Professional Painting and Decorating

The main aspect of professional decorating is being trained up to the required standard. This is generally accepted as getting the officially recognized qualifications such as NVQ's, City and Guilds and the like. Many good decorators have no such qualifications but have learned the trade from the ground up, often starting out as a painters mate, but City and Guilds can be regarded as the benchmark of good training.
The spectrum of quality in the professional decorating trade ranges from the highly skilled tradesperson(Master Painter) to the unqualified, semi-skilled(cowboy). An ordinary householder may find it impossible at the outset to tell which is which. Cowboys often come in vans with impressive looking logos proclaiming membership to a professional guild or federation, where the only criteria for membership is that the annual fee be paid. Of course there are several good organizations but it is difficult for the ordinary householder to tell the good from the bad.
For the ordinary householder the most reliable way is a recommendation from someone you know who has had work done. Also, firms get known for their quality over the years.

Requirements in former years

City and Guilds of London Institute Examinations in painters’ and decorators’ work are held each year under the auspices of the City and Guilds of London Institute, through its department of technology. Intendiiig candidates must apply to the secretary of the college or school which they are attending, or to the secretary of the nearest college or school, or to the secretary of the local education authority who will, in general, arrange for their examination and forward their fees to the offices of the department of technology. The scheme of examinations in painters’ and decorators’ work has been drawn up on the assumption that the preparatory course of instruction, up to the Final stage, will involve four years of attendance, from the age of sixteen, for three evenings a week, or equivalent periods during the day, at technical classes. Examinations are held in three grades—Preliminary, Intermediate, and Final. The Preliminary Examination is of an elementary character and is in­tended to be taken at the end of the first year’s instruction, the Intermediate at the end of the second year, and the Final at the end of the fourth year. The Preliminary Examination consists of a written paper and a drawing paper, each of three hours’ duration; candidates must satisfy the examiners in both. The Intermediate and Final grades comprise, in each case, a written paper (3 hours), a drawing paper (3 hours), and a practical test ex­tending over two periods of 5½ hours each. Candidates must satisfy the examiners in all three. Those who pass in either the Intermediate or Final Examination are arranged in two classes and either first-class or second-class certificates are awarded accordingly. To obtain the Full Technological Certificate, candidates must not only have passed the Final Examination but must also satisfy the City and Guilds of London Institute as to their knowledge of allied branches of industrial design. Institute Examination Regulations Admission to the Incorporated Institute of British Decorators as an Associate is obtained by Preliminary, Intermediate, and Final Examination. Candidates who have passed London or other University Matriculation, or a similar examination approved by the Council, may be excused the Preliminary Examination of the Institute. Candidates who held the full Technological Certificate of the City and Guilds of London Institute in Painters’ and Decorators’ Work or who had passed the Board of Education Examination (Parts i and 2) in Industrial Design (Painting and Decorating or Interior Decoration) could be exempted from the Intermediate Examination and proceed to sit at once for the Final. The conditions relating to exemption from the Intermediate Examination are, however, to be revised, following the recent changes in the Board of Education syllabus, and any candidates desirous of obtaining exemption should write direct to the secretary of the Incorporated Institute of British Decorators for up-to-date particulars of the conditions to be complied with. At least one year must elapse after a candidate passes the Intermediate before he or she may sit for the Final Examination. For the Intermediate, six subjects must be selected from the syllabus (which is given below) by the candidate and specified at the time of application; for the Final, four subjects must be chosen. In both examinations the whole of the subjects selected need not be taken in one year but, at the option of the candidate, part may be taken at one examination and the remainder at the examination held in the following year. All candidates were required to satisfy the Council that they are preparing for, or actually following the craft of a decorator. The examination for the Intermediate grade includes the following subjects: (1) Historic Ornament and the Orders of Architecture; (2) Drawing from Nature; (3) Design and Principles of Ornament; (4) Colour; (5) Figure Drawing and Anatomy; (6) Lettering; (7) Heraldry; (8) Painted Ornament; (9) Sketch Book Studies. The Institute publish a list of textbooks which are recommended for reading in connection with the examinations. Sheets of sketches and folios of drawings on most of the subjects must also be submitted as testimonies of study. The Final Examination includes the following subjects: (1)History of Architecture and Decorative Painting; (2) Complete Decorative Scheme;(3) Decorative Painting; (4) Figure Composition; (5) Sketch Book or Folio of Work. The requirements for the above include sheets of drawings and designs, and theses on certain subjects which are indicated in the syllabus.