Preparing ceiling for priming/painting professionally -- need quote?

[Stan Q.]

I am in a process of scraping off the popcorn from my ceilings... It is an open area of about 700+ sq ft (family rm + kitchen). I would like to have the ceiling perfectly flat and prepared for priming/painting when I am done.

What would be a reasonable quote to do this kind of job?

[Laura J]

you're never going to be able to go from popcorn to flat without extreme skim coating...way expensive...... after scraping off popcorn, go to a knock down finish instead. it's sort of like spraying popcorn then they knock it down and smash it flat with a large taping knife. it's very elegant and hides all flaws (like old popcorn pock marks) you will almost never get a clean finish where old popcorn was involved.