Red Flags in a Painting Quote: What Suspiciously Cheap Prices Are Hiding
How to read a painting and decorating quote properly, what items are commonly omitted to reduce the headline price, and how to compare quotes on a like-for-like basis.
Why the Cheapest Quote Is Rarely the Best Value
Every homeowner who has obtained three quotes for a painting job has experienced it: one quote comes in significantly lower than the other two. The instinct is to assume the cheap contractor is simply more efficient or less greedy. The reality, in the vast majority of cases, is that the cheap quote has omitted something. The question is: what?
Understanding what a proper painting specification should include — and therefore what an underpriced quote has left out — is the single most useful skill a client can have when commissioning decoration work.
What a Complete Painting Quote Should Specify
A proper written quote for a painting job in a London property is a document with detail, not a number on a piece of paper or a WhatsApp voice note. At minimum it should state:
The preparation method. Not "prepare surfaces" but specifically what that means: filling hairline cracks with flexible filler, washing down with sugar soap, sanding glossy surfaces to provide a key, applying a stabilising solution to powdery plaster, removing and replacing blown render sections. If preparation is described in one vague sentence, it means the contractor intends to spend as little time on it as possible.
The paint system. The brand, product name, finish, and number of coats. "Two coats of emulsion" could mean two coats of a £7/litre contract emulsion that will mark within six months, or two coats of Dulux Trade Diamond Matt that will last five years. The difference in material cost alone is substantial; the difference in result is dramatic.
What is included and what is not. Every experienced decorator knows there are grey areas in a property: the inside of cupboards, the back of radiators, the window reveals, the ceiling over a half-landing. If these are not listed as included, assume they are excluded.
Access arrangements. Does the price include scaffolding for the second-floor elevation, or is the contractor planning to work from a ladder? If scaffolding is needed and not in the quote, that is a significant cost being deferred.
Common Omissions in Cheap Quotes
These are the items most frequently absent from underpriced quotes:
Primer coats. Bare timber, new plaster, and previously unpainted surfaces all need a primer before a topcoat is applied. Omitting primer coats saves time and material cost but produces a finish that fails within one to two years as the topcoat delaminates from the substrate.
Timber repairs. Rotten window sills, delaminating bargeboards, and soft door frames need to be cut out, treated, and made good before painting begins. A quick coat of gloss over a rotten sill looks fine for one season. The correct repair — Repair Care Dry Flex consolidant, two-part wood filler, primer, undercoat, topcoat — costs time and materials that an underpriced quote does not include.
Washing down and degreasing. Kitchen and bathroom walls need sugar soap treatment before any paint is applied over them. Skipping this step is not visible on the day; it becomes visible three months later when the new paint lifts off the old grease film.
Multiple topcoats on new or stripped surfaces. On bare plaster or stripped timber, one topcoat will always look thin. The surface is absorptive and the sheen will be uneven. A second topcoat — properly sanded in between on woodwork — is not optional; it is part of a complete job.
How to Compare Three Quotes Properly
The correct approach when receiving multiple quotes is to score each one against the same specification checklist, not to rank them by price. Ask each contractor:
- What prep do you plan on the ___ wall — it has some hairline cracks and the plaster looks a bit dusty in places?
- What paint system are you using, and which specific product for the woodwork?
- Is primer included on the new plaster in the extension?
- Does your price include the window reveals and the inside of the bay window frames?
The answers to these questions will tell you quickly whether a contractor has actually thought about the job or has simply produced the lowest number they can defend. A contractor who has not visited the property in person cannot produce a reliable quote for anything beyond a very simple job.
The True Cost of a Cheap Job
A cheap painting job does not fail immediately. It usually looks acceptable when the contractor leaves. Problems appear at six months (scuffs and marks that would not occur on a properly applied finish), at twelve months (flaking on external joinery where primer was omitted), and at two to three years (widespread delamination on walls where the plaster was not properly prepared). At that point, the property needs redecorating at full cost — with the added complication of stripping back a failed paint system before starting again.
Over a ten-year period, a properly specified and executed job done once costs considerably less than two or three cheap jobs that each need redoing within three years.
If you would like a detailed written quote for your London property — one that specifies every element of the work — use our free quote page or reach us via the contact form.