Painting & Decorating London

How a decorating job is actually priced

Two quotations for the same room can differ substantially and both be honest, because most of the cost is preparation and preparation is where scope varies. Filling and sanding to a standard where a matt finish looks flat is a different job from making good enough for a textured finish, and neither is wrong until the specification says which one is being bought.

The second variable is coats. A strong colour over a pale wall, or a pale colour over a strong one, may need an extra coat or a tinted primer to cover evenly. A quotation based on two coats regardless of colour will either be revised later or applied thin.

Access is the third. Stairwells, tall hallways, ceilings above stairs and anything external needing towers or scaffold carry a real cost that has nothing to do with the paint. It is better set out separately than folded into a single figure.

For that reason our quotations follow a site visit and itemise preparation, coatings and access separately, so the scope is explicit and comparable rather than a single number.

We cover interior painting, exterior painting, feature walls, luxury decorating and decorative finishes across London.

Common questions

Do you protect furniture and floors?

Yes. Rooms are masked and covered before preparation begins, and dust-free sanding equipment is used so the preparation stage does not spread through the rest of the property. In occupied homes we work room by room rather than opening up everything at once.

Can you match an existing paint colour?

Usually. A colour can be matched from a sample of the existing finish, though a match will read slightly differently against a fresh surface and under different light, and an aged finish will have shifted from its original shade. Where an exact match matters, it is worth testing on the actual wall first.

How much preparation is included in a quotation?

It is set out as its own line rather than folded into a single figure, because preparation is where scope varies most. Filling and sanding to a standard where a matt finish looks flat is a different job from making good for a textured finish, and the quotation states which is being priced.