Painter and Decorator Day Rates in the UK: What to Charge in 2026

What is the average painter and decorator day rate in the UK?

A self-employed painter and decorator in the UK typically charges between £150 and £350 a day for labour in 2026, with a national midpoint in the low £200s. London and the South East run higher, commonly £250 to £650. These figures are for labour only. Paint, primer and filler are usually a separate line on the quote.

You will often see a single average quoted, somewhere around £325 a day. Treat it with care. Those headline averages tend to be pulled upward by London and by more established sole traders. For a decorator working across much of the Midlands, the North or the rest of the country, £150 to £220 a day is well within normal. An average is a blend of very different situations, which is exactly why the next section matters more than the number itself.

Ranges from industry rate surveys, July 2026. Labour only; materials charged separately.

Why do the day rates vary so much?

The main reason day rates scatter so widely is that "day rate" hides who is doing the pricing. An employed decorator, a self-employed sole trader and a limited company all quote very differently for the same day of work, because their costs and their tax positions are different. On top of that sit experience and region. Once you separate those out, the spread makes sense.

Start with the three positions. An employed decorator works for a firm and is paid a wage; they do not set a customer-facing day rate at all, the firm does. A self-employed sole trader is the most common independent decorator, and sets a day rate that has to cover tools, van, insurance, all the non-billable time and their own take-home. A limited company carries higher overheads and a different tax position, so its day rate is typically higher again. Then layer experience on top: an apprentice, a newly qualified decorator and one with years behind them are not charging the same money. And then region, which is big enough to have its own section below.

Indicative ranges from industry earnings surveys, 2026. Before any London premium.

This is the honest reason two quotes for the same job can differ by hundreds of pounds. It is often not one decorator overcharging and another being cheap. It is a newly qualified sole trader and an established limited company pricing the same day of work from very different cost bases.

How much is a painter and decorator's hourly rate?

An hourly rate splits the same way as the day rate. A qualified, employed decorator earns roughly £15 to £22 an hour on recommended craft rates. For a self-employed decorator, industry surveys suggest £25 to £40 an hour, reflecting the costs an employee does not carry. Most decorators price the day or the whole job rather than the hour.

The useful way to think about an hourly rate is that, for a self-employed decorator, it is usually the day rate divided by the hours in a day, not a separate figure. Pure hourly billing is awkward in decorating, because so much of the day is preparation and waiting for coats to dry. An hour spent sanding and filling is worth the same as an hour spent rolling paint, but a customer watching the clock does not always see it that way. That is why most established decorators quote a day rate for anything longer than a few hours, and a fixed price for a whole job. The hourly rate earns its place on small, quick work: a single door, a ceiling, a touch-up.

How much more do London and the South East charge?

London and the South East typically add 25 to 45 per cent to a decorator's day rate compared with the rest of the country. That is not decorators charging more for the sake of it. It reflects real, higher costs: congestion and clean-air charges, parking, higher insurance, more travel time between jobs, and property that often calls for more demanding finishes.

A decorator working in the capital carries costs a decorator in a smaller town does not. A ULEZ or congestion charge, a daily parking permit, longer drives between jobs that eat into billable hours, and steeper insurance all feed into the day rate before a brush is lifted. So a London quote set against a quote from a smaller town will usually look very different, and most of that gap is overheads and the market, not one decorator being greedy. If you are pricing work in the South East, make sure your rate carries those costs rather than quietly absorbing them.

Day rate, hourly, or a fixed price per job. Which should you use?

For most residential decorating, a fixed price for the whole job is the standard. You work it out from your day rate multiplied by the days the job will take, plus materials. A day rate suits repeat clients and ongoing or commercial work. An hourly rate suits small, quick jobs. Each has its place, and the fixed price is what most customers prefer.

A fixed price gives the customer certainty, which is what most of them want. They do not want the clock anxiety of an hourly rate if a wall takes longer to prepare than expected. You still work the fixed price out from the same day rate: estimate the days honestly, including prep and drying, multiply by your day rate, add materials, and that is your quote. As a rule of thumb, an average room takes one to two days end to end, including filling, sanding, priming, two coats and the woodwork. Bigger or more complex work, high ceilings, heavy prep, wallpapering, takes longer, and a decorator giving you a realistic timeline is a good sign, not a slow one.

What should your day rate actually cover?

Your day rate has to cover more than the hours on the brush. It covers your take-home pay, but also the costs of being self-employed: tools and replacing them, the van and fuel, insurance, and the days you are not earning, admin days, quoting evenings, holidays and quiet spells. Materials sit on top, as a separate line.

The mistake that catches decorators out is pricing the day as if every working day is billable. It is not. Time spent quoting, doing the books, chasing materials and the weeks that go quiet all have to be paid for by the days you do work, and a day rate that only covers your wage for the hours on site will not keep the business going. Keep materials as a separate line on the quote, with your markup shown or built in, so that if a paint price moves it is easy to adjust and easy to justify to the customer.