How Much Does a Painter and Decorator Cost? UK Prices

Painter and decorator prices by job

Checkatrade’s painting and decorating prices, last updated in June 2026, give these average UK costs and ranges.

Job	Unit	Average	Range
Painter and decorator day rate	Per day	£325	£250 to £400
Painting a medium-sized room	Per room	£450
Painting hallways, landing and stairs	Per job	£1,600	£1,450 to £1,750
Painting a 2-bed flat	Per flat	£2,000	£1,500 to £2,500
Painting a 5-bed house	Per house	£6,000	£5,500 to £7,500
Painting a house	Per m² of floor space	£50	£40 to £60
Painting a house inside	Per m² of wall area	£15	£10 to £20
Painting ceilings	Per m²	£15	£10 to £20
Painting woodwork	Per m²	£15	£10 to £20
Painting a door, both sides	Per door	£90	£80 to £100
Painting a radiator	Per radiator	£15	£10 to £20
Wallpapering, labour only	Per m²	£14	£12 to £16
Wallpapering a room, labour only	Per room	£450	£350 to £500

The wallpapering prices are for labour only, so the paper itself is extra. Painting the outside of a house costs £15 to £25 per m², and Checkatrade’s figures put a 3-bed semi at £1,300 and a 4-bed detached house at £2,000 on average.

Painter and decorator day rate

A painter and decorator charges £250 to £400 a day on Checkatrade’s prices, around £325 on average plus the cost of paint, with hourly rates around £32. The day rate varies with the decorator’s experience and where you live.

Some painters charge by the hour and others by the room or for the whole project, so ask each decorator how the price was worked out. A small to medium room normally takes 1 to 2 days to paint, including the preparation and clean-up, on Checkatrade’s figures.

Cost to paint a room

Painting a room costs around £350 for a small 8m² room, £450 for a medium 18m² room and £1,000 for a large 30m² room, on Checkatrade’s prices. Those prices include regular trade paint, and a premium brand such as Farrow & Ball, Little Greene or COAT adds to the budget.

The hallway, landing and stairs are priced as one job, at £1,450 to £1,750 on Checkatrade’s figures, more than three medium rooms at £450 each.

Pricing a room by the square metre

You can also price a room surface by surface. Checkatrade’s rates put walls at £10 to £20 per m² of wall area and ceilings at £10 to £20 per m², both averaging £15, with a door painted on both sides at £90 and a radiator at £15.

Measure wall area as the length of the walls times their height, then subtract the door, which is priced on its own, and the window. A 4m by 3m bedroom with walls 2.4m high has about 34m² of wall and 30m² to paint.

What makes decorating cost more

The price rises with high ceilings, intricate woodwork and staircase spindles, and with surfaces in poor condition, such as walls that need plastering or skimming and woodwork that needs replacing. Decorating several rooms in one go is often more cost-effective.

The hidden costs to budget for are the type and finish of the paint, the complexity of the job, removing old wallpaper, preparing the walls and repairs. Repairing small water-damaged areas of plaster typically costs £50 to £100 on Checkatrade’s figures, and a larger plastering job needs a plasterer, whose day rate is typically around £300.

How to cut the cost of decorating

Sticking to one colour of standard trade paint, avoiding intricate designs and keeping up regular maintenance all keep the price down, and so does the preparation you can do before the decorator arrives.

Do decorators charge VAT?

A decorator charges VAT if the business is registered for it. GOV.UK’s rules say a business must register once its total taxable turnover for the last 12 months goes over £90,000, or it expects its taxable turnover to go over £90,000 in the next 30 days, and a business below that can choose to register.

The standard rate of VAT is 20%, covering most goods and services. Checkatrade’s prices do not say whether VAT is included, so ask every decorator whether their quote includes it.

What a decorator’s quote should include

Checkatrade says a decorator’s quote normally includes labour, materials, preparation and clean-up, but confirm what yours covers before you agree to it.

Citizens Advice explains that a quote is a promise to do the work at an agreed price, while an estimate is the trader’s best guess.

Quotes only compare when each one prices the same rooms, surfaces and paint, so describe the job the same way to every decorator you are choosing between.

All ten of the Nottingham painters and decorators we compare give free quotes, and Alan Bohan Painting in Arnold brings colour charts and advice to its quote visits.