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Painting Cost Calculator UK

Get a 2026 UK painting cost estimate in 30 seconds. Interior or exterior, per-room or whole-house — priced by area, paint quality, surface condition and region. No email required.

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Interior painting costs in the UK (2026)Typical installed prices by option — 2026 — Source: BestBuilders.co.uk · typical UK prices 2026 · excludes VAT & access variances Interior painting costs in the UK (2026) Typical installed prices by option — 2026 £0 £2k £5k £8k £10k Single room (standard) 30 m2 · Dulux/Crown £440–£640 Three rooms (standard) 90 m2 · Dulux/Crown £1.3k–£1.9k Whole 3-bed (standard) 240 m2 · Dulux/Crown £3.5k–£5.1k Whole 3-bed (premium) 240 m2 · Farrow & Ball, 3 coat £5.1k–£7.4k Source: BestBuilders.co.uk · typical UK prices 2026 · excludes VAT & access variances BestBuilders.co.uk
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Estimate Your Painting Cost

4 steps. Includes prep, two coats and materials. Premium tier adds a third coat and meticulous prep.

Methodology

How This Calculator Works

We multiply the per-m² rate for your paint quality by the area, then apply a surface-condition factor and a regional labour multiplier. A worked example: a 90m² three-room job at the £18/m² standard rate is about £1,620 at the Midlands baseline; mark the walls as poor condition and the ×1.50 factor lifts that to roughly £2,430 before any London uplift, because cracked, patchy or previously papered walls need filling, sanding and priming before the first coat goes on. That prep is the single biggest swing in any decorating quote – the pitfall is choosing on paint brand alone and ending up with two thin coats over unprepared plaster that flash and peel within a year. If the walls need making good first, our plastering cost guide covers skim and patch rates, and our wallpapering cost guide helps if you are papering rather than painting a feature wall.

Per-m² Rates (prep + 2 coats + materials)

  • Budget — £14/m² (trade paint, basic prep)
  • Standard — £18/m² (Dulux/Crown, full prep)
  • Premium — £26/m² (Farrow & Ball, 3 coats)
  • Fair condition ×1.20 · Poor condition ×1.50

Rough areas: 1 room ≈ 30m², 3 rooms ≈ 90m², whole house ≈ 240m².

Regional Multipliers

  • London 1.28× · South East 1.14× · South West 1.05×
  • East of England 1.08× · Midlands 1.00× (baseline)
  • North West 0.93× · North / Yorkshire 0.92×
  • Wales 0.94× · Scotland 0.96× · NI 0.88×

Low/high band is ±18% around the mid estimate. A firm price follows a site visit.

Typical Interior Painting Costs (2026)

Prep + 2 coats + materials, Midlands baseline (±18%), good wall condition.

ScopeArea / paintCost range
Single room (standard)30 m² · Dulux/Crown£440–£640
Three rooms (standard)90 m² · Dulux/Crown£1,330–£1,910
Whole 3-bed interior (standard)240 m² · Dulux/Crown£3,540–£5,100
Whole 3-bed interior (premium)240 m² · Farrow & Ball, 3 coats£5,120–£7,360

These figures power the calculator above — enter your own spec for a tailored estimate. For the full breakdown, read our complete cost guide.

Painting Costs at a Glance: 2026 Visual Guide

Room size drives a decorating quote far more than anything else. At the standard £18/m² rate — full prep, two coats of Dulux or Crown and materials included — a compact box room comes in around £360, while a hallway, stairs and landing tops £800 thanks to stairwell access and all that extra cutting-in. The double bedroom, at roughly 30 m² of walls and ceiling, is the classic single-room job most people are pricing.

Bar chart: cost to paint a single room in the UK in 2026 — box room £360, kitchen £450, double bedroom £540, living room £720, hall stairs and landing £810 Cost to Paint a Single Room (2026) Standard spec at £18/m² — prep, two coats and materials · good condition · Midlands baseline Box room ≈20 m² walls + ceiling £360 Kitchen ≈25 m² (less wall, more edges) £450 Double bedroom ≈30 m² walls + ceiling £540 Living room ≈40 m² walls + ceiling £720 Hall, stairs & landing ≈45 m², high stairwell £810 Double bedroom — the typical answer to “how much to paint a room?”
Typical single-room costs at the standard £18/m² rate (Dulux/Crown, prep + two coats + materials). The calculator’s ±18% band applies — a 30 m² room spans £440–£640.

Most homeowners assume the roller does the work; decorators know the finish is made before the lid comes off. On a typical two-coat room repaint, filling, sanding and caulking swallow around a third of the day — rising towards half on tired walls — which is why a £540 bedroom quote is never “just painting”. Here is where a professional’s time actually goes.

Diagram: room cross-section showing where a decorator’s time goes — prep 35%, walls 25%, ceiling 15%, woodwork 15%, cutting-in 10% What a Decorator’s Day Covers Typical share of job time on a standard two-coat room repaint CEILING Ceiling — ~15% of time Always painted first, before the walls Cutting-in — ~10% Brushwork at ceiling lines, corners and around every frame and socket Walls — ~25% Two full roller coats of emulsion Prep — ~35%, the biggest share Filling, sanding, caulking gaps, spot-priming and sheeting up — 30–50% of labour on tired walls Woodwork — ~15% Skirting, door frames and doors in satin or gloss Share of a typical day (100%): Prep 35% Walls 25% Ceiling 15% Woodwork 15% Cut-in 10%
Typical time split on a standard two-coat room repaint in good condition. Prep runs 30–50% of the labour, so poor surfaces (the calculator’s ×1.5 tier) shift the whole day towards filling and sanding.

For a whole-house interior, budget from the same standard £18/m² rate: a 2-bed flat sits around £2,700, a 3-bed semi £3,540–£5,100, and a 4-bed detached up to £6,800. Empty properties go faster — no furniture shuffling between rooms — while the premium Farrow & Ball spec with a third coat lifts a 3-bed interior to £5,120–£7,360.

Bar chart: whole-house interior repaint cost 2026 — 2-bed flat about £2,700, 3-bed semi £3,540 to £5,100, 4-bed detached up to £6,800 Whole-House Interior Repaint by House Size (2026) Standard Dulux/Crown, prep + two coats · solid bar = typical · line = ±18% range £2,000 £4,000 £6,000 £2,700 £4,320 £5,760 £2,210–£3,190 £3,540–£5,100 £4,720–£6,800 2-bed flat ≈150 m² walls & ceilings 3-bed semi ≈240 m² walls & ceilings 4-bed detached ≈320 m² walls & ceilings
Mid-point estimates at the standard £18/m² spec; whiskers show the calculator’s ±18% band. London typically runs ~28% higher and North/Yorkshire ~8% lower — set your region in the calculator above.
Regional Variation

Painting Cost by UK Region (2026)

The same job costs more in London and the South East and less in the North, Wales and Scotland, mostly through labour rates. The table shows BestBuilders’ 2026 regional cost model — national cost guides adjusted by a regional labour index and averaged across the towns in each region — for the main painting job types.

RegionWhole-house interior repaintHouse exterior paintWallpapering per room
South Wales£1,300–£3,100£1,600–£3,950£300–£750
North East£1,300–£3,100£1,600–£3,950£300–£750
Merseyside & North Wales£1,300–£3,100£1,600–£3,950£300–£750
North West£1,400–£3,200£1,650–£4,150£320–£780
North Scotland£1,400–£3,200£1,650–£4,150£320–£780
South West£1,400–£3,200£1,650–£4,150£320–£780
South Scotland£1,400–£3,200£1,650–£4,150£320–£780
Yorkshire£1,400–£3,200£1,650–£4,150£320–£780
East Midlands£1,500–£3,500£1,800–£4,500£350–£850
West Midlands£1,500–£3,500£1,800–£4,500£350–£850
Eastern£1,600–£3,800£1,950–£4,850£380–£920
Southern£1,600–£3,800£1,950–£4,850£380–£920
South East£1,800–£4,200£2,150–£5,400£420–£1,000
London£2,000–£4,600£2,400–£5,950£450–£1,100

Indicative ranges, not quotes: your own price depends on specification, access and the installer’s workload. Get three itemised quotes to pin your figure down.

First-hand demand data

What homeowners asked us for — Painting & Decorating (last 90 days)

661 homeowners started a quote request for painting & decorating through the BestBuilders quote tool between 9 Jun – 7 Sep 2026, UK-wide. These are their own answers to the tool’s questions, aggregated and anonymised — not a model, not an estimate.

What type of property is this for?

  • 73% House
  • 21% Flat or Apartment
  • 2% Commercial Property
  • 4% Other

295 answers

How many bedrooms does the property have?

  • 46% 3 bedrooms
  • 23% 4 bedrooms
  • 18% 2 bedrooms
  • 7% 5 or more bedrooms

191 answers

Which of the following do you require?

  • 59% Painting only
  • 21% External painting
  • 11% Painting and decorating
  • 4% Decorating only

159 answers

Do you require wallpaper?

  • 94% No
  • 4% Not sure
  • 2% Yes

142 answers

Where the enquiries came from

  • 26% London
  • 19% North West
  • 12% Yorkshire and The Humber
  • 10% South East
  • 10% North East

42 completed enquiries with a postcode we could place (ONS region)

Source: BestBuilders quote-tool answers, 9 Jun – 7 Sep 2026. Percentages are of the homeowners who answered each question; figures update daily. See the UK homeowner demand index for every trade.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does painting and decorating cost in 2026?

Interior painting is roughly £14–£26 per m² in 2026 depending on paint quality. A single room runs £400–£700, three rooms £1,200–£2,000, and a whole 3-bed house interior £3,500–£6,000. A 3-bed semi exterior is £2,500–£5,000. What separates a £400 room from a £700 one is almost never the paint – it is the preparation. Filling cracks, sanding, caulking gaps, priming bare or patchy walls and cutting in around coving all take time, and a proper decorator prices that in while a cheap quote often does not, which is why the finish fails within a year. Two coats of a durable trade emulsion over prepared walls is the standard; woodwork and ceilings, high stairwells and heavy colour changes add labour on top. Ask each decorator to spell out the number of coats, the prep included and the paint brand and finish – our painting and decorating cost guide breaks those elements down room by room so you can compare like with like.

Why is exterior painting more expensive?

Exterior work needs scaffolding or a cherry picker (£200–£1,500), weatherproof masonry paint (3–4× the cost of emulsion), more prep such as crack filling, sealing and priming, and is weather-dependent. A typical 3-bed semi exterior repaint is £2,500–£5,000.

Does surface condition change the price?

Yes — prep is 30–50% of the labour. Good walls need only minor touch-ups; fair walls need some filling and sanding (about 20% more); poor walls with heavy filling or peeling paint can add 50%.

How long does painting take?

A single room takes 1–2 days, three rooms 3–5 days, a whole-house interior 7–14 days and a 3-bed semi exterior 5–10 days (weather-dependent). Premium prep and a third coat add 30–50% to the time.

Are your decorators vetted?

Yes — every painter and decorator we match you with is vetted, and you get up to three quotes to compare on the same scope.

How accurate is this painting cost calculator?

It gives a guide from 2026 UK decorating rates for the rooms or areas you select, not a fixed quote. Actual cost depends on wall condition, number of coats, ceiling height, the amount of prep and cutting-in, and access. A decorator confirms the price after seeing the surfaces, which can raise or lower the figure.

What does the painting estimate include and exclude?

The figure covers labour, standard trade paint, basic filling and sanding, and dust sheets, with VAT where applicable. It usually excludes premium or specialist paints, extensive replastering, wallpaper stripping, woodwork repairs, high-level access equipment and moving furniture. If you supply your own paint the labour-only price changes, so a quote itemises what is included.

Why might a painting quote differ from the calculator?

The calculator assumes sound walls needing normal prep. On site, a decorator may add for cracked or damp plaster, multiple coats over dark colours, stairwells needing scaffold towers, detailed woodwork or coving, and exterior weather delays. London day rates run higher, so treat the estimate as a budget guide before requesting firm quotes.
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Reviewed by the BestBuilders editorial team · Last updated: 7 September 2026 · Next scheduled review: December 2026 · See our editorial standards.