How much to charge for painting & Decorating?

[kujina]

Hello, a friends sister has asked me if I am able to do some decorating of her house I have visited her before with her sister and know her small children, this is being done on a friendly basis.
I am not a painting & Decorator by profession but I have converted my parents loft etc.
She has asked me to repaint a couple of rooms, the hallway and landing and some other bits and pieces including the garage door. Most walls are artexed or have heavily textured wall paper.
She will be supplying paint and other consumables.

I was thinking of charging a daily rate?
Any suggestions?

...Thanks...

 

[Nestor_Kelebay]

If your discussions with this person so far have not touched on the topic of remuneration for services rendered, my guess is that they're hoping you're willing to work for very little.

This is a delicate situation. I'd say if you're not willing to do it for marginally more than the minimum wage that she could hire the neighbor's kid to paint for, then it would be best to tell her what you feel is a fair amount for all the work that she wants you to do. I say that because NOT discussing money in advance has led to more misunderstandings and broken friendships than going through the awkwardness exercise of discussing it in advance.

I don't think an hourly or daily wage is a good idea. Otherwise, you may get into a discussion over how long it took you to do the work as opposed to how long it should have taken you to do that work. If the total amount for all the work that needs to be done has already been agreed to, then how long it takes you to do it is immaterial.

 

[kujina]

Thanks for the reply...

The situation is that she would rather have somebody she knows and trusts do the work, probably because she has two very small kids running about the house and cowboy tradesmen have been featured a lot on TV.
So it isn’t a case of me or a neighbour’s kid, I don’t know what its like for you in Canada but I doubt highly she even contemplated the idea. I'd like to make it clear that I personally "don’t" think painters and decorator’s trade is on par with a paper round or washing cars, mowing the lawn etc.

Anyway I have discussed with her (in advance) I would most likely charge a daily rate as I couldn’t say precisely how long it would take. There are numerous things she wants done which I didn’t mention, painting the ceilings of the aforementioned rooms too, replacing cheap plastic light switches around the house with new ones, repairing curtain rails, re-wall papering torn sections of wall paper in one of the kids rooms, etc.

She’s was fine with the daily rate as (going back to the top paragraph)-> she knows me and trusts me, so I wouldn’t be deliberately taking my time, having tea breaks every five minutes (don’t even drink tea )

So what do you guys & girls? think, what would a painter & decorator charge per day? Not that I want to charge her that much but it would give me perspective.

...Thanks...

 

[Zampa]

As Nester said its a delicate situation....cant really say what you should do..but as for what a painter would charge, this depends where you live, prices vary all over the country..rough guide...150 per day in london..and the southeast about 100-120 in wales...maybe cheaper up north..hard to say really.

 

[danlightbulb]

You don't have to be paid in cash.............

 

[HandyJon]

....replacing cheap plastic light switches around the house with new ones....

I know this is decorating and not electrical, but just pointing something out just in case.

If you are replacing them with metal ones then make sure that the switches have an earth ready and waiting inside the backbox. If there is no earth, you will have to have the lighting circuit upgraded.