03/11/2022
So true
Im tired of people falling into the same trap so I feel like its my duty to educate my customers about this topic. I have permission from that person to share this story with you.
Quite often someone says to me:
"Mate you're too expensive. The other decorator quote was half your price".
If you're a customer you should ask yourself why is that. Why this guy will do X job for £300 when i ask for £600. Is it because im too expensive or is there another reason? Let me give you an example.
Quoted for large size bedroom to fully decorate it. My thoughts roughly £180 in materials, 3 days of work to do everything PROPERLY.
Submited my price at £780. The customer got back to me saying the other decorator asked for £300 all in with materials. My response was "wow ok 👀. THAT SEEMS too cheap to be true". Mind you materials for this job was roughly at £150 mark.
Few weeks later same person call me back (literally in tears) to say that the so called decorator wasn't good at all and walked off the job leaving mess and if I could finish this job. He has done it all in a day expecting payment. No prep work. No filling. Cracks just painted over. Gloss slapped onto woodwork without any prep first. Absolute mess.
Long story short. I agreed to complete that job but havent got any availability till January.
Customer lost money & time.
Moral of the story. When you look for quality decorator:
- check reviews (make sure they're not fake)
- ask for references - then check them
- if they too cheap - its cheap for a reason
- good decorators charge at least £150 a day (on the lower end). I would suggest keep that in mind as well.