I 'inherited' a scaffolding tower when my Grandad died... It has to be at least 40 years old because I remember playing on it as a child... It really is incredibly useful, if a little scary at full height... It is possible, though I've only done it once, to paint the gables of our Edwardian house - I reckon at the apex that's got to be well over 30'. I've only done it once mind; too unsafe for me. Outsourced to a decorator last year who did the whole house from ladders!! And bringing it back on track, that was all the exterior woodwork (Windows, doors, soffits, gables) plus a small amount of masonry paint, for just under £2k
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Many years ago at university, we had to hire a scaffolding tower to put up some fancy disco lights. It took a fair few nights. And each night the show went on so to speak. We got the building the scaffold tower and taking it apart down to a fine art.
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I still do the clearing of guttering and cleaning fascia boards myself once a year.
Our house has the pvc windows I use aluminium ladders.I like to have the roof checked once in a while by lads I know who run a business.I can see for myself if anything is wrong on the roof also insurance will be used for any damage.
Scaffolding always comes at a cost to do any outside work but three grand is a bit steep..There again if money is no problem and it saves you falling on your face have it done.
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Talking to my old (84) sister on the dog n' bone jist now. She wants her hall emulsioned (ex council owse in the garden city of Lewisham) reckons the decorators want 1000 notes to do it.
Blimey I said. I'm coming back to lunden at that rate! .. Can't you find a geezer to do it for about £200, I said.
Her daughter owns (franchise) a café [ pistachiosinthepark.org.uk/ ] in Greenwich and reckons a bloke who frequents there will do it for (wait for it, wait for it) £90 an hour WTF!
That's (one of) the good things about living in Cornwall (don't mention the wev!) I can get things done for prices 'you lot' simply would not believe.
Message ends.
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 28 Mar 16 at 00:46
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I've always enjoyed painting & decorating in my spare time...I've done all my own homes x 4 top to bottom. I charge my friends £12 an hour, a few of them have rental properties, and I also enjoy experimenting with colours...Colour Scheme Sourcebook by Anna Starmer & Choosing Colours by Kevin McCloud are in my library. Sad but true.
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I guess people either don't like doing it or can't do it. never a shortage of work for them.
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Edit, can't say that I particularly enjoyed it. Odd couple of times I've done it i got bored quite quickly, probably after about half a wall.
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Now I get a real sense of satisfaction out of decorating. The right colours, or a feature wall, can totally transform a room. I hang 'trial' colours on walls, painted onto bits of ply 3'x3', and different walls get different light so I often end up with several of these swatches hanging In a room for a few weeks.
Mind you I'm not keen on wallpapering
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I've always done the decorating wherever we've lived. I began decorating at a very early age actually, being my father died when I was nine. I was hanging wallpaper at the age of 11 (strange but true)
Somebuddy mentioned 'up thread' about magnolia and calico emulsion. I've got a better one = Crown golden cream ;)
www.homebase.co.uk/en/homebaseuk/crown-breatheasy-solo-golden-cream---one-coat-matt-emulsion-paint---25l-612259
Last edited by: Dog on Sun 27 Mar 16 at 22:29
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>> I've always enjoyed painting & decorating in my spare time...I've done all my own homes
>> x 4 top to bottom
I'm very good at decorating, and general building and maintenance, but quite slow and dont enjoy it. Certainly wouldn't do it for anyone else at any price.
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I can do anything apart from plastering, and to a good standard. Just putting the third coat of matt emulsion on to the newly created and plastered bedroom. Knackered today and me painting shoulder's aching. I wouldn't say I hate it now but if I can get away without doing it I will.
I'd happily do the outside, even up to the top of the front gable but SWM won't let me now. Nice job, out in the Sun with Classic FM on the wireless, taking my time and knowing it's done properly.
She won't let me do interior gloss now after I've started missing bits.......little does she know it was a deliberate policy with the correct end results ! We had an excellent decorator in to do the kitchen/dining room. Later we had him to do the hall/stairs/landing but he had employed his son by then and the quality of work by the lad was well below par.......me mate, who recommended him, said he would never use him again either.
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>>I can do anything apart from plastering
... or leadwork on the roof. I've had a real craftsman doing some on my roof. Blimmin thing still leaks though. We can't work out why.
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Good thing about living in an old 18th century cottage is yoos can slap the plaster on the walls with, um,
gay abandon, cos it's not gonna make much difference in the grand scheme of things, appearance wise.
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Run it by me. Might be able to help. Pictures would assist, but I guess that's a no no?
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>> Can't you find a geezer to do
A post on Streetlife might be worth a try, Dog.
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>> Talking to my old (84) sister on the dog n' bone jist now. She wants
>> her hall emulsioned (ex council owse in the garden city of Lewisham) reckons the >>decorators want 1000 notes to do it.
My daughter in Lewisham had some decorating done recently. When I can get hold of her I'll ask who she had if you like?
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>>A post on Streetlife might be worth a try, Dog.
Cheers CS, I'll check that out.
>>When I can get hold of her I'll ask who she had if you like?
Thanks bathtub - I would like.
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>> >>When I can get hold of her I'll ask who she had if you like?
>> Thanks bathtub - I would like.
Sorry Perro, she's not responding to emails or bookface. I guess she's got a strop on like a temperamental teenager. Not bad as the menopause must be closer!
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>>Sorry Perro, she's not responding to emails or bookface
OK guv'nor, thanks for trying.
>> I guess she's got a strop on like a temperamental teenager
My sister has the same problem with her daughter, except that she's 42 AND still at home!
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A 1000 pound for a bit of emulsion work?
By there are some rogues about.
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>> A 1000 pound for a bit of emulsion work?
>>
>> By there are some rogues about.
We always have to budget about £1000 a room for decoration. It's just the price I'm afraid, if you get professionals, at least around here.
In an exciting update to all this, I have a New Potential Decorator coming along tomorrow to do a quote for doing the exterior, so it will be interesting (to me) to see how it compares.
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New quote is in from another painting person. £2800, so slight improvement on the original. No scaffolding needed though.
Also got him to quote for wallpapering one room as he was there anyway - £1700 plus whatever the paper costs, which at 14 rolls is going to be a few hundred.
Blimey lawks. Have to have a Think about all this.
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That's ridiculous for the papering. I'm pretty sure the general handyman bloke who advertises locally would hang wallpaper for £150 a day and there can't be more than three days work there.
Have you tried recruiting somebody from a few miles further north - Huntingdon/St Ives way?
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>> Have you tried recruiting somebody from a few miles further north - Huntingdon/St Ives way?
No, and that's a good idea. Thanks.
To be fair, that price includes painting all the woodwork too. The room has a beamed ceiling (whoever invented those should be shot) so there's a bit more work there I guess.
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>>My daughter in Lewisham had some decorating done recently. When I can get hold of her I'll ask who she had if you like?
Yeah, my sister called him in for a quote to throw some emulsion on the walls of her hall, which includes the upstairs landing + 4 door frames downstairs and 6 doorframes on the upstairs landing + the banister on the stairs, so it's not just the hall.
= 1000 notes!
If it wasn't for my commode and the bath chair, I'd be up there doing it for £500. I've told her to look in the local rag and find someone like her late husband who'd be glad of a monkey to spend on the gee gee's and beer.
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I'm sure someone 'down the pub' could do it cheaper. Indeed we had a good plastering job done by a a bloke the ex served in the off licence when she worked there. However, if it all goes horribly wrong, someone doing it for a drink won't be seen for dust. A reputable contractor will correct his mistakes.
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>>I'm sure someone 'down the pub' could do it cheaper
That's what her late husband (my uncle) was - he lived and died (almost) down the pub. Smoked too all his life 'til he (literally) faded away aged 77 from a ruptured aortic aneurism (common among smokers)
She has four 'children', the oldest of whom (60) has offered to have a go at it, but he has injured his shoulder after coming orf his bike (push) She also wants the hall carpeted, a fitter wants £700 for doing that!
Good thing about living in somewhere like Cornwall is that y'all can get work done for very little money.
In fact I've often been quite embarrassed about howl little I've been charged for some jobs.
(*_*)
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Did you try Streetlife, Dog?
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>>Did you try Streetlife, Dog?
Duh! - I forgot. I'll do it today, thanks.
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Just signed up to Streetlife. I've never heard of it before actually, looks quite impressive.
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It seems to work very well in my area. Lots of folk giving recommendations for plumbers, electricians, decorators, cleaners, gardeners, etc.
Not tried it myself, though.
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I used my Sisters postcode in Lewisham obviously, and did a search on local decorators/reviews.
I'll pass the details on to her Son so he can check 'em out, being he lives up that way.
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More paint - exterior house - RichardW
