How much does painting and decorating cost in the UK? (2026)
Verified UK painting and decorating costs in 2026 by room, per square metre, and per day, plus exterior masonry, wallpapering, prep, and the scope gaps that catch homeowners out.
Painting and decorating in the UK in 2026 costs between roughly £150 for a small bathroom and £3,500+ for a full exterior repaint of a typical semi. For most homeowners doing a single room, the bill lands between £250 and £1,000 including paint, prep, and labour, with room size, ceiling height, and finish level the main drivers. The figures below come from cross-referencing MyJobQuote and Checkatrade.
Quick answer
UK painting and decorating cost 2026, fully done per room: small bedroom £250–£400, medium bedroom £350–£660, small living room £300–£530, large living room £500–£990, bathroom £150–£300, kitchen £250–£500, hall, stairs and landing £875–£1,330+. Day rate: £150–£250 outside London, £250–£350+ inside. Exterior masonry £8–£25/m². London adds 25–40% across the board.
How to read this guide#
Two kinds of figures appear below:
- Headline price ranges (per-room and per-m² rates, day rates, exterior, extras): cross-referenced against MyJobQuote's 2026 painting guide and Checkatrade's 2026 painter-decorator guide. Sources are listed at the bottom.
- Practical guidance (prep, paint choice, finish levels, regional variation, red flags): drawn from standard UK decorating practice. Useful for context but not cross-referenced figure-by-figure.
Headline ranges (verified)#
Interior, per room (prep, paint, two coats)#
| Room | Range |
|---|---|
| Bathroom (6–9m²) | £150 – £300 |
| Small bedroom (10–12m²) | £250 – £400 |
| Kitchen (10–15m²) | £250 – £500 |
| Small living room (12–16m²) | £300 – £530 |
| Medium bedroom (14–20m²) | £350 – £660 |
| Large living room (20–30m²) | £500 – £990 |
| Hall, stairs and landing (35–40m²) | £875 – £1,330+ |
London vs rest of UK (15m² room)#
| Finish | London | Rest of UK |
|---|---|---|
| Budget | £360 – £480 | £300 – £390 |
| Standard | £450 – £570 | £360 – £465 |
| Premium | £510 – £690 | £420 – £570 |
Exterior painting#
| Job | Range |
|---|---|
| Masonry per m² (national) | £8 – £25 |
| Masonry per m² (London) | £25 – £40 |
| Typical 3-bed semi (full exterior) | £1,500 – £3,500 |
Day rates and labour#
| Region | Day rate |
|---|---|
| Outside London (Midlands, North, Wales) | £150 – £250 |
| London and South-East | £250 – £350 |
| Premium painter-decorator | Up to £420 |
Materials (paint, per litre)#
| Paint type | Range per litre |
|---|---|
| Matt emulsion | £5 – £8 |
| Semi-gloss | £8 – £16 |
| Gloss / specialist | £12 – £25 |
| Typical room requirement | 7 – 17 litres |
Extras#
| Item | Range |
|---|---|
| Wallpaper removal (per room) | £250 – £350 |
| Patch plaster repair | £75 – £130 |
| Skirting painting only | ~£200 per room |
| Staircase painting | £350 – £450 |
| Full wall skim before paint | £150 – £200 |
Practical guidance (industry standard)#
Where the price comes from#
Four things move the price most:
- Room size and ceiling height. Bigger rooms take more paint and more labour. Tall ceilings (3m+) add scaffolding or hop-up time.
- Prep condition. Sound walls with minor filling cost the listed range. Walls with multiple layers of wallpaper, blown plaster, or heavy damage can double the labour time.
- Finish level. Budget is one or two coats over a quick prep. Standard is full prep and two coats. Premium is mist coat plus two finish coats with hand-cut detail and specialist paint.
- Paint specification. Trade emulsion is cheap and coverage is good. Designer paint (Farrow & Ball, Little Greene) costs 3–4x and often needs an extra coat for full opacity.
A "cheap" quote and a "dear" quote on the same room are often different finish levels, not the same job at two prices.
What the price should include#
A complete decorating quote should cover:
- Protection: dust sheets on floors, masking of windows and sockets, furniture moved or covered
- Prep: filling holes and cracks, sanding flat, caulking gaps, washing greasy areas
- Mist coat (diluted emulsion) on new plaster before full paint
- Two finish coats of the specified paint
- Cutting in around woodwork, ceilings, and sockets
- Cleaning brushes and the site at the end
It often does not cover:
- Removal and replacement of wallpaper
- Plastering repairs (filling cracks beyond a few mm)
- Painting woodwork (skirting, architrave, doors) if only walls are quoted
- Moving heavy furniture or built-ins
- Lifting and replacing carpet to paint skirting cleanly
- Specialist paints (anti-mould, heritage colours) without explicit upgrade
- Repairing damp or stain bleed beyond a spot prime
Why prep is the part to scrutinise#
The visible difference between a £350 paint job and a £600 paint job on the same room is almost always prep. A decorator who fills, sands, primes, and cuts in cleanly produces a finish that lasts 8–10 years. A decorator who rolls straight over imperfections produces a finish that shows defects within months.
A quote that lumps "prep and paint" together at a flat fee usually means the prep budget is whatever is left after the paint and labour are accounted for. If a quote feels low, that is where it has been cut. Ask for the prep scope explicitly: filling, sanding grade, caulking, mist coat, priming of stained patches.
Regional variation#
Painting prices vary by region, mostly on the labour side (paint is nationally priced):
- Inner London: ~25–40% above national
- Outer London / South-East: ~15–25% above
- Midlands and East: close to national
- North of England, Wales: ~10–15% below
- Northern Ireland, rural Scotland: ~10–20% below
For a medium bedroom costing £500 nationally, this means roughly £625–£700 in inner London and £425–£450 in the North.
Red flags in decorating quotes#
No prep allowance written down. "Paint the room" with no mention of filling, sanding, or masking will be done as quickly as possible. Imperfections show inside a year.
No paint specification. Brand, finish, and colour count matter. A quote priced for trade-grade emulsion that switches to Farrow & Ball at your request needs re-quoting, not absorbing as a favour.
One coat, not two. Two coats is standard for full coverage and durability. A single-coat quote is either incomplete or relying on a coloured plaster underneath that does not need full opacity.
Cash-only, no VAT. Decorators turning over £90,000+ a year must be VAT-registered. A larger job priced cash-only often signals an undeclared trader, no public liability insurance, or both.
No mention of furniture or carpet protection. Paint splatter and roller spray are inevitable. A quote silent on protection means a cleaning bill of its own.
Mist coat skipped on new plaster. Painting new plaster with full emulsion without a diluted mist coat first means the topcoat does not bond properly and can peel within months.
Suspiciously low day rate. A decorator quoting under £150 per day in 2026 is either uninsured, brand new, or a quick job that will need redoing.
Sequence of work on a typical room#
- Survey and quote. Decorator inspects walls, agrees finish level and paint spec.
- Protect and clear. Dust sheets down, sockets and skirting masked, furniture moved or covered.
- Prep. Holes filled, cracks raked and caulked, surfaces sanded, walls washed where greasy.
- Spot prime. Stains, water marks, and bare plaster patches primed to stop bleed-through.
- First coat. Walls cut in around edges, then rolled. Drying typically 2–4 hours between coats.
- Second coat. Final finish coat applied.
- Snag and tidy. Final inspection in good light, touch-ups, masking removed, site cleaned.
A standard 12m² bedroom is 1–2 days for one decorator. A hall, stairs and landing is 3–5 days because of the height and the cutting in around banisters.
Comparing your quote#
The reliable way to know if a decorating quote is fair is to check each line against the ranges above: room size and area, finish level, prep scope, paint specification, and day rate. The easier way is to paste your quote into Check the Quote, which compares every line against current UK rates for your postcode, flags anything above the fair range, and tells you what is missing. Your first project is free. For related interior work, see the plastering cost guide.
Got a quote you want checked?
Paste any UK contractor quote and Check the Quote compares every line item against current market rates, flags missing scope, and runs a Companies House check on the contractor. Free on your first project.
Frequently asked questions
- How much does it cost to paint a room in the UK in 2026?
- A small bedroom (10–12m²) costs £250–£400 in 2026, a medium bedroom £350–£660, and a large living room £500–£990, confirmed across MyJobQuote and Checkatrade. Costs include prep, paint, and labour for two coats in a standard finish. London and the South-East run roughly 25–40% above national.
- What is the average painter and decorator day rate?
- Painter-decorator day rates run £150–£250 outside London in 2026 and £250–£350 in London and the South-East. A full day is typically 7–8 hours. Day rates exclude materials (paint, fillers, masking tape), which add £40–£120 to a typical room depending on paint quality and coverage.
- How long does it take to paint a typical room?
- A standard 12m² bedroom takes 1–2 days for one decorator: half a day for prep (filling, sanding, masking, priming), then two coats over the next day with drying time between coats. A large room with high ceilings or feature walls can stretch to 3 days. Skimping on prep is the most common reason a job that "looked done" peels or shows defects within a year.
- How much does exterior painting cost?
- Exterior masonry painting costs £8–£25 per m² nationally and £25–£40 per m² in London. For a typical 3-bed semi, a full exterior repaint runs £1,500–£3,500 depending on access, height, and the condition of the existing surface. Scaffolding is usually a separate cost, often several hundred pounds or more by the week.
- Should I supply my own paint?
- Sometimes. If you have a specific brand or colour in mind, supplying your own gives you control and you pay trade price plus delivery. The downside is the decorator cannot warranty the finish if the paint underperforms. For straightforward repaints, letting the decorator supply is usually cheaper because they buy at trade rates and know how much coverage to allow for.
- How much does it cost to remove wallpaper?
- Wallpaper removal adds roughly £250–£350 per room in 2026, depending on how many layers are on the wall and how well it was hung. Old wallpaper hung directly onto unprimed plaster takes much longer than paper hung over lining paper. Removal is a separate line item; expect the decorator to flag what is underneath before quoting the repaint.
Last updated: 5 June 2026
Sources cross-referenced: