Anyone can paint. Preparation is the work.
What separates a professional finish from a competent DIY one is not the brush or the paint. It is that somebody spent a day filling, sanding, caulking and priming before the tin was opened. That is the stage which gets omitted.
Indicative cost
Typically £250–£450 per room for a standard repaint. Exterior work quoted per project.
The range is preparation. A room with sound walls requiring two coats sits at the lower end; a room with cracked plaster, blown patches, aged woodwork and stained ceilings can be double, because preparation occupies a full day before any paint appears. We will tell you which you have.
The day before the paint.
Where a decorator quotes a suspiciously low price, this list is what has quietly been removed from the project.
Why low quotations are low
Two coats of emulsion over a wall containing a hairline crack produces a wall containing a hairline crack, in a more agreeable colour. The crack returns within six months. The difference between a £200 room and a £400 room is almost never the paint — it is whether anyone filled it first.
Prepare, prime, paint, protect.
It is not complicated. It simply has to be done in that order, and nobody can be in a hurry.
Assess the surfaces
We inspect what is actually there — cracks, blown plaster, aged gloss, damp patches. The paint is decided in five minutes; the preparation is the quotation.
Fixed quotation
A written price with preparation shown separately, so you can see precisely what you are paying for beyond the paint.
Preparation
Furniture removed or covered, floors sheeted, filling, sanding, caulking, priming. The room looks worse before it looks better.
Paint & finish
Cut in, rolled, second coat applied, woodwork finished. Everything cleared, sheets removed, and the room returned the day it is completed.
The questions people don't ask out loud.
So we'll answer them here instead.
Why is your quotation higher than the other one?
Almost certainly because ours includes preparation and theirs does not. Ask the cheaper quotation specifically what filling, sanding and priming has been allowed for. If the answer is vague, that is your difference — and you will be repainting within eighteen months.
Will our furniture be damaged?
No. Everything is moved or covered before a tin is opened, floors are sheeted, and the site is cleared at the end of every day rather than left under dust sheets for a week. This is the complaint we receive least, and we intend to keep it that way.
How long will a room take?
A standard room with sound walls is usually one to two days. Add a day where plaster requires genuine filling or where there is substantial woodwork. Ceilings with aged stains need sealing first, which adds drying time — that is built into the quotation honestly.
“They spent an entire day filling and sanding before opening a single tin, which I will admit made me nervous about the invoice. Then they painted, and the walls are flat — genuinely flat. The previous decorator simply rolled over everything and every imperfection showed.”
Helen B. · Full house repaint, Clapham
Painting & Decorating — straight answers.
Typically £250–£450 per room covering walls, ceiling and woodwork. The variable is preparation: sound walls sit at the lower end, while cracked plaster, blown patches or aged gloss woodwork push it higher because preparation occupies a full day before any paint is applied.
One to two days for a standard room. Longer where plaster requires significant filling, or where stained ceilings need sealing and drying time. We would rather quote a realistic timescale and meet it than promise one and rush.
Yes — masonry, render, soffits, fascias, front doors and sash windows. Exterior work is highly weather-dependent and we will be honest about when it is worth waiting rather than painting onto damp.
Both. Stripping is messier and slower than anticipated, and we price it as its own line rather than pretend it is free. Hanging is quoted by the roll and the pattern — a bold repeat takes considerably longer to match.
Yes, and cover whatever remains. Floors are sheeted, and the room is cleared and cleaned at the end of each day rather than left as a building site until completion.
Get a price for your decorating.
A free visit, an honest assessment of what the surfaces actually require, and a written quotation with preparation clearly shown.