Painter costs

Paying too much for your painting project: you don’t want that. So find out about painting costs first. Read in this article the average painting costs per project and also check the handy tips for finding a painter with the best price-quality ratio.

What does a painter cost?

When you are looking for a painter, you are naturally curious about the costs. Most commonly, a painter will charge a price per m2 or an hourly rate. This price often starts at £30 and increases as the difficulty of the project increases. If you have a large painting project, a total price is also possible. In most cases, materials such as paint and brushes are included in the costs.

Look at the average painting costs in the cost overview below.

The VAT rate on painting
Is your home more than 2 years old? Then you are not subject to 21% VAT, but to the reduced VAT rate of 9% on painting costs. That’s a nice bonus. Read all about the VAT on painting in the article VAT painting.

Price examples

In the price table above you will find the average cost per m2 and per hour. What does this mean for the total price? To give you a better idea of the average cost of your painting project, below are three price examples. Keep in mind that precise work takes more time and is therefore often more expensive, even if it is a small area.

Most commonly chosen painting:
For projects such as having all the window frames on the inside of the house painted, the painting costs are on average £1,800.

Painting on large areas:
Are you looking for a house painter to whitewash your ceiling? For a 30 m2 ceiling, the cost quickly comes to £600, including paint and materials.

Detailed painting:
Having two staircases, each with 14 steps, painted will cost an average of £600 to £800 per staircase including paint and materials.

Price structure of painting costs

What options affect painting costs?

Every painter has his own rates. Are you looking for a cheap painter or is quality most important to you and is price secondary to that? Whatever your preference: get painting quotes to easily find out which painter best suits your needs. Compare various painters and their costs. For example, there are interior, exterior and winter painters.

Option 1: Interior painter

As you could read earlier, an interior painter costs an average of £30 to £35 per m2 or the professional charges an average hourly rate of £35 to £40. For detailed painting work, a price per hour is usually charged and for large surfaces a price per m2. Below are common prices for five of the most frequently painted surfaces in the house.

For large surfaces, you have a choice of two different painting techniques: sauce work or spray painting. Spraying costs between £10 and £16 per m2 and spraying between £6 and £12 per m2. These prices include labour and two coats of paint. If you need more than the usual two coats in your home, this increases the cost.

Option 2: Outdoor painter

An outdoor painter costs slightly more than an indoor painter, partly because an outdoor painter uses special paint and needs more materials, such as scaffolding or aerial work platforms. An exterior painter costs on average £35 to £40 per m2 or between £40 and £50 per hour. However, exterior painters often charge a total price for the whole house.

You can also opt for a maintenance contract for your painting work. The prices below are averages, so the total price for your house may differ slightly.

Option 3: Winter painter

A winter painter is a more economical option, as many painters offer an attractive discount in winter to fill the quiet winter period. This is because most people get their homes painted in spring or summer. On average, many winter painters offer a discount of between 10% and 20% on labour in winter.

The quality of winter painting is no different from regular painting, as it involves working with special paints for low temperatures. However, keep in mind that work cannot be carried out during frost or precipitation.

Option 4: Buy your own paint

Finally, you can choose to buy your own paint instead of having a painter do it for you. For example, because you have a special shade in mind or want to use a specific brand. The table below shows common paint prices per litre and the surface that can be painted with it.

* Keep in mind that outdoor painting requires special paints suitable for low temperatures. Moreover, you can paint with this type of paint less m2 than with indoor paint.

If you think you need more than two coats of opaque paint, you would be wise to have primer applied first. Also keep in mind that more expensive paint contains more pigment than cheaper paint and therefore covers better. In short, think carefully about what is important to you before buying paint. Besides standard paints, you also have the choice of speciality paints. Below are the costs for the three most common types.