The prices in this cost guide are accurate as of 2024*
Hiring a painter and decorator is one of the easiest ways to give your home a new lease of life. A fresh lick of paint can go far in making your home seem brand new again, and is a generally cheaper option than a lot of other decoration projects. It can also be the starting point to changing your home’s style if you’re thinking of going for a different colour scheme.
If you want to get your home painted, this house painting price guide will help you understand how much you might end up paying. Keep in mind that the prices in this guide are only a general range.
Several factors can affect how much you’ll end up spending, such as:
- Where you live in the UK, with cost of labour rising by as much as 20% more on average if you live in London and the South East
- The size of the space being painted
- The condition and age of your property (which can lead to extra prep work)
- The quality of paint
If your painter and decorator has to remove old wallpaper, plaster your walls before painting, or paint at a height (such as high ceilings) then this is all likely to create additional costs.
Ready to get started? Request a quote today to find a skilled painter and decorator in your local area.
How much does a painter and decorator cost?
Below, we break down how much it costs to hire a professional painter and decorator in the UK, with prices based on hourly and day rates, as well as a range of room and property sizes.
They do not include VAT or any prep work that might raise costs, but do include both the cost of labour and the cost of paint and supplies.
It’s important that you understand fully what your project involves before you get started, including how much you’ll have to spend on priming, patching or repair work to prep your walls for a new layer of paint. Ask your tradesperson to break down the project for you and to outline how long it will take to complete so that you can fully understand the scope of the work.
More experienced and specialised painter and decorators may charge higher rates than those listed below.
How much does a painter and decorator charge per hour?
You might want to hire a painter on an hourly basis if you have a small project. It’s a good idea to ask the professional you’re hiring to give you an estimate for how many hours it will take them to complete your project, so you can get a sense of how much you’ll end up spending.
In the UK, the average hourly rate for a painter and decorator is between £20 and £50. Not including the cost of materials, hourly rates are typically between £15 and £40 per hour.
How much is a painter and decorator per day?
Hiring your painter on a daily basis offers you flexibility in terms of the number of days your painter will work, based on your schedule and needs.
Day rates for a painter and decorator in the UK range from £150 to £400 a day. Not including the cost of paint and materials, daily rates are typically between £100 and £250.
Speak to a painter today to get a more accurate quote for your project:
How much do painters charge per room?
How much you might pay for a painter and decorator will depend largely on the size of the room you want painted:
- A small room, such as a bathroom (up to 100 square feet) could cost anywhere from £250 to £450.
- A medium-sized room, such as a bedroom (around 100-200 square feet) could cost anywhere from £350 to £750.
- A large room, such as a living room (over 200 square feet) could cost anywhere from £650 to upwards of £1,200.
This does not include the cost of preparation work that can raise the overall quote considerably. For instance, a 3m x 5m room could cost you about £1,000 to paint (including ceilings) if you include the cost of preparing existing surfaces and paint internal walls, architraves, skirting boards and door linings. A slightly smaller room (3m x 4m) with the same prep work, might cost you £940. It all depends on the specific requirements of your project.
Make sure you check your painter’s credentials and experience before you hire them, as well as reviews from previous clients.
Cost to paint a house
These quotes include all internal painting of walls and hallways, but exclude VAT:
| Size of property | Average cost |
| 2-bedroom home | £2,500-£5,000 |
| 3-bedroom home | £3,500-£7,500 |
| 4-bedroom home | £4,500-£9,500 |
| 5-bedroom home | £5,500-£13,000 |
How much you’ll spend will really depend on the quality of paint you want, and what condition your walls are in. Where you live in the UK will also impact on cost of labour. For a more accurate sense of painter and decorator prices in 2023, speak to a local painter and decorator in your area today.
How much does it cost to wallpaper a room?
How much it will cost you to wallpaper a room depends predominately on what wallpaper you choose to buy, as rolls vary considerably in price. On average, wallpaper costs anywhere from £10 per roll to upwards of £50 per roll, but luxury wallpaper can cost a lot more.
For a small room, such as a bathroom, you might need between 2 and 3 rolls, whereas a large room could require upwards of 8. For a medium-sized room, 5 rolls should be enough.
You then need to pair this cost with the cost of hiring a painter and decorator to wallpaper the room for you. This could cost you anywhere from £150 to £350 or more, depending on the size of your room and where you live in the UK.
Exterior painting costs
You might also want to get the outside of your home painted. How much you’ll spend on external painting depends on where you live, how easy the walls being painted are to access and the condition of your outside walls.
As a general guide, here are a range of average prices for external painting according to property size:
| Size of property | Average cost |
| 2-bedroom house | £3,000-£6,000 |
| 3-bedroom house | £4,000-£8,000 |
| 4-bedroom house | £5,000-£10,000 |
| 5-bedroom house | £6,000-£13,000 |
For a more accurate quote, speak to a skilled painter and decorator today.
Is it worth getting a professional painter?
Although you can definitely paint and decorate your home yourself, it’s unlikely that you’ll get the professional looking finish that a skilled painter would provide. Painting and decorating, especially large areas or even your entire home, is hard work. Hiring an expert will save you time and effort, and will ensure the work is completed to a high standard.
A painter will give you useful advice on what colours and styles to choose for your home. They’ll also come with all the right brushes, dust sheets and other tools, which you would otherwise have to buy for yourself. Lastly, they’ll know how to prep your walls and surfaces to ensure the best results, and will also clean up afterwards.
Painting your home gives it a fresh new look, but only if the work is carried out properly and to a high standard! Give yourself peace of mind by hiring a skilled painter to paint your home for you.
How to choose the right paint colour for a room
Need help choosing paint colours? Have a think about…
- Matching colour with mood. The paint colour you choose should pair well with your room’s function. For example, soothing colours like a soft blue or neutrals would work well with a bedroom, whereas you might want something more vibrant (like an orange or a bright green) for your living room.
- Make sure your choice doesn’t clash with your furniture. Think about whether your room has a dominant piece of décor in a specific colour that you might want to compliment through your choice of paint. This will ensure your walls harmonises with your interior design, flooring and other décor compliment your freshly painted walls.
- How much light does your room have? Lighting affects how colours appear. If your room has a lot of windows and natural light, this will enhance colours that will otherwise take on a different appearance under artificial light. Consider this when choosing your paints!
- Test colours with paint samples. Before you commit to a colour, testing samples can help you choose the perfect shade. Test them on an area of your wall will allow you to see your chosen colours at different times of day and with different lighting.
- How big is your room? Darker colours add depth and cosiness to big rooms whilst lighter shades can make a small space seem bigger.
Lastly, we recommend you look for inspiration online, focusing on the colour palettes of rooms with a similar style and size to yours.
How to save money on painting your house
Hoping to paint your home on a budget? Follow the below tips to cut back on costs and save money:
- Always ask for several quotes so you can compare prices and choose an option that fits your budget, but without impacting on quality. You can speak to skilled painter and decorators here.
- Only paint the most important rooms, such as bedrooms and living areas. This will cut down on costs, and you can always paint less important rooms at a later date.
- DIY or partial DIY. If you’re confident with a paintbrush, save money hiring a painter by doing it yourself! Or, you could always do a partial DIY by prepping your walls yourself and leaving the painting to the experts. This could include removing old wallpaper, sanding, or filling minor cracks.
- Buy paint during sales, or consider paint reuse schemes that allow you to buy used paint for as little as £2 a litre.
- Avoid buying more paint than you actually need by using an online paint calculator that predicts how much paint you’ll need for your project.
And always hire top quality tradespeople, as this will avoid you spending more money on costly repairs further down the line.
Conclusions
How much painting or wallpapering your home will cost really depends on the size of the space, your choice of materials and where you live in the UK, with cost of labour rising in London and the South East by as much as 20% on average. For a more accurate quote, let us know what you have in mind and speak to a professional painter and decorator today.
What are you waiting for? It’s time to give your home a makeover!
*The Rated People cost guides are produced in collaboration with the quote-building platform PriceBuilder, and a range of tradespeople across the 30+ trades on our platform were consulted. Please note that the prices included are for guidance only – how much you end up spending will depend on the specific requirements of your project.
