You’ve probably been browsing through the hundreds of colours and designs available for decorating your home and may even have taken samples back to consider. In which case, it’s time to start changing the appeal of your home and speak to an expert painter or decorator in your area.

The decorator will visit your home, take a look at the work you want completed, and provide a quote for the job. As always, in order to get the best cost possible, make sure to compare three or four quotes. Don’t take the first price that comes your way, as there is always room for negotiation.

The cost of decorating varies quite significantly because of the range of jobs available. On most occasions, the most expensive part is the labour, but factors such as the size of the space, materials needed, and workload will play an important part too.

With a written quote from a professional painter or decorator, you should expect something along the lines of the following:

Rate

For smaller jobs around the home, painters and decorators will tend to charge per job. For example, painting a room or plastering will probably take a couple of days and normally costs between £150 and £300 excluding VAT. For larger jobs, such as a full house project, you’ll be looking to pay per day. This is normally because the full extent of work required may only become clear once the task has been started.

Materials

Reputable painters and decorators will supply their own materials, buying only the tried and tested products. There will be a guarantee for these. Remember, decoration isn’t something you should be carrying out too frequently, so paying out a little more for quality products is worthwhile.

By having the painter buy the materials, they’ll likely know the best products on the market, how much you’ll need, and where to purchase them from.

Of course, this isn’t a must, and if need be, you can purchase your own products instead. Remember, though, that these are the experts in the industry, so it’s wise to take the advice offered.

Preparation

With thorough preparation, the result is likely to be much better for you. All furniture and fittings should be removed from the area to make it an easier task and to avoid any potential damage. If this isn’t possible, then they should be placed in the centre of the room and covered with a dustsheet.

Some tips for preparing the walls would be to carry out some of the work yourself. This can help to cut down on fees and would involve removing wallpaper, washing the walls, and protecting woodwork with protective covering. Extensive work may be best left to the expert, though.

Extras

The painter or decorator will likely offer to carry out other small tasks, which will help improve the finish of your house. This could be fitting coving, a dado rail, varnishing window frames, or carrying out woodwork repairs.

Of course, only accept these extras if you feel they need doing. Once the decorator has completed the work, he’ll expect the full sum to be paid, unless you have discrepancies.

Remember not to pay a large deposit, and in a lot of instances, there will be no upfront costs. If it’s a larger job, you may be requested to pay in instalments.

So once you have met the decorator and agreed on a price, all that’s left is to set a start date for work to commence. Quality painters and decorators aren’t likely to be ready to start tomorrow (I’d worry if they could), so be prepared to wait a couple of weeks for the work to start.