Stop pricing from a guess. Work out what your costs and tax demand, for any of 17 UK trades.
- Choose your trade.
- Set your take home pay.
- Choose your town.
- Get your day rate.
- Trades covered
- 17
- Town rates in each
- 31
- Rate sources
- 5
- Tax year built in
- 2026/27
The Decorator Rate Book
It turns your day rate into quotes, invoices and the tax put by, job after job.
- Your year on one screen: owed to you now, and the taxman's share of it
- 100 jobs from priced to paid, each with the tax to set aside
- Travel at the HMRC mileage rate, extras priced by the clock, and what a discount costs
- Quote and invoice that fill themselves in from the job you priced
- All 31 town rates for your trade, and the script for raising yours
| Day rate | £256 |
|---|---|
| Days on site | 4 |
| Labour | £1,024 |
| Materials | £216 |
| Travel | £59 |
| You quote | £1,299 |
- Instant digital download
- Works in Excel and Google Sheets
- Secure checkout when it opens
Decorator day rates by town
These are decorator rates. Tap a town to open its full local guide.
The calculator has rates for all 17 trades in all 31 towns.
Showing all 31 towns
No town matches that search. Try a nearby town.
Quotable
Rates reviewed October 2026Tax figures reviewed July 2026
Where the numbers come from
Official data, town by town, and tax that is calculated not guessed.
Every town rate is modelled from official data, not a handful of survey replies.
It starts from your trade's national day rate, built from UK directories, and adds local earnings and house prices.
Tax uses Income Tax and Class 4 National Insurance at 2026/27 sole trader rates, not a flat percentage.
- ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2025
- UK House Price Index, April 2026
- Published day rates from Checkatrade, HaMuch, MyBuilder, CostEstimator, MyJobQuote
- gov.uk Income Tax rates and allowances
- gov.uk National Insurance rates for the self employed
- gov.scot Scottish Budget, January 2026
Hiring a decorator? See what a fair price looks like.
Decorator rates, answered
How do I work out my day rate?
Add the take home you want, your yearly business costs and the tax on your profit.
Divide that total by the days you can actually bill, not every working day.
On the decorator defaults that is £51,240 over 200 billable days, or £256 a day.
The calculator above runs the same sum on your own figures.
Is £200 a day a good rate for a decorator?
It depends where you work.
Our modelled rates run from £160 a day in Sunderland to £249 a day in London.
£200 is above the typical £160 in Sunderland and under the typical £249 in London.
Run the calculator above to see the rate your own numbers demand.
What is the average painter and decorator day rate?
We publish a national median of £200 a day for labour, drawn from five UK directories.
No single published average exists, because each directory measures a slightly different thing.
An average is also made partly of people charging too little, so it describes rather than guides.
The number worth having is the one your own costs and tax demand, and the calculator returns that.
What does a decorator day rate include?
A day rate normally covers labour only.
Materials, scaffold hire and specialist coatings are usually charged on top.
Your rate also has to cover the costs customers never see.
Van, insurance, tools, and the days you spend quoting.
How much should I charge to decorate a hall, stairs and landing?
Price it from your day rate, not from a guess.
Work out how many days the job really takes, including preparation and drying time between coats.
Multiply by your required day rate from the calculator, then add materials with your markup.
How much should a self employed decorator set aside for tax?
Set aside a fixed amount every quarter rather than facing one big bill in January.
On the calculator's defaults, a decorator taking home £35,500 a year sets aside about £2,014 a quarter.
That covers Income Tax and Class 4 National Insurance.
When does a decorator have to register for VAT?
VAT registration becomes compulsory once your turnover passes £90,000 in any rolling 12 month period.
That threshold is measured on turnover, meaning everything you invoice, not your profit.
The calculator flags it automatically when the revenue behind your day rate nears the line.
The longer answer, with the whole sum drawn out, is in how much a decorator should charge a day.
Charging by the hour instead, see what a self employed painter and decorator hourly rate has to cover.
Wondering who does this and why it costs nothing? That is answered in full.