All articles · 6 min read

What should go in a request for quotation to a painter, flooring fitter or carpenter?

Quantities, not rooms. A usable request for quotation contains measured areas, a list of openings, the condition of the surfaces, access conditions, the desired timing and a reply deadline — that is what makes the quotes comparable.

The one mistake that ruins most requests

The typical request reads: "Hi, I need the living room and one bedroom painted, what would that cost?" That cannot be answered with a quote. The contractor has no way of knowing whether the living room is 18 or 38 m², whether the walls are lined with glass-fibre wallpaper or bare plaster, whether the ceiling is included, or whether the ceiling is three metres up.

So the contractor does one of three things: replies with a loose estimate, asks to come and measure, or does not reply at all — busy contractors sort out requests without measurements first. All three outcomes cost you time.

The fix is not to write more prose. It is to write numbers.

How a request is put together

1. Who you are, and what it's about

Two lines: address, home type and year built, and what the job is broadly about. The year built is not decoration — it tells the contractor a great deal about what to expect from surfaces, ceiling heights and floors.

2. The quantities, room by room

This is the core of it. For each room, write down:

• Floor area in m², measured internally from wall to wall — not the home's official area, which is measured to the outside of the exterior walls and is therefore larger.
• Ceiling area in m². If there are sloped ceilings, say so, and state the knee-wall height and ridge height.
• Net wall area in m² (the wall area minus doors and windows) — and ideally the gross wall area in brackets, so the contractor can choose which figure their trade prices by.
• Ceiling height, measured in three places. If it varies, give the lowest and highest instead of an average.
• Openings: the number of doors and windows with width and height, and ideally sill height and distance to the nearest corner.

A room can be written on one line: "Living room: 15.1 m² floor, 15.1 m² ceiling, 33.8 m² net wall (39.0 m² gross), ceiling height 2.47-2.51 m, 1 window 120×130 cm, 2 doors 90×204 cm." That is a line a contractor can price from their van.

3. What is to be done — in verbs

Write the work as actions, not wishes. "Walls painted in two coats in a light colour, glass-fibre wallpaper kept" is clearer than "the living room needs freshening up." For each room: is the ceiling included? Are skirting boards to be painted? Are frames and door leaves to be painted? Is filling needed?

Also state whether you are supplying materials yourself, or whether the contractor is to supply everything — it changes the price noticeably and is a classic source of disagreement afterwards.

4. Condition of the surfaces

The contractor's hours live here, not in the square metres. State what is on the walls today (glass-fibre wallpaper, lining paper, wallpaper, bare plaster, render), whether there are cracks, damage or damp stains, whether anything unusual has previously been painted with, and how old the floor is. Two or three photos per room say more than a page of text — and often save a site visit.

5. Access and logistics

• Floor level, lift or no lift, and whether there is parking by the door.
• Whether the home is empty or furnished — covering and moving furniture takes hours.
• Whether anyone lives there during the work, and whether there are pets or children.
• Whether there is power, water and a toilet on site.
• Who clears up and disposes of waste.

6. Timing and deadline

State when the work is to be carried out ("weeks 41-43, ideally before 1 November"), and when you would like a reply ("by 5 September at the latest"). A deadline is not rude — it helps the contractor prioritise, and it gives you a point in time when you can compare all the answers at once.

7. Format requirements for the quote

Ask explicitly for what you need in order to compare:

• A binding quote at a fixed price — the total price you are to pay, with any taxes included.
• Broken down by room or by item — so you can cut something without asking for an entirely new quote.
• What is not included.
• The hourly rate for any extra work, and that you are to be contacted before extra work is started.
• The validity period of the quote.
• The expected duration in working days.

What each trade looks for in particular

The painter prices by net wall area, ceiling area, number of coats and linear metres of skirting — but pays close attention to the surface. Glass-fibre wallpaper to be overpainted and bare plaster to be primed are two entirely different jobs on the same square metres.

The flooring fitter prices by floor area plus wastage (typically 5-10% for straight laying, 10-15% for herringbone or diagonal) and wants to know what lies underneath, whether the floor is level, and how the transitions in doorways are to be handled. Linear metres of skirting and the number of door thresholds are separate items.

The carpenter prices by the linear metre and the piece: so many metres of wall, so many doors, so many mouldings. The position of openings matters, not just their number — a door 30 cm from the corner and a door centred on the wall are two different jobs.

Send the same thing to everyone

The single most important rule: every contractor should receive exactly the same document. If one is told the ceiling is included and another is not, you are comparing two prices for two different jobs — and the "cheapest" one is simply the one who was told the least.

Three quotes is a good rule of thumb. If one comes in markedly below the others, that is more often a sign that something is missing from the quote than that someone is cheap.

How to get the quantities without measuring everything yourself

The figures can of course be measured by hand with a tape measure. Budget 10-20 minutes per room, once the ceiling height has to be measured in three places and every opening needs four numbers.

HouseSense produces the document for you. Whether you scan the home with LiDAR on an iPhone Pro — or draw it on the graph paper — the app's takeoff works out net wall areas with doors and windows subtracted, adds up floor and ceiling areas and ceiling heights, and lists every opening in a window-and-door schedule with width, height and position. The floor plan and takeoff can be exported as a PDF, so all three contractors get the same, measured page. If the quote is to come from a contractor who does not read your language, the PDF can be written in a different language from the app's.

One thing does not belong in a request, however well you have measured: a claim about whether a wall is load-bearing. If a wall is to be broken through, state that the matter is unresolved and needs assessing by a building surveyor or an engineer — and expect that breaking through a load-bearing wall will need approval from the authorities before work starts. Let the contractor price it as an open item rather than guessing on your behalf.