Painting and Touch-Ups
Patches, marks, scuffs and trims, not the whole house.
Most homes do not need a repaint. They need the six places that are letting the rest of the room down: the patch where a picture came down, the scuff beside the light switch, the trim around a door that has yellowed, and the ceiling spot above the shower.
Touch-up work is small, but it lives or dies on colour matching. The same tin of paint looks different on a wall that has faded for six years, so the honest answer is sometimes a whole wall rather than a patch.
Sample photoTypical price
R300 to R900labour
Send photos of the marks and roughly how much wall they cover and you get a price for the work. Colour matching on a faded wall is the honest variable, and you get told before starting if the answer is a whole wall.
Every job is quoted at a fixed price before work starts, so there is no hourly rate and no meter running. Labour only. Materials and fittings are quoted separately and approved by you before anything is bought.
How pricing worksTypical jobs
What this usually turns into
- Small patch, filled and painted1 to 2 hrs
- Scuff and mark touch-ups in a room1 to 2 hrs
- Door or window trim and frame1.5 to 2 hrs per frame
- Skirting boards, cleaned and repainted2 to 3 hrs
- Ceiling spot treatment1.5 to 2 hrs
- Nail holes and cracks filled and painted1 hr
Times are on site, not including travel, and they are a guide rather than a promise: a job that reveals something once it is open takes longer, and you hear about it before it carries on. Every job is quoted at a fixed price before work starts, so adding to the list changes the quote rather than running up a meter.
What is covered
Included in the visit
- Filling nail holes, cracks and small dents
- Wall patches after damage or removal
- Scuffs, marks and hand prints
- Door frames, window frames and trim
- Skirtings and cornices
- Ceiling spots from damp or smoke
Where the line is
Colour matching on a faded wall is the honest catch. If your paint is more than a couple of years old, a patch will usually show. The options are feathering the repair out across the wall, or painting the wall properly, and I will tell you which one you are actually looking at before starting.
Painting questions
Can you match my existing wall colour?
If you have the old tin, yes, and that is by far the best case. Without it, a colour match from a chip can get close but rarely perfect. On a faded wall even the correct paint can show as a patch, so sometimes the right answer is one full wall.
Do you paint whole rooms?
Occasionally, for smaller rooms and where a client would rather keep one person on the job. Larger interior and exterior painting gets quoted as a project once I have seen it, not as an hourly rate.
There is a damp mark on my ceiling. Can you just paint over it?
You can, and it will come straight back through within weeks. A damp mark means moisture is still getting in. Fix the source first, let it dry properly, then seal and paint. Painting over it is money spent twice.
Do you supply the paint?
I can, or you can. If I supply, it is quoted at cost plus a small markup and you approve the brand and colour first. If you have leftover paint in the garage, use it.
While you are at it
Book painting in Gqeberha
Send the job with a photo or two and you get an honest price and a sensible slot. Add anything else from your list while you are at it.