Hello everyone. I know without seeing a job it's hard to price but I wondered if anyone could suggest a ball park figure for the following job I've been asked to do. 3 bedroom house. All walls and ceilings in white matt throughout the entire house. (sunglasses on!) All woodwood including doors to be glossed. Everything is in very good condition and just needs freshening up with very minimal prep to be done, just a bit of caulking here and there. I realize this is a bit tricky to work out maybe, but perhaps I should just charge a daily rate and work on that basis.
Any ideas appreciated.

If you are a DIY-er, as your user name suggests, then the customer wouldn't be able to afford you on a daily rate as it would take you months!

It is impossible to give a serious answer because you don't mention how many other rooms there are ... you only said a three bedroom house.

Some questions that really need answers.

• Is the house occupied or empty?
• If occupied, is it carpeted?
• How much furniture would need moving?
• How high are the ceilings? Would access be an issue?
• Is the customer on a tight budget? (as tidy-up jobs are usually expected to be done for a pie and a pint)
• Are you a DIY'er as Tom has asked? Without meaning to be insulting, a pro doing it every day will be significantly faster than someone doing it occasionally, thus any figures you get on here may be misleading.

The answers to these questions will impact on price, so as Number 5 said - "Need Input".

You cannot just 'freshen up' gloss paint on woodwork. You either paint it, or you don't paint it!

If you paint it (as it seems you are expected to), you will need to put in almost as much preparation (sanding/rubbing down) then undercoating and glossing, as you would if the woodwork were relatively new, but yellowing.

You could I suppose use something like Johnstone's self-undercoating satinwood on it, but I'm not sure if there is a gloss equivalent which works as well.

Reminds me of an older guy when I was an apprentice. One of his favourite sayings was "If it needs 2 coats, give it 1 - if it needs 1 coat, wash it".

You need preparation (however minimal). There's just no point even doing a job without it. If the gloss is sound, you could possibly 'get away' with using a jelly gloss (Once, Solo) and a light sand but I would REALLY not advise that, unless the wood is practically perfect. Even then it's far from ideal.

Jobs that get skimped on don't last anywhere near as long as those done right. Tidy-ups are often asking for trouble (unless you get the customer to sign something prior to starting, stating they accept it may not last too long)

2.5k - 10k ball park!

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This reminds me of a relative who said she wanted me decorate her bungalow through. "of course you must charge me your normal rates" said she.

She then rang me to tell me her boyfriend (a gardener) had been asked by a landlord to slap some whizzo on one of his empty properties. As he wasn't skilled she wanted to know what a fair daily rate would be to base his price on. I told her £*¡¿¤¢ a day and left her to it.

Turns out the landlord was a fictitious character and she was really pumping me for info so she could pay him to tosh her house through because he didn't have any work on.

I'll say between £10.50 and 10 kajillion million pounds.

Although in seriousness as stated above it is very hard to know without looking and having an idea of your ability. A largish room would take about 3 days give or take, and thats by someone who is doing it all the time and doing it properly.

I would suggest, figure out what you would be happy with a day, figure out how many days roughly you think it'll take, multiply the two and theres your estimate.

To the OP...you might as well just guess somewhere between 300 and 1500 quid..at least you have the advantage of actually seeing the job whereas we havnt...

As everyone has mentioned there are too many variables.

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£300 to £ 350 .
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per room.

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Verwood Handyman
I Know it says I'm On-line, but I might have just left myself logged in, whilst I'm out....

Blimey, talk about throw myself to the lions! LOL! Thanks people. No, I'm not a diyer. I do actually paint for a living and was just asking for suggestions really. It may seem strange to ask if I paint every day, but I've spent the last 5 years doing redecs in MOD properties which in order to earn any money, you need to knock them out quick. I do 2 x 3 bed houses every week, so speed is no issue to me. I don't like to work this way(in fact I hate it) as I do pride myself on doing a nice job when required to do it properly, but unfortunately you take what you can. I'm not just someone who claims to be able to paint and do a nice job, and I also do have an idea of what to charge for jobs, but since this a big job, and will be done properly, I had it in my mind to charge a daily rate which I thought would be easier. I don't really do much private work, and have certainly never been asked to paint a complete house(properly as my own job) I'm not too worried about the actual job itself, but thought I'd ask for another opinion. Yes, house is occuppied, yes it does have carpet, yes, furniture will need moving as is normal, and yes I do own paint brushes and rollers just for the record. LOL! Anyway, thanks for the input (some of you). I'm sure it'll be fine

Two three bedders a week Wow, that is going some.

If you allowed yourself two weeks labour then you should be well in

Yeah, it does sound a lot, but that's because I'm forced to have to work against everything I believe in. Using the ceiling paint to undercoat, and sometimes just bouncing all the wood work. One coat on everything if I can get away with it. This is not how I like to work at all, but they just want the properties looking and smelling fresh and with a price of £350 for a 3 bed, I need to get them done in 3 days max. Generally 2 and a half days, and they are scheduled for cleaning so I need to be out by a certain time. I understand this is nothing to be proud of, but there isn't much out there as we all know. That's why when I do a private, I need to get my other head on and think differently.

"Forced" as in they hold a gun to your head and make you do it?

Seriously, nobody should do work they hate. If you are any good why not strike out on your own properly. Yes, there's a recession at the moment but decent trades people will make it no matter what the economic conditions. I started four and a bit years ago, just before the credit crunch started. If this is what it is like during a recession then I'll be rich when the country is back in economic growth.

Everyone has a choice over what they do for a living. If you hate what you do at the moment then go and work at Tesco ... or ... do something more positive about it.

£350 for a 3 bed house

Rather you than me m8ty, that is a ridiculous price! Even for toshing