The things people ask
before they ask for a quote.

For a typical bedroom or sitting room with sound walls, two coats on walls and ceiling and the woodwork repainted, expect a professional quote in the region of £600 to £1,400 depending on size, ceiling height and how much preparation the woodwork needs. Period rooms with cornices, sash windows and old plaster sit at the top of that range or above it. Our pricing page shows how we build the number.

Almost always preparation. One painter prices for washing, sanding, filling and priming; another prices for two quick coats over whatever is there. The second is cheaper and fails sooner. Ask each quote to list the preparation steps and the number of coats, then compare like with like.

No. A first look and a written quote are free within our normal area. If you want a paid specification review, where we write a full document a decorator can price from and you use whoever you like, that is a consultancy service with its own fee.

Use the calculator. It takes the room measurements, the paint type and the surface condition and gives litres, the tins to buy and an honest cost range, using the coverage figures we plan with rather than the optimistic ones on the tin.

A straightforward room is usually two to three days for one decorator: a day of preparation, then coats with proper drying between them. Woodwork adds time because each coat needs longer to dry. Period rooms and kitchens take longer. We would rather tell you four days and finish in three than the reverse.

Yes, and most clients do. We work room by room, protect floors and furniture properly, keep dust down and leave the house usable each evening. We agree the order of rooms with you at the start so the ones you need most are done first.

Late April to early October for most exterior paints, and even then only on the right days. The wall needs to be dry, above 10°C and stay that way overnight while the paint cures. Our painting weather tool reads the seven day forecast for your postcode and tells you which days pass.

Exterior work books up for the season by early spring. Interior work is usually four to eight weeks out, less in winter. If you have a date in mind, an early enquiry lets us hold it.

Only if the wall itself is breathable: lime plaster, lime harl, porous stone or old brick without a modern coating. On cement render, plasterboard or a wall already sealed with plastic paint, a breathable topcoat gains nothing. The full guide explains how to tell which wall you have and which system suits it.

Because paint is being asked to fix a building problem. Moisture from a failed gutter, cracked cill, high ground or poor ventilation is getting behind the film. Find and fix the water first, let the wall dry, then repaint with a system that suits the substrate.

Often, yes, if the doors are solid timber or good quality veneered board and the existing finish is sound. We degrease, key, prime with an adhesion primer and spray or brush a hard wearing topcoat. Cheap foil wrapped doors that are already lifting are not worth painting.

Reliable trade emulsions and water based eggshells for most work, and specialist mineral, lime and clay systems where the building benefits. We choose by data sheet and track record on similar walls, not by label, and we will tell you when a cheaper product will do the same job.

St Andrews, the East Neuk, across Fife, and over the bridge into Dundee and Angus. Further afield for larger projects and teaching by arrangement.

We carry public liability insurance and stand behind our work with a written guarantee that covers the coating system we specified on the surfaces we prepared. Client projects live in a private portal where you can see the specification, the guarantee dates and maintenance advice.

Yes. The six module curriculum is published in full on the sessions page, there is a monthly open workshop in St Andrews, and we run private sessions in your own home on the surfaces you actually need to tackle.

A fortnightly email with the painting weather window for the two weeks ahead, one colour, one repair tip and one photograph from a live job. Free, confirmed by email before anything is sent, and one click to leave.