Hi,

I'm currently trying to find a shortlist of decorators to quote on some
work in my flat later this year and it seems to me that this is a
question that comes up quite often.

Having trawled through the Google archives for ed.general, I've compiled
a list of past recommendations for anyone that may be interested

The first column indicates how many different people have recommended
the decorator and whether it is a positive (+) or negative (-)
recommendation. Starred entries have been recommended on the basis of
multiple jobs from the same decorator - double starred entries are based
on a particularly long relationship with the decorator.

The data is ordered in reverse date order, based on the date of the last
recommendation found in the NG, with the date in brackets at the end.

+1 Tom Thompson & Son, Bonnyrigg, 0131 663 5916 (08/2002)
+1 Danny & John ???, 07790 361 229 (08/2002)
+2 * Henderson & Patterson (08/2001)
+1 Thistle Decorators, Leith, 0131 555 0330 (02/2000)
+1 Brian Johnston, 01875 853 869 (02/2000)
+1 ** Ian Robertson, Bonnybridge, 01324 814857 (01/2000)
+1 Gibson Brothers, 0385 976 381 (05/1998)
+1 Connington (02/1998)
+1 ** Tom Perry, Dalkeith, 0131 660 1004 (02/1998)
+1 David Robertson, 0131 553 3688 (01/1997)

In addition to this, R.J. Hare posted a summary on this subject a while
ago. After identifying the source of some of his data above, here's the
remainder of his list (in the same format as above) where I have not
been able to find the original recommendation in the NG archives -
probably implies that the original recommendation is older than the
above data.

R.J. Hare's Decorators List
---------------------------
+1 Advance decorating, 664 0850
+1 Spectra Decor, 447-3471
+1 Crown and Regal Decorators

HtH
Laurence