A free planning tool
How long
will this room take?
Pick the room, say how it is looking, tick what is being painted, and the planner gives you a working estimate, a realistic calendar allowing for drying, and the order the work happens in.
Based on how we actually schedule rooms. Not a quote, but a sensible expectation to carry into one.
Plan a room
Tell us the room.
We will tell you the week.
- 01Clear, protect and prepareSheeting, washing down, filling, sanding, spot priming. This is where the finish is decided.Wait: Filler dry overnightHalf a day
- 02Ceiling, two coatsCeiling first so drips fall onto unpainted walls.Wait: Four to six hours between coatsHalf a day
- 03Walls, two coatsCut in and roll each wall in one go to keep a wet edge.Wait: Four to six hours between coats, overnight before woodworkHalf a day
- 04Woodwork: undercoat and two coatsSkirtings, doors and frames. Three coats, each waiting for the last.Wait: Sixteen hours between coats for water based, a full day for oilA day
- 05Snag in raking light and clearEvery job has three things to touch in. Find them before the client does.Wait: Furniture back the next dayHalf a day
Assumes a normal room temperature and a window open. Cold rooms in winter add a day. A decorator overlaps rooms on a whole house job, so the total for several rooms is less than the sum.
Ask us to quote this roomAsked before every job
How long,
honestly?
- How long does it take to paint a bedroom?
- For a professional on a sound room, walls and ceiling take a day to a day and a half, and adding the woodwork takes it to two or three. Doing it yourself at weekends, plan for two weekends: preparation and ceiling and walls on the first, woodwork on the second.
- Why is drying time such a big part of it?
- Every coat waits for the one before. Emulsion wants four to six hours between coats, water based trim paint sixteen, oil paint a full day. A room with three coats on the woodwork has at least two overnight waits built in regardless of how fast anyone works.
- What order should I paint a room in?
- Ceiling, then walls, then woodwork, then anything you took off the wall goes back. Drips fall downward and each stage protects the last. Painting woodwork first means cutting walls in against fresh eggshell, which is slower and never as crisp.
- Can two rooms be done at once?
- Yes, and it is how professionals do a whole house in weeks rather than months. While the woodwork in one room dries, the walls in the next get painted. That overlap is why the total for a house is less than the sum of the rooms.
The rest of the maths
Tins, weather,
and a straight quote.
The paint calculator counts the litres. Painting Weather says whether outside work is on this week. And if you would rather someone else held the brush, the enquiry form goes straight to us.
Planning notes and honest timings in every letter.