Decorator day rate calculator, Cardiff 2026, after tax
Typical: £189 a day. Work out yours below.
Tell us the take home pay you want.
We show you the day rate to charge in Cardiff.
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Hiring a decorator in Cardiff? See what a fair quote looks like.
A painter and decorator in Cardiff typically charges £189 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 Cardiff sit among the 31 modelled towns?
Each dot is one modelled town, stacked where towns share a rate.
Cardiff is number 17 of 31, with 16 above it and 13 below.
The shaded band is the local range decorators here quote inside.
Quotable
What is decorating work like in Cardiff?
Wales carries the oldest housing in the United Kingdom, with over a quarter of it built before 1919.
Solid walls of that age want breathable treatment.
They punish a rushed job more visibly than modern board does.
Cardiff also sits under Welsh law rather than English.
The landlords who hire decorators here answer to a different rulebook on the condition of a let home.
The city models at £189 a day, under Bristol across the water at £206.
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 Cardiff ask about rates?
What is the going day rate for a decorator in Cardiff?
The modelled figure for the city is £189 a day, within a local spread of £142 to £246.
What your own business requires is £256 on the default assumptions, for a £35,500 take home after tax.
Put your real costs into the calculator above.
The default van and tools figures are only a starting point.
Does Welsh income tax work differently for a Cardiff decorator?
No, and that surprises people who have heard the tax is devolved.
Wales does set its own rates, but they currently match England and Northern Ireland.
So nothing about the sum changes.
Scotland is the only part of the United Kingdom where this calculator's answer moves at all.
That is why the Edinburgh page carries a different figure and this one does not.
Does Welsh rental law affect decorating work in Cardiff?
Indirectly, and it works in your favour.
Every landlord in Wales must register, and has a legal duty to keep a let home fit to live in.
That turns redecoration into maintenance somebody has to fund.
Quoting that work as a proper scope rather than a favour is the right instinct.
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.