What Affects the Cost of Painting and Decorating a House?

More surface area means more time and more paint. Ceiling height matters as well as floor space, because a tall hallway with a staircase and landing takes far longer than a small bedroom of the same width. Rooms that are cluttered or hard to empty add time too, because everything has to be moved, covered and put back. When you count rooms for a quote, include the hallway, stairs, landing and any cloakroom or utility room. They're easy to forget and often take longer than you'd expect.

Preparation is where most of the time goes, and it's the biggest unknown until someone has seen the walls in person. Many homes across Sutton Coldfield are older properties, and their walls often need cracks filled, old paint or wallpaper stripped, and woodwork sanded back before any paint goes on. Newer homes have their own issues, such as builder's paint that has marked or plaster that has shrunk slightly. Preparation is slower than painting, but it decides how smooth the finish looks and how long it lasts.

Walls and ceilings are the quickest. Woodwork, such as skirting boards, doors, door frames, window frames and banisters, takes far longer for the area it covers because of the sanding, filling, undercoating and finish coats. Wallpaper adds stripping, lining paper and careful hanging and pattern matching. Kitchen cabinets and fitted furniture can be painted well, but they need thorough cleaning, priming and a hard-wearing finish. Specialist work, such as feature walls or murals, needs more skill and time and is usually priced separately.

Going from a dark colour to a pale one usually needs extra coats, and stained or marked walls may need a stain-blocking primer first. New plaster needs a thinned first coat before the main coats go on. Each extra coat adds time, because the paint has to dry properly in between. A quote for two coats and a quote for three are not the same job, so always check how many coats are included.

Stairwells, high ceilings and exterior work above ground level may need scaffold towers or ladders set up safely, which takes time. Occupied, furnished homes take longer too, because the work has to be organised around the people living there. A house that's empty, or a room that has been cleared, is quicker and usually cheaper to decorate than one where furniture has to be moved around the job.

Premium paints cost more but often cover better and last longer, which can mean fewer coats. Specialist paints, such as stain blockers, anti-mould paints for bathrooms or hard-wearing finishes for woodwork, also cost more. Ask whether materials are included in the quote or charged separately, because that changes the comparison. If you want a particular brand or colour, tell the decorator at the start so it's priced in.

Photos and measurements help, but they can't show how flat a wall is, how many layers of old paint are on the woodwork, whether the ceiling has a textured coating or whether there's damp. When the decorator has seen the property, or at least good photos of it, the preparation can be priced properly instead of being left as a gap. It also means problems are raised before work begins, which protects you from the common surprise of a price rising halfway through the job because the walls needed more work than anyone expected.

Ask for a written quote that sets out:

• which rooms and surfaces are included
• how much preparation is allowed for
• how many coats, and which type of paint
• whether materials and clearing up are included
• the expected timescale and how payment works

Be cautious about a price far below the others. It can mean preparation has been skipped, and that's the part you notice later when paint starts to peel or cracks reappear. Fixed prices and day rates can both be fair, as long as it's clear what you're getting.

There are good ways to manage the price without cutting corners. Clear furniture from the rooms before work starts, so no time is spent moving it. Decide your colours and finishes early, so nobody is waiting for decisions. Group jobs together: doing several rooms, or the inside and outside in one project, is usually more efficient than separate visits. Be realistic about preparation. It's worth paying for on walls and woodwork you see every day, and you can choose a lighter approach in rooms that matter less. What's not worth saving on is the basics: filling and sanding, a proper primer where it's needed, and enough coats for an even finish.