Is this too expensive for paint job?

squink

Have just had this work done on my house and I think I am being chaged too much, would anyone have an idea of how much the following work should cost? Would appreciate some help as I don't want to be upsetting the handyman as he does very good work - Power washing front of three-bed terraced house in Donnycarney, fairly small house, also power washing the garden path and front garden wall and bit of footpath outside, replacing small amount of pebble dash missing from front garden wall, spray painting house and front garden wall, painting window reveals and surrounds, painting sadolin on upstairs windows only, replacing some putty on windows, three coats of paint on one drainpipe. Cost €2,450. He was there seven and half days from early morning 7.30 ish, dont know what time he went home at.

MysticalSoul

I'm not sure of what this would cost, but did you not get a quote before the work was done?

foggy_lad

that seems quite reasonable for the amount of work involved, some of the jobs may have only been small areas of pebble dash etc but still take time and almost as much preparation as pebble dashing a whole wall.

squink

No i didnt get an exact quote, but understood that it would be under 1,900 at least; i had work done at the back of the house as well and was charged €1924 for it and said to him that it would hardly cost the same as at the front and he said no way would it cost as much, but in the end it cost more. I feel he stretched the hours somewhat, instead of doing the powerwashing all at once, he ended up doing the path and bit outside on footpath separately on the last half day.

MidlandsM

€1500 is what I'd pay only. There's lot of umemployed guys out there well able and qualified to do these easy chores.

aidan_walsh

Have you not talked to him about it? Could be a good reason it cost more that you don't know about.

dudara

OP, you should have gotten a quotation for the work beforehand. This protects both you and the tradesman.

Ask him for an itemised bill, detailing the labour and the cost of good used.

squink

When he gave me the bill i gaped at it and told him how i understood it was going to be less than what the job at the back of the house t and he said well that's what his hours came in as €2,050 for labour over 7 and half days i.e. €274 per day. materials cost €309. I feel sure I am being taken advantage of.

dingding

Daily rate seems a bit high Looks like it is about 30 an hour for a handyman

squink

When he gave me the bill i gaped at it and told him how i understood it was going to be less than what the job at the back of the house t and he said well that's what his hours came in as €2,050 for labour over 7 and half days i.e. €274 per day. materials cost €309. I feel sure I am being taken advantage of. A neighbour accused him of damaging the windscreen of his car with pebbles from powerwashing the dash and they have to work it out between them my painter told him. The neighbour is to get windscreen repaired and painter to go halves with him on it. Im just wondering is this adding hugely to my costs although painter didnt say he was charging me for it.
I did get an itemised bill - and materials look very high to me .

jimmycrackcorm

I'd negotiate the price with him. It's really too high. You should have gotten a quote as had been said but that doesn't mean you have to accept what he presented you with either.

The best thing to do is get a couple of competitive quotes from other painters and that will give you a more correct price.

The Big Red Button

How on earth would you employ someone to do a job for you without arranging the price first?!

Seriously though?

91011

Cost of material seems about right - probably 4 different types of paint / varnish + other bits & pieces. A tin of good varnish is €50+

Depending on hours worked, the labour cost is a little on the high side but not hugely. - As you said, he was good, so expect to pay a premium rate.

You could have got a couple of "lads", but they may not have done as good a job & may have taken a lot longer.

If the job has been done properly and will last as long as you expect it, then I think its close enough to reasonable.

At the end of the day, it was probably about 80hours / 2 weeks work he did, which equates to a gross income of €50,000 per year, which is about right for a good tradesman.

ejmaztec

I think the labour charge is comparable with what would have been charged at the height of the boom, and the market is such now that a trades-person has to charge an awful lot less to even get work.

The OP's tradesman seems to have struck lucky in getting away with charging such a high price, not to mention dragging the job out for 7.5 days.

jimoc

Don't forget to ask him for his VAT number, you should see the price drop very rapidly after that if he doesn't have one, or isn't declaring the income.

Wertz

Way too high, even if it was fully through the books, VAT etc (was it?).

€274 a day? Personally speaking I wasn't even charging those prices during the height of the boom. Many main contractors were barely charging that on the sites. (JLC/REA rates for decorators is around €19 p/h)
Far be it from me to criticise what another painter charges, in fact I relish these guys that make my price seem like a relative bargain, but I don't like this type of pricing making it look like we're all a bunch of conmen.
Powerwashing isn't painting...any monkey can work a power washer (and not break windscreens), so charging top dollar decorator rates for powerwashing is taking the mick too. The job sounds like it ran way over time as well. Spraying is a half day job, after masking off; way faster than roller/brush.

You were a bit foolish to not agree on a price beforehand, or at the very least, on day rates, to agree a schedule of exactly how long the job would take and how much materials would cost.
Just going on your description (would really need to see the job in the flesh), that job should have taken 4-5 days tops and at the JLC rates, plus VAT and something to cover overheads a little over a grand plus materials (usually about 20-30% of labour costs on average), so about 1200-1300 all in.

TBH at the minute when pricing, going in at anything above ~150 p/d (through the books) usually means you won't even get a phonecall back to tell you you didn't get the job, even in Dublin. (did an appt in spencer dock the other week at that rate and nearly didn't get it)
I have a friend doing 10 hour night shifts and travelling half the length of the country to get to the job for €160 a night, before RCT tax. If there was any more places on the crew I'd be doing it myself, that's how tight things are...

BTW the guy doesn't necessarily have to be registered for VAT...I de-regged earlier this year as it was affecting my pricing to the point where it was damaging to business. Just because someone isn't VAT regged doesn't mean they're not declaring income...somoene small time isn't likely to be at the mandatory VAT threshold...although this guy might be if that's the kind of money he charges the whole time :pac:

squink

I am taking all the comments on board folks. The reason I didnt get price before the job is because this fellow has done work for me twice this year already and I like him and his work was to a good standard (though not cheap) and I wasnt sure exactly what I would want done at the front of the house; I was hoping not to have the dash painted but just under the windows power gently power washed, however that didnt clean the black off so I decided to have it painted and he recommended power washing the whole thing first as he said the paint would last longer that way. Then I had to pick a colour and that delayed a small bit I think (I bought paint for house myself, cost €115, but he supplied paint for garden wall), also on the day he started spraying there was a strong breeze so he had to cover part of neighbours house to stop paint gettting on it. This involved cost of sheeting at €50. I already had the Sadolin paint for the two windows so that is not included.

I did ring him about this and he said what about the hire of cement mixer and power washing equipment that he didnt charge me for at all! But then he mentioned wear and tear on his equipment, so im not sure if it is hired. I know he has a point about how his equipment will have to be replaced etc. He says he is not charging me for the neighbours windscreen, but can't help thinking its been factored in, especialy as he told me the job would not cost more than the work to the back of house.

By the way I think power washing definitely has a downside as it can widen cracks in cement as far as I can see and water is bound to get in to the building. The architrave inside my front door has been put out of alignment by the water that got in, he says he will pin it back, but I reckon I would be paying more for that though.

Wertz

I do regular work for some clients too, usually on day rate...they're the ones I'd be certain to keep my prices realistic with because that's where you get a rep and good word of mouth to other potential customers, not to mention the repeat work.

Charging extra for sheeting up? Really? My god, anyone that doesn't cover off an area when spraying outdoors, irregardless of wind, shouldn't be let near a sprayer...spray work is 50%+ masking/covering of surrounding and removing it when done.
Equipment hire is fair enough...but should be considered a material cost, and charged as such. If he owns the plant then it's part of the balance sheet of his business and is tax deductible.
You say you bought paint for main house and had stain...so what was the €300 material charges for? Someone mentioned 50 quid for a tin of exterior varnish below; yes, for a 1/2 gallon...two standard windows would take a max of a 500ml for 2-3 coats.

I don't know, you think you've been overcharged, some of the posts are telling you same but then you justify it somewhat...
Delays on colours and indecisive customers comes with the territory...you don't up your prices because someone can't make up their minds; you ask for a decision as it's holding you back.
You'll find 99% of painters do good work...if they didn't they wouldn't get paid, till the work was made good...just because soemone does good work doesn't give them the right to fleece you for it.

sealgaire

ouch, €2.5k to powerwash a few walls? NASTY. Shuould have got yourself a powerwasher from aldi for €100 and done it yourself. Would only take a few hours. How many weeks will you have to go to work to pay for that?

Cuddlesworth

ejmaztec wrote: »

I think the labour charge is comparable with what would have been charged at the height of the boom, and the market is such now that a trades-person has to charge an awful lot less to even get work.

The OP's tradesman seems to have struck lucky in getting away with charging such a high price, not to mention dragging the job out for 7.5 days.

You have never done the body of work described in the OP have you? While on the high side, as said before in this post if its good quality work that won't have to be redone in a short space of time then it seems like good value. But this is difficult to tell without seeing exactly what he did, the materials used, the tools required and hours he had to work.

jpb1974

It appears to be very expensive to me.

Most labourer's down my way would charge anywhere between €80 and €120 a day (ex. materials) for work of this nature.

ejmaztec

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

You have never done the body of work described in the OP have you? While on the high side, as said before in this post if its good quality work that won't have to be redone in a short space of time then it seems like good value. But this is difficult to tell without seeing exactly what he did, the materials used, the tools required and hours he had to work.

I know enough about what goes on in the building and construction industry, having been involved in all aspects of it over the years, primarily as a financial and tax advisor.

In my opinion the OP was charged mad-money, and I've seen a lot of mad-money charged in recent years, and mad people willing to pay for it.

squink

Yes I do think it was "mad money". He says he has counted up his hours etc. However I think he dragged it out and overcharged for materials. I do not intend to pay him the full amount he is asking for, but I am sad and mad because I liked him and was happy to have him around the place and trusted him in the house and his work was good. Now I have to saddle up and go look for another good handyman. And they are thin on the ground.

By the way Sealgaire, it wasn't just power-washing, - I'm not actually THAT mad.

the_syco

Anyone know what details one would need to ask to ensure he's fully registered, and is paying tax on all €2,450 ?

OP, the job is done, pay the money. I doubt you have a leg to stand on, as I cannot see any court defending you, as you are in essence trying to weasel your way out of paying after the job is done. You should have done your homework, and negotiated the price beforehand.