What to charge / Painters and decorators · Checked 29 September 2026
What to charge as a painter and decorator in 2026
A painter and decorator in the UK charges about £150 to £400 a day in 2026, depending on the price guide and where you work. Checkatrade puts the typical day at £325 plus paint, MyJobQuote gives £150 to £250 outside London and £250 to £350 in London, and HaMuch’s member data averages £173. Rooms are mostly priced as a job: Checkatrade’s average for a medium room is £450, or £10 to £20 per m² of wall. Below are those figures side by side, what customers pay for common work, and a calculator for your own day rate.
Rates
Typical painter and decorator rates in the UK
| Rate | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| A day, Checkatrade typical | £325 [1] | Range £250 to £400, plus the cost of paint. |
| A day outside London, MyJobQuote | £150 to £250 [2] | £250 to £350 in London. |
| A day, HaMuch member rates | £127 to £271 [3] | Average £173. HaMuch’s page does not give a date for its data. |
| An hour, Checkatrade typical | £32 [1] | Checkatrade gives a single typical figure, not a range. |
| An hour, HaMuch labour only | £16 to £38 [3] | Average £24, not including materials. Varies with where you live. |
| A day including paint, Rated People | £150 to £400 [4] | £100 to £250 without paint and materials. Hourly: £20 to £50 with materials, £15 to £40 without. Rated People first published this page in 2023, so treat it as a secondary guide. |
Where you work changes the rate
- London, MyJobQuote: £250 to £350 a day, against £150 to £250 elsewhere. A standard finish on a 15m² room is £450 to £570 in London and £360 to £465 across the UK. [2]
- London, HaMuch member rates: £36 an hour and £232 a day. [3]
- London and the South East, Rated People: labour can cost as much as 20% more on average. [4]
- Cheapest and dearest areas: HaMuch finds day rates lowest in Powys and highest in Perth and Kinross. [3]
- London and major cities, Checkatrade: day rates tend to be higher than in the rest of the country, though no figure is given. [1]
Job prices
What common painter and decorator jobs cost
What customers are typically quoted, from published UK price guides. Use them as a check on your own quotes, not a fixed price list.
| Job | Typical price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Small bedroom, 10 to 12m² | £250 to £400 [2] | MyJobQuote. About 1 day |
| Medium room, 18m² | £450 [1] | Checkatrade average |
| Medium room (about 3.3m x 3m), walls and ceiling, two coats | £250 to £1,100 [5] | Which? Trusted Traders. Labour and materials, excluding VAT, plaster in good condition. About 2 days |
| Large living room, 20 to 30m² | £500 to £990 [2] | MyJobQuote. 1.5 to 2 days |
| Hallway, landing and stairs | £1,450 to £1,750 [1] | Checkatrade, average £1,600 |
| Hallway, landing and stairs, walls only | £400 to £1,600 [5] | Which? Trusted Traders. Three-bedroom house, no woodwork. Labour and materials, excluding VAT. About 3 days |
| Woodwork in one room | £70 to £650 [5] | Which? Trusted Traders. Skirting and one door frame in good condition. Labour and materials, excluding VAT |
| Paint a door, both sides | £80 to £100 [1] | Checkatrade, average £90 |
| Wallpaper a room | £350 to £500 [1] | Checkatrade, labour only, average £450. Or £12 to £16 per m² |
| Line and paper a room (about 4.4m x 3.3m) | £260 to £2,950 [5] | Which? Trusted Traders. Customer supplies the wallpaper. Excluding VAT. About 3 days |
| Paint a 2-bed flat | £1,500 to £2,500 [1] | Checkatrade, average £2,000 |
| Paint the outside of a 3-bed semi | £1,100 to £1,500 [1] | Checkatrade, average £1,300 |
| Repaint the render on a 3-bed semi | £600 to £4,500 [5] | Which? Trusted Traders. Render in good condition. Labour and materials, excluding VAT. Scaffolding can add a lot |
| Interior walls by area | £10 to £20 per m² [1] | Checkatrade, average £15 per m² of wall |
The Which? ranges come from a November 2025 survey of 9 Which? Trusted Traders. They include labour and materials but not VAT, which is why they are so wide. Checkatrade and MyJobQuote do not say whether their job prices include VAT.
Your numbers
Work out your own hourly rate
Start from what you want to earn, add what the business costs to run, and divide by the hours you can actually charge for. Travel, quoting, paperwork and chasing payments are not chargeable hours, so be honest about them.
The starting numbers are examples, not a recommendation. Change them to match your year. The result is before income tax and National Insurance, and before VAT if you are registered.
Before you set a price
Costs your rate has to cover
- Paint: MyJobQuote adds around £50 for the paint in an average room. Gloss runs at £12 to £25 a litre. [2]
- Public liability insurance: the cheapest 10% of Simply Business customers paid £80.21 or less a year in the second half of 2025. Its example quotes were £116.81 a year for a sole trader with £1 million cover and £488.62 for a small limited company with 2 casual workers. [6]
- Employers’ liability: a legal requirement once you take on staff. Without it you could be fined up to £2,500 a day for each employee. [6]
- Scaffolding for outside work: £400 to £700, according to HaMuch. [3]
- Construction Industry Scheme: on subcontracted work the contractor keeps back 20% of your pay if you are registered, and 30% if you are not. [7]
- VAT: you have to register when taxable turnover over the last 12 months passes £90,000. [8]
What the job pays elsewhere
- Employed painter and decorator pay: £21,000 as a starter to £32,000 when experienced, on 37 to 42 hours a week, according to the National Careers Service. [9]
- ONS median for full-time employees: £32,763 a year, or £16.25 an hour, in the 2025 provisional figures. Self-employed decorators are not included. [10]
Pricing well
How to price your work as a painter and decorator
Decide when to price by the room and when by the day
Customers find a room price easy to compare, and it rewards you for working quickly. A day rate protects you when you cannot see what is under the old paper or how many coats a dark wall needs. Many decorators give a fixed room price for straightforward work and a day rate for older houses and anything with hidden surprises.
Price the preparation, not just the painting
Filling, sanding, caulking, masking and cutting in often take longer than the coats themselves. The Which? prices assume plaster in good condition, so a room with cracks and blown patches is a different job. Walk the room with the customer and write the prep into the quote.
Agree who buys the paint
Say on the quote whether materials are included. If you supply the paint, list it as its own line so the customer sees your labour price clearly. If they buy it, agree the brand and finish in advance so you are not stuck with cheap paint that needs an extra coat.
Book a snagging walk-round
Finish every job by walking the rooms with the customer in good light and noting anything they want touched up. Agree that snags are fixed free but new work, such as an extra wall or a colour change, is charged. It stops small requests turning into unpaid days.
Keep exterior work separate
Outside jobs depend on dry weather and often on scaffolding, which HaMuch puts at £400 to £700. Quote the access as its own line, give a window of dates rather than a fixed day, and have indoor work ready for the wet spells.
The work you never get to quote for
A good rate only helps if the customer reaches you. Most callers who hit voicemail ring the next name on the list. If you miss three calls a week and two in five would have become a £450 job, that is about £2,338 of work a month going to someone else. See what a missed call costs, or how While You Work answers calls for painters and decorators while you are on a job.
Questions
What painters and decorators ask about pricing
How much do painters and decorators charge per day?
It depends which guide you read. Checkatrade gives £250 to £400, typically £325, plus paint. MyJobQuote gives £150 to £250 outside London and £250 to £350 in London, and HaMuch’s member rates average £173 a day.
How much does it cost to paint a room in the UK?
Checkatrade puts the average for a medium 18m² room at £450. MyJobQuote gives £250 to £400 for a small bedroom and £500 to £990 for a large living room. Which? Trusted Traders quoted £250 to £1,100 for a medium room including materials but not VAT.
How much does a painter and decorator cost in London?
MyJobQuote gives £250 to £350 a day in London, against £150 to £250 elsewhere, and £450 to £570 for a standard finish on a 15m² room. HaMuch’s London member rates average £36 an hour and £232 a day. Rated People says labour in London and the South East can cost as much as 20% more on average.
How much should I charge to paint a room?
Checkatrade’s average for a medium 18m² room is £450, and it puts interior walls at £10 to £20 per m². MyJobQuote gives £250 to £400 for a small bedroom of 10 to 12m², about a day’s work, and adds around £50 of paint for an average room. If the walls need filling and sanding first, price that on top.
What is the hourly rate for a painter and decorator?
Checkatrade says hourly rates sit around £32. HaMuch’s member data averages £24 an hour for labour only, with a range of £16 to £38 depending on area.
How much do decorators charge to wallpaper a room?
Checkatrade gives £350 to £500 a room for labour only, or £12 to £16 per m². Which? Trusted Traders quoted £260 to £2,950 to line and paper a room of about 4.4m by 3.3m, with the customer supplying the paper, excluding VAT.
How much does it cost to paint the outside of a house?
Checkatrade puts exterior painting on a 3-bed semi at £1,100 to £1,500. Which? Trusted Traders quoted £600 to £4,500 to repaint the render on the same size of house, excluding VAT. HaMuch says scaffolding costs £400 to £700.
Do decorators include the paint in their price?
Not always, so check the quote. Checkatrade’s day rate is plus the cost of paint, and MyJobQuote adds around £50 of paint for an average room. The Which? Trusted Traders prices include materials.
Sources
Figures checked on 29 September 2026. Price guides change, so check the source before you rely on a figure. Where a source says whether a price includes VAT, the page says so; where it does not, treat the figure as unconfirmed on VAT.
- Checkatrade, Painting and decorating: Cost Breakdown 2026, Header 'Updated 09/25'; price table footer 'Last updated: June 2026'.
- MyJobQuote, How Much to Paint a Room? Painter & Decorator Cost Guide 2026, Last updated 17/09/26.
- HaMuch, Painter And Decorator rates near you for 2026.
- Rated People, How much does a painter and decorator cost in 2026?, Published 28 September 2023; page states prices are accurate as of 2026.
- Which?, How much do painters and decorators cost?, 2026-05-01 (survey of 9 Which? Trusted Traders, November 2025).
- Simply Business, Painter and Decorator Insurance, Snapshot 16 March 2026; price data for 1 Jul to 31 Dec 2025.
- GOV.UK (HMRC), What you must do as a Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) subcontractor.
- GOV.UK (HMRC), How VAT works / When to register.
- National Careers Service (GOV.UK), Painter and decorator job profile.
- Office for National Statistics, ASHE Table 14 (SOC 2020 4-digit), 2025 provisional: Tables 14.5a Hourly pay (Gross) and 14.7a Annual pay (Gross), Full-Time sheet, 2025 provisional release.
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