How much does it cost to paint a room?

These prices are for walls and ceiling, two coats, in reasonable condition, with standard trade paint included. Woodwork and heavy preparation are on top. They are the same room prices used when a decorator prices a whole house.

A small bedroom or box room is usually £200–£350. A medium or single bedroom is £250–£500. A large or double bedroom is £350–£700, and a living room is the same range. The wall area is similar, and living rooms often have more alcoves, a chimney breast and more cutting-in, so they sit towards the top of it.

A hallway, stairs and landing is £400–£800. It is usually the dearest space for its size, because working safely over a staircase needs a platform or a stair ladder and takes longer than a room with a flat floor.

A ceiling on its own is £80–£150 for an average room. Most of that is the setup: dust sheets, filling and cutting in. The painting itself does not take long.

The room prices above are walls and ceiling. Leaving the ceiling saves less than people expect, because the walls are most of the area and the setup happens either way. Painting only the ceiling is the £80–£150 job.

Woodwork is where the extra time goes. Skirting and architrave in an average room are typically £60–£120. A door, both sides and the frame, is £40–£80. A bedroom with the skirting, the architrave and one door is often £100–£200 on top of the walls and ceiling.

Old gloss that has to be sanded back, window sills and a lot of glazing bars cost more. Ask for the woodwork as its own line. A walls-only quote and a full-room quote are different jobs, and they should not be compared as if they were the same.

On a typical room, labour is the larger part of the price. Materials for an average room in a standard trade emulsion are often £30–£100: usually one or two 5 litre tins, often £15–£40 a tin depending on the range, plus filler, caulk and masking. A strong colour change, or a large room, can need another tin. A tin of eggshell or satin for the woodwork is often a further £15–£40.

The room totals in the table already include standard emulsion. The materials figure is the split, not something to add on top, unless the decorator is quoting labour only because you are supplying the paint. If you are buying it, ask for that labour-only price in writing so you are not charged for paint as well.

Most of a day rate of £150–£250 is time, not paint. A cheap tin that covers poorly still takes the same labour to put on. Keep a note of the exact brand and colour if you want a matching tin later.

Many self-employed decorators are not VAT-registered, so there is nothing to add. A firm that is registered adds 20%. If the quote does not say which, ask.

A painter and decorator in the UK typically charges £150–£250 a day, or £20–£35 an hour for a small job, usually with a half-day minimum. In London and the South East, £200–£300 a day is common. Elsewhere, £140–£200 is often the local rate.

For one defined room, ask for a fixed price. A day rate suits several rooms, or work you are still deciding. Agree what a day means, usually about eight hours on site, and how a part day is charged.

A straightforward small bedroom is often finished in a day. Two coats still need drying time, so it may be one visit, a gap, and a short return rather than a single block. A medium bedroom is usually one to two days. A large bedroom or living room is one to two days, towards two if the walls are poor or the woodwork is included. A hall, stairs and landing is commonly two to four days.

That return visit for the second coat should be in the price. It is not an extra day. Day rates for a whole house, and exterior work, are in the painter and decorator cost guide.

The condition of the walls matters more than the floor area. Sound walls that need a light sand and two coats are quick. Cracks to fill, flaking paint, stains and old wallpaper adhesive are where the hours go. A price from a photograph is a guess. A price after someone has stood in the room is not.

Colours matter too. One colour on the walls, white on the ceiling and white woodwork is faster than several finishes, because every change means cutting in, and cutting in is the slow part.

Height and access push the price up. Stairwells cost more than a flat room of the same wall area. So does working around furniture you have left in place.

New plaster needs a thinned mist coat before the finish coats, or the paint can peel. Damp has to be fixed first. Paint will not hide it, and a quote that says it will is the one to treat carefully.

You can get close without a site visit, then use the quotes to check it.

1. Pick the size band. Small bedroom £200–£350, medium bedroom £250–£500, large bedroom or living room £350–£700, hall stairs and landing £400–£800.

2. Add woodwork if you want it: £60–£120 for skirting and architrave, and £40–£80 per door.

3. If the walls are in poor condition, expect the top of the band, or about another day at £150–£250.

Example: a medium bedroom, walls and ceiling, plus skirting and one door. Room £250–£500, skirting £60–£120, door £40–£80. About £350–£700, with standard paint included.

On BidMyJob you can post the room size, what is included and a photo, and local decorators bid, so you see a price for your room rather than a national average.

Clear the room yourself. Move what you can, take down curtains and pictures, and fill the hooks you no longer want. A decorator's day rate is the wrong price for carrying a wardrobe.

Wash the walls, and do the obvious filling if you are happy to. Leave anything you are unsure about.

Stick to one wall colour. Doing the ceiling and the woodwork in the same visit is better value than calling someone back, but a feature colour costs time.

If more than one room needs painting, book them together. Setup happens once, which is why a whole house costs less per room than the same rooms booked separately.

Get two or three quotes against the same written list: number of coats, whether the ceiling is in, whether the woodwork is in, what preparation is included, and who buys the paint.