What to charge / Painters and decorators · Checked 29 September 2026
Decorators’ day rates differ a lot between price guides. Checkatrade puts the typical day at £325 plus paint, MyJobQuote gives £150 to £250 outside London, and HaMuch’s member data averages £173. Rooms, hallways and exteriors are mostly priced as a job. Below are those figures side by side, what customers pay for common work, and a calculator for your own day rate.
Rates
| 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. |
Job prices
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
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
Pricing well
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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