How to hire
Match the decorator to the finish. A general painter and decorator suits emulsion, woodwork gloss and satin, and standard wallpapering in Telford homes. Spray finishing, hand-painted kitchens, limewash on older cottages, exterior masonry coatings and wide-width or hand-printed papers each need a specialist, so ask how many of that exact finish they completed in the last year and go and see one. If walls need skimming first, agree whether they arrange the plasterer or you do, and whose guarantee covers the join between the two jobs.
Decorating has no statutory register, so memberships and method are what there is to go on. Check any claimed Painting and Decorating Association membership on its own listings rather than trusting a logo, and do the same for Dulux Select accreditation [1]. Look for TrustMark registration as evidence of assessed standards with a dispute route behind it [2]. Check limited companies on Companies House for active status and a matching trading name [6]. Ask to see public liability insurance in writing, and ask for two recent local jobs at a similar scale: look at cutting-in lines, the finish on woodwork, and wallpaper seams and pattern matching, where hurried work always shows.
Get three itemised written quotes that name the preparation steps, including wash-down, sanding, filling, priming and knot treatment, plus the paint brand and range, the number of coats on each surface, protection for floors and furniture, and the VAT position [3][4]. Confirm who supplies paint and paper, who moves and stores furniture, working hours, and a day-by-day plan that allows drying between coats. For exteriors, confirm what is rubbed back to bare wood, which filler and primer system is used, whether scaffolding or a tower is needed, and how weather delays are handled. Put the scope, the price and the dates in writing before a brush is lifted.
Stay observant while the job runs. Preparation should take a visible share of the time: a decorator who starts top-coating on the first morning has skipped the work you are paying for. Sanding dust travels, so agree dust control with sealed doors around soft furnishings and electronics. Tell them before quoting if the house predates the mid-eighties and textured coatings are present: layers from that era can contain asbestos, which needs testing and a licensed handler rather than sanding [5]. Wash water and solvent waste must be handled lawfully, never tipped down the drain.
Most decorating jobs are paid for when the work is completed and accepted. For large jobs running past a fortnight, your decorator may ask for an instalment upfront, and costly or unique materials such as specially mixed paints may also be billed in advance [4]. A deposit for materials is normal, while full payment before completion is not. Agree payment stages in the written quote, keep every quote, invoice and receipt together, and never pay the final slice until you have inspected the finish.
Finish with paperwork, not a handshake. Ask for the guarantee in writing: which defects are covered, for how long, and whether touching up means one wall or the whole room, since patch repairs often flash against the surrounding paint. Keep dated completion photos with the quote and receipts. Check each finished room in daylight from several angles, record any snags with photos, and agree a date for the return visit before you sign off.
Start with where the house sits. Wellington, Newport and the Severn Gorge are among the borough's eight conservation areas, where you may need permission for works that would not need it elsewhere, and inside the Gorge an Article 4 Direction gives extra control over minor changes [7]. If the building is listed, consent is needed for anything affecting its special interest — redecoration in a different colour or material is named as an example — and the whole building counts, inside and out [8]. Decorating an older Wellington street or a Gorge cottage is a different job from a bare-plaster new-build in Lawley: preparation, primers and drying times all change, so say which setting applies before anyone quotes [9][10].
A typical job runs the same course. First contact brings a visit, with walls examined, existing coatings tested, woodwork measured and colours talked through. Then comes the written quote with preparation, paints, coats, dates and payment stages. Agree access, parking, working hours and where furniture goes while each room is done. Preparation follows, then the coats with drying time between them, then a daylight walk-through, snag photos with a return date, and the final slice only when the finish passes.
Read the quote as a checklist: firm name and contact, each room's scope, every preparation step, paint brand and range with coats per surface, protection for floors and furniture, access equipment where needed, start and finish dates, the labour and materials split with the VAT position, payment stages, guarantee length and cover, and how delays and extra work get agreed and priced. At the end the paperwork should mirror it: an invoice matching the quote, the guarantee wording, receipts for anything paid upfront, dated completion photos and a snag list with a return date. File the set together; it is what any later touch-up claim rests on.
Pricing
As of autumn 2026, rough guides from a Which? survey of nine traders run like this: repainting a medium room, walls and ceiling with two coats of emulsion, £250–£1,100; a hallway, landing and stairs, walls only, £400–£1,600; wallpapering a room, lining and papering with sound walls, £260–£2,950; and repainting the woodwork of one room, £70–£650 where the gloss is sound but £90–£1,200 where it needs stripping back [4]. These figures include labour and materials but exclude VAT, and Telford usually sits below London and South East prices [4].
Painting the exterior of an average three-bedroom semi, render sound and needing only a repaint, runs £600–£4,500 in the same survey, with scaffolding on top where upper storeys need safe access [4]. Preparation moves every price most: stripping failed paper, repairing cracked plaster, rubbing back flaking gloss and treating knots all add days. Paint quality, the number of coats, access and parking on tighter Telford streets, and whether old coverings are taken away all shift the total too.
Ask whether VAT is added on top of the quote, since published ranges exclude it, and confirm the paint brand and range, the coats per surface and the touch-up terms before you agree anything [4]. Treat any figure set without seeing the rooms as a guess, not a price: good decorators rarely quote without visiting first. Get the scope, the price, the VAT position and the payment stages in writing, and pay the balance only when the finished rooms pass your daylight inspection [3].
Hand-painted kitchens turn on labour rather than paint: degreasing, masking, spraying or brushing doors and frames, and drying space all add days, which is why cabinet specialists quote the process rather than the tin. Wallpapering moves with the paper itself — lining plus standard drops at one end, wide-width or hand-printed patterns needing careful matching at the other — and with stripping failed layers first. Exterior masonry turns on access, since a tower for a gable or scaffolding for upper storeys adds hire days whatever the coating costs, while stained, damp or previously unpainted surfaces each add sealing and extra coats.
Red flags
Quotes from a phone description alone, without seeing the walls, testing what is already on them or measuring the woodwork.
Starts top-coating on the first morning, with no visible washing down, sanding, filling or priming before the colour goes on.
Cannot name the paint brand and range, offers a single coat throughout, or puts standard emulsion over bare plaster or stained wood.
Sands pre-1980 textured coatings without a word about testing, or tips wash water and solvents where they should not go [5].
Asks for full payment in cash before starting, with no written quote or terms [3].
Gives one fixed price for a large job with no breakdown of labour, materials and VAT [4].
Will not put the scope, the price and the start date in writing before lifting a brush.
No fixed business address or working phone, only a messaging handle that goes quiet between visits.
Brushes colour over cracked, flaking or damp patches without explaining the repair first.