Painter and Decorator Prices: How to Work Out a Fair Quote
How painters and decorators price work, typical UK day rates and room prices, and how to check a quote using your room's real paintable area.
Getting quotes from painters and decorators can be confusing: one prices by the day, another by the room, a third by the square metre. Knowing how the price is built lets you compare them fairly.
Here's how decorators price work and how to sanity-check a quote yourself.
How decorators price a job
- Day rate: time on site × the decorator's daily rate. Common for small jobs and repairs.
- Per room: a fixed price per room, adjusted for size, ceilings, woodwork and condition.
- Per square metre: common on larger jobs and new builds, and the easiest to compare.
Typical UK prices (2026)
These are broad ballpark figures. London and the South East are usually higher, and prep work changes everything, so always get two or three written quotes.
| Job | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Decorator day rate | roughly £160–£280 |
| Small bedroom, walls and ceiling | roughly £300–£550 |
| Medium living room, walls, ceiling and woodwork | roughly £500–£900 |
| Hallway, stairs and landing | often the most expensive room per square metre (height, ladders, lots of woodwork) |
Check a quote in three steps
- Measure the room and run it through the paint calculator in metres and litres. You get the paintable area and the paint needed.
- Price the paint yourself: enter the price per tin to see the materials cost.
- Whatever is left in the quote is labour, prep and margin. Divide it by the area to compare decorators per m².
What should be in the quote
- Which surfaces: walls, ceilings, skirting, doors, frames.
- Prep: filling, sanding, mist coat on new plaster, caulking.
- Paint brand and finish, and number of coats.
- Whether materials are included, and the expected number of days.
Decorators: the Paint Calculator & Estimator app measures rooms, adds your day rate and mark-up, and sends the customer a clean PDF quote.