Work that has to fit a calendar
Landlord work is different from decorating a family home. The deadline is set by a tenancy start date or the next booking, the finish has to be durable and easy to touch up rather than precious, and the person who has to live with the disruption is often a tenant rather than the client. We plan the job around those three things: date first, then durability, then disruption.
One of the reviews on our Google profile is from a landlord who had a run of different jobs done across an estate over several months, and who mentions the tenant liaison as much as the workmanship. That is the shape of most of this work: a steady programme rather than one big job, with tenants kept informed and properties handed back ready to let.
Between tenancies
A void is expensive, so the redecoration between tenants has to be quick without being rough. Typically that is a full re-emulsion in a neutral colour that will take touch-ups, woodwork washed down and repainted where it is marked, ceilings sorted where a leak or a smoker has stained them, filling and making good after pictures and fixings, and any wallpaper that has had its day stripped and the wall lined or painted.
We can work from an inventory or a check-out report, and we will tell you which items are decorating and which are a plasterer's or a builder's job. If you would rather keep a consistent colour and finish across all your properties so touch-ups always match, we will note the specification and use it every time.
Occupied properties and blocks
Where the tenant is staying put, the job is about respect and communication: agreeing days in advance, keeping to the rooms we said we would be in, working around their furniture and their working hours, and leaving the place tidy and usable at the end of every day. Communal hallways, stairwells and entrance lobbies in blocks of flats are done in phases so residents always have a clear route in and out.
Agents and landlords with several properties usually want one point of contact and a straight answer on dates. We will tell you what fits in a given month and what does not rather than overbooking and slipping.
Holiday lets and second homes
Cornwall's holiday lets take a hammering in season and then sit empty through the winter, which is when most of the redecoration should happen. A full repaint, the woodwork and doors, the bathrooms and kitchens where steam and cleaning products have taken the shine off, and the exterior washed down and coated while the property is empty and the weather still allows.
In season it is changeover work: a scuffed hallway, a bedroom that needs a coat, a repair made good before Saturday. Send us the booking calendar and the list and we will say honestly what fits in the gap. We agree access with you or the housekeeper and leave the property ready for the cleaner, not for another trade.
Pricing rolling work
For a single void we look at the property and quote for the work listed. For a programme across several properties we can agree a way of pricing that saves you asking for a quote every time, based on what a typical room or a typical flat involves, with anything unusual flagged before it is done. Either way, the aim is that you know what a turnaround costs before it starts.