How to Price a Painting and Decorating Job in the UK

To price a painting and decorating job, inspect and measure the surfaces, estimate the time needed for preparation and painting, calculate materials and labour, then allow for overheads and profit. Turn those calculations into a written quotation that makes the agreed work clear to your customer.

The easiest work to underestimate is often not the main walls. Filling, detailed woodwork, moving furniture, protecting floors and returning for another coat can take longer than expected. A reliable price accounts for these before the job starts.

Choose How to Price the Job

There are three useful starting points: a price per room, a rate per square metre of painted surface, or an estimate based on labour hours and days. None replaces inspecting the work.

For most small domestic jobs, calculating labour time and materials first, then presenting a fixed price for the defined scope, is a sensible approach. A per-room or per-m² figure can help you sense-check the result.

Use a Fixed Price or a Day Rate?

A fixed-price quotation gives the customer a defined price for specified work. It works best when you can inspect the surfaces and agree the preparation, products and finish in advance. Build it from your estimated labour, materials and other costs, but allow for the risk of taking longer than planned.

A day rate can suit open-ended work, such as removing wallpaper where the condition beneath is unknown. Agree what counts as a working day, whether materials and travel are extra, the likely duration and when the customer will approve further expenditure. A day rate is not automatically cheaper or more profitable: it simply allocates some of the time risk differently.

Where there is a substantial unknown, an initial inspection or stripping stage followed by a separate quotation may be more reliable than promising one all-inclusive price.

Inspect the Room and Measure the Work

Record the surfaces being decorated, their condition and what the customer expects. A room with sound paintwork and minor filling is a different job from one needing wallpaper removal, stain treatment or extensive repairs.

Measure Walls, Ceilings and Openings

For a rectangular room:

• Gross wall area = 2 × (length + width) × wall height
• Ceiling area = length × width
• Net wall area = gross wall area − openings + painted reveals or returns

Measure unusual shapes, alcoves and chimney breasts separately. Deduct doors and windows when estimating paint quantity where appropriate, but do not remove all their cutting-in time from your labour estimate. Openings reduce the area to roll while creating more edges to paint carefully.

A room's floor area is not its wall area. Two rooms with the same floor area can need different amounts of paint because of their shape, ceiling height and openings.

Count Woodwork and Check the Surface Condition

Measure skirting in linear metres, note its profile, and count the door faces, frames, architraves, window boards and other trim you will paint. State whether cupboards, radiators and the backs of doors are included.

During the inspection, check for cracks, loose coatings, staining, damp, damaged plaster, failed caulk and awkward access. Confirm who will clear furniture, whether the room will remain occupied and whether specialist finishes or strong colour changes are required.

Old coatings need particular care. Lead paint may be present beneath newer layers in older buildings. Before disturbing suspected lead-containing paint, assess the risks and follow the Health and Safety Executive's guidance on lead in construction. Do not treat hazardous preparation as ordinary sanding time.

Estimate Labour for Preparation, Painting and Return Visits

Break the job into tasks instead of guessing how many days a room should take.

A coat may take two hours to apply but need substantially longer before it can be recoated. Drying time is not automatically chargeable labour time if you can do other productive work during it. However, an unavoidable extra visit still has a cost.

Specify the coating system for each surface: for example, two coats of wall emulsion, two ceiling coats, and primer plus finishing coats where the woodwork needs them. Check the manufacturer's instructions rather than assuming every product covers or dries at the same rate.

Be precise about preparation. “Minor filling of existing fixing holes” gives you a clearer boundary than “prepare walls as required”, which could be interpreted as including extensive plaster repairs.

Calculate Your Labour Rate, Overheads and Profit

Start with what your business must earn, not simply what another decorator charges.

A useful starting calculation is:

Daily cost-recovery requirement = (annual pre-tax earnings allowance + annual business overheads) ÷ realistic billable days

Billable days are the days you can actually charge customers for. Allow for holidays, illness, enquiries, unpaid site visits, administration and gaps between jobs. Your overheads might include insurance, vehicle costs, tools, accountancy, software and advertising.

Use our free day rate calculator to work out your day rate from your earnings target, business costs and realistic billable days.

Decide whether your day or hourly rate already includes overhead recovery and profit. If it does, do not add the same allowances again. Alternatively, as in the worked example below, you can build a quotation from separate labour, materials, overhead and profit figures.

Understand Markup Versus Profit Margin

Markup and margin are different:

• Selling price with 20% markup: £100 cost × 1.20 = £120.
• Profit margin on that sale: £20 ÷ £120 = 16.7%.
• Selling price for a 20% margin: £100 ÷ 0.80 = £125.

These calculations only show the intended surplus if the £100 genuinely contains all the costs you need to recover.

For more examples and a conversion table, read our markup vs margin guide.

Compare Your Rate with UK Decorating Prices

Use market benchmarks as a sense-check, not as your pricing formula. Checkatrade's 2026 painting and decorating cost guide lists an indicative painter and decorator day-rate range of £250–£400, plus paint, while MyJobQuote's 2026 room-painting guide gives example prices for different room sizes.

Those are published guide figures, not a guaranteed rate or a like-for-like comparison. Location, preparation, materials, VAT treatment, the length of a working day and the scope of woodwork can all change the price. Check what each benchmark includes before using it.

Calculate Paint, Consumables and Other Expenses

Estimate paint separately for each surface and product:

Litres needed = paintable area × number of coats ÷ stated coverage (m² per litre)

Allow for the condition of the surface, the method of application and reasonable wastage, then round up to pack sizes actually sold. A calculated requirement of 6.6 litres does not mean you can buy exactly 6.6 litres.

Remember the materials that do not appear in the finished room: filler, caulk, abrasives, masking tape, dust sheets, roller sleeves, brushes and cleaning materials. Include any job-specific parking, equipment hire, deliveries and purchasing trips. Avoid counting the same collection time both in labour and in a materials markup.

For exterior work, assess access equipment, weather exposure and the conditions under which the chosen coatings can be applied. An exterior price needs a realistic programme as well as a materials calculation.

Worked Example: Pricing a Bedroom from Start to Finish

This is an illustrative calculation, not a suggested market price. All dimensions, working hours, coverage figures and purchase costs are assumptions. Replace them with your own survey, supplier prices and product instructions before quoting a real job.

1. Define the Work

You inspect a 4 m × 3 m bedroom with a 2.4 m ceiling, one 0.8 m × 2 m door and one 1.5 m × 1.2 m window.

The quotation includes minor filling, local spot-priming and two finishing coats to the walls, ceiling and prepared woodwork. You will paint the skirting, both faces of the door, its frame and architraves. The window, window board and radiator are excluded. The existing finishes are sound, the room is cleared, and there is no wallpaper stripping or major repair.

2. Calculate the Paintable Areas

For simplicity, this example assumes there are no additional painted reveals. The woodwork measurement is an approximation for paint consumption; intricate profiles may need extra labour even if their measured area is small.

3. Estimate Paint Quantities

Assume two coats for the finishes, one coat of local primer over 2 m², and a 10% consumption allowance. The coverage figures below are examples, not manufacturer specifications.

Buy suitable available pack sizes that cover these requirements. If a primer or finish needs additional coats under the manufacturer's instructions, adjust both quantities and labour.

4. Estimate the Working Hours

The 16 hours represent working time, not a promise that all coats can be completed in two consecutive eight-hour days. Schedule them around drying requirements and add further travel or setup costs if a separate return visit is unavoidable.

5. Separate Labour, Materials, Overheads and Profit

Assume an internal £20-per-hour allowance for the decorator's own labour and a separate £5 per hour for overhead recovery. These are demonstration inputs, not recommended charge-out rates.

The £110 is a planned surplus after the stated allowances, not guaranteed take-home pay. It represents 16.7% of the £660 selling price, rather than a 20% profit margin. It may be reduced by unrecorded expenses, rework or extra time.

For this particular example, the £150 materials allowance is treated as the amount the business actually bears. If you are not VAT-registered, that normally includes VAT paid on purchases. If you are VAT-registered, use costs excluding VAT you can legitimately reclaim; rules and scheme-specific exceptions apply. See HMRC's guidance on reclaiming VAT on business expenses.

6. Convert the Internal Costing into a Customer Quote

You do not normally need to show customers your own labour allowance, overhead recovery or profit calculation. Instead, give them understandable selling prices for the work. For example, you could allocate the £660 quotation across these items:

These are illustrative allocations of the same £660, including materials and business allowances; do not add them to the internal costing table. The quotation should also name the agreed paint products and finishes, confirm that paint is supplied, and list exclusions.

Quote Forge can help you turn these selling prices into an itemised customer quotation and download it as a branded PDF.

For ordinary domestic redecorating, a VAT-registered business would normally charge the standard 20% VAT rate, unless a specific exception applies. On a £660 net selling price that would be £132 VAT, giving a £792 customer total. A decorator who is not VAT-registered does not add VAT, so the example customer total would remain £660. Always check the applicable treatment, particularly for qualifying construction or renovation work, using HMRC's VAT guidance for building work. The underlying cost base may also differ between VAT-registered and non-registered businesses, so these alternative totals are illustrations, not a claim that their profits would be identical.

How to Quote a Painting Job Clearly

Once you have calculated the price, the written decorating quotation should make the scope and customer total easy to understand. Include:

• Your business and customer details, property address, quotation date and reference.
• Each room and surface included, with the preparation, primers, finish, product and number of coats specified.
• What is excluded, such as major plaster repairs, wallpaper stripping, radiators or fitted cupboards.
• Who supplies materials, and who moves furniture or provides access.
• Selling prices, applicable VAT and the full amount the customer will pay.
• Expected duration, quotation validity, payment terms and how changes will be agreed.

For consumer jobs, present the total clearly, including any unavoidable tax or charges. The Competition and Markets Authority's guidance on clear pricing explains why incomplete headline prices can be misleading.

If uncovering damage changes the work, explain the extra preparation, materials, price and timescale before proceeding, and obtain the customer's approval. Be careful with deposits and cancellation terms for contracts agreed at a customer's home or remotely; the relevant consumer-contract rules can depend on how the agreement was made.

Five Checks Before Sending Your Quotation

1. Have you included preparation, cutting in, cleanup and return visits rather than just painting time?
2. Are all surfaces and exclusions written down, including doors, frames and skirting?
3. Have you priced the right paint quantities, available pack sizes and consumables?
4. Have you avoided double-counting overheads, purchasing time or preparation?
5. Does the customer see the complete price, including applicable VAT, and know what happens if additional work is needed?

After completing a job, compare the hours and materials you allowed with what you actually used. Those records are more useful for improving future quotations than relying on a generic price per room.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much should a self-employed painter and decorator charge?

Charge enough across your realistically billable time to cover your own earnings requirement, materials, overheads and a profit allowance. Published UK day rates can provide context, but the right selling price depends on your costs, local market and agreed scope.

How do I price painting work per square metre?

Calculate a selling price for a defined surface and coating specification, then divide that price by the relevant paintable area. State whether preparation, paint and materials are included. A wall-painting rate should not automatically be applied to ceilings or detailed woodwork.

How much should I quote to decorate a bedroom?

Measure the room and estimate the work rather than relying on a standard-bedroom price. The worked 4 m × 3 m example above reaches £660 before VAT for its specific, assumed scope. It is an arithmetic illustration, not a typical UK bedroom quote.

Should paint and preparation appear as separate items?

They can, particularly where the customer needs to compare options. They do not have to be separate, provided the quotation explains what is included and the same work or materials are not charged twice.

Price the Whole Job, Then Put the Scope in Writing

A reliable decorating price starts with the actual surfaces, preparation and finish, not just the size of the room. Measure, cost the working time, check materials, recover business expenses and leave room for profit. Then put the agreed scope and total into a clear quotation.

Quote Forge can help you create and save an itemised quotation, reuse saved line items, and preview or download a branded PDF. The pricing judgement stays with you; the software helps turn your figures into a professional document.