Most of the work we take on in Richmond is governed by what the conservation rules permit. The borough has eighty-five conservation areas, covering the Georgian terraces on the Hill, the Victorian villas running off Kew Road, the Edwardian streets of East Sheen and Mortlake, and almost everything along the river. We read the relevant area appraisal before we quote, so the specification we send back works with what the council will accept rather than against it.
Bulger Wicks has been working London period stock for over thirty-five years. We're accredited Repair Care users for timber repair, and Dulux is the paint we default to, backed by a long technical relationship with their staff. That combination handles most of what a Richmond house will throw at us.
We're based in Chiswick, ten minutes up the A316, and we've been working across TW9 and TW10 since long before half the current owners moved in.
"Their painting and carpentry is a really high standard, they are superfast and competitively priced."
Rebecca M. - TW9
★★★★★
"very impressed with the quality of the work, universally polite and willing to do the best job possible"
Mrs P.H. - SW7
★★★★★
Inside a Richmond period house, the work is mostly in the preparation. We strip old paint from original joinery without scarring the timber underneath. We fill, sand and prime until pine shutters, panelled doors, plaster cornicing and hardwood staircases are ready to take a clean topcoat. We cut in by hand against intricate mouldings. We hang wallpaper too, including hand-printed and lining papers, and we'll repaper after replastering when the wall needs it.
Most of our decorators have been with us fifteen years or more. They were apprenticed here and they stayed. It's why we get called back for the third or fourth time on the same Richmond house, often by the next generation of the same family.
While we work, furniture stays covered, floors stay protected with breathable sheeting that doesn't shift, and the sanders run on dust extraction. We tidy the site at the end of every day. Where owners are away, we send daily progress photos.
Exterior work in Richmond turns on two things: what the conservation appraisal allows, and what the river is doing to the building. For exteriors close to the Thames we specify systems built for the conditions. Properties along the river at Petersham, Ham, Richmond Riverside and the Kew side of the Old Deer Park sit in or near the flood zone, and the wrong masonry paint will lift off within a couple of winters. We use Dulux Weathershield as the default exterior system and repair timber with the Repair Care resin system, splicing into existing sills and frames rather than ripping them out. For flat roofs that have failed and are pulling damp down into the masonry below, we install Liquid Plastics or Garland coatings with the manufacturers' standard guarantees.
When we quote, we tell you what we've found. Where we suspect extra work, we say so up front and put a realistic figure on it.
Which? Trusted Trader
QBE Insured
PASMA Approved
IPAF Certified
We decorate the office buildings, restaurants and independent shops across central Richmond, around George Street, the Quadrant and the riverside. We work for surveyors and architects on priced specifications, and directly for owners and managing agents. We've also done extensive school work, including a three-year programme at Camden School for Girls worth roughly £30,000 in contracts, where the constraint was finishing each phase to schedule and working around term time.
For shops we work evenings, Sundays and bank holidays, so the doors open on Monday with no trading hours lost.
See our commercial decorating services →
Although based in Chiswick we offer painter/decorator services throughout the Greater London area, including Kensington. So if you need a painter and decorator in London, we are the people to help.
Conservation area work is the one thing a general decorator can't bluff. You either know what's permitted on a Grade II terrace, what the Richmond Hill appraisal says about exterior palettes, and how to repair a 19th-century sash without replacing it, or you don't.
We hold Which? Trusted Trader accreditation, we're QBE insured, and we're PASMA and IPAF certified for the access work that taller Richmond houses need. The decorators on site are mostly people we've worked with for fifteen years or longer. You get a written specification and a clear written quote, we work to it, and we clean up properly.
On a riverside or low-lying Richmond property, it's usually a wrong-system problem. Standard masonry paint traps moisture against the wall and lifts off within a couple of winters. We specify breathable systems for exposed Thames frontage and repair any failed render before painting begins.
Yes, and in most of TW9 and TW10 it's the answer the council will expect. Replacing original sashes in a conservation area usually requires consent, and like-for-like timber repair is the route that gets approved without argument. We're accredited Repair Care users, which is the resin system designed for splicing rotten sections back into original sash boxes and frames so the window keeps its profile and its glass.
For interiors, we work one room at a time, so most Richmond clients carry on living in the house while we're there. For exteriors on the narrower Hill streets and the riverside terraces, we plan deliveries and scaffold lifts around residents' parking hours and avoid blocking the road on bin mornings. If your house is on a single-access lane in Petersham or Ham, tell us at the quote stage and we'll plan the access before we price the job.
Our minimum project value is £1,500 + VAT. For most Richmond properties that covers a single room's full redecoration with prep, or a modest external touch-up. Below the minimum we won't be able to help.
Lead times vary by season. Richmond exteriors fill fastest in spring and autumn, because owners want the work done between the worst of the winter damp and the summer entertaining months. Interiors are easier to book at short notice. Listed-building or conservation-consent work needs longer in the diary because we factor in the council's response time.
We'll come and look at the property, talk through what you want, measure up, and send back an itemised written quote. The visit is free and there's no obligation.
