Is this a reasonable quote for paint and carpet?

M

miss green eyes

It's a 2 bed, 1 bath apartment, about 90sqm.
Painter has quoted me $2200 (GST-incl) for painting the whole apartment - bedrooms, living, kitchen, bathroom, ceilings etc

To carpet the 2 bedrooms, I have a quote of $800, which includes takeup. Cheapest polyolefin carpet. The carpet looks fine for the price (to me).
Carpeter may charge me $880 if I want a receipt.
50% wool / 50% nylon was quoted about $1300-1500.

In term of colour, I will pick pure white for the ceiling and a light cream for the walls. I have seen apartments painted white from top to toe and for some reason, it looks cheap.

Carpet will be charcoal/granite (medium sort of dark colour). It seems to look nice against the living room/hallway brown floating floorboards. A brown carpet doesn't seem to match as nicely. Also, a charcoal colour will hide marks better.
Carpeter has recommended another darker colour, a grey that is so dark it's almost black. I haven't seen the swatch for this yet but will do before I finalise.

Any recs and am I making the right decisions in terms of cost/practicalities/colours?

To top it all off, I haven't decided 100% if I will rent or sell this property yet, so I need to plan for both

Thanks in advance!
 
Seems like a reasonable paint quote to me. I'd want the walls/ceilings patched and sanded where necesary, 2 coats of reasonable quality paint as well.

I usually paint my IP myself and only costs about $250 (cheap Bunnings paint). White ceiling and off white walls is the norm for me.

Carpet quote for the cheap stuff also seems reasonable. I'd get a receipt for tax purposes.
 
Thanks Datto.
Yes, $2200 for paint includes patching of cracks, minor repairs etc.
I am allowed to choose the paint - it will be dulux wash and wear low sheen and I intend to follow the tradie to bunnings to purchase the paint on the pretext of choosing the colour.
When my parents painted their house the painter asked to keep the cans.... you know why......
I had considered painting the house myself but 1. the cost of the paint + brushes, rollers, drapes etc etc already added up to around $500 ballpark and 2. (more importantly) I can't do as good a job as the painter anyway, even my handyman (professional handyman, not professional painter) can't, so for the extra $1700 extra I decided to get a proper painter in.
 
Thanks Datto.
BTW a friend used cheap paint once at her place and now the paint is peeling in big chunks. It looks really bad. That's why I'm not gonna skimp on the paint.
 
Yep that can happen . With painting , preparation is very important. Surface must be clean. I always patch , sand, and clean thoroughly with sugar soap. If you take shortcuts the job will be very ordinary.
 
Yes agreed those quotes look good to me too.

This may be telling you how to suck eggs but I do know of several people who painted the walls and then replaced the carpet without considering the pile of the carpet. I.e. the new carpet pile may be lower than on the old carpet, so all the skirting boards would needed to be repainted.

What I recommend is leaving your existing carpet in place while you paint (as a sort of drop sheet) but use a Stanley knife to trim the carpet around the perimetre of each room to expose the skirting boards. Once you're ready to lay the carpet, they just remove and replace as usual.

Love the idea of a darker carpet. Perhaps consider spending a touch more for a solution dyed nylon which will look a bit better and be softer under foot. This may be a better option if you do decide to sell in the long run (however this composition of carpet is excellent for rentals too).

You've hit the nail on the head re: some properties looking cheap when painted all white. Newer properties with perfect walls work fine, but white does tend to show up all the imperfections. An off white/cream/very light grey is a great alternative.

Sounds like you're on the right track anyway!
 
Hi Jane,
Thanks. I am getting the old carpet ripped up before I paint. After painting, the carpeter will come back and put the new carpet in. Skirting boards? I don't have any in the bedrooms. Only have them in the living/hallway as there are floorboards there. I think you are referring to the bottom edge of the wall where the wall meets the carpet.

I think I know what you mean about the nylon. I think it's what I have currently. The pile looks like a toothbrush cut very short, because the fibres are sewn that way. The fibres are all sewn perpendicular to the floor.
For the polyolefin carpet which I have chosen, the fibres seem to be sewn parallel to the floor.
Hope my description makes sense. I can't upload the photos from my phone and I haven't found anything on the web that looks like what I'm buying.
I had considered 50/50 wool/nylon but the carpeter doesn't have that in a dark-enough colour for me.

Yes, my friend lives in a student hostel and it is furnished pretty basically (as you would expect). All the walls and tiles are white and it makes the place look like a public toilet. Not that it would actually be cheaper for me to paint the whole place white by the way - my painter will charge me the same price regardless.

I am choosing cream for the walls as the look less 'officey' than grey. Light cream as it makes the place look brighter.

For a PPOR, perhaps I would have chosen a cream sand colour for the carpet (or maybe not. I have spent way too much time scrubbing rasberry soda and cordial out of carpet). But for an IP, I just wanna minimise steaming costs. At $80-150 per session, steaming ain't cheap.

Thanks!
 
Oooh I better check with the painter whether he will be cleaning the walls for me.
Somehow I don't see this happening.
I will have to do it myself I guess?
Climb on a ladder and wipe the ceiling with sugar soap?
 
Ahh here it is
The carpet I have chosen is like this. It is most similar in colour to the zurich colour.
Carpeter recommended something like phantom, but that may be too dark?
I like the bohemian, but too light for IP.

http://www.carpetcourt.com.au/princeton.html

What I have currently is like New Appeal:

http://www.carpetcourt.com.au/carpet.html?fibre_type=263

Note the difference in texture between new and old carpet. Hope the pattern on the new carpet will be OK, and won't clash with my floorboards. Tenants probably wont' care but if I sell the buyer might.

For an extra $500 or so I can have 50/50 wool/nylon. Carpeter recommended this for PPOR but he said for an IP, the cheaper the better.
Cannot feel the difference much on a little swatch with my hand. May have to visit carpeter's office and step on a big piece.
 
I also recommend 2 coats of paint on the walls.

You may also want to check that the ceiling paint is going to be ceiling paint and not wall paint. Ceiling paint is thinker.

For the bathroom, check that he is using a special water and fungi resistant paint and not just normal wall paint.

I highly recommend washing walls down with sugar soap. You don?t need a ladder for ceiling, just use one of those extendable poles with a wall mop.

You could also save yourself 2k by doing our self. Just invite a couple of friends over and knock it off in a day. The pro of doing this is the excercise you get and social gathering.
 
OK, I will check if he cleans the walls first, if not I will do it myself.
Thanks for the tips in regards to the paint.

I just checked - the carpeted areas have no skirting boards. Only the floorboard areas do.

I decided not to paint myself as it's not really cost effective and the result won't be as nice as a pro job.
 
Cleaning walls and fixing small cracks should be standard. As is leaving the paint with the home owner.

If it isn't get a different painter IMO.

The quote sounds about right.
 
miss green eyes said:
OK, I will check if he cleans the walls first, if not I will do it myself.
Thanks for the tips in regards to the paint.

I just checked - the carpeted areas have no skirting boards. Only the floorboard areas do.

.
Click to expand...
It doesn't matter whether there are skirting boards or not. Jane's tip is still applicable except in this case you have the base of a wall rather than a skirting board.

We were caught out with this. I decided to change the carpet after painting a unit. Turned out the new carpet had much less pile than the original and ended up with a nice high tide mark in all rooms.

Then had to go around the rooms touching up right near the new carpet.

Cheers
 
Rip up the carpet yourself. Paint walls/ceiling before carpet is laid. Don't have to worry about drop sheets!
I do it this way. If using contractors just got to time it right and make sure carpet layers dont scuff the walls!
 
Thanks.
I'm still on my L plates in regards to home repairs.
Carpeter will rip up carpet for me before painter comes, then return to lay new carpet after the painting is done - all at no extra cost.
I'll check with the painter about the cleaning of the walls.
 
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