DATA-BACKED GUIDE · UPDATED JULY 2026
Painting and decorating cost in the UK: per room and whole house
Painting and decorating looks straightforward, but the price swings a lot depending on prep, ceiling height and the state of the walls. A single room is one thing, a whole house is another, and most of the cost is time on the brush rather than the paint. The real prices below come from actual prices so you can budget room by room or for the lot.
The quick version
- Most of the cost is labour and prep, not the paint itself.
- Filling, sanding and priming tired walls can take longer than the painting.
- Whole-house work is often cheaper per room than a one-off single room.
- A VAT registered decorator adds 20% VAT to labour and materials, so check the quote.
What people actually paid
Real prices, in people's own words
- £1,000“We paid about £1000 for hallway and landings up two flights of stairs one large bedroom and one bathroom ( including woodwork) Northwest.”
- £1,550“The work took 4 days and cost £1550.”
- £2,000“We've paid just over £2k for living room, hall stairs and landing, lots of doors. About 10 days work”
- £2,000“he's invoiced £2,000 as there were a couple of extras”
- £10,000“We recently paid £10K for four weeks' work (2 men).”
Genuine amounts posted publicly. We publish the price and the quote, never the person.
Why the price varies so much
The price of decorating is driven by preparation far more than by the number of walls. Smooth, sound walls get a couple of coats and they are done. Cracked plaster, flaky old paint, woodchip coming off or damp patches all need filling, sanding, stripping or stain-blocking first, and that prep is where the hours go. High ceilings and stairwells need access equipment and slow things down. The finish you want matters too, because a flat matt wall is quick, while gloss woodwork, feature walls or wallpaper is fussier. Doing the whole house in one go usually works out better per room than calling someone back for a single space. The gap between the price of a few tins and the finished, cut-in, properly prepped result is where people underestimate.
How to pay less
- Do the simple prep yourself where you can, like clearing rooms, filling small holes and rubbing down.
- Book several rooms or the whole house together rather than one at a time, which usually costs less per room.
- Get three written quotes and check whether paint is supplied by you or the decorator.
- Pick standard colours and finishes, since bold or dark shades often need an extra coat and more time.
Common questions
Is it cheaper to paint the whole house at once?
Usually yes, per room. A decorator already set up on site with equipment out can move room to room efficiently, so the rate per room tends to fall compared with a single one-off room. The real prices below show the difference between the two.
Why is the paint such a small part of the cost?
Because decorating is mostly labour. Prep, cutting in, multiple coats and drying time between them all take hours, and the tins are a modest slice of that. Walls that need heavy filling or stripping push the labour up well beyond the cost of the materials.
Do decorators charge VAT?
If they are VAT registered, yes, 20% VAT is added to labour and any materials they supply. A smaller sole trader below the threshold may not charge it. Ask whether the quote includes VAT so you are comparing on equal terms.