Our Standard
What is included in every quotation.
Two painters can quote the same room and mean entirely different things. The difference is almost never in the finish coat. It is in what happened before it, and in what the specification does not say.
This page sets out what is included in every quotation from McGreal & Co.
Preparation
Most of the cost of a properly executed paint job is incurred before any finish coat goes on. Most of the failures in a poor one are traceable to the same stage.
- Cleaning
- Walls and woodwork are washed down before anything is applied. Kitchens and bathrooms carry grease and residue that will stop paint bonding regardless of what is used over them. This is skipped more often than any other step in the trade, and it is the reason paint lifts in the places it lifts.
- Filling and making good
- Cracks, nail holes and damaged surfaces are filled, sanded flush and spot-primed. Filler that hasn't been primed will flash through the finish coat as a dull patch, so the repair stays visible even after the paint is on.
- Sanding
- Carried out with proper sanding equipment rather than a sheet of paper and a block, and dust is vacuumed off rather than brushed around. Between coats as well as before them, on woodwork especially — it's what makes the difference between a painted door and a finished one.
- Bare timber
- Knotted and primed. Resin bleeds through a finish coat within a year otherwise, and it comes back as brown staining that cannot be washed off.
- New plaster
- Given a mist coat before finish coats. Full-strength paint on new plaster sits on the surface rather than bonding into it, and comes away with the tape.
- Stains and strong colours
- Water damage, nicotine and previous dark colours are stain-blocked, not covered over. Covering them buys a few weeks. They come back through, and they come back unevenly.
- Existing coatings
- Assessed for adhesion before anything is applied over them. A sound finish over a failing one fails with it.
Working light
A wall that looks finished under a ceiling bulb will show every flaw the first bright morning after the job is paid for.
Work is carried out under proper task lighting, and surfaces are inspected at a raking angle rather than face on. That is how filling defects, sanding marks and missed patches are found — while there is still time to correct them, rather than by the customer a week later.
It is a small thing that separates a job that photographs well from one that lives well.
Materials
Trade-grade materials, named by product in the quotation before work begins.
Coat numbers are specified and adhered to. If a job requires three coats, the quotation says three coats and three coats are applied. Drying and recoat times are observed to manufacturer specification.
Where a colour change or a difficult substrate genuinely needs more, that is set out at quotation stage rather than raised as an extra halfway through.
Protection
Floors, furniture and fittings are covered before work starts, not once it is underway.
Lines are masked where masking is right and cut in by hand where it isn’t. Fittings are removed where removal gives a better result than working around them.
The property is cleaned at the end of each working day rather than at the end of the job. You have to live in the house in the meantime.
Completion
The work is inspected together before the final balance falls due. Snags are put right then, not scheduled for a return visit.
Left-over material is labelled with the room and the product and left with you for touch-ups.
What is in the quotation
Every quotation is written and itemised, and sets out:
- the preparation to be carried out, surface by surface
- the products to be used, by name
- the number of coats
- a start date and a completion date
- the total price, with materials and labour shown separately
Nothing begins until that is agreed. Public liability insurance details are supplied with the quotation without being asked for.
Request a quotation
No charge for the visit or the quote. Site visits arranged around you, evenings included.