Painters and Decorators in Westerham (TN16)
Two decorating quotes for the same Westerham house can be hundreds of pounds apart and both be honest. They are pricing different amounts of preparation, and the only way to compare them is to know what each one says it will do to the surface before any paint goes on.
What a quote should actually tell you
A line saying two coats throughout tells you almost nothing.
A price worth comparing lists the rooms and the surfaces in them, says what condition each one is in, and states what is being done to it: what gets filled, what gets sanded, what gets sealed or primed, how many coats of what go on afterwards, and what is deliberately being left alone. It should also say what happens if something turns up once the old paper comes off or a failed coating is stripped back, because on an older property something usually does. Getting that in writing is not about mistrust. It is the only way you can put two prices side by side and see whether the cheaper one is better value or simply doing less, and it is the difference between a fixed price and an opening figure.
Matching what is already there
SG runs its own building trades and brings in the decorating, managing it alongside them, so the person who surveys and prices your job is the person you hold to it. That matters most on partial work in the older part of town, where the point is matching rather than replacing. Colour and sheen drift with age and light, so a freshly mixed match beside a wall that has weathered for six years still reads as a repair, however good the match looked on the card. Period cottages and brick frontages around the centre make that more obvious, not less. The honest answer is often to take the work to a natural break — a whole wall, a whole elevation, a whole room — rather than stop at the edge of the damage and hope.
The family homes towards the edges
Out from the centre the houses are larger, and the work is more about area and organisation than about matching old fabric.
Several rooms, a stairwell, doors and skirting throughout, exterior painting on render, masonry and timber, and a household that needs the house to keep working while it happens. That is a programme rather than a visit: an agreed order of rooms, floors and furniture covered before anything starts, and a walk round in daylight at the end to pick up anything wanting a second pass. Westerham is a short run along the A25 from our office at 27 High Street, Godstone, so coming back to look at something afterwards is straightforward.
More in Westerham
Everything we do in Westerham is on the Westerham area sheet, and the full detail of how we approach this trade is on the decorating page.
Common questions
Q.01Why is one quote so much cheaper?
Usually because it is doing less preparation, not because it is better value. Compare what each one says it is filling, sanding and sealing, and how many coats go on, and the gap normally explains itself.
Q.02Can you match our existing colour?
We can get very close from a sample, but paint that has been on a wall for years has changed, so a match will still read as a repair beside it. Where that would show we would rather take the work to a corner or a natural break.
Q.03Can you just do the one damaged wall?
Sometimes, and we will tell you honestly whether it will show. Ceilings and pale walls in daylight are the least forgiving; a wall broken by a chimney breast or a corner is the most.
Q.04Do you cover Westerham from Godstone?
Yes. It is a short run along the A25 from 27 High Street, Godstone, and we have been building and refurbishing across this area and the South East since 2005.
Thinking about decorating in Westerham?
Tell us what you are planning. We come out, look at the job properly and give you a price for it.