Price your repaint while you wait for completion
The gap between "offer accepted" and "keys in hand" is dead time — usually 8 to 12 weeks of conveyancing where nothing on the house itself can move. It's also the perfect window to line up decorating, so the place can be painted while it's still empty, before your furniture ever arrives.
You don't need the keys, and you don't need to measure a thing. The floor plan on the listing is enough to get a fixed price for the whole property today — and to hold a start date for the week you complete.
Get your price from the listing plan
No keys, no measuring. Upload the floor plan and we'll read the rooms for you.
Quote from my floor plan →Why the completion wait is the best time to decorate
Once you move in, decorating becomes a project you live around — furniture shuffled from room to room, weekends lost, everything half-done for months. Do it in the empty window instead and it's simply finished before you arrive. The practical wins:
- No furniture to work around, so the job is faster and cheaper.
- Every room accessible at once — decorators move straight through the house.
- Skirtings, doors and woodwork done properly without sofas and beds in the way.
- You move into a finished home, not a building site.
Empty vs occupied: what it does to the price
An empty house is one of the biggest cost savers on any repaint. In an occupied home, a decorator spends real time each day moving and covering belongings, working in half a room, and putting everything back. Empty, that all disappears.
| Situation | What it means | Effect on cost |
|---|---|---|
| Empty before move-in | Clear rooms, full access, whole house in one go | Lowest |
| Occupied, whole house | Furniture moved & covered daily | Higher |
| Occupied, room by room over time | Repeated set-up, separate visits | Highest |
For a sense of the totals themselves, our cost to paint a 3-bed house guide breaks down a full interior repaint room by room.
How to get a price with no keys and no measurements
This is exactly what the floor-plan quote is built for. During the wait you won't have access to measure, but you will have the listing plan — and that's all it takes:
- Save the floor plan from the Rightmove, Zoopla or agent listing (a screenshot is fine).
- Upload it — add both floors if the plan is split into two images.
- We read the rooms and their approximate sizes and list them back to you.
- Choose your scope and get a fixed price — walls only or full redecoration, colours, woodwork, the lot.
Sizes are estimated from the plan's proportions, which is close enough for a firm fixed price. If anything differs once we can access the property, we confirm the adjusted price with you before starting — never a surprise afterwards.
Booking around a moving date
The neat part is sequencing. Reserve your decorating slot now, and we pencil the start for the week after your expected completion. You get the keys, we get in, and the painting is done and dry before the removal van turns up. If you're also doing floors or a kitchen, decorating usually goes first so nothing new gets marked.
What if completion is delayed?
Delays are normal — chains move, dates slip. Your fixed price stays valid and we simply shift the start date to match your new completion; just tell us as soon as it's confirmed. Deposits are refundable within our stated cancellation window, so holding a date early doesn't lock you into one that stops working.
Turn the waiting into a finished home
Price it from the plan now, start the week you complete.
Quote from my floor plan →Frequently asked questions
Can I get a painting quote before I complete on a house?
Yes. You don't need keys or measurements to get a price. Upload the floor plan from the listing and our tool reads the rooms and sizes, then gives you a fixed quote for the whole property. Many buyers do this during the conveyancing wait so decorating is ready to book the moment they complete.
Is it cheaper to paint a house before you move in?
Usually, yes. An empty house is faster and cheaper to paint than an occupied one because there's no furniture to move, cover and work around each day, and decorators can work room to room without disruption. Doing the whole house in one empty visit also saves on repeated set-up.
Should I book decorators before completion?
Good decorators get booked up, so pricing during the wait and holding a start date means the work can begin the week you get the keys rather than weeks later. Because completion dates can move, we confirm your start date with you once the date is firm, and our deposits are refundable within our stated cancellation window.
What if completion is delayed?
Completion dates slipping is normal. We keep your fixed price valid and simply move your start date to match — just let us know as soon as you have the new date. You're never locked into a date that no longer works.