What to Consider When Choosing a Painter & Decorator

You may be tempted to take the DIY route for some of your painting jobs but whether you face time constraints, want that professional look or you just don’t fancy tackling it yourself – you may find you are in need of a painter and decorator to do some of your painting jobs around the house. Whether you are looking to decorate a bedroom, put up new wallpaper in your living room or just repaint your windows you need to choose your painter and decorator with care. Not all painting and decorating contractors offer the same service. By following our simple tips below, you should be in a better position to find a qualified tradesman who has the right painting and decorating skills for you.

Painters and decorators come in a variety of types, from the odd job home decorator who often works alone on small decorating projects, to industrial decorators who work in teams as part of a painting contractors firm or as part of the maintenance team of a local authority or hospitals. Professional painters and decorators offer a variety of services, such as painting (both interior and exterior surfaces), hanging wall coverings, treating wood surfaces and carrying out minor repairs

Painting and decorating tradesmen usually work a typical 9am-5pm week but may be flexible with hours for the customer’s convenience. A typical decorators job includes measuring surfaces to see how much wall space needs to be decorated, liaising with the customer to find out the wall covering required and colour/design of the wall covering, understanding the effect that needs to be created, preparing surfaces i.e. stripping, cleaning and priming the walls, as well as the actual covering of the wall.

Whether you are going for a completely new look, or just applying a fresh coat of paint to freshen up and protect the old look, finding somebody who will do a thorough, quality and efficient job is essential.

Be Clear on What You Want Done

Finding a good decorator/painter or a painting and decorating company starts with you being really clear on what the job is and your desired outcome. The first thing to think about is the type of decorating job you need your home decorator to do. Painters and decorators come with a variety of skills, some are just experts with paint and wallpaper, and others may have some additional interior design skills so may be able to help you choose accent colours or help you redesign a whole room from scratch.

You also need to be clear on the size of the job, do you just need the decorator to paint a bedroom or paint a nursery or are you looking at giving your offices a whole new lift? How much you want the decorator to do will help you give you an idea of the type of decorating businesses you will need to call. For example if it’s just one or two rooms in your house then a painting contractor who works alone may well be appropriate. If you are decorating your 12-roomed house or business premises from scratch then you many need to hire a larger painting and decorating company.

Choosing the right Painter & Decorator for you

Ok so you now know exactly what you want done, whether you need a painting contractor who works for himself or a team of painters. How do you now go about choosing your painter and decorator?

Finding a Reliable Local Painter & Decorator

Whether you are looking for painters and decorators in London or looking for someone to do your wallpapering in the Birmingham there are many ways to find a list of local painters and decorators – some easier than others.

• You could use search engines to get a list of painters and decorators in your local area. The risk here is that you have no real knowledge of how good they are or what skills they really possess and it can be time consuming calling numerous painters and decorators, having to leave messages asking them to call you.
• Another option is to use the yellow pages but again you have the same issues as using a search engine.
• A recommendation – this is arguably a better option than using a search engine or yellow pages but you are unlikely to have more than one recommendation which makes comparisons difficult.
• An easy, hassle free way of identifying local skilled painters is to use the service of site such as www.xpertfind.com. xpertfind.com has a database of skilled painters and decorators along with rating and feedback provided by customers like you for all their painters and decorators. You simply post details of you job on the site and wait for suitably skilled, local painters and decorators interested in your work to contact you. It is a quick and easy way for customers to find painters and decorators for a whole range of jobs and the website has national coverage. So whether you are looking for a recommended decorator in Devon, an experienced external painter in Glasgow or an interior painter in Liverpool, you can post your painting and decorating job online and let xpertfind.com do the hard work of finding 3 local rated painters and decorators who can provide you with quotes. Who you go with is your decision.

You have got 3 suitably skilled, local painters and decorators - how to do you choose between them?

Ask for references

When hiring a painter/decorator, don't be shy in asking for references on their work. You could even take the time to call these people and ask how the work went for them. It may even be wise to go and see the work that has been done. Seeing with your own eyes what the contractor has accomplished is the best way to know what you are paying for.

Prior experience and proven skills

It's all to do with experience! Ask what experience they have. Also, ask if they could bring a portfolio of photos with them so you can see the type of work they do. One sure way of assessing whether a painter/decorator is experienced is if he takes the trouble to come and look at the job to be done and advise you before giving a quotation.

Ask them what type of jobs they have done. Decorators have a wide range of different skills and experience. Some decorators are more comfortable working indoors to outdoors or vice versa whilst others may have a strong preference for painting rather than putting up wallpaper. For some work, you may want a decorator who is able to provide special paint effects such as rag rolling and marbling. A good quality, established painting and decorating company will have worked on many different jobs, in many different circumstances and will be able to give the best finish whatever they are given to work with.

Compare your quotes

Make sure you have a detailed quote from each of the painters and decorators you have identified and compare estimates on the cost of the project and see how they differ. The written quotation should list materials, labour and VAT (if appropriate) and all tradesmen should quote on the same terms. Ask them in person why things cost the way they do and why they charge what they charge to do the job. If the painter and decorator is honest, he will answer you straight forward and be open about the costs of materials and the profit he is trying to make.

You need to make sure you have answers to the following:

• Are you adequately insured?
• Do you give a guarantee for the work you do and the materials you use?
• Who is paying for the paint or wallpaper?
• If the decorator is paying for materials as part of the job, what quality of materials are being provided?
• How many coats of paint are to be used?
• Will the decorator move furniture or will you need to do this before work starts?
• How long will it take? If the decorator is painting the outside of your house, does the estimated completion date allow for some bad weather?
• Is the quote you give inclusive of VAT, material, labour and cleaning away of debris?
• Who will actually be doing the work? – do not assume that the person who has given you the quote will do the work

Remember, different painters and decorators charge different rates for their work. Some of them charge by the hour, some by the project and some just have fixed rates. Ask when payment will be due? Some element of up-front or staged payment may be acceptable but you would be unwise to agree to pay in full until the work is finished.

Time to complete the job and practicalities

Be clear on how long will it take the painter and decorator to complete the job. Finding a tradesman that can work efficiently and quickly is beneficial - they will cost less because the hours will be less. Even if the cost per hour is more, if they have the third of the hours of another, it will most likely be less money in the end.

Consider how your decorator is going to get access to your property. Would you be comfortable providing a key which can be used when you are out?

For exterior decoration, agree clear arrangements about security. Problems can occur if you are out when the decorators leave and window frames are still wet. The painters may want to leave the windows open but doing so could leave you without effective insurance if a burglar got in through the open window.

Are they licensed or registered?

As there is no governing body for painters and decorators, and no official accreditation, you may want some written proof of the capacity of the person. Most painters and decorators are trained on the job as apprentices, however there are qualifications for painters and decorators to achieve. Qualifications designed for professional decorators and painters include vocational courses such as The City & Guilds Basic Skills in Construction award: Painting and Decorating and the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) Intermediate/Advanced Construction Award in Decorative Occupations (Painting and decorating). These courses educate decorators and painters in a variety of decorating tools and techniques including paint spraying equipment, steamers, Artexing, varnishes, paints, solvents and even blow torches.

You may also want to consider whether your tradesman is a member of a recognized industry trade association such as the British Decorators Association. The British Decorators Association is the largest national organisation for UK decorators and members agree to terms of 'Code of Practice' which amongst other things guarantees the quality of work for a minimum period.

There are numerous advantages in taking your business to a member of a trade association. Members are thoroughly vetted before admission, only work with quality materials, and keep abreast of the latest techniques and regulations in the industry.

Furthermore, in the unfortunate event of a dispute arising, complaints can be lodged and dealt with by the relevant trade association. Last but not least, all members carry adequate Public Liability Insurance. For more information visit the British Decorators Association website at: www.paintingdecoratingassociation.co.uk.

Click on this link to: Post a Painting or Decorating Job with xpertfind.com