Why don't you you take care of all of those days and days of removal and prep work, and then have the skilled labor come in to just wallpaper and paint over your prepared substrate? If you want a "just" price, that's how you get it.

This isn't a "just" job. if you want someone to arrive and paint and wallpaper, that's a whole different category of price than the laundry list of repair and restore that you laid out. Plus the removal of wallpaper that won't come easy.

Skilled labor isnt cheap. Cheap labor isn't skilled.

It's not "painting and wallpaper." It's a crazy amount of prep work in addition to a lot of painting and wallpaper finishes (including a lot of trim, doors, and stairs--which is significantly different from drywall walls). A paint job is only as good as the prep work. I agree you could save quite a bit if you wanted to do a lot of the prep yourself. But having just removed some old wallpaper myself, I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

Agree with the above characterizations. For the guys you've asked to bid the strip and prep work is a complete unknown. They're bidding it that way. You could break the project in to two separate components. Get separate bids. But the most reasonable pricing will come from diying the strip/prep. Thousands would be saved.

Preparation is key to a good paint job. The painter knows that there will be an enormous amount of prep and strip along with a lot of unknowns. Get to know these guys, you will be seeing them a lot.

To clarify, we certainly weren’t expecting to do two rooms for $4000. That material cost is at least that much. I’m sure that each are covering a certain amount of contingency for the condition of the walls behind the existing wallpaper, but that is not what is driving the $30,000 quote so high based on an analysis of the bid.

That bid is accounting for $4500 for wallpaper related materials. That seems about right. There is $1800 for painting related materials. That seems somewhat high considering how little painted surface there is, but that may also include their supplies. Only $8000 of the bid is attributed to wallpaper related labor, including stripping, prepping the walls, priming, and hanging. The remaining $18,000 is all for prepping and painting trim, wainscoting, stair balusters, and crown, all things that are known, observable quantities. In fact reading the bid again they may not have accounted for painting or repairing the bedroom ceiling.

We posed some questions aimed at understanding the factors regarding that last number and the response was basically that it’s a premium because their painting is that good, and that everyone else would not provide the same level of prep. They are accounting for 600 man hours plus or minus. What we are trying to understand is if that extra cost is really providing a difference in the final product.

For reference, this is where we are right now (some wallpaper was already locally stripped back to make sure that the trim was fully stripped…some face paper came off with the tape).

The bedroom has next to no trim repairs that we have seen, aside from a little on the top surface of the mantle. Plus the previously mentioned plaster damage at the ceiling and behind the paper at the chimney breast.

Here's some typical issues needing prep in the foyer:

Single layer of paint chipped off at the base of most of the balusters:

Similar at the top in some:

Paint that came with the tape along the stair:

Similar at the edge of some door casings:

A lot of this seems to be due to poor prep when the trim was painted. The paint was applied directly over the top coat of the stained wood rather than being sanded and primed.

An example of some of the worst areas in the wainscoting that is actual canvas/wallpaper:

In other places where we've already had work done, wrinkles like these have been locally cut out and patched smooth before painting.

Some exploration of what is behind the layers:

Under the canvas appears to be an unpainted, more os a scratch coat of plaster that was always meant to be covered up. Of the various bids we have gotten proposals that range from stripping back to bare plaster and using a wall liner, stripping back and skimming smooth, or leaving the canvas, patching as necessary and wallpapering over that.

I know what I spent, effort wise, to strip the wallpaper in my kitchen, dining room, and both bathrooms...and prep and paint. It was a TON of work. I no longer have wallpaper in my house and you could not pay me to ever have it again.

I also spent months of nights and weekends prepping and painting my trim and woodwork - and if you don't do it right the first time, you'll just be doing it again in short order.

Perparation is 90% of a good paint and/or wallpaper job.

Wallpaper is the sound of fingernails on a black board (for those old enough to know what a black board is or was).

Those pics show exactly why you got the 30K quote. That’s an atrocious base to start with. A huge amount of work will go into making that look good. Sure, you can just slap some paint on top of that if you don’t mind the rustic patina of a hundred years of chipping and peeling paint left in the rain look. But it won’t look suitable to a more refined and gracious home. It will look shabby cheap, not shabby chic.

That 600 man hours seems extremely padded to me. Are they going to cut the price in half after they are done when it only takes them 250 hours?

IMO......they are trying to 'rip' you off. Get more quotes.

' That 600 man hours seems extremely padded to me' DITTO!!!!!!!!!!!!

30k is a contractor who has been burned before and is factoring in for the unknowns that are inevitable in a project like this. And/or he really is one of the best and he knows it so he quotes high and if you don't hire him he knows someone else will.

Sounds like a big job, lots of prep work which is most important aspect of this job, setting up when doing foyers and stairways, protecting and covering surroundings, etc It's a time consuming job involving experience, specialty materials, etc not to mention other overhead business expenses, etc

Pick a price within your budget and a contractor you feel comfortable to work with and as long as they do a good job you will forget about the cost a week later.

Another option is get someone for half the price, have them walk off the job because they under-bid themselves and be back here with nightmare pictures, stressed out and pulling your hair and asking for advise what should I do now like we see it so many times in here.

There is an old saying

“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.”

Good luck

Oof. The amount of work on those balusters alone is at least 100 hours. Sorry but it’s the truth! You can’t just paint over that. It has to be sanded... by hand... each side of the baluster... on ALL of them. That’s why your bid is so high.

We had damage to a high ceiling room with grass cloth wall covering. The insurance company would ONLY pay to have the Sheetrock completely removed, replaced and painted...IT WAS LESS EXPENSIVE THAN REMOVING THE WALLPAPER! Crazy!

I'm impressed that you were even able to get four quotes. Contractors are busy! Have you seen in person the quality of the work of the painters other than the one you have used before? This isn't paint, wallpaper and minor repair. This is restoration and a lot of unknowns. It is also possible your high bidder really doesn't want the job and gave you a number to make it worth his time. Your house looks beautiful.

It looks like the wood underneath the paint is in great condition. Based on the style of house and age of house, I wouldn't repaint the woodwork but would find someone to strip the balusters and the baseboards back to its original condition. You can't buy wood like that nowadays.

Since it was done over the original wood finish, it should be a relatively easy job to strip it.

Actually if it were me, I'd also strip the crown back to its original wood.

Before you decide, do some research to see how rich and alive woodwork like that looks in an old gorgeous home like yours.

(I see Cooks Kitchen said the same thing!)

The close-up pix of the staircase tell the story on why the quotes seem high. That is one holy mess. This is not a simple paint & hang paper job. It's a restoration job that will require a ton of labor to remediate before you even think about painting and papering.

Re-reading the bits about the house, I have to agree to restore the wood. The slapdash paint job inflicted by the former owners should be erased, not repeated. What they did to that house is kinda criminal assault. Jail time in a gray shiplap room should be the penalty.

I removed the wallpaper from an entire house of similar age and style, although on a smaller scale. Other than one small storage space and bedroom closets, every wall in the house was unpainted plaster under the wallpaper. I had one guy who did the quality of work I wanted at a reasonable price and I kept him occupied for many months, now going on 12 years of personal and business projects. When you own a beautiful vintage home, it is important to find someone who will honor the quality and craftsmanship and be happy to have the opportunity to work on your house.

Owning a beautiful vintage home is a lifestyle choice and I was willing to spend the money and devote the hours required for many years. It is expensive to do the work right and cheap fixes cause more problems and cost more money in the long run. There are many competent painters out there but many of them are focused on the profit side and historic house projects are more difficult to predict and manage. I would be looking for a small company where the owner runs the jobs himself and stay away from companies with multiple crews doing different projects. Rarely does the attention to detail extend equally to every member of a large crew and I want the boss on site.

In my house, only the ceilings were canvassed. We ended up removing the canvas in a couple rooms because once the canvas is torn, it is quite common for the problem to spread. We were able to repair one portion of the living room ceiling but it was not guaranteed to work. That room was about 350 sq ft and I was willing to take the chance rather than pay more to remove to bare plaster and skim coat.

I did a good portion of the wallpaper removal myself, working with the painter on a time and materials basis. He was not comfortable giving me a bid for that part of the work because wallpaper removal is just too variable. One benefit of plaster walls is the surface is more forgiving than drywall. If you are relatively handy and healthy enough for the work, it is not difficult, just time consuming and boring. Turn up the music, protect the floors and woodwork and just get busy.

I was very fortunate that only the crown molding in the foyer, main floor hallway and back hallway had been painted. We stripped that paint and it was a good decision despite the amount of work involved. It is expensive, but done right, it will never need to be done again.

I'll jump on Team Restore It. I hate it when people try to erase the original details "for resale". Ownership of an older character home is a stewardship for future generations. No one will miss these 00's gabled monsters. Every older home who has original details destroyed deserves a wake. It's killing your grandmother to try to force her to be Hannah Montana. Or whomever is the current hot teen thing.

We have spent literally 50 man hours stripping textured wallpaper off walls, patching, sanding, prepping, and painting our current place and aren’t done yet. The $4500 in materials was the easy part. I’d expect a pro to charge 12-14k for this job in our area and they wouldn’t be unreasonable. Like @Chessie, never again with the wallpaper, not while we own it. And the painted trim is staying painted!

I agree with what others have said. We are painting our entire house and my husband originally planned on a DIY. Two of the rooms downstairs (just two!) had wallpaper. It came right off the walls, but after three days scrubbing the plaster to remove the glue, we called it. The painters start tomorrow and I am THRILLED.

Also, on painted mouldings and trim -- our house is a 100 year old Craftsmanesque bungalow, and the downstairs has a ton of trim and mouldings that I am positive were originally unpainted. Could we strip the paint? Sure. Do we want to? Not really. Not everyone loves that look. I don't feel the need to do a ton of work to achieve a house full of dark wood. Owning an old home doesn't mean you're beholden to the home or to restoring it to its original look. It should serve you, but you should respect it. I find it much more offensive when people rip out the old stuff or knock down all the interior walls in old homes, but this is small potatoes. JMHO.

Oh man this hits close to home. We bought a Victorian with almost all of its original interior detailing, but the front staircase was subjected to a cheap and terrible paint job (previous owner was really really cheap) - white on balusters and paneling just like you, but at least the rail and newel posts were spared (though I still have to clean up flecks of paint that got on them from the painters being sloppy).

As in your case, I'm dealing with a layer of cheap paint painted directly on the woodwork with zero prep. I've chipped it off in a few places and it looks pretty good underneath.

What I'm going to do first is run a heat gun over the painted woodwork - the high heat will make latex paint slough off. Usually this takes care of the majority of the paint. So you might want to rent/buy a heat gun before going straight to chemical stripper. Look up some instructive videos for proper technique. Whether you restore to stained wood (best option IMO) or repaint, you're going to need to get rid of that poorly applied paint one way or another, and the more of the dirty unskilled stuff you can do yourself, the less expansive the paint/wallpaper job will be.