Tom
And all the commercial aspects, how to run your business, do estimates, bill customers, etc.
Yeah, but being a painter isn't all about painting the inside of a tiny room white all day every day, is it? In the same respect that a plumber isn't about changing a washer all day every day and a mechanic replacing air filters.
You are right; painting the interior of a single room is a piece of cake but so is changing a lightbulb as an electrician.
Sometimes you have to widen your view a bit.
Also, if you want to work as a painter with any credibility in the UK (i.e. paint more than bedroom walls and garage doors) you need the C&G or equivalent.
As usual I'm irritated by the lack of respect towards trade jobs, but whatever.
That being said, to have one room painted should not cost more than 500-600.
2500 is way too much, I paid about that much to paint a whole 2.5-room apartment.
When you can name me any painting and decorating job that's as complex as rewiring a house or fitting a boiler then maybe I can take you a bit more seriously.
Where did I say it was more or less complex as anything else?
I was bringing some balance into your snooty view that painters are somehow an inferior trade and should therefore charge less.
Whether or not you choose to take anyone seriously is an issue personal to you, not to me.
Because it is an inferior trade and they should charge less. That's not being snooty, that's merely a fact.
That's not part of the apprenticeship. If at all it's part of a follow-on education, what used to be called "Meisterprüfung". See this short overview (DE/FR/IT but no English Version available).
The link may also be of interest for Loz and Sandgrounder.
As for the offers, did they encompass the same work? Perhaps some suggest to apply primer or other additional stuff?
Did you advertise on EF or only contacted local Swiss businesses?
No, it's your opinion. At the top of the thread you clearly had no idea that it was a qualified skill, nor did you have a full picture of what a trade fully involves. So it's your opinion based on your misunderstanding.
The reason for the disparity is likely because the companies you went to have different specialities, even within the 'painter' umbrella.
A retiree who wants to make a few fr, with nothing more then some basic equipment from migros, and with lots of spare time, will ask for far less than a professional outfit who are more geared towards painting entire office blocks with a whole team of guys, the latest expensive equipment and who use expensive paints, and who dont really want to pish around painting individual rooms for people.
TBH, youre better off getting a pro to do the stucco and prep, and actually painting it yourself. The hole filling (woof!) can be done with stuff from migros.
One more question though...by 'stucco' do you mean plaster? Stucco is usually used on the outside of buildings, and not typically for interior rooms, unless youre going to have particularly ornate walls...
That's certainly true if you hire someone from a big company, as they have many more overheads compared with a one or two-man show, such as a new fleet of shiny vans, office workers etc, but I've also noticed incredibly high quotes form one-man do-it-all handymen - some who have been given shockingly bad reviews for their work or attitude.
Incidentally, although we went for the lowest offer for the painting we got done, we've just taken the highest quote for some other work -tiling - not a big company - a one-man business but he did get glowing reviews.
One thing I have learnt along the way though is price is not necessarily a reflect of quality.
Tiling is a whole different kettle of fish though. Its not something that can be done to a reasonable standard by an amateur, with supplies from your local migros Do-it. So there, the pricing dynamics are different.
Plastering, within the painting quote we had requires a fair degree of skill too.
I've done loads of tiling myself but made a hash of plastering.
Honestly, as others have said, some people (for any type of work) charge what they think they can get away with - these are usually the ones who firstly don't offer to come and look before giving an outrageous quote and secondly get terrible reviews.
Just for reference:
A little garden project. Same gorgeously clear awesome plans (coz I did them ) and very well defined work list sent to 3 companies. All companies within similar travel range (sometimes the travel distance explains the difference in prices).
Company A: 26.000 CHF
Company B: 28.000 CHF
Company C: 42.000 CHF
All serious companies I have worked with before. All companies with their usual 80% share of foreign workers. Funny enough, the most expensive quota is from the biggest company (usually bigger companies tend to be cheaper because of the sheer capacity to rotating teams around).
Prices vary a lot. Not just for the little man, but for the professionals too.
Be smart. Ask for different quotas. Be smart in your choice - sometimes the size of the company means nothing (oh the gossip I could tell about the rich and famous), sometimes the cheaper one is not a good choice (lack of quality/illegal settings), sometimes the most expensive one is not a good choice (lack of quality/illegal settings).
I used the expensive guy once to repaint my ceiling. I know it seems like a lot, but he did a nice job of it. Worth every penny. I think he was Italian?
How could you say such a thing?! There's no difference in the level of skill required between being a cleaner and being a brain surgeon. Sandgrounder
told me so.
Nope, you told you so by using false logic.
J2488 seemed to be basically saying that as tiling was more skilled than painting (in his opinion), there should be a greater price range in the quotes.
That really doesn't make sense in logical reasoning nor is seen in practice.
Interesting comparison.
He was a plasterer, not a painter.
He took four years to finish the job. It was just 1,114 sq metres.
Two years in, he had to start again when he used the wrong paint and his work became mouldy. His holiness was not amused.
He spent just 14 hours a day painting, with no safety equipment, and standing up the whole time.
He neglected to take out medical, accident or personal liability insurance.
In today's money, Tracey Emin was paid 4 times more for her rubbish bed than he received for the sculpture David.
And he received (in today's money), less than the EF, CHF 120k minimum wage for painting the Sistine Chapel.
Lazy bugger! Could have done better and quicker with a set of kids crayons.
Asked friends for recommendations.