Getting the painters in

I'm trying to hire a painter/decorator to redecorate my living room, in the hope that this might help it sell. I could do it myself, but we've done pretty much all the work on the house ourselves and are frankly scunnered with it all, so I thought for a change I would pay someone else to do it. I've had three guys round to quote so far, and the variation is astonishing - the quotes were £220, £350 and £490! I'm hoping to get another couple of quotes as I wasn't sure I liked the look of two of the guys so far.

I've since had another couple of quotes - it's amazing how many different opinions there are on a simple thing like painting a room. I've been told, variously, that I don't need to do anything to the ceiling, that a coat of paint will do it, that the best way forward is to artex it, and that I really ought to paint every room in the house! This is why I usually do these things myself...

Just as an update, I eventually went with Fresh Coat, a local one-man business, who did an excellent job. Of course now all the rest of the house looks dowdy...