We decorate rental homes in Wootton for landlords and letting agents, about 2.4 miles south of Northampton town centre in NN4. Rental listings here are mostly family houses on the modern estates, so the work is usually a whole-house refresh between tenancies.
What the rental stock in Wootton looks like
Lettings in Wootton look very different from those in the terraced streets nearer the town centre. Recent listings are family houses on the estates built around the old village since the 1980s and 1990s: a three-bedroom mid-terrace on Aldwell Close, another on Montgomery Way in Simpson Manor, on the site of the former Simpson Barracks, and a four-bedroom three-storey townhouse on Turners Court. Room lets turn up in Far Cotton and along London Road, but Wootton’s listings are whole family houses.
That shapes the specification. Family tenants tend to stay longer, and when they move out, the wear is spread across the whole house: scuffed halls, marked children’s bedrooms, worn kitchen walls and knocked skirtings. The main landlord and letting agent decorating page describes how we work with agents in general. Here is how it applies to Wootton houses.
A specification that suits family lets
We price and decorate a Wootton let room by room, and we tell you which rooms really need full coats and which only need touching up.
| Area | Typical wear in a family let | What we usually specify |
|---|---|---|
| Hall, stairs and landing | Bike and pushchair marks, handprints on walls | Scrubbable matt or soft sheen in a neutral shade |
| Children’s bedrooms | Blu-tack, stickers, pen marks, holes from fixings | Fill, spot-prime stains, two coats of washable emulsion |
| Kitchen and bathroom | Grease and condensation, mould round windows | Mould wash, then a kitchen and bathroom emulsion |
| Skirtings and doors | Chips and knocks at floor level | Water-based satin that is easy to touch in later |
Age matters too. Houses on Wootton Fields and Simpson Manor were built from the 1980s onwards, so many are now on their second or third round of redecoration. Typical findings at check-out include original softwood skirtings and doors under several coats of yellowed solvent gloss, hairline cracks where plasterboard ceilings meet walls, and patches where earlier touch-ups were done in a slightly different white. We key and prime the old gloss, rake out and fill the cracks with flexible filler, and repaint whole walls rather than patches, so the finish looks even in listing photographs.
We keep a note of the colours and products used at each address, so next time a single wall or door can be touched in to match rather than repainting the room.
Three floors in one void period
Townhouses take longer than two-storey houses of the same floor area, because the stairwell runs through three levels and the top landing needs a platform. We plan these jobs so the stairwell and the most-worn rooms are done first, and the work fits between check-out and the next viewing. If the agent needs photographs for a new listing, we can finish the hall and main living room early so they are ready first.
Access on the estates rarely involves the lane and footway problems of the old village. If there is anything to arrange, such as keys, alarm codes or a permit, we sort it out with the agent before the first day.
If the let is in the old village
A few rentals may be in the stone village around High Street and Church Hill rather than on the estates. Those houses are different. Solid ironstone and limestone walls need breathable paint, and many buildings are in the Wootton conservation area. Twenty-five of them are listed, inside and out. A quick vinyl repaint can cause flaking in a damp-prone cottage and cost more to put right later. If you let a period house in the village, tell us when you get in touch and we will specify accordingly.
For more on the parish, see our Wootton area page. For budgeting, the painter and decorator cost guide explains what drives the price of a repaint.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
