Decorator day rate calculator, Birmingham 2026, after tax
Typical: £186 a day. Work out yours below.
Tell us the take home pay you want.
We show you the day rate to charge in Birmingham.
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Hiring a decorator in Birmingham? See what a fair quote looks like.
A painter and decorator in Birmingham typically charges £186 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.
Quotable
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 Birmingham sit among the 31 modelled towns?
Each dot is one modelled town, stacked where towns share a rate.
Birmingham is number 20 of 31, with 19 above it and 11 below.
The shaded band is the local range decorators here quote inside.
Quotable
What is decorating work like in Birmingham?
Birmingham is the biggest social housing market in the country.
Tens of thousands of council homes carry a repairs programme running all year.
A large share of decorating here therefore arrives through a main contractor.
The price is already written on a schedule.
That is a different pressure from a customer collecting three quotes.
The number is handed to you rather than asked of you.
Housing runs mostly to between the wars semis and rebuilt post war estates.
Surfaces are plain.
The money is in volume.
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.
There is a longer piece on what decorators should be charging per day.
What do decorators in Birmingham ask about rates?
What do decorators charge in Birmingham in a day?
Typically £186 a day, inside a modelled spread of £140 to £242.
Your own figures decide yours, and the default assumptions land on £256 a day.
Nearby Coventry models at £182 and Stoke on Trent at £168.
The West Midlands is tighter than the national picture.
Does contract work in Birmingham pay less than private jobs?
Usually, yes.
The rate per job is lower, and what you are buying with it is continuity.
Steady scheduled work removes the empty weeks.
Empty weeks are what the calculator's unbillable days field exists to capture.
Fewer dead days lowers the rate you need, so a lower schedule price is not automatically a worse deal.
Should I quote a housing schedule price on private work?
No.
Doing it is one of the commonest ways to end up underpriced.
A schedule assumes repeat access, cleared rooms and no quoting time between jobs.
Price a private job on its own terms and let the calculator tell you where that lands.
What should your Birmingham decorating quote spell out?
Preparation, the number of coats and who is moving and covering furniture.
Say whether the price assumes empty rooms, because on lived in homes it usually does not.
A written scope beats a lower headline number nearly every time.
What do decorators charge in other towns?
The homepage carries the tool to work out a day rate for yourself, plus all 31 town benchmarks.