Getting painting and decorating quotes in the UK
Decorating is the trade where quotes vary most, because the work that decides the result is the work you cannot see once it is finished.
A decorating quote should itemise the preparation specifically, the number of coats, the paint brand and finish, which surfaces, whether furniture and making good are included, and days on site. Get three beyond a single room, to find the outlier rather than the cheapest. Tradelynx has no decorators yet and says so.
What a real quote itemises
Ask for these in writing. Somebody who works properly will be glad to list them, because it is how their price gets justified against a cheaper one.
- Preparation, described specifically. Filling, sanding, caulking, stain blocking, washing down. This is where the difference between a good and a bad job lives, and where a low quote has usually cut.
- Number of coats. And whether that includes a primer or mist coat on new plaster.
- The paint. Brand, range and finish, and who is buying it. Trade and retail versions of the same name are not the same product.
- Exactly which surfaces. Walls, ceilings, woodwork, radiators, doors including the edges and frames.
- Furniture, floors and making good. In or out, in writing.
- Days on site. And what happens if it overruns.
There is no legal register for decorating, which changes what to check
Unlike gas or electrical work, decorating needs no statutory registration, so nobody is breaking the law by not being on a scheme. That puts the weight on the other two checks: current public liability insurance, and the company being who it says it is. Trade association membership such as the Painting and Decorating Association is voluntary and worth something, but it is not a licence and should not be presented to you as one.
The cheapest quote is usually the one missing a coat
A quote well below the others is rarely a better deal, it is fewer coats, thinner preparation, or a surface quietly left out. You find out which in about eighteen months, when the filler shows through or the woodwork chips back to bare timber. If one quote is far above the rest, the useful question is what it includes that the others do not.
Three quotes, and the general checks
Get three for anything beyond a small job. You are not looking for the cheapest, you are looking for the outlier. Then run the same three checks you would for any trade: the registration their trade requires, current public liability cover, and the company on Companies House. Those checks are here.
Can Tradelynx introduce you to one?
Not in this trade yet, and we would rather say so. We have nobody in this trade on the platform at the moment. We are still building our supply, and a page implying otherwise to catch a search would be worth nothing to you. We only route work in Bournemouth, Portsmouth and Southampton, and only in the trades we have people for: right now that is builder, carpenter, electrician, handyman, landscaper and roofer / guttering. Everywhere else, and in every other trade, we are still building our supply and would rather say so than pretend.
What is worth keeping afterwards
The paint colours, ranges and finishes, the date, and who did it. Almost nobody can find them three years later when one wall needs touching up.
A HomeLynx Passport is free and covers every UK home, whether or not we route work near you. If you already have somebody you trust, they can run your job through Tradelynx wherever you both are.