Personally I feel it’s hard to truly assess whether the amount charged is reasonable looking at the price per panel. For many contractors, the issue may be that the job is relatively small but the time needed means that they won’t be able to fit in another job that day (or can’t guarantee that they will have another small job nearby). Some will also not want the customer to supply the paint etc as they want to be sure it’s compatible with their equipment (if spraying etc) and they need to cover the cost of their time and materials to clean their equipment afterwards plus all their other oncosts.
In my experience, it’s always harder to find someone for the ‘smaller jobs’ and they are always relatively more expensive.
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
I'm a retired professional landscaper, my firm only did big jobs for exacting people on the principle of - you get what you pay for - Rolls Royce quality for Rolls Royce prices. £25 a panel with you buying the paint seems astronomical even to me! And far be it for me to dish your reformed offenders without even a glance of their work but I have this foreboding of the erstwhile fence painters high on Barrettine fumes and skivving off for a smoke and texting every few minutes. My website paraphrased Ruskin - getting high value for a cheap price cannot be done - but you can also be taken to the cleaners. Reading some of the posts above - I'd say that the posters have a much more liberal opinion of what it takes to "paint" a fence panel - 10 - 15 minutes someone said! Some sort of general impression of changing the colour of some of the panel might be achieved in that time, along with everything else in the area but the intended job wouldn't be anywhere near my standards.
Im all for using your charitable organisation ... I imagine that there's some sort of 'supervision' and quality control, otherwise they'd never get any work.
If that doesn't happen, have a look at your local Nextdoor.com site and ask for a recommendation for a local person who does that sort of thing. I've found really good tradespeople via our local site.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
@Butterfly66, very valid points. It is difficult to find tradesmen for small jobs.
They are indeed supervised. I have used Betel before and was happy with the work they did. My neighbour even commented on how efficient they were with the removal of a large tree. The man was basically telling me that I could get someone else in for a cheaper price when it comes to fence painting.
Thanks @Dovefromabove, I’ll take a look at that website as I’m looking for a handyman anyway for other bits that need doing in the house.
I tried a sprayer once. More ended up on the ground than on the fence. Luckily I had put a waterproof plastic sheet down. I took the useless device back to the DIY shop & used a brush. Even if you only do a couple of panels a day, it will get done in time.
We"ve never painted or put preservative on our fences - complete waste of time, effort and money in my opinion.I prefer the silvery colour they fade to in any case. Most fence panels last about 10 or 12 years whatever you do
I found this too and have never treated the panels. I just replace each panel when necessary and it costs about £25 ish each so about the same as painting without the faff! I have concrete posts and base boards so it is easy to slip one out and another in.
“Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.” - Bernard Cornwell-Death of Kings
Posts
In my experience, it’s always harder to find someone for the ‘smaller jobs’ and they are always relatively more expensive.
East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
My website paraphrased Ruskin - getting high value for a cheap price cannot be done - but you can also be taken to the cleaners.
Reading some of the posts above - I'd say that the posters have a much more liberal opinion of what it takes to "paint" a fence panel - 10 - 15 minutes someone said! Some sort of general impression of changing the colour of some of the panel might be achieved in that time, along with everything else in the area but the intended job wouldn't be anywhere near my standards.
If that doesn't happen, have a look at your local Nextdoor.com site and ask for a recommendation for a local person who does that sort of thing. I've found really good tradespeople via our local site.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Thanks @Dovefromabove, I’ll take a look at that website as I’m looking for a handyman anyway for other bits that need doing in the house.
I just replace each panel when necessary and it costs about £25 ish each so about the same as painting without the faff!
I have concrete posts and base boards so it is easy to slip one out and another in.