House painting quote.

It doesn't look like it would even fit in what passes for a front garden round here. And certainly couldn't get it to the rear of the house.

A scaffold tower might do - but would need to be moved several times. Add that to the costs of hire and delivery etc, and ordinary scaffolding looks a better bet.

I had some to first floor level - very substantial, even I was happy on it. £250 for what seemed like as long as I wanted (took them a month to take down after I asked). Took 2 men about 2 hours to put up/down. Pic:

They don't have a yard, so they leave it up until they need it for the next job.

Scaffolding is rarely taken down until it's needed for the next job. Saves storage space.

We had our house painted a couple of years ago by a neighbour and his son who do painting and decorating together, and are very good.

Large 4/5 bed two floor detached pebble dash house, on a small hill, so access is not great. They did it all using a ladder, but they both spend a lot of time in the gym - father, almost 60, has the body of a 25 year old and the son is not far behind.

Was

I've had scaffolding several times for various jobs over the years. Has always been removed pretty quickly after asking.

I like the click and collect option at Argos!

Ah! I tried that for an e-bay delivery. Collecting from Argos was going to be cheaper (I think) and it avoided hanging about for the lorry.

In the event collection was called off because of item weight. Less than

What's a reasonable weight limit for a warehouse worker? Maybe it depends on the item's shape?

Found this, *on a solicitor's website*:

It looks like 25Kg is the absolute max for a fit well-trained man in ideal conditions. For a parcel that's easily grasped with both hands and is compact enough that the parcel is close to the person's spine.

And that looks like it's for items that are carried at waist height, not lifted off the floor.

"Have you been injured whilst lifting at work?" :)

I remembered 25 Kg as being the limit for an *untrained* person.

It was actually a *praying Mantis* plaster board lifter. The boxes were about 4'0" long.

Are you getting any other quotations?

Not yet. I don't know any reliable painters despite having asked around. Hence getting the quote from one I've seen at work - and looks to be doing things correctly.

The last painter I used for this job came with lots of recommendations. But did it all when I was out at work. Only some time later did I discover he'd used masonry paint on some wood window frames. And had simply slapped paint over the bits you couldn't see easily - with no preparation. It was coming off within a year.

I suppose if he's reliable and good quality then it's worth paying a bit extra but isn't ?230 a day (incl VAT) for labour alone a bit on the high side?

Seems so to me. Assuming he gets near full time work - as it seems he does

- amounts to well over 60k a year with 4 weeks off. And that's VAT exc.

I spoke to him for the first time today since getting the quote. Said it was a lot more than I expected. He asked what that would be and I said nearer 2 grand. He then asked if that included materials.

Thing is that on having a careful look there's quite a bit of repair needed before painting. So it looks like I'll need to get some painkillers and do that myself. ;-)

Our son is a painter and decorator and the minimum going rate he charges is £120 a day for labour (Berkshire area).

I was once charged =A39000 for three days painting (well one day, three = people). He got =A3900. Then he had he cheek to tell me I'd got the ze= ro in the wrong place! Yes, they were Irish. He's no longer in busines= s after somebody (I wonder who) made several nasty complaints to the pol= ice, trading standards, the inland revenue, and the warehouse owner he c= laimed to be based in.

-- =

It's called "Windows XP" because its full name, "The Repair Shop and Hel= p-Desk Full Employment Act of 2006", won't fit on the box.