Decorator day rate calculator, Bath 2026, after tax
Typical: £212 a day. Work out yours below.
Tell us the take home pay you want.
We show you the day rate to charge in Bath.
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Hiring a decorator in Bath? See what a fair quote looks like.
A painter and decorator in Bath typically charges £212 a day.
To take home £35,500 a year after real costs you need £256 a day.
Both are labour only, from the rate model and the calculator's default assumptions.
Change the inputs and your own number takes over. Quote that one.
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According to the Office for National Statistics, local pay differs enough by area to move a day rate.
Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings
Data from HM Land Registry's UK House Price Index sets the second local input, per the October 2026 review.
Reviewed on .
These figures use the same sums as the free calculator. The two always agree.
Where these figures come from
Rate estimates blend the national median decorator day rate from five UK directories.
Those five are Checkatrade, HaMuch, MyBuilder, CostEstimator, MyJobQuote.
To that we add official ONS regional earnings and local house price data.
Sources: ONS ASHE 2025, UK House Price Index April 2026.
Rates reviewed October 2026.
Where does Bath sit among the 31 modelled towns?
Each dot is one modelled town, stacked where towns share a rate.
Bath is number 6 of 31, with 5 above it and 25 below.
The shaded band is the local range decorators here quote inside.
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What is decorating work like in Bath?
The whole of Bath is a World Heritage Site.
That listing covers ordinary streets as well as the famous crescents.
Consent can be needed before an exterior is painted at all.
It can be needed again for a change of colour, or for paint on stone that has never carried any.
All of that happens before a brush is opened, and the hours it takes are hours no customer pays for.
On the model this is the top of the South West at £212, ahead of Bristol at £206 and Cheltenham at £202.
Why do tradespeople undercharge?
Pricing off the going rate.
Pricing off what everyone else charges feels safe.
But the going rate says what customers are used to paying, not what your business needs.
The calculator on this page starts from the take home you want and adds your real costs.
The number it gives is the one to quote.
The whole working is in the sum behind the day rate.
What do decorators in Bath ask about rates?
What is the going day rate for a decorator in Bath?
Quotes here spread across £159 to £276, and the modelled middle is £212 a day.
The rate your own business needs is a separate sum.
On the default assumptions it comes to £256 for a £35,500 take home.
Consent work eats days you cannot invoice.
So the gap between those two figures matters more here than the headline suggests.
Do I need consent before painting a house in Bath?
Often yes, and the answer depends on the individual building rather than on the street.
Listed building consent can apply to redecorating an exterior, and to a colour change.
It can also apply to painting masonry that was previously bare.
Ask the council before you price the job, never after you have won it.
How should I price the time spent getting permission?
In days, not hours.
Put it in the days you cannot bill field rather than burying it in an hourly figure.
Two afternoons on paperwork and a site meeting is most of a working day gone.
Treated as unbillable, it raises the rate the calculator asks for. That is the right result.
Why would a decorating quote in Bath beat one in Bristol?
Part of it is the model, which reads local earnings and property values and puts Bath above Bristol.
The rest is the job itself, since heritage rules narrow the products allowed and add a permission step.
A cheaper quote that ignores both is not the same piece of work.
What do decorators charge in other towns?
The homepage lists decorator day rates by town, all 31 of them.